Chapter Text
Your head really hurts.
That is the understatement of the year. You were just trying to boot up your laptop, anger filling you as you slam the door to your room after one of many fights with your parents. And then—what—you blacked out? Vision gone swimming? You don’t really care about any of that, all you want is for your head to stop feeling like it’s being shattered against a glass mirror.
Obviously, attempting to sit straight up will do no good for your poor head, so you opt to move your arms around to feel the floor. It’s wooden and dusty, and your grimace as grit cakes your bare arms, your T-shirt digging against your back. When your headache begins to subside, you slowly push yourself off the ground, blinking.
At first you can’t tell if your eyes are still closed, but blinking several times eventually makes one thing clear to you: whatever room you are in, it’s darker than your asshole.
(Not the time to be thinking of explicit jokes like that, damn it.)
You glance around, a knot in your belly as you don’t really know where you are. You’re met with a surrounding that seems like a very old living room, all but possessing a couch, fireplace, and TV screen. The rest beyond you is the kitchen, and two doors on either side of you.
It’s not your living room. That much is clear. You glance down, feeling your body to make sure you’re not missing any parts, and exhale in relief. The same loose T-shirt and cargo pants you had on some hours ago were still there, though you regret not putting on a coat or something. It’s cold here.
“Oh…kay…” You murmur to yourself as you finally get up from the floor and slowly peer at the walls. Where the hell am I?
“Hello?”
A small, shaky voice reaches your ears. You’re briefly startled, heart jumps into your throat, and you whip around and put your hands up in a defensive position, only to see that the speaker is, in fact, a child.
Two glowing yellow eyes stare back at you, wide and unsure. They looked about the age of eight, wearing a dark maroon overcoat that covered her hands, accompanied by a soft purple scarf that trailed down behind them. What catches your eye is the hat this child has on their head, protruding what seems to be…cat ears. A cat-child. Or just a kid that has ears like a cat. And eyes.
“Um,” you say softly to fill the silence, careful not to scare them, “Sorry for breaking into your house.”
Their eyes widen, and they rapidly shake their head. “O-oh, it’s not mine! I just…woke up here. But I was at home with my mama a few hours ago,” They say glumly. “Who are you?”
You state your name and hesitantly take a step forward towards the child. Seeing as they make no move to run away, you take more steps until you are close enough to see their face clearly, within arms reach. “The same thing happened with me, so, I guess we’re on the same boat.” You lower yourself to the child’s height. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Niko,” Niko says, a tiny smile glinting on their lips. Your shoulders sag. At least they’re not afraid of me, you think as your only comfort. They look around the room, and then back at you. “So, um, what are we supposed to…?”
“We should probably find a way out of here first,” you suggest. Being older than Niko, yet while you don’t really like taking any leadership position, your heart tells you to protect the kid. You glance left and right, deciding where to go. “Do you want to check this room here while I search the other?”
Niko shifts in place. “Is it…is it okay if I stay close to you? I don’t wanna be alone in the dark,” they whisper.
You smile softly, and hold your hand out towards them. They take it and you feel their fluffier, tinier hand placed in your palm before you grip it gently. As you’re about to move, though, a sudden spark from the TV makes both you and Niko flinch, the child cowering closer to you. But it was only an electrical spark, and now the room is dimly lit in a blue light, letting you see better.
With Niko close beside you, you feel less anxious while walking into what you assume to be the kitchen. Under a flat table with two chairs on both sides lay an empty black backpack with a white clover on the fabric. You bend and pick it up, surprised to see it light and nothing’s in it.
It wouldn’t hurt to have something to put things in, you decide after pulling the backpack over your shoulders. After all, who knew how long you were going to be stuck here.
Behind you, Niko has opened the fridge and pulled out a glass bottle with a bitter-smelling liquid inside, akin to alcohol. You turn and see them grimace while closing the fridge and walking back over to you, holding the bottle up, disgusted.
“What is this stuff?” Niko asks you, failing to keep the grim voice hidden. You take the bottle from their hands and look it over.
“Smells like alcohol,” you murmur. Your eyes trail back to the TV sparking, and towards the bottle again, before a lightbulb pops into your head. “Oh, maybe we could use this and the TV sparks to make a torch. Just need something to hold the flame with…” You stare at the bottle, thinking.
“I have a stick!” Niko beams and eagerly rummages through her coat, pulling out a branch. It’s small, but sturdy. “There was a wilted plant in the bathroom and a piece broke off.”
Smiling, you pull Niko along with you as the both of you head towards the TV. You help Niko dip the stick’s tip into the alcohol and lower it to let it catch a spark. Immediately. The tip sets off on fire and gradually shrinks to a decent flame, creating a portable blue light source. Niko then goes over to the fireplace and tosses the stick into the wood, engulfing it in azure flames, lighting up the entire room and making both of you feel warm.
It’s pretty, but you have never seen blue fire before. That only adds on the skepticism you’re experiencing, as this could all be a dream that you haven’t woken up from yet.
You hear Niko shuffling beside you as they bend down and pick up an object from the ground. Turning your head, you’re met with a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring back at you as they hold a key up to your face.
“It probably goes into that door over there,” you nod your head towards the door to your right, which has a smaller keyhole than the other. Niko hums in agreement and waits for you to come closer before walking towards it, placing the key into the hole and hearing a click as it unlocks.
You’re met with a daunting staircase that leads to a bottomless pit. You can’t even see the floor. You glance back towards the fireplace where the torch has already been inflamed and let out a sigh. “We should’ve kept that torch,” you mumble.
Niko tilts their head in confusion. “I can see just fine, though. It’s not too dark?”
At first, you’re blank. It’s then that you focus on how bright the child’s eyes are, shaped like cat eyes and brilliant yellow, that you can find out why their vision might be a tad better than yours, especially in the dark.
You point your finger to Niko’s eyes and back at your own. “Your eyes, they’re really bright. That’s why you’re able to see better than me,” Suddenly, a cute nickname pops up into your head. “Shiny eyes,” you say, on a happy note.
“Ohh, that makes sense! My eyes are glowy,” Niko smiles. “But everyone in my village is like that! I’ve never seen anyone with dark eyes like yours.”
After a moment of staring down the dark hallway, you hear Niko take a deep breath and let it out, then brush their small hand against yours to take it. You hold it gently, allowing the child to take the first step down the staircase, while your other hand is focused on feeling the wall for purchase.
You try to focus on keeping one foot in front of the other, careful to not step on Niko’s scarf, but it suddenly feels like your brain has a heartbeat and is beating the fuck out of your head.
[̴…̴-̴h̴e̴a̴r̴ ̴m̴e̴…̴t̴h̴e̴r̴e̴?̴]̴
There’s someone, something, behind you. That voice, staticky, like a computer monitor. You abruptly stop walking and whip your head around, heart beating out of your chest, but all that follows is the looming sound of glitch and static that fades away along with the pounding in your head.
“A-Are you okay?”
Niko’s voice forces you to take a breather, and you turn around to face them once again. Willing a small smile, you nod, a slight but certain affirmation that there is absolutely nothing going in with your head. Niko squints at you in concern, but doesn’t say anything and continues leading you down the stairs. Eventually the both of you reach the bottom, and you can breathe again.
Niko pulls you forward down the long hallway until both of you reach the end. You try listening for that computer-like voice again, but when nothing comes, you assume it’s just your paranoia getting to you from waking up in a different world.
An abnormally large lightbulb is what you find, and there is no light coming from it. Niko glances at you from the corner of their eye, and you do the same, both feeling uneasy. You tense as Niko walks forward and bends down, gradually gaining confidence to hold the bulb in their arms. The bright flash that it emits lasts only a few seconds before dimming into a soft, amber glow, radiating warmth.
You blink. Niko looks just as surprised as you are, but you can’t help it. “Did you charge the bulb?”
Niko giggles at your joke, and your heart swells at being able to comfort them in such a strange situation, but their expression slowly changes to one of suspicion as they stare at the bulb in their hands. “I don’t know, it just…lit up on its own. But it feels nice and warm,” they add, nuzzling the lightbulb against their cheek.
Niko holds the bulb out to you, and you slowly put your hands on the glass. It is warm, comfortingly so, and you resist the urge to hug it to your chest. Your bare arms are feeling a little chilly, and though your oversized T-shirt covers the majority of your upper arms, it is quite thin.
It doesn’t take you two long to head back up towards the living room, with the lightbulb shining bright enough so you could see the tall staircase. Niko has long let go of your hand, both in favor of holding the lightbulb, but you don’t complain. The two of you wander over to the other door you haven’t had a good look at yet. It’s rusty, like the door to the basement, except the keyhole is the same shape as the lightbulb Niko is holding.
We eye each other, none of us knowing what to say. I stare at the hole and towards the shining orb in Niko’s hand, finally suggesting, “Nothing else we can do besides place it in there, if we have hope in getting out of here.” In response, Niko nods, hesitating before lifting the lightbulb into the hole.
You’re met with a blinding white flash of light, and you shut your eyes close, one hand covering them. You hear Niko squeak in shock and shove their hand into yours, which you don’t even stop to tightly grip onto.
When you wake up again, you are in a void, and cold water surrounds you.