Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Where do you think you’re going?! Come back here this insta-”

You slam the door to the outside shut with a loud bang, cutting off the voice calling out angrily behind you as you step out into the pouring rain.

Wearing nothing but a thick hoodie, dirty sneakers and worn down denim jeans, you make your way onto the streets. It’s dark out, the golden glow of the streetlights the only thing illuminating the few feet in front of you. You should have grabbed a coat, but you refuse to turn around. 

Anywhere away from that house was better than stepping a foot back inside. 

The town is quiet at this hour, but your furious thoughts are plenty loud to fill the silence. You’re tired, tired of being misunderstood, tired of being neglected. Exhausted even.

Pulling the hood of your hoodie over your head with the wet fabric pinched between your fingers, you click your tongue angrily at the idea. You are desperately in need of some space, somewhere no one will come to find you.

…You know exactly where to go.

…

After walking for a while, you find yourself just outside of town. 

The rain softly clatters down onto the plastic trash bags in the tall metal garbage container next to you.

You find yourself at the local dump. 

Walking onto the deteriorated asphalt terrain, you’re surrounded by complete silence aside from the droplets falling from the sky. The wet ground is covered in cracks and holes, some so old that grass had started growing inside them. Around you are more garbage containers, stocked with all kinds of things people have tossed. Furniture pieces, electronics, broken toys, and more. Smaller household trash was often immediately transported out of town, but since larger pieces needed special transport, they were always collected here first. Some would get recycled, some would not.

No one would look for you here, so it was a great place to find some proper peace of mind. 

After walking for a bit longer, you stop, and defeatedly sink down to sit on the wet asphalt beneath you. You are already soaked by this point, your wet clothes pressing down on you during what is thankfully a lukewarm summer night. 

A heavy sigh escapes you. Some strange part of you feels at place here. You feel unwanted, out of place. Tossed aside, not much unlike the garbage that surrounds you. 

Frowning to yourself, you reach into your pocket, and take out a small, folded pocket knife, fidgeting with it as you pull it into the night air.

You know you can’t stay at the dump forever, you think as your free hand clenched into a frustrated fist. Eventually you’ll have to go back, with no other places to go. Your friends had moved out of this godforsaken town long ago, but you haven’t been able to for a variety of reasons.

You take a firm hold of your pocket knife, fingers trembling ever so slightly as you slowly raise your hand up into the air. Gritting your teeth with shaky breath, you desperately wish to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Away from this mess, away from the stares of disapproval, the frowns of judgement. 

You raise the knife up higher, blade aimed downward before you swiftly slam it down, stabbing it into the patch of rain soaked grass beside you, piercing the soil.

Your head tilts down, leaning onto your raised knees as tears well up in your eyes, your frustrations coming to a boil.

…Lost deep in your overwhelming thoughts however, you failed to notice-

The clouds of pure darkness that started forming around you.

Chapter Text

The moment you look back up, you find yourself engulfed in complete darkness.

A rush of fear overcomes you, completely forcing down your pre-existing thoughts. What’s happening? Did the sky turn dark? You can’t even see the ground beneath your feet. 

Rushing to pick your knife off the ground, you get back on your feet, turning rapidly in every direction in search of something, anything distinguishable in the void.  

Suddenly, you see something in the distance. …A light? 

You don’t wait, putting an anxious speed in your step as you walk forward in the direction of the far away glow, knife clenched firmly in your hand. 

As you do, it’s as if the world around you slowly regains its clarity, and you slow down your walk as a result. You see piles of objects, much bigger than they’re supposed to be. The sky is a strange purple, and the floor beneath you a strange mixture of blue-ish grass and black asphalt. 

Before you can take in more details, something scurries by your feet, your body flinching in surprise as your gaze turns downward to see what looks like a rounded coffee table, its legs animated like that of a bug. …Are those, paws?

As you take a look, the creature lunges upward, snatching the knife from your hand to your surprise with what looked like a strange mix between a small drawer and a tongue.

“Hey!!”

Terrified of losing your only means of self defense in an unfamiliar place, you run after the thing with a frustrated frown of determination on your face. Slowly catching up before making a desperate lunge of your own to catch the creature.

Missing your goal just barely, your hand manages to at least grab onto one of the creature’s back legs, your fingers tightening their grip firmly to not let go. “Stop! I need that!!” You yell angrily as the creature pulls you across the floor trying to get away. 

You struggle to see as your face is dragged through the blue grass, until you hear a faint crack, and your body comes to an abrupt stop.

…You hear what sounds like a pained whine soon after.

Looking up with your face lightly scratched, you see a broken off piece of wood still clutched tightly in your hand.

Uh oh.

You lift your head further in the direction of the whining sound, your slightly blurry gaze meeting with two large, brightly colored, heeled yellow shoes just a few feet away from you. 

…A nervous gulp escapes you as your eyes slightly widen.

Looking up further, you see the creature from earlier, hiding fearfully behind the legs in front of you as it whines. 

You have no clue what you’re even looking at, or where you are. But you feel the overwhelming urge to apologize. Did you accidentally tear their leg off?? How is this thing alive in the first place??

Before you could possibly get the chance however, an unfamiliar, loud buzzing sound emits from just above you.

…Your body freezes, only your head able to move as you look up to find an impossibly tall figure, dressed in shades of purple and gray, hunched over towards you. Its large CRT head is mere inches away from yours, bright loud static glowing on its cracked screen. 

"Well. Well. Well."

Chapter Text

As if things couldn’t get any weirder, there you are. In an unfamiliar place, accompanied by inanimate objects that came to life, and a tall figure with a CRT for a head.

Simply staring at the buzzing static, you find yourself at a loss for words. 

The figure straightens his back, standing up normally, before clapping his hands together once as he regains his posture.

“A surprise visit from a lightner, how delightful! ”

Your face squints in light disgust at the horribly hidden sarcasm in his voice. You can’t tell if the underlying tone is anger, disgust, or both . 

“Where am I.”

You ask, your voice serious and monotone. Without even realizing, you attempted to appear as unafraid as possible.

“Why! The dump of course! Haha!” The figure answers, a forced smile visible on its cracked CRT screen. “Isn’t it obvious?”

As he speaks,  you slowly get back on your feet. Wiping some grass and small rubble off of your clothes. “I don’t remember it looking like this.” 

The CRT laughs, some strange static-y distortion audible as he does. “Oh! You would know how it’s supposed to look wouldn’t you? Haha!” He chuckles, the tone of his voice both oddly cruel and light hearted at the same time. You frown.

“What is that supposed to mea-”

“Goodness!-” He interrupts. “I haven’t even introduced myself!” 

He leans down slightly towards you, gloved hand extended in your direction.

“I’m Mister Ant Tenna!” He says cheerfully, screen flickering awkwardly while he does. The way he speaks is completely different from before, as if he had said those exact words hundreds of times. “But you can call me Tenna!”

Hesitantly, you grab his hand. Tenna squeezes it a little too firmly in response, and shakes it in such a way the joints in your wrist ache from the force. “And you are?”

You don’t answer for a moment as he lets go of your hand. A part of you doesn’t want to introduce yourself. Doesn’t that imply you’re sticking around? That you’re not leaving? As if you want to stay in this place. …But, at the same time, you don’t want to go home either.

“I’m, uh- [Y/N].”

To your surprise, you watch as your name appears on Tenna’s screen in bold, curly letters, accompanied by some highly animated star graphics. “Ahaha! Such a lovely name!!” He cheers with artificial joy, the bent antennae on his head bouncing ever so slightly.

…You frown a little in both confusion and suspicion, struggling to place the way he’s acting.

Suddenly, the tone in his voice sinks, lowering to a much less animated version. “Now, about that-"

He points to the piece of wood in your other hand. 

You feel your grip tighten slightly as you realize. “O-Oh I-” 

Tenna chuckles, bending down towards the creature still hiding behind his legs, extending his hand to its mouth with the palm facing up. “You can’t blame the little thing for stealing this from you now, can you?” 

The creature opens its mouth and drops the knife into Tenna’s hand. You watch as he stands back up, the knife looking embarrassingly small while he’s holding it. “Speaking of, we should address one, teensy tiny thing.” Tenna mutters.

“If you lay another finger on any of the darkners here-”

He arches forward in your direction, screen completely dark. 

…You feel time stands still for a moment, before Tenna suddenly stands back up and bursts into laughter.

“Ahaha! Well let’s just say it might get messy!” 

…

Tenna lightly adjusts his yellow ribbon as he lets out an obviously forced cough. “Anyway! Probably not a great idea to stick around here huh?” 

I mean, where else would you go? Wherever you are is about as big as the dump itself, so-

Suddenly, in the corner of your eye, you see it. 

It looks like a town, just up ahead in the distance. Crooked lanterns line the slim cracked black asphalt road, emitting a warm, soft light.The houses are in various shapes and sizes, none of them looking quite right. Somehow, everything you see looks out of place, yet still form an oddly harmonious big picture. 

Completely lost in the view, you failed to notice Tenna walking off up ahead without you, carrying the coffee table critter in his arms. 

You quickly follow after with nowhere else to go, heading in the direction of the buildings up ahead.

…As you approach, you notice more strange creatures, staring at you from the windows and trash littered grass.

Something that looked like it was made out of a torn mattress, its arms made of springs.

Something resembling a scratched up, brightly colored set of building blocks, stacked in such a way to have long stretched out arms and legs. 

Something resembling a tall, partially broken bookshelf, standing widely like someone with well trained muscles would.

Surrounding their homes were piles of various things, seemingly stuck together like bushes. White crumbled pieces of paper covering them like flowers.

Catching up just behind Tenna, you awkwardly press your hands together. You know this feeling. The feeling of being stared at. Judged. But normally you at least understood why to some degree, but here?

You feel a whole different kind of out of place.

“...What’s with all the looks?” You mutter softly.

Tenna turns his head slightly to look at you, a non-existent eyebrow raised. “Hm? Ah. Well. You see-” He starts, forcing yet another weird smile. “They’re not used to seeing lightners around.”

“Seeing what around?” You ask, completely puzzled at the strange word.

Tenna pauses in his step, turning to you while lightly petting the critter in his arms as if to reassure it of its safety.

“You. Someone from the lightworld. A lightner. A real person.”

…You hear a strange anger in the way he speaks.

You still don’t really get it, but you do seem to be the only normal thing here. Everything else somehow resembled an object, except you. …You sigh. You, once again, feel out of place.

Tenna seems to notice the way your expression sinks, his expression softening for just a moment as if concerned, before it melts back into something colder.

He keeps walking, and you follow closely behind, not saying a word. Your face angled down towards the floor beneath you. Without you noticing, Tenna peeks over his shoulder, staring at your highly obvious posture. 

Together, you approach a building, much larger than the rest. Some of the windows are smashed, but the building appears mostly intact and functional.

Inside, another strange creature comes running at you and Tenna, seeming worried. You’re not sure, but the way they look reminds you an old, vintage porcelain doll. One side of their face is completely missing.

“Oh dear! What happened to you?!” They utter with worry, looking at the creature in Tenna’s arms. 

Tenna opens his mouth to speak, turning towards you. You’re holding on to your left upper arm with your right hand, your posture arched and shameful, looking away. 

“...A little accident.” Tenna replies.

…You blink in confusion, but upon looking up at Tenna to protest, you catch him simply staring at you, his expression hard to read. Though, …you can swear you see a smidge of sympathy.

“Oh you poor thing!” The doll answers, taking the critter from Tenna’s arms and into their own. “I’ll have you patched up in no time! Don’t you worry!!”

“Thank you for bringing them here Tenna, you’re a star.” 

Tenna puts his hands on his sides in a cartoony fashion. “Just doing my job Dollface. Ha!”

He sounds more genuine than before, but you still can’t help but feel it’s a little off.

Right after he finishes speaking, he turns to you, forcing you to walk with a light push against your upper back. “We’re going elsewhere.” He utters demandingly.

Still attempting to hide yourself from the world, you walk along, unsure of where you’re even going. What could they be thinking at home? Have you gone missing? Are you dreaming? If so, you wish you would wake up already-

Your thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a door opening, Tenna gesturing for you to step inside. 

Without thought or any current willpower, you oblige, and enter. 

The strong smell of cigarettes immediately hits you as you do, before you catch a proper glimpse of the interior. The home is highly decorated, but messy. Decorations in a variety of dark shades litter the home, including old posters, dusty trophies, and more. The room looks like a strange mixture between an office and a bedroom, though, it’s clearly neither. 

Turning back to face Tenna, you catch him lighting a cigarette.

“What is all this?” You ask, newfound concern littered in your voice. 

Tenna holds the cigarette that is pinched between his index- and middle finger up to his mouth, taking a sharp, strong inhale. He seems to get lost in it for a moment, before he blows curls of smoke up into the air of the home.

“Memories, mostly. Things of ...a forgotten time.”

He doesn’t look at you as he speaks.

“What kind of ti-”

“Enough about me!” He interrupts, grinning insincerely so wide his teeth show. “Let’s talk about you .”

You freeze, averting your gaze. There’s no way this dude cares about your whole ordeal.

“You don’t have to pretend you care.” You hiss softly, taking a seat onto the unmade mattress on the floor behind you. 

“Oh but I do!-” He starts, voice drenched in poorly hidden resentment. “You see, we darkners only have one purpose. And it’s to make lightners like you happy!” He insists, before taking another aggressively sharp inhale from his cigarette. 

A silence falls on the room for a moment, before he once again exhales. 

“ Us though?- It’s whatever. Here, we’re all tossed! Discarded! ...Forgotten.”

…You feel a sense of guilt that isn’t yours, your gut telling you not to speak just yet. 

“Once the show ends, that’s it! Mission complete! See you never!! Ahaha!”

You swear you can see a sharp tooth as he laughs. It makes you feel… oddly uneasy.

…

“Hah. I guess I came to the right place then.” You mutter with pained sarcasm, chuckling softly to yourself. 

Tenna’s strange, fake smile sinks. “...Come again?”

You lift your head to stare at him, your expression telling from the reaction on Tenna’s face.

But, before you can reluctantly answer-

A loud, frantic knocking from the door you had come through earlier claims both your and Tenna's surprised attention.

Chapter Text

Without wasting a single second, Tenna walks over to the door, opening it cautiously.

Revealed to be standing outside is a small someone, somehow resembling what looks like an old, stained couch cushion. They must be less than half your height looking at them.

Despite their confusing appearance and anatomy, you can tell their posture resembles that of a tired, anxious person. Their face angled at the ground just in front of where Tenna’s standing, nervously fidgeting with their rounded, partially torn fabric hands.

Tenna kneels down silently. The air in the room somehow feels colder than before as you simply stare, anxiously waiting for something, anything to clear up the troubled atmosphere that is slowly suffocating the space around you. 

Opening their mouth to speak, the little one seems to fail to utter even a single word, before they, defeatedly, place their face in their hands, shoulders shaking up and down as they burst into what you assume to be tears.

“Pip-” Tenna starts, sounding defeatedly concerned.

“M-Mister Tenna-” They hiccup, voice nasally and shaking. “I can’t find- Char anywhere-”

They continue to sniffle aggressively, unable to continue speaking. Somehow, the sight reminds you of a child, despite how they didn’t resemble a usual monster or human whatsoever. …You frown in concern and overwhelming pity. 

Without saying a word, Tenna, screen black, extends his arms outward, resulting in the small someone immediately leaping into their arms, and bursting into loud, child-like cries.

Your heart sinks at the sight. Did someone go missing? Did someone die ? You know you shouldn’t ask. But sitting there, you feel an overwhelming frustration in the powerlessness. Can these ‘people’ even die…?

As you continue to simply look on, the little one pulls back from Tenna’s almost parent-like embrace, wiping something off their face before their face accidentally ends up facing in your direction. Their expression immediately shifts. Tenna turns his head to follow their gaze, his expression turning to one of concern as he realizes. 

The little one sniffles a final time, before sternly pointing at you, still sitting on the mattress. 

“Mister Tenna, is that-”

Your heart skips a beat, the silence that followed is deafening.

Slowly, Tenna rises from his kneeled posture, screen dark. 

Fists clenched, he walks in your direction.

You feel the urge to back away, eyes widened with horror at the overwhelming sense of uncertainty and dread. Are you in danger?? You couldn’t read Tenna’s body language in the slightest as he stopped in his step just in front of you. 

Then, he reaches down. Picking you up by the backside of your hoodie like a cat carrying a kitten. A sharp exhale pushed out of your lungs at the sudden jolt of being lifted off the floor. You swear you can feel the tightness of his grip shift between overly firm and …hesitant. 

“Don’t worry Pipli. I got it.”

His voice is cold as he turns to face the little guy once more, screen still completely dark. 

You see them in the corner of your eye, something clearly shifting within them, overwhelmed with unrestrained anger. 

“I-” 

Before you can say another word, Tenna’s hand jolts up and down ever so slightly, bouncing you ever so briefly in mid-air as if to tell you to shut up. 

…You swallow your words.

“You-!”

Pipli charges forward with a complete lack of coordination, helplessly swinging their short arms up at you as if dying to land a pathetically soft punch in your face with their pillow hands.

“Pipli.”

Tenna’s voice is calm, reassuring. Pipli immediately lowers their arms in response, but holding their pained, angry expression. You felt guilt, overwhelmingly so. But still completely unsure what for. 

“Go home.”

Pipli hesitates at Tenna’s words, their small shoulders tensed. 

“I HATE YOU!”

Their words were sharp as they pointed up at you, piercing right through you, despite your lack of understanding. Despite the child-like nature of it. Your eyes squint close as if attempting to protect yourself from the feelings that followed.

They storm out through the door, poorly suppressed sobs audible as they disappear down the street. 

Tenna closes the door.

…And puts you back on your feet.

You’re standing now, but your back is still arched downward, defeated, oddly upset. 

Tenna lets out a heavy, relieved sigh. “It’s not your fault. Don’t worry.”

…But why does it feel like it is?

“Every so often… Some are taken away.”

You look up reluctantly at his words. He sounded pained, conflicted. Softer than anything he had uttered up until this point. 

“...To where?” 

Your question is reluctant. Was that impolite? Insensitive? Should you know these things already?

A faint buzz and click sound from Tenna’s screen, your face illuminated by shades of orange.

Displayed is fire, crackling violently. You can just barely make out what is burning.

…It’s piles of trash.

…The landfill incinerator.

You swallow something down at the sight. 

So they could die.

“They don’t know everything. But they know people disappear , and don’t come back.” He mutters, the screen going dark.

Your expression continues to melt as you let the idea sink in. These people, somehow, were the local dump come to life. Different objects, different levels of destroyed and abandoned. And this man pouting in front of you…

Is a CRT television.

“I couldn’t bear to tell them what happens to those that vanish.” Tenna remarks, sitting down in a chair that looks like it's on the verge of falling apart. It creaks loudly under his weight.

“...Yeah.”

You’re unsure of what else to say, or if there even is anything for you to say. You came here for peace of mind, escaping from your family. But this?? You have no reason to complain. At least you could go back, hide in your room, and someday move out and live your own life. These things- or, these… people, could only delay the inevitable. 

You awkwardly fidget with your hands, pushing them together as you prepare a question in the depths of your throat.

“How long… have you been here?”

He laughs somberly. His entire posture had melted into something soft, vulnerable. You didn’t have to look hard to see he was hurt thinking about it.

“Not that long.”

Unsure and carefully, you step closer, face drenched in concern. You wait for him to continue silently.

“...I was still on a living room stand not long ago. But I knew this would happen eventually.”

He tilts his head down, fists once again clenched shut. But this time, you’re sure it’s out of a bitter sadness. 

“I had gotten… old. I couldn’t bring them smiles anymore.”

“...Why is that?”

…

“It’s complicated.” Tenna responds hesitantly. “The family… changed. And I couldn’t change with them.”

Suddenly, his face soured. He looks frustrated, almost angry, and lifts his head to look at you proper. 

“...And Lightners will throw out things that don’t serve them anymore.”

With a squeak of the chair beneath him, he stands once more, towering over you, his screen flickering lightly around the crack in the glass panel.

Almost subconsciously, you take a few hesitant steps backwards. The way his mood flipped set off all kinds of alarms. It was like he couldn’t decide how to feel, leading to you never quite knowing when to let your guard down. If someone of his height merely swung a fist at you…

“Someone told me I don’t have to take being thrown away.”

You took another step back.

“Which reminds me…”

You swallow something away, firmly pressing your eyelids shut. It’s over, you’re done for.

Tenna kneels down in front of you, screen dimming ever so slightly as his expression, without you seeing, softened.

“...Why did you come here?”