Chapter Text
Tourist slumped against the wall, letting their legs slowly fall from beneath them, their back sliding down the ratty old hotel walls until they’re sitting.
Another sucky and completely avoidable death. If Curious hadn’t dragged them to The Rooms, this wouldn’t have happened. They silently scold the other in their head before wincing and massaging their temples in a futile attempt to calm the oncoming headache.
Months (or was it years? They’d lost track of how long they’d been stuck in the hotel…) of repeated head injuries really messed them up - That, and the repeated burns, bruises, scratches, and bites had all been catching up with them. They were lucky enough to have found a cane somewhere in the backdoors, but they weren’t lucky to have the pain of each death linger and stay long past its welcome.
Sitting in the lobby like this sometimes helped. Especially when they sit right beside the door that emanates the same feeling Guiding Light does.
Tourist lets their eyes drift shut. The tremor in their hands lessens, and the ache of their headache starts to fade. Guiding Light is too kind to them. Much kinder than they think they deserve. They’re so close to drifting to sleep.
Until the chime of an elevator rings and a loud THUD of something human sized falls on the floor in the lobby, promptly followed by a LOUD curse.
Well. That’s abnormal.
Tourist slowly drags themself to their feet. A biting ache in their abdomen tries to pull them back down, but they instead lean on their cane. They’re cautious when they walk into the lobby area, each footstep careful, quiet, and muffled by the carpet beneath their feet as they peek around the corner.
Over on the other side of the lobby, an elevator closes. The inside of the elevator and the doors aren’t like anything else in the entire hotel. And right there in front the the doors, flopped on the ground as though they had tripped, was a person.
A whole entire, living, breathing, person.
Tourist had to bite their lip hard to make sure they weren’t dreaming. It stung, and the warm, metallic taste of blood slowly dripped into their mouth.
This was real.
Tourist felt their heart to a little leap of excitement before dropping into their stomach. If someone else is here, that means they’re stuck here all the same as Tourist.
They can’t help but feel excited, but sympathetic for the stranger at the same time.
How did this mystery person get here anyway? The weird elevator?
Tourist creeps closer, opting to kneel next to one of the tables lining the middle of the room to get a better look at the stranger.
The stranger is curled into themselves, gripping just above their ankle with shaky hands and grit teeth. Their skin is an odd gray, their long hair the same color save for the red and black raccoon tails framing their face. They have a bit of rough, gray stubble on their chin, and their ears have piercing holes but no earrings filling them. They’re definitely in uniform of some kind - a navy blue jumpsuit and matching hat with some odd logo that Tourist had never seen before. They take a moment to admire the amount of pockets and the sheer size of them all on the stranger’s jumpsuit and the odd metal tanks on their back before noticing the unmistakable red of blood seeping from beneath the strangers fingers.
So, they’re hurt. That’s why they fell. Tourist wastes no time straightening up and ripping a piece of tablecloth off the table before rushing to the strangers side. The stranger startles, surprised as Tourist kneels again, beside them this time.
“Hi! Are you alright? I see you’re bleeding. I can help?” Tourist offers, using one hand to point at the injury, the other holding the piece of fabric. The stranger turns their head to look at Tourist, and they startle a bit at the black bar censoring the strangers eyes. Tourist stares before remembering what they were doing when the stranger slips their shoe off and rolls up their pant leg to expose 4 small, round wounds, absolutely gushing blood.
Tourist leans forward, inspecting the injury before unclipping their flask from their belt. A gift from Guiding Light, a flask as light as if it were empty, but the water never seems to run out. They unscrew the lid and carefully pour some of the water over the wound, the stranger flinching slightly with a hiss. The blood washes away slightly, and Tourist blows gently on the wound to let it dry a bit before wrapping the piece of cloth around their leg a few times in a makeshift bandage, tucking the edge in to keep it in place.
The stranger tests out the bandage, straightening their leg and bending it again before heaving a sigh of relief and flopping backwards onto the ground.
“Thanks for that, dude.” The stranger stretches their arms up as far as they can before letting them fall wherever, one hand landing on their boot and moving to put it back on.. “p.AI.nter’s a massive bitch.”
Tourist cocks their head. “p.AI.nter?” they ask.
The stranger shoots upright. “Yeah? Shit, reminds me I should be getting to the jetsuit course… Uh.” they look left and right at the rows of Elevators. “... This ain’t the jetsuit course.”
Tourist blinks. “You sound like a bit of a lunatic.” They giggle.
The stranger shoots them a glare (they think?) and works to bring themselves to their feet, looking around and turning a full circle. They press a button on the earpiece Tourist didn’t even notice they had, pausing, before spotting the double doors.
“What…?” they walk toward the doors, Tourist following close behind.
“Just a warning,” Tourist starts. “I’ve tried leaving. You can go out, but… it doesn’t lead anywhere. I’m sorry.”
The stranger pushes the doors open and walks out into the rain, staring at the abyss-like area all around them.
“Where am I?” Their voice comes out softer than expected. Tourist feels a pang of deja vu in their heart. They said those same words, once - but with no one there to answer them. But the stranger continues.
“This shouldn’t even be possible. Last I checked, I was tens of thousands of feet underwater, and now I’m here at the surface? BULLSHIT!” The stranger kicks a stray rock fallen from the railing at the edge of the island, and launches it into the abyss below, with a delayed and faint sploosh. They wince, the feeling of kicking something with their injured leg without letting it heal biting back at them with regret.
Silence echoes through the realm. Until Tourist breaks it.
“... I’m Tourist.”
The stranger turns to face Tourist. “What, ‘d your parents hate you?”
“Oh, no.” Tourist giggles. “I can’t remember my name. So I just go by that. What’s your name?” They ask.
“... Expendable.” A pause. “... I don’t remember my name either.”
“Wanna go back inside? This rain won’t let up anytime soon - trust me, I’ve been stuck here a while.” Tourist offers Expendable a hand.
Expendable takes it. “Sure.”
Tourist smiles and pulls Expendable into the hotel. “So, how’d you get here?” They ask.
“Elevator.” Expendable responds.
“Oh, because that’s very specific.” Tourist says sarcastically. “C’mon, I’m trying to get to know you.”
“Fine. I’ve been stuck in an endless loop in an abandoned underwater research facility for god knows how long.” Expendable pulls their hand away from Tourist’s as they enter the double doors of the hotel lobby again, opting to turn down the right hallway. It’s not a long hallway - but there are things there.
“No way? Me too!” Tourist follows close behind Expendable. “Except instead of an abandoned underwater research facility, I’ve been stuck in this hotel.”
Expendable inspects the shelves in the area, poking at a plush toy sitting on the shelf before turning around to go back into the main area, walking past the elevators and looking through them.
“These’re lined up like subs at the dock. These take you into it?” Expendable asks, pausing at a particularly out of place one. “What’s up with this funky one?”
“Yeah, they take me into the hotel.” Tourist sits on the table behind Expendable. “Some of them look different ‘cause they take me to different places, like the backdoors, or the mines, or the outdoors.”
“Then where’s this one take ya?” Expendable points into one not even Tourist has seen before.
“Oh. I’ve never seen that before.” Tourist hums, approaching the weird elevator, glancing inside it. “This is weird. Crazy weird.” They step fully into the elevator, looking at the walls. “There aren’t even buttons in here.”
“Weird ass floor.” Expendable walks into the elevator and kneels to inspect the floor. “Looks like it’s a hatch or somethin’.”
SLAM.
Tourist and Expendable both swivel their heads to stare at the elevator doors. Something spins on its own, locking the door shut, before the floor cracks open and drops the two into the darkness below.