Archive of Our Own ^beta

Warning: Long pre-story summary.

Author’s Note: Prepare for the longest Author’s Note you’ve ever read from me, or possibly any writer read a fanfic from. I’m still working on No Love Tonight, but today I have to tackle something that’s been on my mind for over a day now.

I didn’t initially think I’d be doing anything to contribute to the Look Outside fandom, but this entry is going to be a unique one for sure. This game has been the only thing on my mind and all I’ve really done in my free time for the last couple of weeks. Not even two weeks of owning it, and I have 52 hours on Steam of it. I’ve played through the game three times now. First time for the correct endings, second time I accidentally failed, and the third was just to grind all the completion achievements. I’ve never been huge on Horror as a genre beyond the Saw franchise, and the only game I’ve really touched in the category was Subnautica. Look Outside has managed to reel me in like a fish much faster and more effectively than almost any game I’ve ever played. I didn’t play it for the horror, just the gameplay. And I’d be lying if I said the gameplay isn’t one of the best attributes to a game I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m still addicted to this game and know I’m far from done playing it.

All that said, if you know a game is horror, you get what you sign up for. I did everything I could to replicate the results of my first playthrough a second time, and I was not only disappointed but flat-out creeped out at the Flawed Ritual ending. I’m one of many SpongeBob fans who agree the Teenage Gary episode really should not have existed, let alone stayed on the air for reruns over the years to come. And funny enough, I heard the developer of Look Outside, Francis Coulombe, is a French-speaking Canadian, and a Canadian friend of mine stated that SpongeBob never aired in Canada.

That clearly didn’t stop this guy, though. Slug Man from the sewer area was already proof enough, and I felt myself witnessing a reminiscence of Teenage Gary over the fact that there was a slug-creature mutated with antennae eyes bulging from his head and a pretty similar color scheme to SpongeBob. Similarly to how SpongeBob went to Squidward for help, this is the only character who recognized the main character, commonly known as Sam. And he kept asking if he’d be okay or if he was too far gone during the fight. It was heartbreaking enough for me to fight Slug Man, knowing I’m probably killing Sam’s only friend or maybe even brother, when you realize his hair is similar, and the fact that Sam’s eyes bulge out similarly if you simply look outside showed me they could be related.

Despite these impediments, the Flawed Ritual ending was no less horrifying. I made one, and I mean ONE single mistake during my second playthrough when my friend wasn’t there to coach me. I beat Typewrither and claimed the Loose Manuscript, only to turn it in without doing an additional step that supposedly took place after the fight, which involved interacting with the typewriter. What did this result in? Sam going back home, his friends being shocked to see him in that state, and then him entering the bathroom to grow so many extra hands and eyes. Horror transformations had already sat poorly with me in the past, but seeing your very protagonist that you spent so much time getting attached to getting a fate WORSE than Spongebob and Squidward in that episode, and still doing it in front of the bathroom mirror was all the proof I needed to conclude Teenage Gary, the episode I and many others have tried so hard to forget about inspired the game developer.

This is a revenge fic. Not on Francis or anyone who might’ve taken part in this game, but on the cause of the game itself. Maybe I’m a salty fan upset at that unobvious mistake. Maybe I’m a spineless weakling who can’t handle horror as well as others do. Or maybe I’m somewhere in the middle of both of those things. I’d only ever written one revenge fic in the past on account of an ex-friend who tried to ruin my reputation over something she lied about to spite me, but today this revenge fic isn’t directed at any real-life individual, it’s revenge on the inner demon in me that laughed when Teenage Gary creeped me out and now once again came back to get me as an adult. If anyone else got an ending they weren’t proud of, maybe you’ll enjoy this fic. My aim is to at least write everyone in character, but I’m going to say right now that this isn’t now nor will it ever be my best work. When your motive for writing something is childhood frustration, you’re not bound to get the best result. And as ironic as that may be given my current writing of No Love Tonight, I know I’ve published better things. I apologize in advance for Morton and the Roaches in this story because I haven’t had much time in-game to learn them, but everyone else should be on point. Please enjoy!

There they were, after fifteen days of isolated seclusion, here they are, humans, animals, and mutations alike. From front to back of the line was a Rat baby, Sophie, Joel, Leigh, Monty, Xaria, Dan, Ernest, Morton, Audrey, Hellen, and Papineau. The Rat is proudly leading the pack alongside Colonel Squeakums. Sophie is shivering rapidly with her arms over her eyes. Joel is clutching Fuzzy close to him and looking back and forth through the giant creatures. Leigh is giggling menacingly. Monty is doing an air guitar gesture and points his invisible guitar left or right to point at whatever huge creature moves next. Xaria is walking with an annoyed and bored look on her face. Dan is doing his best to grin for his audience despite the faltering in his smile. Ernest is marching like a soldier and keeping his eyes on the rats. Morton is carrying a crossword puzzle and doing that on the side. Audrey is blushing as cans clang back and forth inside her. Hellen has a bored appearance, but a very determined thirst for blood behind her mask. Papineau is just cringing at all the blood and gore around him, imagining what it would be like to clean everything up.

“Are you ready to begin the sacred ritual?” Jasper asks, holding a sacred writing in his hands.

“Yes, sir,” Aster says, holding a photograph of the Visitor in his hands.

“Absolutely,” Beryl says, holding a VHS tape under her sleeve.

“I’m ready,” Aurelius says, carrying a canvasing bag with one hand, inside, clutching the painting. Jasper nods once and then looks to the other astronomers.

“I have spoken to Father Andrew about this ritual, and though he said he wished not to participate in something seemingly unorthodox, he told me he believes there may be more hope for the world if it is done. The man of Christ himself exposed himself to the rest of the world, who disagreed with him, and paid a price. And that price went down in history as the greatest sacrifice ever made. It may be time we do the same, a full 2,025 years after the death of Christ, here we stand to make our next sacrifice to humanity.” Jasper announces.

“I’ve got a terrible feeling about this,” Sophie says, trying not to cry.

“Yeah, this is ridiculous. I can’t believe it’s us.” Dan comments.

“Oh, come on! Everything will be fun! I mean, fine!” Leigh says with a sinister chuckle. “Just picture the Visitor bleeding from the eye!”

“AH!” Sophie exclaims, shivering faster. Joel raises a hand.

“Already done that myself. I can’t see it going well either.” He says.

“Trust me, I want to kill that thing more than anything else,” Hellen says in her usual low tone.

“Look, that would be, sorta cool.” Xaria comments. “But come on, we’re tiny compared to that thing. We’re like ants on a whale.” Monty frowns.

“And when has that ever disturbed you before?” He asks.

“Not until something overly huge entered the solar system and decided to prey on the only planet with any life on it!” She exclaims.

“Now, we don’t exactly know that,” Ernest states. “You see, if the universe is truly infinite, there must be a lot of life somewhere super distant from us.”

“And where’s your proof of that, Crazy Dave?” Xaria sarcastically comments, getting an eye roll behind Hellen’s mask.

“The being currently looking down at us, of course!” Ernest says.

“I’ll be honest, I never thought it would be possible, any of this. I thought Earth had all the living species on it and the new lengths of evolution we’ve been put through were only science fiction.” Papineau states. Morton looks up from his crossword puzzle.

“Yeah, but when you think about it. Perhaps this isn’t a great setback, but an opportunity for a new group of vast species to roam the Earth and use our bodies as vessels to thrive in their strides.” He says. Audrey frowns softly, dropping a can and handing it to Morton.

“Then how come I didn’t get something more human? You think it’s fun to carry a heavy machine around everywhere?” She asks.

“It could be worse.” Dan comments as he reads the message. “I had someone in my chat say they thought if I looked outside, I’d become some weird human centipede with extra sets of arms and legs!” He says before laughing a bit. Hellen glances up briefly before looking back down.

“I still want to know why some people only got a slight mutation and others get hideously deformed.” She says.

“Yeah, and how do some people stay sane while others completely lose their minds?” Monty asks. Hellen frowns and points to Leigh, who is still giggling and twitching.

“Some people never had sanity to begin with.” She remarks. Ernest chuckles loudly and points to himself.

“I’m afraid some of us have already lost our minds, even without witnessing the being beyond us!” He says rather happily.

“And why do you seem so excited to say that?” Xaria asks carelessly. Sophie watches as the Astronomers start the ritual, shivering rapidly.

“Oh, I really wish Sam were here.” She says softly. Suddenly, the rat chirps a few times. Colonel Squeakums translates for him.

“He says your brave commander has done nothing but sleep for fifteen days in an attempt to wait out this dreaded apocalypse!” The military rat exclaims.

“Damn bastard wouldn’t let us have his room.” Xaria mumbles.

“You think you had it bad? Hellen wouldn’t share the couch!” Leigh says angrily while pointing to the gardener.

“What can I say? Sam said whoever didn’t try to kill him got priority.” She remarks.

“Where is Sam anyway? He’s gonna miss the ritual.” Morton asks.

“Can you expect much out of a bum that does nothing but sleep through an apocalypse?” Monty asks.

“That’s not true.” Papineau objects. “Before I moved in, I saw him buying a lot of candies from a candy machine and the coffee machine next to it. He looked pretty excited whenever he got something rare.” The custodian states. Another can pops out.

“I can attest to that,” Audrey adds. “Before he took me in, he bought all the sodas, even the juice boxes from my system.” Sophie raises an eyebrow in confusion.

“I don’t get it. If there’s an apocalyptic situation, what does he have to gain by doing nothing but sleeping and stocking up on high caffeine things?”

“Ha! What do you think I spent all my time doing before I got here?” Dan asks, laughing loudly. “What else is someone supposed to do if they don’t have a job?” Joel clutches his teddy bear close to him tightly.

“Playing peacefully is the only reason my brother Ben was able to cope in his last moments.” He says sadly, getting a gentle pat on the back from Hellen.

“Hm?” Papineau turns around and sees an assemblage of roaches stacked in a trench coat. They hold out a letter from Sam, which the custodian takes without a second thought. “It says Sam is on his way. He just had to play Massacre Princess Catholicon one last time before he came.”

“What on Earth?! Is he crazy?!” Xaria suddenly interjects. Dan glares and folds his arms.

“Hey! If you played that game, you’d understand!” He retorts.

“LOOK!” Sophie says in panic as she points to the astronomers, suddenly merging like one big ball. The Rat takes a step back fearfully as they float in the air in a vortex-like motion.

“Get behind me!” Papineau exclaims as he rushes to the front of the line and holds out his mop. “Ernest, Hellen, back me up! And Audrey, protect Joel and Sophie!” He instructs. Ernest cocks his shotgun as Colonel Squeakums hisses at the astronomer pack. Hellen stands forward and draws her Claymore Sword.

“Wait! What about me! I want to kill too!” Leigh whines, grabbing her cleaver. Papineau frowns in annoyance.

“Dan, Morton, hold Leigh back for me, please.”

“Hey! No, no, no!” She struggles, trying to step forward as the Gamer and Junk Merchant hold her back.

“You clearly didn’t read enough as a child.” Morton comments.

A short fight breaks out. The custodian, gardener, and conspiracy theorist go through everything they can and, fortunately, beat the astronomer vortex. But the next thing they know, the Exalted Four reappear from what was left of the astronomers. After a brief burning blast of the Ruby Ray, the three brave adults collapse.

“Oh my god!” Xaria exclaims before a Sapphire Ray chills her, Montgomery, and disassembles the Roach hoard.

“Holy shit!” Dan exclaims before the Topaz Ray paralyzes him, Leigh, and Morton.

“NO, NO, NO, NO!” Sophie screams before the Emerald Ray blasts her, Joel, and Audrey. The small girl is left crying in pain as the acidic aftermath burns her.

“Attack, comrade!” Colonel Squeakums shouts as both he and the Rat child leap up and bite the Exalted Four, but their efforts bear no fruit as they are practically casually shaken off and crash back onto the hard roof of the building.

“We are very sorry, but defeating us and the being beyond us is impossible,” Jasper says telepathically.

“OR IS IT?” A super-powerful voice of an adult male asks casually. Everyone flinches upon recognition of the voice.

“Sam?” Hellen briefly mumbles in surprise before a heavy energy ball strikes the Exalted Four and instantly vaporizes them.

There he is, the secluded jobless man in his late twenties, standing there with pure confidence like never before. He only has his right arm, but appears to have an almost extra arm’s aura glowing to his left as if he never lost it. His aura is radiating from head to toe, and the only form of attire he seems to be wearing is a green Comfort Belt around his waist. He looks extremely well-rested from all the sleep he’d been getting and extremely energized from all the empty cans he’d accumulated in his apartment from energy drinks. To the naked eye, he looks ready to run from California to Florida without stopping once to walk.

“I don’t believe it,” Morton says with a light muscle twitch. “Is this possible?”

“He looks like an anime character of godlike power!” Monty says through a chilled voice.

“Wait, don’t look that thing in the eye!” Sophie panics, crawling out of the searing puddle. It’s too late, Sam is already doing it. But not only is he not disfiguring graphically, he looks like he’s only getting stronger and stronger at the mere gaze.

“LET’S DANCE,” Sam says before leaping in the air. Everyone watches the Visitor’s eye start to follow Sam as he flies higher and higher into orbit at an accelerating rate, faster than a fueled rocket. Unbeknownst to him, so many others that are already outside or survivors who have already looked are following him as well. As the gaze of the Visitor is taken off the Earth, the level of worldwide chaos starts to weaken. Sam flies higher and higher until he can see the entirety of the Visitor’s true size, long beyond the eyeball that was gazing on Earth to the back of it, long behind the sun. But the moment of the view doesn’t even phase the human; it only makes him smile wider. He finally reaches above his head with his real and imaginary arm.

“LET’S END THIS.” He says. A super bright meteor begins to spawn in his hands. The pupil on the Visitor gets bigger and bigger as the meteor shines with extreme brightness, before it inevitably has to shut because it’s too painful to look at. The meteor gets bigger and bigger until it’s the size of a hypergiant star. Sam finally throws the meteor past the sun and hits the Visitor in the back, causing it to be sent back several miles on contact before it explodes and completely dismembers the being within a couple of seconds. The sheer force of the distant explosion brings nearly everyone else to their windows reflexively to see what it was, but not one of the unharmed humans starts to feel weird or insane as the remains of the Visitor eventually float out into orbit. Moments later, Sam safely lands his feet back on the apartment roof. His aura fades as he looks rather exhausted after casting that meteor.

“Whoa! Where did you learn to do that?!” Monty asks. Sam shrugs softly with a smirk.

“Massacre Princess Catholicon taught me well.” He comments.

“Ha! I told you that one was good!” Dan shouts egotistically as he points to Xaria, who is still in shock at what she just saw.

“Wow… honestly, Sam, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” She admits. Sam chuckles a few times.

“And that is the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” He remarks. Morton looks up at the sky.

“You know, I can’t help but wonder if that thing could’ve been innocent inside. Perhaps it wanted no harm to anyone and didn’t know what it was doing.” He says softly. Sam nods.

“Morton, that’s a super fair point. But on the other hand, you have to consider something. What if fifteen days were just an estimation, and this continued for years and years until no humans ever existed anymore?” He asks.

“What about that thing?” Hellen asks. “What if that was only one member of an entire species in a distant galaxy?” Sam brushes his hand to the side.

“They won’t come near Earth now, knowing what happened to that one. And if anything else, that thing was so huge it’s impressive it took any interest in Earth at all. I seriously doubt another one will even notice our planet for several centuries.” Almost all of them nod in agreement to that statement.

“Um… is there any going back for anyone who’s already been transformed?” Audrey asks nervously on a can. Sam sighs and lowers his head.

“Probably not. I’m really sorry that I can’t control or reverse it, nor can I know for sure. All I know is for the time being, we’re safe now. And we’d better go on and live our lives as we now know them and try to put this behind us the best we can.” All of them nod and go back into the building, Ernest carrying both tired rats in his arms and Papineau holding Joel and Sophie’s hands. Only a floor below is there a well-dressed man in a trench coat who has a long history of video games.

“Wow, he really did put my favorite game to better use than I did.” He says.

Author’s Note: Well, there you have it. I can officially put the reexperienced trauma to rest. I don’t hate the Visitor as a character, but I kinda wish it had been possible to fight it in the game, as well as use Meteor Strike to see how it would’ve gone. Hope anyone who read this fic enjoyed it! And remember to look outside regularly to get some sunlight! (Or don’t, you never know what could be out there.)