taking in the beauty of the base island, Y/N simultaneously smiled at the sight of her teammates. in a pleasant or hateful manner — everyone has yet to find out.
the sun had set long ago, and Y/N was shivering in her clothes. the light night breeze would've been enjoyable if not for the sudden temperature decrease. she hoped to change into something warmer for the night soon, not wanting to wake up with a fever tomorrow.
Wilbur and Eret seemed to be in the midst of a deep conversation under a couple trees near the islands edge. the trees provided shade during the day but also acted as a home for all kinds of insects. meanwhile Niki was talking to the parrot she was holding. Y/N guessed her teammates finally took the bird out of the pantry that day.
seems pretty cute, I wonder if it can talk — Y/N was pretty sure that parrots were the bird species that could learn to talk, though she wasn't sure hence she didn't say anything.
upon taking the last steps off the bridge and treading onto the soft grass, Eret immediately took notice of Y/N's appearance.
"hey! where were you?" he asked with a bit of worry in his eyes.
"on the middle, where you were also supposed to be." the girl replied coldly. "speaking of, where did you dissappear, Eret? you left me by myself." if her voice didn't express her disappointment, her wording did.
"I died, I'm sorry—"
"and you couldn't go back to get me? or you Wilbur, why couldn't you have? Niki?"
"we got attacked by red team, the guy got really close to getting us out–" Wilbur tried to reason with the girl but got cut off.
"so you just forgot about me? you know, if you had gotten me i could've helped against the attack— or with getting the base back together."
"we didn't forget about you, we just didn't have the chance to go and get you." Niki joined the conversation with a softer tone than everyone else's.
"but what if something had happened to me? I don't know anyone here!"
"stop acting like a fucking child, Y/N! you're an adult, you can fend yourself." Wilburs words harshly concluded the argument.
Y/N felt as though her whole team was against her. why would he say something like that? did she do something to upset them? how can she apologi—
why should she apologize? for being rightfully scared? for calling them out on not caring about what happened to her? the time that she felt sick and they slightly nursed her didn't mean shit. they probably just felt obligated to do so.
silence overtook the group, Wilbur soon started to regret his words but the girl was having none of it. Y/N approached the stairs and made her way onto the second floor of the base. planning on spending the remainder of the repugnant day in solitude.
want me to fend for myself? you'll have to do so too.
with fights left unresolved and words unspoken, night came swiftly. Niki had politely asked Y/N to keep lookout for anyone plotting to invade during the night; she asked her since Y/N slept in that day and was less tired than everyone else. hesitating, the girl agreed. at the very least not wanting to get on Niki's bad side.
the time was way past midnight, and the sky was blanketed with stars and a small number of clouds which were slightly visible thanks to the moons weak illumination. the awake girl was aimlessly roaming around in the islands first floor level, kicking at some pebbles — which, in her imagination were Wilburs head. she lightly smiled at the intrusive picture but quickly forgot about it. the night was more than silent, the only sounds coming from rustling tree branches caused by the wind.
not even Sébastien to keep me company, — the girl overheard Niki and Eret talking about naming the parrot Sébastien, which first sounded strange to the girl; why would someone give a bird that long of a name? but the more she thought about it the less she hated it.
whilst completing another circle around the bed defense, Y/N noticed some metal reflecting from the moons dim light under the stairs. looking around herself, she made sure for the hundredth time that night that nobody was around before making her way to the mysterious object.
upon approaching it the girl noticed that it was the handle of a trapdoor on the ground. it looked terribly rusty and old, the grass overgrew most of it making it harder to make out the details. Y/N crouched down and picked up a random pointy stone, deciding to use it to scrape off the grass and grime that had gathered on top of the wood. taking her time, she used to sharp side of the rock to trace the intricate iron details on the wood, simultaneously removing the dirt in the wooden pattern. once she was done the girl used her limited strength to lift the trapdoor up. succeeding, she pushed it away from where she was crouched and it balanced on the two ropes which connected it to the underground entrance.
finally, the girl stood up and straightened her back. after hearing multiple satisfying cracks she resituated herself on the edge of the entrance and got to climbing down the old wooden ladder down into a dimly lit room. she had decided that she would investigate the contents of the trapdoor as soon as she saw it. she wasn't doing anything of vital importance, so why not? curiosity killed the cat but boredom would've most certainly done that first if she hadn't decided to venture down the ladder.
halfway down Y/N started to feel nauseous. she paused for a moment to regain her stamina to keep going before continuing down. thinking it was just the consequences of the lack of sleep she was getting that caused the faint nausea.
when she reached the bottom the first thing she noticed was how the small room was lit up with numerous candles. somebody must have definitely used it recently, otherwise how could've the candles not extinguished? though how could have someone been here if the entrance looked like it was long forgotten about?
but those questions were the last of her worries, she was more curious about what exactly the room was. the space was crammed, dust that had gathered in multiple places making it loom unkempt. what caught her eye the most were the walls. the walls worked more as bookshelves that were filled to the brim with books that had endless pages, giving the whole place a distinct scent.
Y/N slowly made her way towards the farthest corner of the room, where she picked out a deep purple book out from the crowded shelves. it was a more unusual color compared to the other tones in the room. while walking towards the other end of the room, the girl studied the names of the other books most of which were written in a language she couldn't make out and understand. others were hardly eligible the understand in their condition. the girl traced her fingers on the spines of the books until her touch landed on violet.
the book seemed to keep the girl entranced enough to stop her movements and slow her breathing. she didn't know if she was hallucinating or if the book was actually emitting purple particles from its cover. the particles seemed to flow and glow in the darkly lit space. Y/N eyes followed how one particle performed circles and wiggly lines before dissolving into air. she turned the book around where the synopsis would usually be written, but the girl instead found the cover of the book to be completely devoid of any text. no title, no author, no synopsis.
the girl softly opened the book on the first page with caution, careful not to cause any defects.
"the system," Y/N quietly read out to herself. "no author..." she turned to the next page, the paper itself seemed quite thick so she wasn't scared of ripping it but it confused her that there were books in bad condition that were practically falling apart, but then there also were ones in pristine condition — brand new. but from where? ignoring her own question, she read what was written on the next page.
a cloaked figure had been watching the girl for a few minutes now, not knowing how to announce his presence, the figure quietly walked over to where the girl was standing facing the wall before letting our a sneeze that did all the talking. Y/N visibly flinched at the unexpected sound and quickly turned around to see who made it. upon facing the figure she smiled.
this must be the person who comes here sometimes, — she didn't want to make a bad impression incase she would need to use this library again.
"hello..." said the freakishly tall figure, his voice was pleasant to hear: — definitely not because she had been alone for the last six hours, definitely not. — it was soothing.
"hi! I'm so sorry if I'm intruding by being here, I just found the trapdoor and though why not? if you need me to leave I can do that—"
"no no you're fine! sorry for startling you by the way. I'm Foolish,"
the girl slightly narrowed her eyes at the name, but didn't want to make any assumptions on the guy. he seemed nice, why should she judge him by his name? plus, she couldve sworn that Eret mentioned Foolish's name more than once in conversation, she didn't think they'd meet under these circumstances though.
"I'm Y/N, pleasure to meet you."
foolish smiled at that, "pleasures all mine," he used the moment to look at what Y/N was reading but saw that it was one of the plain-no-words book. "what are you reading if you don't mind me asking?"
the girl reached out the book to the guy to inspect it himself, and could only fidget with her hands after that. "its called the system, I'm not sure what it's about exactly. have you read it?"
"oh yeah, it can be confusing to read because of some words." he paused for a moment but then had a revelation, "actually, give me a moment." he took a couple of steps to the shelves opposite of where they where standing and took one book from a stack. after that singular action the whole shelf wall rotated to reveal the rooms extention with even more bookshelves, boxes but also a table with a couple stools. "follow me." he said to Y/N.
the girl slowly followed the guy into the room, it seemed much cleaner and well looked after. there was a fireplace opposite the entrance of the hidden room, approaching it, Y/N noticed a golden figurine with emerald eyes on top of it. it seemed important so she didn't dare touch it but she questioned Foolish about it.
"hey," she turned to face him but he was turned away, rummaging through a box that seemed to be cluttered with all sorts of items. "what does this do?" she asked while gesturing to the golden figurine. Foolish glanced over to where the girl was intensively looking at the totem, and smiled at how curious she was on the topic.
"that's a totem of undying, I just use it for decoration since I dont need it. but others use it to be saved from close death. it gives you extra stamina to stay alive when near death." the guy explained when he seemingly found what he was looking for. "oh!" he got up, kicked to box out of his way and walked over to Y/N. "here you go, it's the alphabet translation into english. when you see a word in that language — its called the standard galactic alphabet by the way, or just the galactic alphabet — you can use this transcript to decipher it." he handed her a paper with the latin alphabet with the galactic letter equivalent handwritten under the latin one.
"now you can read your book while understanding everything! it took me awhile to figure out the language myself but I hope the transcript helps you!" Foolish concluded with a chipper smile. Y/N stood there, dumbfounded, before processing his words.
"you figured out the whole language just by reading books? shit, that's really impressive, Foolish. thank you for the transcript, I'll definitely be using it."
"thank you, Y/N. and you're always welcome. do you want some tea? I have a lot of different flavors, what's your favorite herb?" Foolish rambled on while walking up to the fireplace and lighting the fire.
"I'd love some tea, my favorite is rosemary if you have that?" Y/N smiled.
"yeah I do, it's one of my favorites actually, really helps with anxiety." he said while putting the watter filled kettle on the metal plate he had in the fireplace, when he noticed Y/N cutious gaze. "can't really light a campfire underground, gotta improvise."
those words made Y/N think, how did he get here? weren't they on her teams island?
"hey, sorry for the weird question, but where are we exactly? what island?"
"were not really anywhere, I just found a trapdoor on my island once when I was on the lookout and here I am. no matter which trapdoor a person uses they'll end up in this room. which is why you might feel dizzy climbing down, you're being transported elsewhere."
Foolish's words explained alot, and Y/N relaxed at that information. she and Foolish talked alot after that, for a couple hours definitely. he had a lot of stories to tell about his time being here, and a lot of great advise. Y/N brought up the topic of Eret and how she has trouble understanding him sometimes, but the guy brushed it off saying "he'll come around, it seems like he actually cares about you though. just be patient."
by the time the decided to wrap up their library shenanigans, sunrise was approaching and neither of them had slept. they promised eachother to meet up in the library from time to time and Foolish told Y/N that she could use the place to relax whenever she needed to.
before departing first, Y/N embraced Foolish in a warm hug, after a few moments of him not expecting it (she didnt expect to hug him either, but he looked like he needed one) hugged her back and they stood there for a solid five minutes, relishing in eachothers presence.
"thank you for the pleasant company Foolish, have a good day."
"you too Y/N, stay safe."
Y/N was sitting on the stairs when sunrise came, not regretting a single decision. she saw a friend in Foolish, he was someone who the girl thought she could be around for hours and never get bored. he was one of those people.
"hey," she heard Niki from behind her, the pink haired girl being the only one Y/N couldn't help but never be mad at. "go to bed, thank you so much for staying up. you're staying at the base tomorrow."
"its nothing really, thank you." the girl said as she stood up and headed up the stairs.
"sweet dreams, Y/N!" Niki called out to her.
"good morning, Niki." Y/N replied more quietly.
2603 words.
a/n: Y/N and Foolish's dynamic>>>>> okay but they're so cute I can't. also, Y/N villian arc? :)