Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

All he could focus on was his headache.

Today was eventful. He celebrated Ms. Sh- Scissors’ birthday, he had surely jumped out of a window, came to the realization that he’d been living in a dream for the past who-knows-how-long, and nearly all of his buried memories and trauma had resurfaced. Oh, plus he’d been hiding in his room all day. Fun!

Rook laid curled up beneath as many blankets as he could get, finding comfort under the pressure. A pillow was wrapped securely in his arms. Despite it, however, the physical pain in his head that came with crying kept him up.

Brawl of the Objects. That’s all he could think about. Was the race even ever finished?

He could infer that everyone who had come to the castle was in it. He didn’t know how, or why, he certainly never shared a dream before in his lifetime. Why were all the contestants so different? And say weird words sometimes, like they spoke the same language but were from a different, strange continent? Rook would have asked Scissors, or someone , but he pretty much darted to privacy as soon as he could walk again.

He pretended to softly snore as his room’s door was knocked on and opened. A few footsteps and something gently pressed down on the other side of his bed, enough that he would have missed it without paying attention. A few long seconds passed before Rook heard a sigh.

“I know you’re awake.”

The rook groaned, turning over with his pillow still held close. His eyes met with Scissors, a stern expression glued to her face and a crown still atop her head. She sat on the side of his bed.

“What…” she looked to the side, “happened with you earlier? Are you okay…?”

“I don’t…” Rook croaked, “I… I can’t talk about it. I can’t. I…” his trembling fingers dug into fabric, “but I… I do want to...”

Scissors took one look at the door, which faintly cast light into the unlit room. She grumbled, looking back at him. “It’s hard to say?”

Rook took in the words, nodding. “I… don’t even know where to begin.”

“Take your time.”

He fiddled with the fabric of the pillow in his hands, trying to dig up something from the memories he buried. He suppressed a few tears, sighing.

“We were… doing the final race. I was going to lose, so I… went under the ice.”

“... In the lake?”

Rook nodded, “and… and I…”

Scissors patted his shoulder. “It’s okay, I get it-”

“Why am I not dead?! ” he started shaking, “you’re alive, aren’t you?”

“Rook…”

“Everything here is something I made up! Everything has been in my head!

“Rook.”

“H-how did any of this even happen?? What was I doing?! What’s even happe-”

“Rook!”

He sobbed quietly. “I-I…”

Scissors looked around as if someone could be watching. She clenched her fists. “Rook,” he looked up while hiccuping, “don’t ever tell anyone about this, but, sit up for me?”

Rook hesitated before doing what she said, heaving himself up with his arms. Scissors took one last look at the door, squinting, before initiating a hug. Rook hugged back, tightly.

Time slowly passed and Rook didn’t budge, only whimpering and shaking as he tried to calm himself down. His sobs started to space out, heaving a sigh. 

“... T-Thank you. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Rook separated from the embrace. “I don’t… I don’t know what’s happening. What year is it?”

“You- you don’t… yeah nevermind, that tracks. It’s 2011.”

Oh.

“That’s…”

Oh no.

“That’s almost seven-hundred years…”

“Woah. Did they freeze you or something?”

“N-No, I- why would I-”

The realization hit him like a horse.

“I’m at the bottom of the lake.”

“You’re what? ”

“The- The bottom of the lake- it’s always freezing. And I… if I drowned, then…”

Scissors looked at him, bewildered. “You… definitely have a lot I don’t know about you.”

Rook dragged his legs to his body, curling up. “I don’t think I want to talk about it right now. I just want to rest.”

“Right, uh. Sorry for making you… you know.”

“No, no,” he said, waving his arms, “it’s… it’s fine. I have some questions answered. I actually feel somewhat better now, so… thank you.”

Scissors slid off of Rook’s bed. “Um. Cool. I’ll just go now.”

“Yeah! Um, cool,” he said, trying to mimic whatever exactly that meant.

“Cool,” she said, shutting the door.

Rook fell back onto his bed, sighing. He wasn’t going to think about this. Not until tomorrow. The ceiling he observed was pitch black, the room nearly encased in darkness. At least his headache didn’t bother him as much now.

On the other side of the door, Scissors let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “I am never doing that again.”

“Do what?” someone asked from the other end of the hall, making Scissors flinch.

“Nothing, Pear! Geez!” she said, walking off.

Pear, who walked in only after she closed the door, rolled her eyes and continued on.

Chapter Text

Where was he?

Rook stood in a black void. The atmosphere was heavy as he felt more numb than normal. He stood, his mind empty yet circled around the thought of what he should do . Taking a shaky step forward, his foot hit a centimeter deep into a pitch-black liquid, sending gentle ripples across the ground. He looked up, and to no luck, all that was there was the nothingness in full lack of detail.

He felt dread wash over him as if something was going to happen. As he took another step forward, he felt the temperature rapidly change to warm. His breathing had gotten heavier. His mind felt static as he tried to walk, only to be slowed down by…

Why were his boots starting to soak?

Rook looked down, realizing the warm water was rising. He couldn’t react. He was hyperventilating. Everything felt like it was spinning as the water rose above his legs, the ice underneath him cracking and-

Rook woke up in a coughing fit. Something warm sloshed around him as he instinctively covered his mouth, taking deep breaths every chance he could. He sighed when it finally stopped.

His eyes felt like they had a layer of something over them, unable to make anything out. He could tell he was in a tub, with no recollection of how he’d gotten there or why. This happened sometimes. He laid back, sighing as he tried to collect his thoughts. 

Something clicked that he didn’t pay attention to. Then a creak, he assumed it must have been a door.

“Uh… hey?”

Rook cracked an eye open, not that it would have helped too much. All he made out was a blob of blue. 

“Alright, that’s it! Let me in!”

“Wait, but-”

Stomping shook the ground, making Rook jolt up, becoming suddenly aware of his surroundings as the door flung open, pushing the cobalt blue object aside with a yelp. 

His eyes met with a taller object, grey and shiny with the most tensed shoulders he had seen-

Rook squinted. “... Scissors?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“W-What do you-”

“I thought you were just- you were- what the hell, Rook?!” she took a step forward, about to say something else before someone put their hand on her arm. Scissors groaned in frustration at the shorter object, stepping back as the shorter object rubbed their shoulder.

“Are you… okay?”

“Uh…” his mind blanked.

Another person popped into the room, “oh my gosh, he can think?”

“You owe me 20 dollars!” shouted someone from out of view.

“Alright, alright,” the object, which Rook guessed was a shield through his still cruddy vision, waved their arms in the air, “okay, we need to get on this! Someone grab a towel and my blankets in the hall closet!”

“I’ll get it!” someone said.

They turned to Scissors, “get any headwear from the coat rack.”

“Shieldy-”

“Please?”

Scissors took a look at Rook, shaking her head and walking out of the room with her arms crossed. 

“Here’s the towel!” said an obnoxiously bright object, dropping a folded towel next to Shieldy, “where should I put the blanket?”

“Put it on my bed.”

“Got it!” they said, running out. 

Shieldy grabbed the towel, unfolding it and putting his hand on his chin.

“Okay, I’m gonna need you to get up and sit down on the tub wall. Gently.”

“The…” he took a moment to process, “uh, okay.” He climbed onto the tub wall with the help of the other object, nearly slipping in the process.

“The only hat you have is a sun hat!” Scissors said, holding up a brightly colored hat.

“Augh, I thought- whatever, just put it in my room. Slurpy?”

“Ya?”

“Get some hot chocolate, please.”

“On it,” she said.

The shield sighed, getting on his knees. “I’m gonna need to take off your accessories,” he said, “Jeez, you weren’t even supposed to wake up this fast…”

“A… okay.”

Shieldy plucked off his soggy boots and gloves, then grabbing the towel and drying him off quickly. “Now stay still, I’m gonna pick you up.”

“You’re gonna-?”

Rook was interrupted as the object gently lifted him up, carrying him out of the white room. He struggled to think of a response as he was set down on a bed, the other object saying something he was too spaced out to hear. He felt something wrap around him, making a noise of acknowledgment when he was asked something he barely paid attention to. He realized he was being covered in blankets, something snug being put on top of his head.

He hadn’t realized how much he was shivering, or how numb his skin was until then.

“Should we call an ambulance?” asked Party Hat.

“Ahh… yeah. I think we should have done that sooner,” Shieldy said, grabbing a phone off of the nightstand.

“Nope! Nope! I got them coming!” someone said, stumbling in while waving a smartphone. 

“Thanks, Pizza.” Shieldy turned to Rook as he set the phone on the bed, who was breathing slowly but steadily.

Pizza walked toward the bed, “is…”

“He’s still conscious,” Shieldy said, “I don’t think he can understand anything though.”

Rook groaned in response.

“I can’t believe he’s alive. That fridge didn’t seem comfortable.”

“It’s… better than ending up on the street from how expensive and far away those cryogenics places are.”

“Or,” Pizza said as he raised his finger, “whoever set him out there finding us.”

“Hot Dog, don’t spill it!”

The three looked at the doorway as two more objects came, one holding a cup. “I know, I know, I’ve held a mug before, Slurpy.”

“But you’re-”

“Put it on the nightstand,” Shieldy waved.

Hot Dog set the cup filled with hot liquid on the wooden surface. “Uh… how’s he doing?”

“... Frozen.”

“Yeah, kinda thought so.”

Rook sneezed, making everyone in the room jump. 

“I mean that’s- that’s good, right? That he’s still awake?” Pizza asked.

Shieldy sighed, crossing his arms. “I’m gonna need someone to go in the front of the house for when the ambulance gets here.”

“I’ll do it,” said Scissors, walking out the door.

“I’ll go with her!” Party Hat said, running after her.

The remaining, conscious four’s eyes lingered on the doorway before returning to the situation at hand.

Rook couldn’t focus. Everything would be described as fuzzy, he felt like he was fighting off sleep. He could flex his fingers. He clung to the heavy blankets he was wrapped in, barely registering anything that went on around him. Thinking was difficult. Something went in front of him, he could vaguely tell it was trying to get his attention. He made a groaning noise back at it, closing his eyes.

Something cold shoved into his mouth, under his tongue, shocking him. He physically barely even flinched as the other object held the thermometer still. It made a beep, Shieldy pulling it out and reading the temperature.

“84.4 degrees.”

“He’s still awake?!” Pizza exclaimed.

“Barely.”

Something opened downstairs, abruptly, grabbing the attention of the conscious objects in the room.

“Clear the way!”

Even though he knew people were talking, Rook couldn’t make out anything. But, the next thing he knew, he was outside, and then put into another white room. Is this what dying was supposed to feel like? One would think he would know, but in his current state remembering things was impossible.

After that, he was unconscious.