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Chapter Text

Niki sighed as she pushed open the third door. Nothing in that one, she thought to herself as she closed it again.

Maybe I can get the other's help? She thought, turning to the boys and the rats as she leaned against the fourth door. "Guys, I think there might be something in-"

She paused as she suddenly stood way too close to the Puzzler. Almost as if it were in slow motion, she watched as he startled and reached for a comically long revolver. Instinct set in, and Niki raised her fist first, clocking the Puzzler in his absurdly large chin.

"OW! WHAT THE FUCK!" The Puzzler spat blood on the ground. "YOU HIT ME!"

Niki gasped, holding her hand, now slightly bruised. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

She backed out of the dressing room and ran over to the others. "I'm sorry! You startled me!"

The Puzzler stumbled out, wiping his mouth. "You little shit! I work hard to get this chin just right, and you've soiled it!"

Niki closed her eyes and held her breath as she braced for a shot, but she felt movement in front of her. She opened her eyes, and looked up at where Ranboo was standing in front of her.

"C'mon, man," they chided, "it's not that deep. You surprised her, she lashed out. You would have done the same."

The Puzzler growled, and Niki braced again, but then he sighed. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry, Niki. I-"

Everything paused. The cameras (cameras? Since when were they there?), the Puzzler, the rats, Sneeg and Ranboo, only Niki was left unfrozen.

"Guys?" She whispered, peeking around to see what was happening. She blinked, and walked forward, waving a hand in front of Ranboo's face. "Hellooo? Ranboo? Sneeg? Rats?" Nobody moved. Niki stepped around them to use the door, opening it to peek in at the others on the carousel.

Austin's head picked up immediately, catching the movement. Before he could speak, Niki mashed a finger to her lips, hushing him. She tiptoed through the door and around the fence separating the carousel. She silently started undoing the straps tying the other victims down.

"What's going on?" Vinny whispered in her ear as she struggled to undo his straps.

"I don't know. Everyone just, froze? I think we can get out of here," Niki whispered back, finally undoing the strap and letting him stand up.

Once everyone was free, she pressed her finger to her lips again as she tiptoed back to the other room, leaving the door open and grabbing Sneeg and Ranboo's hands. She began to pull, testing to see if they'd wake up or not. Instead of waking up, they simply stumbled in the direction she pulled them, before righting themselves and going still again. Niki huffed and dragged them both into the room with the others.

She gestured to Ethan, who stepped forward, wringing his hands. "What?"

She gestured to the rats and the Puzzler. "Get someone to help you bring those three. We're getting out of here."

Ethan opened his mouth to ask a question, but Niki silenced him with a look. He simply nodded and grabbed Austin's hand, pulling him along into the room. Austin struggled a bit before relenting.

"Vinny," Niki whispered, gesturing to the cut-open man, "grab that guy's hospital cart and wheel him out once I go. You'll stay between me and the other two so you don't fall behind."

Vinny nodded and braced the hospital bed that the man was lying on. It appeared that he had frozen, too, pausing mid-banter with the other captives. Niki squeezed Ranboo's hand, then Sneegs, trying to let them know that she was there.

She then waited for Ethan and Austin to stumble out of the room, before gesturing where Sneeg had originally disappeared to during his "bathroom break". Leading the group with Sneeg and Ranboo, Niki walked as quietly as she could, weaving through hallways until they came upon a larger, more open area.

"Woah, what is this?" Vinny stage-whispered.

Niki shushed him and kept walking. "We'll discuss that *after* we get out of here."

Vinny nodded and kept walking, pushing the man's bed as quietly as he could. Eventually, they came upon what looked like an exit. The doors were painted black, but sunlight seeped through the cracks not covered. Niki rushed ahead as quietly as she could before dropping Ranboo and Sneeg's hands in order to wrench open the doors.

Cool, spring air hit her face as she did so, but so did the blaring sound of alarms.

"EVERYBODY, GO!" She screamed, grabbing Ranboo and Sneeg and yanking them out into the open air. Surrounding them was what looked like a never-ending parking lot, with cars dotted around.

"Okay, show of hands, who here can drive?" Niki stared at the others, hopping from foot to foot with anxiousness.

"I can!" Austin, Ethan, and Vinny replied in unison, raising their hands.

Niki nodded. "Okay, Vinny, you're with me. Austin, Ethan, you go in a separate car. We'll drive together but if we see someone following we split up, okay?"

The three nodded and Vinny sprinted with the hospital bed to the nearest car. He wrenched open the back door, startling at its unlocked state, before gently but quickly maneuvering the injured man into a supine position on the back seats. After that, he slammed the door and hopped into the drivers seat, preparing to jump the car.

Niki, meanwhile, opened the trunk and shoved Sneeg and Ranboo into it. Ranboo's mask began to blink, and their hand twitched. Niki squeezed his hand to let him know she was there, but she had no time to worry about that. She slammed the door and ran to the passenger seat, fastening her seatbelt and glancing behind at the cut-open man.

Vinny managed to start the car, slamming the door as he shifted gears and started speeding through the lot. Niki whooped and pumped her fist, turning to look eagerly out the window. They passed Austin and Ethan who were just finishing jumping their own car, powering up and speeding off as well. She smiled and waved at them as they fell into position behind them, turning to face forward as they left the seemingly endless parking lot behind.

Niki briefly stopped to wonder where they learned how to jump cars, but she was quickly wrenched out of her thoughts as Vinny pressed on the gas.

"Vinny, careful! We just escaped, we don't want to die now!" Niki pulled off her hat and shook out her hair, greasy from going without a shower for... who knows how long.

Vinny scoffed to himself. "Sorry, sweetheart, but if we don't want to be caught by whatever those alarms alerted, then we need to get out and get out fast"

Niki scoffed back. "Don't call me sweetheart. Plus, all we have to do is make it to civilization and then we can call the police!"

"And do what, exactly?" Vinny's voice rose in fear. "Say 'oh hey just reporting that seven or more people were just kidnapped in an abandoned mall and we just got out by the way we brought the kidnapper with us' what were you thinking, Niki?"

Niki raised her voice to match. "I don't know! I just had the feeling that something was going on, something bigger than the Puzzler! Like, why were there cameras? Where did they come from? And who were Ranboo and Sneeg talking about when they talked about 'they'?"

"Cameras? Wh- where were there cameras?" Vinny ran a hand through his hair, knocking his hat off his head and onto the floor behind him.

Niki clenched her hands and released them, trying to calm down. "With us in the room with the Puzzler. I only noticed them when everyone froze."

"Shit.... SHIT." Vinny slammed his hands on the side of the steering wheel. "I guess you're right. We'll find a place, maybe an apartment or something, and regroup there, try to wake these three up."

Niki glanced back at the man lying on the back seat and the silhouettes of Sneeg and Ranboo, whose mask had seemingly stopped blinking and was staying the usual steady red light. "I hope they're okay."

Vinny glanced to the side before sighing. "We got out, that's what matters. We got out, and everyone's alive. Mostly. Maybe not that guy."

Niki shuddered and sat back in her seat, watching as Ethan and Austin came up behind them in their blue sedan. "Whose cars do you think these were?"

Vinny rolled his eyes, preparing to make another snarky comment, then he paused. "Wait, yeah. None of us drove here, probably."

Niki sat up and opened the glove compartment, rifling around the stray papers in an attempt to find any identification. She pulled out napkins and receipts and various documents that had no identification on them. She started to lose hope when she spied an official-looking stamp on one of the pages she hadn't pulled out. She picked the page out, glancing at the top.

"Registration papers! This will tell us." Niki scanned over the page before she spotted the "registered to" section.

"Ah. Here we go." Niki held up the registration papers. "It says here that this car belonged to..." Niki paused, staring at the paper. She blinked, almost expecting it to change before her eyes.

"Who'd it belong to, Niki?" Vinny asked, concerned.

"Yeah." Niki replied.

Vinny glanced at her. "Sorry?"

Niki held up the paper. "This car belonged to me. Nikita Sophie Sembowski."

Vinny did a double take. "What?!"

Niki's hands shook as she grasped the paper, tears dripping down her face and running the ink. She reached into her pocket and felt a key, and she blacked out.

Chapter Text

Ethan sighed as he pressed his head against the window.

"Where do you think we're going, Austin?" He asked, watching abandoned buildings and various shrubbery fly past them as they drove.

Austin looked over for a second before snapping his eyes back to the road. "I have no idea, Eef. As far away from that shitshow as possible, I hope."

Ethan nodded, head gently knocking against the glass. "I get that. Why do you think Niki had us grab these guys?" He gestured to the three frozen people in the back seat behind them.

Austin adjusted the rear view mirror so that he could watch the captives. "I don't know. She sounded scared. Normally I wouldn't take much stock in that, but she was a different scared on the carousel. This was... I don't know. Scary."

"Yeah. I noticed that too. She looked haunted." Ethan started counting the trees they passed until they got into a thicker forest part of the road, where he started counting large rocks instead.

"Hmnmf?" A noise came from the back seat.

Ethan jumped and swung around, staring at the three... people? Rats? Other humanoid beings? In the back seat.

The female rat was waking up. "Wh... what's going on? Where are we?"

Austin looked in the mirror, making eye contact with Ethan.

Ethan shrugged and turned to speak to the rat. "You guys just... froze. And now we're taking you away from where you froze because one of our friends helped. She wanted us to take you with us, for some reason."

"Oh!! Is that Niki? She was very nice. Very nice." The rat nodded to herself, sitting back in her seat. "And Rattkuno and the Puzzler?"

"Right next to you. I assume. The other rat was Rattkuno, I guess?" Ethan glanced at the others that were still frozen.

The female rat leaned forward and waved a hand in front of Rattkunos face, before turning and doing the same to the Puzzler.

"Are they dead?" The rat whimpered and turned to Ethan.

"No! No. They're just... frozen. You were like that, too. I'm sure they'll wake up soon." Ethan reached to pat the rat on her head awkwardly, attempting to comfort her.

The rat sniffled and nodded. "Okay... you can call my Valkyrat by the way..."

Ethan nodded, retracting his hand. "Valkyrat. Got it. I'm E- wait. You know our names already."

Valkyrat giggled. "Yep! You were up first on the carousel! Little Ethan with his fish, Turner."

Ethan laughed. "I'm gonna be honest I was bullshitting that fish bit. I wanted sympathy but I wanted it to be believable, y'know? I'm actually-"

Ethan paused mid-sentence. What *was* he? What was his job, in the outside world? Where did he live?

"Oh my god." Ethan turned back to face the road as he clutched a hand to his chest. "Oh my god. I don't know who I am."

Austin's glanced over. "What do you mean?"

"Like," Ethan scrunched his face up, trying to recall anything from his past. "I don't remember anything from before the carousel. I remember waking up being tied to the carousel, and you were all there for that since..."

Austin tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Maybe you got hit on the head before being tied up? That might have caused you to forget."

"Forget everything but my name? And some... bullshit story about a fish? Unlikely. And plus, that mall we walked through after we left the 'warehouse'---" Ethan punctuated his sentence with air quotes--- "It felt eerily familiar. Like... like I'd been there before. Not just, walking around it but... fully exploring it. When we left the set, I felt like I knew the exact ways to the exit. Why would I know that? And... and what was the purpose of all that?"

Ethan stated spiraling, clutching his head as he rest his elbows in his lap.

Valkyrat reached forward and pet his hair gently. "Shh... it's okay. I think I might have the answers, but we might all want to be together and awake for all that."

Ethan looked up, unspilled tears fresh in his eyes. "You sure?"

Valkyrat nodded. "Whenever we get where we're going, I'll tell you all what I know. I think the Puzzler and Rattkuno also know some things, so we can try to patch together a story."

Ethan nodded and sniffled, wiping his nose on his jacket. "Thanks, Valkyrat."

"No problem, Ethan!" Valkyrat beamed and sat back, kicking her feet as she stared out the window.

"So..." Ethan sat up, too, looking at his face in the side mirror. "How did you guys end up there? With the Puzzler?"

Valkyrat sighed. "I don't remember much of it. I think me and Rattkuno were kidnapped. I remember there was a long drive, and then we were left in a room with two beds for a long time, only getting food every once in a while. Eventually, these people with weird white masks started coming into the room and measuring our bodies before leaving again.

After that other people in white masks came in and gave us new clothes to dress up in. I don't remember the clothes or why we did it, but there was a long period of us getting in different clothes, then something would happen that I don't remember, and then we'd do it all over again."

Ethan hummed. "Was the Puzzler there at all?"

"Not for a while. After a lot of blanks I seem to remember him showing up at some point. After that we got into the clothes we're wearing now, and started up the... show." Valkyrat tapped her foot on the floor in a rhythmic way. Three short taps, then three long taps, then three short taps again.

"And you don't remember anything from those blanks?" Ethan was eager to get any information at all about where they had just escaped from.

Valkyrat stopped tapping, and sighed. "Not really? I remember those people in white masks being around a lot. But there's no memory of what we were doing."

Ethan hummed and started tapping his foot in the same rhythm. Tap-tap-tap. Tap tap tap. Tap-tap-tap. "What about the others? Ranboo and Sneeg and that other guy?"

"I remember Sneeg and the other guy, whose name is Charlie I think? Ranboo is new, though. Charlie and Sneeg were there before me and Rattkuno. I don't know why, though." Valkyrat leaned her head on the window, watching as the endless forest went by.

Ethan nodded and leaned his head against the glass as well. "I'm looking forward to what the whole story is, but I get wanting to wait until everyone's together."

Valkyrat made a small noise of affirmation. "Yeah, I hate having to explain things multiple times, so."

Ethan laughed lightly, smiling at Valkyrat through the reflection in the mirror. "Me too, it's really annoying."

They sat like that for what felt like hours, watching as trees and rocks and various broken signs flew by while they drove. Austin occasionally started humming to himself, but would stop if either Ethan or Valkyrat joined in, as if embarrased.

After about two hours, Austin perked up.

"Hey, seems like Vinny's slowing down. Maybe he spotted a place to rest?" Austin leaned forward, trying to see beyond the white jeep in front of them.

Ethan watched as Vinny slowed and pulled into the driveway of a rather run-down cabin, with parts of the roof collapsed in on itself and no signs of anyone human living inside for years.

Austin slowed to pull in next to Vinny. "It's not much, but it'll do I guess. Anything's better than that fucking carousel."

Ethan nodded and sat up, stretching his arms and rubbing his eyes before turning back to Valkyrat, who had fallen asleep at some point during the drive.

"Hey, Val, could you help me get Rattkuno and the Puzzler out of the car and into the house?" Ethan poked Valkyrat lightly, startling her from her light sleep.

"Hm? Oh yeah, sure." Valkyrat yawned and stretched before unbuckling herself, the Puzzler, and Rattkuno and opening her door.

Ethan followed suit after unbuckling himself, stumbling as he stood up after sitting for so long.

"Hey guys?" Vinny was standing next to the passenger's door. "Niki passed out at some point during the drive, and I'm not sure if I should wake her up or if she's like... frozen?"

Ethan stepped forward, followed by Valkyrat and Austin, approaching the passengers seat where Niki was passed out.

Her body was slack, as if lifeless, but after watching for a moment Ethan noticed her breathing steadily. He gently shook her by the shoulder to rouse her, stepping back as she jumped and gasped.

"Fuck! Sorry! Um, where are we?" Niki pressed a hand to her heart as she looked around at the others.

Ethan looked toward the cabin. "An abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere, about two hours from the mall. I think the plan is to camp out here until everyone's awake and fit to walk and take care of themselves."

Vinny nodded and opened the side door, gently lifting Charlie by the shoulders and pulling him out.

Valkyrat rushed forward to help. "Here, I'll get his back half. Let's see if there's a bed inside to lay him on."

Vinny nodded and walked backwards awkwardly, trying not to shift Charlie more than he already has been shifted.

Niki stepped shakily out of the car, before walking around to the trunk and popping it open, grabbing the hands of Sneeg and Ranboo and pulling.

Ethan glanced at Austin. "I guess we'll get Rattkuno and the Puzzler, yeah?"

Austin nodded and walked back to their jeep, opening the side door and pulling Rattkuno gently out of the car. Ethan did the same with the Puzzler, catching him awkwardly as the man fell lifelessly out of the vehicle.

Austin and Ethan shared a look before taking their charges into the abandoned cabin.

They stepped inside and looked around, Ethan noting how the living room seemed to have been unaffected by the years of abandonment, save for some mold in the corner and the broken windows. Everything else seemed fine.

Austin set Rattkuno down on the couch, and Ethan dropped the Puzzler in a chair before following Niki's voice into the next room.

In there, there were two twin beds, one holding Charlie and the other Ranboo. In the middle of the room, Vinny and Niki were arguing with a now very awake Sneeg.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing? You could have gotten us all killed!" Sneeg tore off his hat and stepped on it, making a satisfying crunch as something inside was crushed.

Niki groaned and threw her hands in the air. "What the hell was I supposed to do?! Just, let myself get killed by whoever was running that shitshow? I saw an opportunity and I took it! Simple as that!"

Sneeg rolled his eyes. "How you managed to avoid every employee while I got caught immediately is a miracle. How we're all even alive is a miracle. Where are we, anyway?"

Vinny shrugged. "This was the first building I saw on the drive away from the mall. We're about 2 hours away."

Sneeg sighed and nodded, running a hand over his face. "Alright. Alright, that's fine. Two hours away is fine. Who did you bring?"

Ethan then piped up from where he was in the doorway. "We brought you three, the rats, the Puzzler, and the rest of us on the carousel. Except for Frank, I guess."

"Alright, that's good, I guess. How many are awake?" Sneeg sat down next to Charlie, watching the man's breathing.

Ethan glanced back in the living room. Rattkuno and the Puzzler were still frozen, being doted on by a very worried Valkyrat.

"One of the rats, the female one, and the rest of us who were on the carousel. The rats name is Valkyrat, apparently, and she knows some stuff about that mall." Ethan glanced back at Sneeg, who was looking over at Ranboo now.

He then turned to look up at Niki. "Alright, we'll camp out here until everyone's awake and well. Then we'll get out of here and go to the nearest city. I have no idea where that is, but we can get an apartment or something, where we can actually work on investigating that place."

Niki nodded. "That makes sense. In the meantime, let me help with your friends. I seem to recall having a nursing degree at some point. It's no surgeons doctorate, but I'm sure I could help patch up that guy." Sh gestured at Charlie before turning and leaving the room, supposedly to look for a sewing kit.

Vinny stared after her, then back at Sneeg. "Well, I won't be any help in here. I'm gonna keep exploring the cabin, looking for stuff to help. Ethan, you wanna come with?"

Ethan nodded and pushed against the doorframe to stand up. He nodded at Sneeg, who simply stared at him suspiciously before following Vinny.

Niki was rifling through cupboards in the living room, growing increasingly more frustrated until she made a small noise and pulled out one of those old cookie tins that never had cookies in them.

She opened it up and grinned, before closing it again and heading to the bedroom, closing the door gently behind her.

"When do you think we'll see her again?" Vinny joked darkly, glancing at the door.

"Who knows, man. I just need to sit down for a second." Ethan flopped down on the only other chair available, a rickety rocking chair.

Vinny laughed and backed toward another door. "Alright, man. I'm gonna search for things. You get some rest."

Ethan nodded, closing his eyes as he rocked. He wasn't even intending to sleep, but as his eyes closed, his rocking slowed, until it stopped and he fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Sneeg hovered over Niki's shoulder as she sterilized the needle.

Niki rolled her eyes. "If you want to do it, I'm happy to give the needle to you."

Sneeg backed up a step and Niki laughed. "That's what I thought."

She slowly inserts the needle into Charlie's flesh, pulling the thread and feeding it into the flap of skin cut and torn off by Ranboo. Sneeg gagged slightly, almost regretting crushing his hat. If he hadn't, he'd still be seeing the slime version of the massacre, instead of the more realistic bloody version. He decided to turn away, focusing on Ranboo.

It was strange. Ranboo's eyes were still open, their expression frozen at the spot when Showfall paused the show. He shuddered, stroking the other man's hair before sitting down on the floor.

Niki glanced over before continuing to sew Charlie shut. "You okay? Other than... everything.... I guess."

Sneeg laughed quietly and leaned his head back against the wall. "Would you believe me if I said yes?"

Niki snorted, "no."

"Fair," Sneeg assented, closing his eyes. He had managed to get out like the carousel crew, unscathed. But Charlie was hurt bad, and nobody could tell what was up with Ranboo. Niki had promised to check his mask out after finishing with Charlie.

Niki hummed a tune as she worked, quickly but carefully sewing the skin on Charlie's stomach closed, placing the dislodged organs back in place. From what she knew, his body would take care of the healing from there. Or, at least, she hoped. Sneeg realized that Charlie wasn't bleeding through this. He stood up.

"Is he breathing? Is his heart beating?" Sneeg placed a hand in front of Charlie's face to attempt to check his breathing.

Niki swatted him away. "No. None of you were. Until I know for certain I'm going to treat every frozen person like they're alive. Let me keep working."

She had almost finished up, she just had to clean the stitches and bandage Charlie's stomach, carefully to avoid opening the closed wounds. Sneeg watched as she methodically worked, tying off the bandages and lying Charlie back down on the bed. She then walked over to Ranboo to inspect him.

"Do you know anything about his mask? How it works and the like." Niki touched the wires gently, feeling the length of them until tapping on the Showfall Media bolt holding them at the back of Ranboo's head. She then traced the edge of the mask, feeling how it was almost fused to their face.

Sneeg stared as she analyzed the mask. "Not much, but I know it's practically fused with him, stitched on and the like. You can't take it off without taking a significant chunk of their face. Not without thorough precision, at least."

Niki tapped on the mask, then felt under Ranboo's chin to feel where it was fused there as well. She sighed.

"Well, we should start with cutting the wires. That'll hopefully make him pass out until we can actually cut the mask off." She rummaged in the sewing kit, pulling out fabric scissors.

Sneeg nodded, watching as she cut the wires easily. The mask blinked, then fully shut off. He watched closely as Ranboo's eyes shut and he started breathing again, slowly as if asleep.

"I'll be damned. You were right." Sneeg crossed his arms, smirking approvingly at her. "How do you know all this?"

Niki froze for a second, before continuing to cut the wires. "I prefer not to dwell on that."

Sneeg raised an eyebrow but didn't press further, instead watching as she ran the scissors along Ranboo's face where it connected with the mask.

"These stitches seem new. The skin isn't grafting with the mask, so it should be easy to cut the threads. Then we can see what the mask is attached to other than these stitches." She put the scissors down and pulled out an exacto knife, carefully cutting the thin strings attaching the mask to Ranboo.

"It's strange," Niki commented as she cut, holding onto the mask, "the mask doesn't feel metal. Almost flesh-like, as if to fool the skin into grafting with it. The graft was obviously rejected, hence the measures taken to keep it attached."

Sneeg hummed, reaching out and feeling the mask. Niki was right, the mask wasn't cold or metallic, more warm and almost fleshy. He resisted another gag and took his hand away, wiping it subconsciously on his pants.

"I wonder... were there others there? Their skin and blood taken for these... these props? These costumes?" Sneeg clutched his hand to his chest, feeling it as if to check if it was real.

Niki hummed, moving onto the stitches on Ranboo's chin. "I don't know. I don't remember anything before waking up on that carousel, and I don't think the others do either. You and that rat, Valkyrat? You know. You both know more than your letting on, but less than you'd like. Once everyone is awake, we need to gather together to piece together a story."

Sneeg nodded, stepping back as she finished cutting the stitches. She then sat back and pulled on the mask lightly, testing for give. It pulled away a little, but not a lot. She gestured for Sneeg to come closer.

"Do you have a flashlight?" she asked, trying to get a glimpse at what else was holding the mask down. Blood started to trickle from where the stitches were cut, but they both tried to ignore it as Sneeg grabbed a flashlight from the other room and shined it on Ranboo's face.

They both looked closer, and Niki gasped.

"There are wires... in his mouth! Eugh..." she tried not to gag as she looked away. Sneeg looked closer and saw that there were indeed tons of wires going into Ranboo's mouth and potentially down their throat. He shuddered and stepped back.

"We need to cut those, but," he glanced again at the sleeping, bleeding form of Ranboo, "how far down do they go? What if he chokes on them?"

Niki looked again, grabbing the flashlight from Sneeg's hands. "Well, he's not gagging or choking on them now, so we can assume that it would be safe for the moment. Hand me those scissors again."

Sneeg handed her the scissors, but instead of cutting the wires immediately, she felt around the back of Ranboo's head, pulling at the bolt.

"I think the wires connect here. If I can cut them here, we might be able to pull the, through, up through their throat. I'll need your help though, just to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't choke on their own blood." Niki pulled Ranboo's hair back, positioning the scissors.

Sneeg nodded, watching with shaky hands as she cut each wire until she could pull the bolt off and toss it to the side. She then laid Ranboo back down and pulled at the mask. It stayed put for a moment, before giving. She slowly pulled it out and off, Sneeg rushing forward to press the pillow into Ranboo's neck to stop the bleeding. Eventually the mask fully came off, save for a few wires surgically attached to their jaw.

Niki carefully cut the last few wires, and tossed the mask to the side, bringing up the blanket to stay the bleeding a little, as blood was now dripping out of their mouth.

They stayed like that for a few moments, before Ranboo started to stir. Niki and Sneeg stepped back, and Niki covered her ears just in time for Ranboo to wake up with a bloodcurdling scream, muffled only by the blood in his throat.

Sneeg rushed forward, trying futilely to calm the screaming man down. He was too afraid to pin them, so he settled for gently patting their hair. Eventually the screaming slowed to gagging as they spat blood onto the floor, coughing.

"Wh- where the fuck am I?" They rasped, voice wrecked from the impromptu surgery.

Sneeg grabbed Ranboo's hands and held them in his own. "You're in a cabin. Not... not the cabin, if you even remember that, but Niki and the others helped us escape. They even got Charlie. We're safe, two hours away from that hellscape. We're safe and everyone's alive."

Ranboo's breathing slowed as they took in their unfamiliar surroundings. They then wrenched a hand out of Sneeg's grasp and felt their face.

"My... my mask?"

Niki kicked the discarded object on the floor. "I took it off for you. A lot more hassle than suspected, really, but we got it off."

Ranboo continued feeling their face, tracing the bloody stitch lines before rubbing his jaw, that still had some disconnected wires lodged inside. He traced his lips, opening and closing his jaw experimentally, before feeling the back of his head, which was still trickling blood.

"I'm... free?" They asked, tentatively, as if any word could bring them back to that hellscape.

Sneeg laughed, grinning. "You're free. Those fucking wires? They're gone, disconnected. I'm free, too. The only one still stuck is Charlie, but we're trying to figure out how he's being controlled, too."

Ranboo looked over at the frozen Charlie, still frozen mid-banter. He had no idea the trauma he had just gone through. Sneeg was almost jealous for a moment, before he shook the thought out of his mind.

"I'm tired," Ranboo stated, plainly.

Niki laughed before heading for the door. "I'll leave you guys in here to rest. If anything comes up that you can't solve on your own, I'll be in the next room taking a fat nap."

Sneeg snorted, waving her out of the room. He then settled down against Ranboo's bed, still holding one of their hands.

Ranboo hummed a songless tune, the pauses between notes getting longer as they drifted off back to sleep. Sneeg let himself be lulled to sleep by their gentle voice, falling asleep propped up against their bed.

Chapter Text

Valkyrat hummed to herself as she doted on the sleeping Puzzler, Rattkuno, and Ethan. She vaguely heard talking in the bedroom, but didn't want to eavesdrop, so she kept to herself. She tucked a tattered blanket around Ethan before adjusting the Puzzler in his seat. This was all very strange for her, as she had no memories of being away from... wherever that place had been.

Suddenly, a raspy scream came from the bedroom. Valkyrat shot up and rushed to the door, pressing an ear to it.

"Wh-where the fuck am I?" Rasp-shouted a voice from inside. It sounded like Ranboo's voice.

Niki and Sneeg calmed them down, and eventually the voiced lowered to calmer levels. Valkyrat sighed with relief and went back to the sleeping figures.

Ethan had shifted, knocking his blanket off. Valkyrat rolled her eyes and tucked the blanket over him again, smiling gently. Austin peeked through the door to the decrepit kitchen, stepping over the glass and dirt in the room.

"Thought I heard screaming, is everything okay?" He asked, looking down at Ethan with a fond expression before looking back at Valkyrat.

Valkyrat gestured to the bedroom. "Ranboo woke up. Sounds like everything's okay now, for the most part."

Austin nodded, reaching out and stroking Ethan's hair a bit. "How long has he been asleep?"

Valkyrat giggled. "He went to talk with Sneeg and Niki, then came out here with Vinny and fell asleep."

Austin hummed, taking his hand away. "Must have been tired after all that action. I think I'm still running on adrenaline."

"Understandable," Valkyrat commented, "you guys had a stressful escape. You can take a nap, too, if you'd like."

Austin shook his head. "Nah, I'm good for now. You need any help?"

Before Valkyrat could answer, the bedroom door opened. Niki emerged, closing the door gently behind her. Her hands were stained with blood, but she didn't seem to care as she ran them down her face, mixing her runny mascara with the dark liquid.

She opened her eyes and smiled at Valkyrat and Austin. "Hey. Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna take a nap."

Valkyrat smiled, going to the couch and moving Rattkuno to the loveseat. She patted the cushions for Niki. "You deserve it, Niki."

Niki nodded and flopped down on the couch, jacket hanging awkwardly off the side. She closed her eyes, and within moments her breathing evened out, signifying sleep.

Valkyrat sat down on the floor next to her, leaning back so that she could watch the other three. Austin sat down on the loveseat next to Rattkuno.

They sat in silence for a moment, before Niki shifted, and a key fell out of her pocket.

Valkyrat picked it up, studying it. "A key?"

Austin looked at it. "Maybe from the warehouse-mall thing? Like, from the Puzzler?"

Valkyrat shook her head. "The Puzzler doesn't do keys. It was never in the-"

She cut herself off. In the what? What was she going to say?

Austin tilted his head, beckoning her to continue.

"In the... something. I don't remember. It starts with an s..." Valkyrat hummed, tapping her foot and trying to remember. Tap-tap-tap, tap tap tap, tap-tap-tap.

Austin reached out to study the key, and Valkyrat handed it over, still tapping and thinking. Tap-tap-tap, tap tap tap, tap-tap-tap.

Austin mulled over the key, tracing the ridges with his finger. "Script?"

Valkyrat snapped her fingers. "Script! That's it. Script. A key was never in the script."

"The script to what?" Asked Austin, confused.

Valkyrat froze again, he was right. What script?

She shook her head. "I don't know. The script to the... the show maybe? Maybe we were on a show?"

Austin hummed, lost in thought. The pair lapsed into silence as they mulled over their situation. Valkyrat still tapping, eyes closed as she tried to remember anything from before the Puzzler.

Austin opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a grunt from next to him. Valkyrat's eyes shot open and she stopped tapping as she stood up.

Rattkuno was blinking his eyes, dry from keeping them open for so long. He stretched his now-unfrozen arms and looked up at Valkyrat who was standing in front of him. He shook out his hands and did a few hand motions.

"WHERE ARE WE?" He signed, motions too fast for Austin to catch up with.

Valkyrat smiled. "We're in a cabin, two hours away from that... place. Everyone else is here, too."

"THE PUZZLER?" Rattkuno signed back.

Valkyrat gestured to the still frozen man. "That's how you and I were, apparently."

Rattkuno stood up and studied the man, before turning back to Valkyrat.

"OTHERS?"

Valkyrat gestured to Austin, Niki, Ethan, and then the bedroom door. "Austin, Niki, and Ethan are here, Ranboo, Charlie, and Sneeg are in the bedroom. Vinny went off somewhere."

Rattkuno nodded, before looking around, studying his surroundings. "SAFE? ARE WE PROTECTED?"

Valkyrat nodded. "Like I said, we're two hours away. There's little to no electricity in this place, so there's no way they could find us."

Rattkuno nodded, sitting down and taking off his rat mask. Valkyrat did the same.

"JUST SYKKUNO NOW." Sykkuno signed, smiling.

Valkyrie nodded. "Just Valkyrie now."

Austin stared between the two before his eyes widened. "Oh! He's using ASL. I thought it was some sort of rat language you guys had."

Sykkuno laughed silently, and Valkyrie grinned. "Nope! He's mute, so I learned ASL to communicate with him easier."

Austin nodded. "Got it. I know some signs, so I should be good for now. We'll have to brief the others."

Sykkuno nodded, signing to Austin. "PUZZLER KNOWS. HE CAN TEACH."

Austin studied the hand motions, before speaking and signing back. "Good to know. I'll sign with my speech to practice."

Sykkuno smiled, before striking up an in-depth conversation with Austin about their pasts. Valkyrie smiled back, and walked over to where the Puzzler was frozen. She wanted to be able to help him unfreeze.

The Puzzler was in a very deep state of frozenness, and Valkyrie sat in front of him for what felt like hours before the man finally blinked.

"Wha-?" The man asked in his normal-esque voice.

Valkyrie stood up, standing in front of him. "Puzzler? Are you awake?"

The Puzzler smacked his lips, before looking up at Valkyrie. "Val? Wh- where are we?"

Valkyrie shushed him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We're safe. We're away from the warehouse."

The Puzzler shook his head, before going back into his acting voice. "N-no. We were on- on set, right? And... and Niki punched me! Where did we go?"

Valkyrie placed her other hand on the Puzzler's other shoulder. "Hey, listen, we're not on set. We're two hours away. Niki and the others managed to get us out. We're safe."

The Puzzler looked around frantically, taking in the surroundings. He spotted Niki, asleep, then Ethan, who was also still asleep. He then looked at Sykkuno and Austin, who were still talking. He then looked back up at Valkyrie.

"Safe...?" He asked, tentatively.

Valkyrie nodded. "Safe. You don't have to put on an act anymore."

The Puzzler shifted, then reached up to touch his dented chin. "I can take this off?"

Valkyrie laughed, reaching up to tug on the prosthetic chin. "I would hope so! It looks uncomfortable."

The Puzzler snorted and swatted Valkyrie's hands away. "You don't know the half of it. Is there a mirror here where I can take this off?"

"Uhh..." Valkyrie looked around, before spotting an old makeup vanity with a partially broken mirror covered in cobwebs by the bedroom door. "Over there."

The Puzzler nodded and stood up, walking over to the mirror and beginning to gently pull the fake chin and cheeks off, wincing in  pain every once in a while.

Eventually, the whole thing was off, and the Puzzler was left with a red, but otherwise normal looking, face.

The Puzzler sighed, before turning to Valkyrie. "Finally. That shit was so annoying."

Valkyrie laughed, before going and sitting back down on the floor by Niki. "You're telling me. Hey-"

She paused, remembering the key. She stood up and grabbed it from Austin, who had put it on his lap to free up his hands.

"Did you ever use keys?" She held up the key.

The Puzzler frowned, staring at the key. "I used one key off-script, but that wasn't it. Mine was more bronze."

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. "Off-script? How did you get away with that?"

The Puzzler rolled his eyes. "They were so busy doting on their new "hero" that they didn't pay any attention to whatever I did. I recorded a whole badass voice message for Ranboo when I was eventually killed by them."

"Them? You mean, by Ranboo?" Valkyrie sat back down, studying the key.

The Puzzler laughed and shook his head. "No, the showrunners. This was my last show, I was being killed off. It was in the script and everything, did you not read it?"

Valkyrie closed her eyes. "I don't remember. I only recently remembered there ever being a script. Though, I'm pretty sure we went off it a lot."

"Oh, yeah. That guy on the operating table? He was supposed to bleed out and die... but he didn't." The Puzzler sat back, stretching his arms. "I had to ad-lib that whole thing with the hat and bringing him in. I'm not sure if the showrunners liked it or not."

Valkyrie shrugged. "Doesn't matter now, we escaped. With that guy, too. I'm pretty sure Niki fixed him up."

The Puzzler glanced at Niki. "Y'know, if she hadn't punched me, I'm not sure if we'd actually have been able to escape. I was supposed to shoot her in the dressing room, but she punched first. I tried to fix it, but then Ranboo stepped in front of her. Then, I presume, everything paused."

Valkyrie nodded. "I woke up during the drive away from the place, so I wouldn't remember. Once Niki wakes up we can ask her, but she's had a stressful few hours."

"Oh indeed. Going from fodder to main character in this story." The Puzzler nodded, stroking his normal-looking chin.

Sykkuno then turned to the Puzzler, moving his hands fast. "ARE YOU STILL PUZZLER?"

The Puzzler thought for a moment. "Nah. Call me... Jerma. I think that's was the name I had before the role."

Sykkuno nodded, signing "JERMA" to himself a few times before going back to conversing with Austin.

Valkyrie nodded as well, taking note of Jerma's name to tell the others. They then lapsed into regular banter, joking about past experiences and filling Austin in on what the story was, without using too many details so that they could tell everyone at once.

Hours went by, and Ethan eventually woke up, joining in on the banter. Niki woke up as well, conversion with Jerma and making plans for how to feed everyone and who should take watch just in case.

There was then a loud thump from the bedroom. Niki jumped up and raced to the door, opening it and going inside. Valkyrie glanced at the others before follwing, signaling for the others to stay.

In the room, Sneeg had knocked over a chair, and was huddled in a corner, breathing heavily. Niki was trying to approach him, but he kept shrinking back more.

Valkyrie entered the room and closed the door, putting a hand on Niki's shoulder, letting her step back so that Valkyrie could crouch in front of Sneeg.

"Hey, little dude. What's going on?" Valkyrie asked calmly, putting on a gentle, motherly voice.

Sneeg was shaking and on the verge of tears. He looked toward the chair, before shrinking in on himself again.

Valkyrie looked at the chair, then connected the dots. "Ohhh... you're afraid we'll be mad that you knocked over the chair? Sneeg... we're not mad. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and you didn't mean to knock it over, right?"

Sneeg nodded carefully, looking up at Valkyrie. He looked so small, so scared. A complete switch up to the confident man that she had seen on the set and hours before. She stood up and righted the chair, pushing it into the desk.

"See? No harm done!" Valkyrie smiled and crouched in front of Sneeg again. "Nobody's mad at you, Sneeg. It's just a chair."

Sneeg wiped his eyes and smiled, embarrassed. "Th-thanks, Val."

Valkyrie stood up and offered a hand to the larger man. "It's okay, Sneeg! Everyone has vulnerable moments. We don't have to mention it again if you don't want to."

Sneeg nodded, glancing down at Ranboo. He turned to Niki to speak, but was interrupted by the door opening.

Ethan's head popped up around the door. "Hey, sorry to interrupt whatever was happening in here, but Vinny's gone."

Valkyrie's heart dropped, and Niki stood up straight. "What!?"

"He's just... gone. The car is, too." Ethan wrung his hands nervously.

The three in the room exchanged a glance, before Niki pushed past Ethan into the living room.

Chapter Text

Vinny tapped his hand on the steering wheel, glancing in the rear view mirror every few seconds. He had no need to be paranoid, no one would notice he was gone for a while, but he still checked. He fidgeted with the ring he had pocketed from the bedroom, twisting it on his finger before putting his hands back on the wheel. He had a long drive ahead of him, but luckily he knew the way.

It was bizarre, their whole situation. Vinny needed to find out more. No need to endanger the others, though. This was purely his mission.

He hummed along to a song playing on the radio, having turned it on in case their captors were broadcasting something. He kept humming, tapping his hand.

"I take my whiskey neat~ my coffee black and my bed a three. You're too sweet for me. You're too sweet for me~" The song drifted through the radio. It was a good song, pretty catchy.

Vinny reached over and switched the channel, trying to see what else was playing. Brief moments of songs played as he tuned the radio.

"-Thunder, feel the thunder-"

"-metronome! Oh I'm up to something-"

"-and now for the weather-"

"-Showfall media reports that all nine of their actors-"

"-it's too cold for you here~"

"-hey, you, feed the machine-"

Wait, what was that fourth one? Vinny tried tuning back in, searching for the channel he had skipped over.

"-unfortunately, there are no sightings of the actors in the area surrounding the set. Showfall Media representative, Hetch, spoke with us briefly about the situation.

Yeah, we're pretty shaken up here. To not only lose our hero, but all of our actors, especially mid-show, was harrowing. If anyone has seen them, please call (484) 749-3255. Thank you for your cooperation."

Vinny stared ahead, listening closely. At the mention of the phone number, he repeated it in his head over and over until he could pull over and write it down.

"Four... eight.... four... seven.... four.... nine.... three... two... five-five. Got it," he mumbled to himself, scribbling down the number before pulling back onto the road. He kept listening, but there were no other noteworthy mentions of Showfall. He sighed and changed the channel again, searching for other stations.

He eventually settled on one that was playing self-proclaimed "show-tunes" and kept driving.

"Hey, Stine, Buddy here. I just got your new pages..."

Vinny zoned out, listening to the music currently playing (something from a musical called "City of Angels?" ) and tapping his hand on the steering wheel.

As the song "All You Have to do is Wait" faded out, Vinny spotted the parking lot coming into view. He switched off the radio and slowed the car down, making sure not to be spotted by any security measures outside the mall.

He creeped through the lot, carefully scanning the rows and rows of empty spots, careful to stay out of view of anything remotely camera-looking. He rolled to a halt near the doors and hopped out of the car, leaving it running for a quick escape. He closed the door quietly and snuck towards the entrance to the abandoned building, peeking in through the blacked-out windows.

Inside, the place was bustling. People with white masks covering their whole faces rushed past, caring various electronic equipment from storefront to storefront. In between the mass of people, large wire-covered beasts roamed the halls, snarling at any employee slacking off. There were so many of them, Vinny had no idea how he would get past them.

He avoided the doors, most likely still being armed with alarms after their escape, and headed for a window. Like the doors, they were painted black, but Vinny was able to pry his hands underneath one and slide it open quietly.

He snuck in, carefully avoiding stepping on any wires or equipment, closing the window behind him. He scanned the room, searching for cameras, then avoiding the line of sight they'd be in.

He glanced around, before spotting a box of those white masks labeled "EXTRAS". He picked one up and slipped it on, surprised that he could still see through the solid white material.

He then walked out of the room, stiffly like the others. He needed to blend in, somehow.

Luckily, none of the employees were talking, so there was no fear of his voice being recognized. He glanced around before walking out into the open, joining the throes of employees wandering the halls.

A wire beast stepped heavily by him, robotic voice echoing sounds of it sniffing. It glanced at Vinny, sniffing him for a moment, before turning away to growl at some slacking employees.

Vinny stayed with the crowd, walking toward the next storefront over where everyone was gathering wires. He picked up a box and turned, walking it back to the other storefront.

He had no idea why they were doing this, but to blend in he presumed he would keep doing this as long as necessary.

"Attention all Employees, please return to your normal work stations." Came a voice from over the intercom. It sounded like Hetch from the radio.

The employees stopped, dropping their boxes in place and filed toward various office spaces. Vinny followed, taking a chair and mimicking what the others were doing.

Another Employee walked over and stood by the chair, staring.

Vinny looked up, nervously, but before he could open his mouth to speak there was another figure behind the first.

"082... why are you not at your station?" Asked the figure, stepping forward so that Vinny could see his face better. It wasn't much of a face, moreso as it was another mask, this one black instead of white. He had a red hoodie that obscured the rest of his body, his hands tucked in the pockets.

The Employee looked down at Vinny, before looking back at Hetch.

Hetch smiled innocently. "If someone else is in your designated spot, Employee, you must find a new one. This is protocol. Unless you need reprogramming?"

Vinny looked back at the computer screen, watching the screensaver bounce around. He didn't want to look suspicious or be caught. He just needed more information.

The Employee looked at Vinny again, frozen.

Hetch clicked his tongue. "Tch, you know better, Employee. Security? Take 082 to reprogramming." He gestured to the large wire beast, who complied, grabbing 082 by the throat and picking them up, dragging them out of the office.

Hetch then turned to Vinny. "Good job, 091. The Founder will be pleased with your performance."

Vinny nodded jerkily before focusing again on the screensaver, eyes tracking the icon as it bounced. Hetch eventually walked away, talking with the other employees and wire beasts. Vinny strained his ears, listening intently.

After a few minutes, Hetch's phone rang.

He picked up. "Yello?"

Vinny couldn't hear the voice on the other end, but Hetch's demeanor switched from authoritative to defensive quickly.

"Y-yes sir. I have all the Employees searching every network for any signs of them." A pause. "I know that I should be searching for a new protag, but I have hope! They couldn't have gotten far." Another pause. "O-obsessed?! I'm not obsessed, I just want my- I mean, our, company to succeed! Showfall Media will prosper, I promise you, Founder."

Vinny's head shot up at the mention of the Founder. They seemed to be the overlord of this whole operation. He made a mental note and kept listening. The call devolved into Hetch nodding and making sounds of agreement before walking out of the room. Vinny looked around before standing up, eager to get out and tell their friends what he'd learned.

As he went to leave, a wire beast stepped in front of him, blocking his way and snarling.

Vinny chuckled nervously. "Uh... I have to use the bathroom?"

The beast roared, and everyone employee in the area shot up, staring at Vinny. Vinny was frozen for a few moments, before he shook it off and dodged around the beast, running toward the doors.

He vaguely heard Hetch's voice screaming for him in the background, but the wind was too loud. He tore off the white mask and kept running, dodging and weaving until he got to the doors. He slammed through them, not caring about the alarms, and ran to the car. He hopped in and put it in reverse, turning around swiftly.

As he turned, he caught a glimpse of the employee's that were chasing him stop abruptly at the door, reaching out but not exiting the facility. Vinny made another mental note and sped off, tearing through the parking lot so that he could get home as fast as possible.

He clenched the steering wheel, mumbling vague prayers to himself as he exited the parking lot and entered the winding forest again. He didn't let himself relax until he was sure that no one was following him. He glanced behind over and over, until he relaxed and flipped on the radio again.

The showtunes channel fired up, playing some sort of quirky love song. He hummed along, still gripping the steering wheel.

"The kind of a pal who'd slip you a file past the prison guard! Loyal to the nth degree!" The radio rang out with the woman's nasally voice.

Vinny kept driving, humming along to each song that played.

Eventually the City of Angels songs ran out and the station switched to a musical called "Waitress". Vinny turned up the radio and sang along to the songs, bopping his head to the rhythm.

After a long drive, he spotted the cabin in the distance. As he pulled in closer, he noticed that the others were walking in the surrounding woods, calling out something.

Vinny turned down "You're Never Getting Rid of Me" and rolled down the window.

"VINNY! WHERE ARE YOU?" Called Niki, facing in the opposite direction of the car.

Vinny stuck his head out the window. "Right here! Sorry!"

Niki whirled around, watching as Vinny pulled into the dirt driveway, turning off the car. She stalked up to him as he got out of the jeep and slapped him across the face.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?" Vinny rubbed his cheek, stinging from the slap.

Niki huffed. "You decided to fuck off to... god-knows-where, without clearing it with us first? What the fuck were you thinking!?"

Vinny kept rubbing his cheek, backing away. "Chill out, damn. I'll tell you guys once we're all back inside."

Niki raised her hand to slap again before signing and lowering it. "Alright, but it better be a good fucking explanation or I swear to god..."

Vinny chuckled nervously and followed the fuming woman into the cabin, seeing that almost everyone was awake.

Sneeg was sitting in the couch next to Valkyrat (who had taken off her mask? Since when?), who was sitting next to Rattkuno (also without his mask). Ethan and Austin were huddled close together on the loveseat, while the Puzzler sat next to them, legs crossed. Niki sat down in the rocking chair, gesturing for Vinny to sit down on the chair across from her.

Vinny sat down, folding his hands in his lap.

Niki raised an eyebrow, tilting her head. "So? Explain."

Vinny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... I went back to the mall-"

Chapter Text

"YOU WHAT?" Ranboo heard Niki screech from the other room.

They lifted their head off the pillow, craning their neck to look out the crack in the doorway that Sneeg had left when he went to look for Vinny.

"Listen! I can explain-!" Vinny's panicked voice filtered through.

Sneeg piped up. "You fuckwit! You could have gotten us all killed! Worse yet, you could still get us all killed!"

Vinny stuttered as he tried to explain. "Hey! I made sure no one was following me. I guarantee that."

Ranboo heard Ethan scoff angrily. "You made sure? You positive? Cause what I'm hearing is that we need to change location. Whoever's in charge could be on their way at this very moment."

"Wait-" Austin interjected- "Charlie isn't even healed yet! We can't just up and leave again."

"Well what do you expect, genius? That we sit and wait until someone comes and picks us off?" The Puzzler spoke up as well. He must have also woken up.

"I don't know! Maybe we should have lookouts or something! Board up any openings, make this place a fortress. All I'm saying is that we cannot under any circumstances move right now. Not while Charlie's still down and out." Austin's voice moved around, as if he were pacing.

The rat girl spoke up. "What about food? Water? Actual places to rest? You guys managed to get us all out of that death trap, why not again? Plus, Charlie's the only one still asleep."

There was a pause in conversation before Austin groaned. "I know that, Syk, but it's too dangerous, I'm telling you! Why don't we just check the car for trackers, then lay low for a while."

"Um, my point still stands? What about food and water?" The rat girl sounded annoyed.

Niki clapped her hands. "Alright, calm down everyone. Austin, you Ethan and Sykkuno go out and check the car. Jerma, Val, you check the kitchen for any sort of food. Sneeg, you me and Vinny will chat with Ranboo."

The group split up, and Ranboo sat up as Sneeg, Vinny, and Niki entered the room.

Sneeg smiled at Ranboo kindly. "Hey, dude. Did we wake you up?"

Ranboo shook his head. "Nah, my throats been hurting." His voice was still raspy, the bleeding from the wires being removed had stopped, but it hurt to talk too much.

Vinny turned to them. "Ran... do you remember anything about that place? The mall?"

"Mall? You mean the warehouse?" Ranboo tilted their head, confused.

Niki shook her head. "The warehouse was a set in the mall. Supposedly so was the cabin you guys were in before. The whole thing broadcasted from an abandoned mall 2 hours from here."

Ranboo's head pounded as vague memories swam around his head.

Cabin.

Warehouse.

Mall.

Cabin.

Warehouse.

Mall.

Box.

Cabin.

Warehouse.

Mall.

Box.

Their head started to hurt. Cabin. Warehouse. Mall. Box. Cabin. Warehouse. Mall. Box.

A vivid flashback struck him, watching himself as he ran through an abandoned mall with Charlie. They ran together, then Charlie was gone and it was just Ranboo. Then Ranboo was on a platform, crucified? They shook their head.

"What... what was that place?" They asked, voice weak.

Vinny wrung his hands. "Apparently it belongs to a company called "Showfall Media". There are two owners, the Founder and Hetch."

Founder. Hetch. Founder. Hetch.

KillFind the Founder. FindKill the Founder.

Hetch. Key. Mall. Box. Hetch. Key. Mall. Box.

Ranboo shook themself out, nodding. "I seem to have some sort of memory of Hetch. And the Founder, too, maybe."

Sneeg nodded, walking forward and sitting on Ranboo's bed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's hard to remember, but you need to try."

Vinny kept going. "There were these... white-masked people walking around, doing... "busy work". Apparently they can get reprogrammed. And there were also these giant wire beasts roaming around."

Security. Showfall. Security. Showfall. Security.

"I didn't get much else, but Hetch seems insistent on getting us back. He put out radio ads and everything. There was even a number to call." Vinny produced a piece of paper with a phone number written on it.

Niki took the paper. "Hmm... 484... what's that area code for?"

"I think somewhere in Pennsylvania. Or New York. I can't remember." Sneeg started fidgeting with the strings on his hoodie.

Niki nodded. "Well, it's a general location, at least. You said you heard it on the radio?"

"Yeah." Vinny leaned against the wall. "I was flipping through stations and I heard mention of missing actors, so I tuned in."

Niki hummed. "Maybe we could use the radio to figure out where we are."

Sneeg shrugged. "Worth a try. It'll be something at least."

Niki exited the room, leaving Vinny, Sneeg, and Ranboo to sit in awkward silence.

Sneeg sighed. "If it's any consolation, Vin, I would have done the same thing."

Vinny cracked a smile. "Really? Even though I'm a fuckwit?"

"Yeah, we'd just both be fuckwits." Sneeg joked good-naturedly. The trio laughed, Ranboo devolving into coughs before lying back.

Niki eventually came back in. "Lostfield. Lostfield Pennsylvania."

Lostfield. Lostfield. Lostfield.

"Call me... Zero."

"The Lostfield Incident."

Lostfield.

Ranboo clutched their head as memories spun in and out around their brain, phantom stabbing pains puncturing their cheeks and temples. He screamed as he felt blood pour out of the invisible wounds, and he scratched at his face in an attempt to find where it was coming from.

Their hands pulled away, bloody, and they screamed again, trying to resist who it was grabbing and pulling at them.

"-boo! Ranboo! Calm down, it's okay!" Sneeg's voice faded into Ranboo's awareness, poking through the fog of delirium.

"....Sneeg?" They asked tentatively, as if any word could reignite the pain.

Sneeg pulled Ranboo's hands away from his face, smiling gently. "There you are. You're okay. You're safe."

Ranboo nodded blankly. "I'm safe."

Sneeg smiled wider and dropped their hands. "There we go. What happened?"

Ranboo was still dazed, barely remembering anything that had just happened. It was like a switch had flipped in his brain, making everything seem much calmer now.

"I think... they're controlling my brain." Ranboo managed to say, before his vision went black and he was unconscious before his head hit the pillow.

Chapter Text

Austin opened the trunk and rummaged around in the various objects strewn about.

"I don't see anything in here," he shouted to the others, pulling a strange assortment of tools out, "though there are some weird things, like tools I guess."

Ethan popped up behind him. "Tools? Like for what?"

Austin picked up one that looked like a radio. The words "SPIRIT BOX" were emblazoned across the top. "Like this, I guess."

Ethan reached over and plucked the spirit box from Austin's hands. "Hm. I wonder what it's for."

"Presumably something to do with spirits?" Austin tapped the box before turning back to the other objects. "There's other stuff here, too. Like these weird rods and this camera."

Ethan looked over Austin's shoulder to inspect the camera. "It doesn't seem like it's on. Maybe try checking the footage?"

"Oooh, good idea. Maybe we'll learn who owned this car." Austin turned the camera around and turned it on, waiting for it to power on. "Why don't you check the jeep? Maybe there's some clues in there as well."

Ethan nodded and stepped away, Austin briefly missing the close contact of his friend before the camera turned on and distracted him.

He clicked a few times, bringing up the storage. He selected the most recent video and let it play.

"Uh. Hey guys, I'm... um... you can call me Ranboo. I'm recording this as a sort of diary before I go... um... investigate that place."

Austin stared intently at the small screen on the camera, listening to Ranboo talk. They looked younger, happier. They wore a black mask covering the bottom half of their face, and had their hair tied up in a ponytail. They were sat cross legged on the floor next to a stack of books, and they wore a black and white hoodie with black jeans.

"Um... I don't know if I should, like, mention? The name? In case my friends find this and... well... I don't want them to get hurt." The audio glitched out. Austin tried pausing and replaying, but it was only garbled. He sighed and skipped forward. "If you see this... uh... I'm sorry. I should have told you more. Hindsight is 20/20, you know. Hah..."

Ranboo adjusted their mask, picking up one of the books on the stack.

"I've been reading extensively about this "Founder" guy. As much info as I can get. Any time I try to write it down, though, something always happens to the paper. I tried recording my notes but the video file got corrupted. Um... and sometimes I forget what I've learned. But! I'm taking the books with me, so hopefully I'll have everything I need."

Austin paused the video to check the trunk for any books, but couldn't find any. He didn't remember seeing any in the front of the car, either. He let the video play again.

"Um... if all else fails, I might make this into one of those "spooky ghost hunting" videos. I... I might not even have the right location. Um... but yeah. This is day one of my... uh... I don't know what to call this. Lostfield Files? Maybe? Since that's where the place is... um... yeah. Lostfield Files day one. Woohoo."

Ranboo then reached forward and turned off the camera, cutting the video. Austin stared for a while longer, trying to parse out anything from the background that could tell him anything about Ranboo's history, but there was nothing. He shuffled through the video files a bit more, before stumbling on something familiar.

"Hey guys! I'm here with Ethan! Say hi, Ethan!"

Austin's eyes widened as the camera panned to a much younger Ethan, smiling at the camera and waving. He reached out subconsciously, touching Ethan's virtual hand before the camera went back to Ranboo.

"Just recording this so I can say I finally met Ethan! Woo!"

The camera then cut, showing a jubilant Ranboo. They were much younger there, looking to be almost 16. They wore gray mask with a white beanie, and had on a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Their eyes crinkled when they smiled, and Austin felt a pang of sympathy for the younger boy. How long had it been since they were this happy? How long would it be before they could smile like this again?

Ethan broke him out of his thoughts as he approached with Sykkuno.

"What'd ya find?" Ethan rested his chin on Austin's shoulder in order to get a better look.

Austin played the video again, and watched as Ethan's eyes went from curious, to horrified.

"Wh... when was that? I don't... I don't remember that..."

Austin checked the date on the video. "It seems like it was... almost four years ago. Um... June of 2019."

"And now is...?" Ethan looked up at Austin, who turned to Sykkuno.

Sykkuno shrugged. "SOMETIME AUGUST? MAYBE 2023?"

Austin nodded and translated for Ethan, who stared at the camera again. "Four years ago I met Ranboo... and I don't even remember it?"

Austin flipped to the most recent video, showing it to the other two in silence.

When the video was over, Sykkuno tapped on Austin's shoulder.

"THAT WAS WHEN?" He asked, gesturing to the video.

Austin checked the date, but there was none. He checked the picture before it, and it didn't have a date either. He kept scrolling back until he found one photo that was dated. It was a picture of Ranboo and...

"Me..." Austin mumbled, touching the still image of his younger self. "It's me and Ranboo..."

Ethan checked the date. "June of... 2019... and there's no other dates?"

Austin flipped forward to what appeared to be a picture of a whiteboard with illegible writing on it. "Yeah. This is the next one and it doesn't have anything."

Sykkuno signed nervously. "THIS IS WEIRD."

Austin nodded before turning the camera off. "We should show this to the others."

Ethan and Sykkuno nodded. They turned to go back to the cabin, but were stopped by Ethan gasping.

"Wait! I almost forgot! I found this in the jeep. I don't know if it has any significance but..." He produced a crumpled-up drawing. Austin walked to the front of the sedan and smoothed out the drawing on its hood, the other two leaning in to see what it was.

The drawing was a sketch of a person with long hair and stubble on their chin. They had friendly eyes and were wearing what seemed like an abstract patterned sweatshirt. Under the drawing was the word "HETCH". Signed at the bottom was Niki's name.

"Niki drew this?" Austin asked, studying the well-drawn features of "Hetch".

Ethan pointed to the symbol next to the man's face. "Isn't that the symbol on the back of Ranboo's mask?"

Austin squinted his eyes, looking at the symbol. "Looks like it... I wonder what it's for."

Ethan nodded, before grabbing the drawing back. "And why would Niki have drawn it?"

The three stared between themselves before they silently walked back to the cabin, opening the door quietly and slipping inside, in case Ranboo was asleep.

Sneeg burst out of the bedroom door. "Guys. Where the fuck have you been?! Ranboo just passed out and he thinks that "they" are in his brain."

Sykkunos hands were a flurry of movement. "THEY? WHO?"

Austin translated and Sneeg ran a hand down his face. "I don't... I don't fucking know. But Niki's trying to see if there's any way she can help. Did you guys find anything? Any trackers?"

Austin shook his head. "No trackers, but we found a camera. There's pictures and videos of Ranboo on it. There's even a video with Ethan and a picture with me."

Sneeg stared for a moment before grabbing the camera. "No... that's... that's not possible. Ranboo's always been there... with me and Charlie... we grew up together..."

Austin showed Sneeg the pictures and videos, and the man stood silently as he watched them.

"They... they didn't..." He clutched his head, almost dropping the camera.

Austin caught it as Ethan went up and put a hand on Sneegs shoulder. "We have no idea what's going on, Sneeg, but we need to find out. I don't think it can wait much longer. We need to get everyone in here and piece the puzzle together."

Sneeg stared at the ground before nodding. "Yeah. Maybe it'll help us find out what they did to Ranboo and Charlie."

"We also found a drawing, but we can present it when everyone's here." Ethan gestured to the drawing he was holding.

Sneeg nodded again. "Good. Good idea. I'll get Niki and Vinny, you guys get the others in the kitchen."

The four broke apart, Sykkuno rushing to the kitchen to eagerly sign to Jerma and Val. Ethan and Austin shared a look before sitting down on the loveseat together.

"Where do you think we all came from, Austin?" Ethan asked, leaning into Austin's shoulder slightly.

Austin rested his head on Ethan's. "I don't know, Eef, but we're gonna find out. I promise."

Ethan nodded, and the two sat in wait for the others to pile into the living room. What was their whole story? How did they end up at that mall? Austin had a feeling that it was all going to make sense soon.

Chapter Text

Sykkuno, Jerma, and Val sat on the couch, while Ethan, Austin, and Vinny sat on the loveseat, crowded together. Sneeg and Niki came out of the room, leaving the door open so that Ranboo could hear the conversation.

Niki sat down on the floor while Sneeg took the last chair, slumping down in it.

"So, who wants to start?" Sneeg gestured to the ones on the couches, "You guys seem to know the most now."

Sykkuno signed to Val and Jerma. "WE SHOULD TALK FIRST. MAKES SENSE."

Val nodded. "Sykkuno says we should speak first. It makes sense, as we were there the longest."

Sneeg raised an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt.

Sykkuno, Val, and Jerma spoke and signed to each other, trying to figure out who should speak first.

Sykkuno pointed to Jerma, and Val nodded her agreement. Jerma took a breath.

"Uh, well. It's- okay. Um. Let's see, the farthest back I can remember is my first show. I was... oh I don't know... I might have been twenty? Twenty-one? I can't remember. I was working on infomercials with Showfall, making advertisements to entice more people to apply to work for them. Each infomercial was one hour, and required almost six hours of re-shoots and costume changing.

"I remember, after the infomercials aired, the Founder needed us to move locations. I don't know where we were before, and where we went after, but I know we had to move. I can't recall why. After moving, though, they started up a game show about puzzles, with me as the main antagonist. "The Puzzler" was always my character, even when I didn't want it to be. I... I remember at one point someone brought up the idea of sidekicks, aiding me with my puzzles so I could do all the recording in an office, reducing labor costs."

Jerma glanced at Sykkuno and Val, Sykkuno giving him a thumbs up.

Jerma smiled weakly before turning back to the others. "That's when Sykkuno and Val showed up. I... I don't know where they came from, but someone said that they had been extras on set before. They became my "rats" that I could boss around and improv with. After a couple years, the show petered out, and I was given other roles. But I remember one day, someone approached me. They said "Jerma, how would you feel to be the Puzzler again?" I was elated. I agreed immediately. I poured over the script but as I did I realized what they were going to do to me. So- so I went off-script in pre-recorded bits, leaving Ranboo a key to the exits that I had pocketed off some employee's desk. My thought was, if I couldn't get out, maybe they could."

The other sat in silence as Jerma spoke, Sneeg and Niki enraptured in his story. Sykkuno nodded along, emphasizing bits that he knew were true from experience.  When Jerma finished, the group stayed silent, before Val spoke up.

"Wait, but you said you didn't use a key?" She stated inquisitively.

Jerma shook his head. "I said I didn't use that key that you showed me. The one I used was bronze."

"Oh." Val sat back down, thinking.

Sykkuno signed to Sneeg and Niki. "I KNOW THIS TRUTH. I WAS THERE."

Val translated and Niki nodded. "How much do you remember, Kuno?"

Sykkuno thought. "NOT MUCH. BITS AND PIECES. MOSTLY BLANK."

Niki nodded again after translation, rubbing her own head. "Same with me. Everything's blank before that carousel, even though I know I existed before that. I have proof."

Sykkuno tilted his head, and Niki pulled papers out from her pocket.

"These are registration papers. The white jeep that we took belonged to me. There was a key in my pocket that supposedly went in the ignition, but I don't know where it went."

"Oh, I have it," Val reached into her own pocket and handed it over. The key was plain, as average as a car key could be, and had the Jeep logo on it. "It fell out of your pocket when you fell asleep," she explained as Niki turned the key over in her hand.

"Your name is Nikita?" Ethan asked as he passed the papers to Sneeg, who looked like a stiff breeze would knock him over.

"That's what you get out of this?" Austin teased, knocking his shoulder against Ethan's. "This is good, though," he continued after a moment. "If we know Niki's full name, we can try and figure out the rest of ours."

Jerma nodded. "It makes sense. No offense to everyone, but our names aren't exactly standard. Only Ethan, Austin, Niki, and Charlie seem to have regular names."

"SYKKUNO IS NORMAL," Sykkuno signed with a huff, crossing his arms.

"I'm not saying it isn't!" Jerma backpedaled. "I'm just saying it isn't... standard. I mean, I'm certain my real name isn't Jerma."

"Nor mine Sneeg," Sneeg spoke up as he gave the papers back to Niki, who tucked them back into her pocket. "But... I don't know. I've always been Sneeg. Who else am I if not Sneeg?"

The group was silent, before Vinny sucked in a breath from where he was looking over the camcorder again. "Guys, look;"

He turned the camcorder around, showing a picture that was far older than the ones that Austin had found. They seemed to be of three young boys, all with matching smiles with their hair and clothes in various states of disarray. Sneeg choked as he looked at the second boy.

"That's- that's me," he stuttered, taking the camcorder and looking closer. "And that's Charlie. I recognize him from when he was younger, at the-- the place."

He clicked forward a few pictures in silence, before snarling and shoving the camcorder back into Vinny's hands. "What the fuck does this all mean!? Charlie, Ranboo, and I clearly knew each other when we were young, but not at Showfall?"

"Wait, what if--" Val cut herself off, frowning.

Sykkuno picked up on what she was thinking. "WHAT IF YOUR MEMORIES WERE EDITED?"

Jerma translated, and Sneeg stared at Sykkuno for a long time. Sykkuno felt as if the other man was trying to search his mind for clues, for answers that he wouldn't find.

"Let's put what we know together," Austin broke the tense silence. "Ranboo, Charlie, and Sneeg knew each other as children. Assumedly, Sneeg and Charlie went missing and Ranboo went to find them. Meanwhile, Jerma is working for Showfall as an advertiser before he gets his own show as the Puzzler. His show gets cancelled one day and he's put on retainer for minor roles, until Ranboo comes around and they bring back the Puzzler for one final show. Anything else?"

"Me and Syk showed up at one point, and we don't know where," Val added. "What about you guys? Niki clearly drove to the mall of her own volition, or she at least got there in her car."

"Ranboo as well, since his camcorder was in the sedan," Vinny added, still looking through the pictures.

"Well, we know that Ranboo showed up to investigate," Sneeg said, leaning against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So what if you guys also did that? Vinny, Ethan, and Austin?"

Austin hummed, "there were a lot of cars in that parking lot."

"There were also a lot of employees," Ethan added, "I mean, how many did you say you saw, Vin?"

Vinny looked up. "Uh, probably over a hundred," he answered, "but they couldn't leave the mall. Like, they stopped at the doors, reaching out, but couldn't leave."

Sykkuno's brain was hurting. "SO CARS COULDN'T BE THEIRS."

"Unless they were bound to the mall after showing up, no," Vinny shook his head.

"Guys," Ranboo's voice came from the doorway. They looked like shit, in Sykkuno's opinion. His jaw was bloody and their voice raspy from injuries. There was a large gash on the left side of their mouth that showed their still-wired teeth as they talked. "What if the parking lot was a set. What if this is all still a set?"

Austin stood up, walking over and helping Ranboo over to the couch where Vinny had been sitting. "If it was, they're doing a shit job of keeping it a set. From what Vinny told us, Hetch and the Founder seemed pretty pissed off at us escaping."

"I don't think the Founder was actually that mad," Vinny corrected, sitting down on the floor next to Sykkuno's legs. "From the one-sided conversation I heard, it sounds like they're more annoyed at having to find a new protagonist. It's Hetch that's obsessed with getting us-- or, at least, Ranboo-- back."

"Hetch..." Ranboo trailed off, looking down at the ground. Niki stood up and crouched in front of him, holding his hand. "I remember something about Hetch. Not a specific memory, but like an emotion or something."

"And?" Ethan prompted, his leg bouncing as they all waited for Ranboo to continue.

"Betrayal," Ranboo finished. "Betrayal, and then a lot of pain. I-" they cut themself off, staring at the ground again.

"Ran?" Niki frowned, squeezing his hand. Sykkuno and Val shared concerned looks. "What's wrong?"

Ranboo continued to be silent for a few moments, before blinking and looking up again. "Sorry, what happened?"

"That's not good," Jerma said aloud, blinking at Ranboo. He turned to Sneeg, who was similarly concerned. "That's bad, right?"

"Niki," Sneeg ignored Jerma, much to the man's consternation, "we need to cut the rest of the wires."

"Agreed," Niki sighed. "But these are the worst ones. I'm not even sure if Ranboo's jaw or teeth are real, or if they were replaced with the wired ones."

"Shit," Sneeg punched the wall, shaking his hand out after. "What can we do?"

"Hey, maybe I can help," came a voice from the bedroom.

Everyone turned, shocked, to see Charlie standing there, looking only slightly like he'd just been operated on.

"Char?" Sneeg whispered, staring at the man.

"In the slime," Charlie answered, before promptly passing out.