━━━━ "⊑⟒⌰⌰⍜"
You gasped for air as you quickly shot up from the bed of the guest room. Leaning over the bed with his hands held awkwardly out in front of him was the same boy you had met back at RE:LIFE. Two bright green eyes and midnight black hair. You remembered his name was Ranboo.
"Sorry for making you wake up..." He apologized.
"How... how the fuck are you here?" You asked, surprised and confused by his presence.
"This is only a mindscape, so I'm not physically here. You're technically still sleeping back in reality." He explained.
'This is getting freaky...' you thought to yourself, but the thought echoed across the room.
"It is but you'll get used to it the second time," he said, replying to your thought.
"So, you're the guy who's been speaking this weird language with me?" You asked.
"It's an ancient language actually. I've been trying to send you messages recently..." He said. "I'm not human - if you can't tell. I'm a synthetic product technically, but also still a living being. I'm currently dividing my conscious and unconscious mind to talk to you." He explained.
"You're not really making any much sense..." You said to him.
"It's hard to understand the concept of it anyway..." He claimed.
"So the white-haired boy... was walking next to Quackity with his eyes closed... is that technically you?"
"It is. That is my physical body set on some kind of autopilot while my mind is doing other work. Not everyone can see the other half of me but I'm not surprised you can." He explained.
"So no one else knows you could see you?" You asked and he shook his head from left to right, indicating that no one knows.
"Why did you choose to come and talk with me then?" You asked
"The book I gave you... they're my notes... I can travel to different universes, but the only catch life gave me was that I can't remember a single thing from it - so I'll usually have to write down everything that I experience immediately after," he said.
"Are you some kind of Doctor Strange?" You asked him - half-jokingly, cocking a brow.
"I wish, but I have to experience different universes myself to see the outcomes and I can't stop going into different dimensions whether I like it or not," he said. "This... story I'm placed in... I absolutely hate it. Whoever wrote this story - so many things could go in different directions and almost none of them seem to have pretty endings," he continued.
"What story?"
"I see every dimension as stories... some in which you exist, some in which you don't." He explained.
'There are different dimensions of me?' You questioned in thought.
"Yes," Ranboo responded shortly
'Fuck, I forgot he can read my mind.' You thought again and the black-haired boy let out a small chuckle at you.
"Regarding about yourself in different dimensions, there are worlds in which you are an influencer or an assassin. You could be anything at all, but one thing that remains is you are only a representation of someone else," he explained.
Your bit your lip, mouth sealed shut at his words. You were in confusion yet, you don't know how to feel. You were conflicted. He let out another light chuckle. He seemed to be amused. Amused about scaring someone particularly other than (Y/N). You know he's looking at you, don't you?
"Whoever you are being used to represent, is living their lives outside of the imagination and inner world of ours. It's a different dimension that's just way harder to explain and beyond our imaginations at this point, so it's not worth explaining."
"Jeez fuck... well, do you have any favorite dimension?" You asked
"Hm, there's one where I am a streamer and it's basically just me going on camera and talking to millions of people while hanging out with my friends. I really like that universe because everyone is just so nice there and life is still progressing there," he said.
"We're going too off track now. You'll have to wake up soon so I'll make this quick. You can't trust and tell anybody else about my book and keep watch with any kind of codes and messages you see. Some could even be from the book and it'll help you in the future for a lot of things that are coming ahead," he explained hurriedly, nervously fidgeting with his fingers. "You'll have to be careful with all the people you meet here. It's time for you to wake up now."
Your eyes shot wide open at the second he told you to awake. You could hear the ferocious storm raging outside, not helping your mind process whatever had just happened in your dream. Or...dreamscape...? The weather which you had earlier claimed was bad had only become worse during your slumber. Thunder roared and lightning flashed dazzlingly outside, and the sky remained a mysterious shade of deep, dark indigo despite it now being dawn.
The shop which you stayed in had completely shut all its doors and windows to keep out the raging storm. The bed that you had just been asleep in was located in a quaint and modern guest room that Niki had led you to the night prior, commanding that you 'get some rest.' Looking towards the coat which you had hung onto a wall coat rack, you rolled out of the comfortable bed and took out the reactor which was nestled in the right-hand pocket.
"Messages and codes...?" You muttered under your breath, recalling the conversation you had just with Ranboo. You turned the reactor to the side and were met with your previous chat with 'Unknown.'
╭━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╮
UNKNOWN
_______________________________________
Unknown:
Hey, how are you?
Unknown:
The weather's not very good
today. Might be on it's period.
Unknown:
But for real, it's too dangerous
for you to be going outside so
you'll have to stay somewhere
for at least a week or more.
You:
No worries. I found a place to
stay.
You:
Thanks for being concern of me,
douchebag.
Unknown:
No problem, bug-a-boo
You:
Wtf-
Unknown:
What? Cat's got your toungue?
Unknown:
LOL
Unknown:
My Cat noir syndrome is showing.
You:
Whatever. I'll let that slide.
You:
By the way, I have a few
questions in mind...
Unknown:
Oh? So curious of me lolol.
Unknown:
But I can't answer them right now.
Pretty busy today. I have to go.
Unknown:
I'm sorry for this short convo
Unknown:
I'll try to make it up to you but
for now, let's talk for another time.
I hope you stay safe. I'll wait for you.
╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯
Your eyes scanned the text messages you exchanged between each other with skeptism.
"I wonder..." You muttered to yourself in thought, "if meeting you is a code or message Ranboo was talking about..." You sighed, thinking of your journey to meet the Unknown.
An abrupt knock on the door dragged you from your thoughts of adventure and unknown people. Laying your hand onto the door, you unknowingly had allowed the door to open at your command. Niki, the girl you had met yesterday was revealed to be standing outside your door, holding a tray of cookies proudly towards you.
"Good morning! I was planning to bake you some cookies as a welcome present of sorts!" She spoke, a warm grin plastered on her kind face.
Her soft voice surely melts your heart every time she talks and the smell of freshly baked cookies in the morning only made the start of your day better. You picked up a cookie from the tray and took a large bite.
'Oh fuck...' Thinking that you would be tasting the sweetness from the sugar of the cookie and melted chocolate from the toppings, you were instead met with a solid texture that was difficult to bite into and a very strange combination of... chocolate and soy sauce..?
"What do you think?" Niki asked, eyes shining in anticipation for any kind of good reaction.
Not wanting to hurt her feelings and expectations, you forced out a smile.
"It's... really good.." You said, trying to swallow back the urge to throw up from the odd taste of the cookie.
"Really?" She asked as her eyes lit up at your compliment.
You nodded at her and a grin was spread across her face.
"Fundy should try it too then!" She chirped, looking at the bright orange man, who was working at his workbench.
"I-I'll pass..." He said, rejecting her offer with a nervous look on his face.
Niki pouted at his answer, but she shrugged it off as she proceeded to walk away - possibly to get more batches of cookies out of the oven. You quickly spit out the cookie into a wastebasket as soon as you were sure she had left.
"Thanks for taking one for the team," Fundy joked.
"You owe me a soda then," you joked back at him but he proceeded to walk over towards a mini-fridge beside his workbench and grabbed a can of soda out of it.
"Catch," he said, calling your attention out immediately, but he threw it too early which caused the soda can to hit your shoulder instead.
"You're a terrible thrower," you said, picking up the can of soda that had ended up on the floor. Fundy chuckled at your jibe.
"You're just a terrible catcher," he talked back, eyes looking back at his work.
'I like this guy already.' You said as you smiled at the sight of him before turning your back around to grab the coat from the hanger and walking out of your room.
The place had a simple design. The wide side of it on the left looked like it was mainly used as a workplace, where cars would be kept, a wide workbench being there, a hologram filled with details of designs and requirements for repairment but besides all the mechanical stuff, they include a mini-fridge and a coffee table where they could rest and chill anytime during breaks.
On the right side, however, it's where their rooms and all other parts you see in a house are located. Kitchen, guest rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, it's all there. The only thing separating the two sides is a short staircase. You gotta admit, you really liked the place. It wasn't as spacious and complicated as RE:LIFE was for sure.
Cutting back to reality, you walked down the staircase in curiosity at what the orange-haired was doing.
"What are you making?" You asked, walking towards him.
"Just a little something that would completely stop flat tires. " He said, adding finishing touches onto his invention.
"Hm, do you ever fix anything else other than vehicles?" You asked, standing beside him as you leaned your back onto the workbench.
"Sure I do, I innovate and create things too. Niki and I are committed in trying to make the world a better place." He explained briefly.
"Have you guys ever worked on a humanoid before?" You asked and he stopped at his tracks, frozen on spot at the mention of the invention.
"We don't work on disasters," Fundy answered coldly, barely giving out any more information about his past.
"You... kinda seem to have something against RE:LIFE..." You brought it up.
"We do." He said, confirming without hesitation and the tension began to thicken.
'Fuck, this seems like a bad idea to talk about but yet again, I wouldn't know if I didn't ask...' You thought to yourself. 'Why do I even wanna know about their view in RE:LIFE anyway?'
Contemplating with yourself, Fundy proceeds to clear the tension in the air.
"Niki seems to be busy baking right now. I'd usually help but I'm currently a bit busy right now... you wanna help check on her for me?" He asked, smiling at you as if the tension that builds up were never there.
"Oh, Yeah, of course." You said to him and walked over to the kitchen where you see a burning oven and an agitated Niki extinguishing the fire taking place inside the oven.
The fire finally died down, Niki let out a sigh of relief while wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"Niki, are you okay?!" You asked, worrisome of her while cupping both sides of her face and examining if there were any burn scars.
She let out a reassuring smile as she held both your wrists, "I'm fine, don't worry!" She said while taking both your hands off her face. "Baking is just not for me." She continued, disappointed by the truth of her own skills but she still maintained her smile.
You frowned at her words, feeling rather bad for her but as the natural optimistic person you are, you tried to cheer her up.
"Maybe we should try baking together next time, We can go over your mistakes and help each other out!" You said, smiling at her and she looked at you with wide eyes yet, an unreadable expression before smiling back at you.
"Yeah, that sounds great." She said, giving you a closed-eyed grin.
"Actually, the recipe I was trying to make is a bit old. I used to make them together with my former colleagues." She told, dusting off the flour off of a book that was laid on the kitchen counter.
You moved closer behind her, looking at the book she held from behind her shoulder as she opened it. A polaroid photo fell down from the inner pages of the book and you saw a glimpse of a familiar blonde-haired boy and curly brown-haired man. But before you got to figure it out, Niki snatched the photo off the floor and put it back in between the pages of the book.
"Who was that?" You asked.
"Acquaintances." She responded shortly. "Sorry, it's just that... you weren't supposed to see that." She said, looking away from you.
"That's okay," You assure her with a smile on your face before it fell into a look of dismay, remembering how you left RE:LIFE without any reconsiderations. "They just look quite familiar to someone I know..." You continued.
Niki's ears perked, tilting her head to look at you with curiosity. "Oh? Who are they?" She asked.
Feeling a sense of suspicion from the way her eyes scanned you, you quickly made up a response to back yourself up, "It's quite tough to describe them no? It's been a while since I last saw them anyway. I barely remember what they look like." letting out a nervous chuckle afterward.
"Hmm.." She hummed at you with a dubious tone, "Yeah, I understand." She said before looking back at the book.
There was a brief moment of silence that lies in between the two of you. Beads of sweat started forming on your temples as you felt uneasy at the presence of her. Was she always this intimidating to you?
"We should start cleaning before Fundy sees this mess. He wouldn't be very happy to see what happened to the kitchen." She perked, smiling at you as if the tension between the two of you had never existed.
"O-oh... of course..." You said quietly, nodding slightly at her in approval. "May I ask where the mop is?" You questioned.
"Oh," She let a small laugh, "Don't worry about it. There's a specific setting for cleaning the kitchen." She said.
Niki lightly tapped both her clenched fist and a hologram appeared, circling around both her wrists. Looking at the circular hologram, you realized she was picking what seems to be options of some sort. As she tapped onto two of the holographic icons, she pulled you out of the kitchen a door closes behind the two of you.
"That should do the trick. The kitchen will clean itself while we do other things." She said.
Confused at what she meant and how the cleaning system works, you decided not to question it as it wasn't very important and she continued to pull you with her as she walked towards somewhere you can barely tell.
"Come on, let me show you something." She said and you raise a brow at her.
Knowing you had a confused look on your face, she let out another chuckle before continuing her words,
"You said something about being familiar to the people in the picture before, right? Then let me tell you a bit about them."
Are you guys alive? Or dead?
Hi, I'm writing again. Yes, trying to finish this. idk where Michelle ( Co-writer ) is at but I hope she's doing well. I'll be writing this again probably alone for a while. I wanna write about genshin stuff but I don't have much knowledge about it so I might do a collab with someone. Is anyone interested?
- hanamocha
Created: 7 July 2021
Edited: 3 December 2021
Edited by @hanamocha