Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The door slowly creaked open. It was quite heavy to her, but with some effort she got it open. She walked inside, covered in water from the heavy rain. It was a long journey here, and she just wanted to sit down. Luckily this old hotel was nearby. Perhaps she could find someone to help her. But now that she was inside, there seemed to be no one there.

Confused, the little girl walked around the lobby of the hotel. She glanced at the elevators in the lobby, there were a lot of them. Strange. But soon the little girl’s attention drew elsewhere with the sound of crackling. She turned to the side to see a fireplace with chairs next to it. Perfect; just what she needed to warm up and dry off. She climbed onto the old-fashioned chair and got in a comfortable position.

“There should be someone here…” She thought to herself. Afterall, the fireplace was lit. Someone had to have turned it on. Slowly her eyes shut as she drifted off to sleep. The warmth from the fire as well as its melancholic crackling made her sleepy, not to mention she was tired from the journey here. Perhaps someone would see her there in the morning. Hopefully…

…
Her eyes slowly creaked open to familiar sounds, the crackling fire and the loud rain. Thunder still shaking the building. As she awoke, regaining her senses, she looked across the lobby to see that it was- still nighttime? “How long was I asleep?” She wondered to herself. Confused, she jumped off the chair and walked towards the door. At least she was dry now…

Reaching for the door, she tried to pry it open. It wouldn’t budge. Again with all her might she tried to open the door. Again, and again. Nothing. The girl grew concerned. She seemed to now be stuck here. But it was no place to panic. “There must be people here. Perhaps they are upstairs.” She mumbled as she walked towards one of the elevators. Energized from her nap and urge to find someone, she walked into the elevator and pressed the button to the next floor above. The caged door of the old elevator closed as it proceeded to its destination.

…
The elevator music was nice. It was quite catchy in her opinion. The young girl dusted off her light blue dress as the doors of the elevator opened with a ding. She had arrived. Stepping out of the elevator, she heard the doors close behind her. “Looks like another reception area…but smaller.” The little girl wandered to the door. The door was labeled “001” and it was locked.

The girl looked around the room for a key. A sparkling noise caught her attention, however. She turned around to see a key hanging behind the reception desk. She slipped under the cart of luggage and got to the key. Although it was kind of high up. The blue sparkles of the key labeled “001” intrigued her.

She stared at the glow, admiring the bright colors but only for a few seconds. “Now's not the time for pretty sparkles, Ruby!” She shook her head and got on her toes. She reached for the key and was able to knock it off its place with some effort. The girl named Ruby, picked the key off from the floor and headed towards the door. She grabbed the lock and tried the key. With a click, the lock came off and she opened the old door.

…
This place was weird. Granted she had only been to one hotel before in her life, and it was nothing like this. Maybe not all hotels were like that one? The hotel here seemed random though. With every room she passed, a new layout was there in front of her. Same wooden furniture and old wall patterns, but a different hallway and set of rooms. Rooms which didn't make sense for a hotel. A hotel should have bedrooms, but here there seemed to be very little.

By this point she had made it to room ten. So far there was no sight of anyone. The hotel was quiet, with occasional knocking that seemed to come from nowhere, and the sound of rain. The tenth room had two windows to the right side of the room, so she walked up to one of them, and peered out the window as best she could. Although she could not see much with her height.

Even if she could see outside better, it was too dark and rainy to really see anything anyways. She stepped away from the window and to the next door. But when Ruby opened the door, the lights above her flickered. This admittedly freaked her out. She hated the dark. It always reminded her of the monster she would hear when the lights were off. Panicking, she sped walked to the next door. However, she didn't get far when the sound of a glitchy howl grew closer. And it grew closer, fast.

Ruby turned around. “What's that?!” She cried. She looked to her left. A closet. With no other option and with the screaming getting closer, she hopped in and shut the closet door behind her. This turned out to be a good decision. Inside the closet, Ruby saw something rush by her with a sinister smile, knocking out the lights in the wake of its destruction. “The closets are always safe.” She mumbled to herself. Looks like whatever passed by can’t get her when she is in the closet. As she stepped out the closet, she could see that the room was now pitched black and so was the next.

Chapter Text

Ruby stood still, not knowing what to do. She couldn’t see anything, and the dark made her very afraid. Her heart raced, as tears welled in her eyes. She wanted to cry, but what if that thing heard her and came back? She couldn’t risk it. So she swallowed her back the tears and walked forward, shaking. She held her hands out as she slowly treads to the door. At least to where she remembered it would be. Eventually she reached the door after what felt like an eternity of struggling.

The next room was just as pitch black, but this time she could see that same blue glow at the next door. The small emanating light brought her a sense of relief. She could actually see again. She wiped away the tears and ran towards the door. Desperate to leave the dark. But she only made it halfway across the room when-

“Psst.”

“AH-!” Ruby frantically looked around for the source of that sound. Darting her eyes around the room, she looked behind her to see some- thing staring right back at her with glowing eyes. She ducked down and held her hands on her head as that thing struck her. Luckily her quick movement downward caused the thing to miss. If she had reacted a second late, whatever it was, it would have bitten a good chunk of her head off.

She stayed crouched on the ground, afraid. Her hands clutching her head as she shook uncontrollably. She couldn’t look up, she couldn't move. She wanted to run away, but her legs refused to get up, petrified at the encounter she just had.

Moments passed. The little girl still hadn’t moved. All she could do was listen in paranoia for that “psst.” But all she heard was the sparkling coming from the door. After a while she gained the courage to look up. She slowly lifted her head up and put her hands down. She opened her eyes to see glowing eyes staring right back at her.

She froze in fear. that thing was right in front of her, inches away from her face. Unable to move, the girl stared at it and it stared back. Getting a better look at what just tried to attack her, illuminated by the blue glow behind her. It was like a floating, rounded head, covered in an ink like substance with six tentacles sprouting from its back, and a sinister smile. Nothing like what she’s never seen.

“Hey!” The thing whispered.

Ruby jumped back in surprise. She fell back and tried to scoot away, but she didn’t get far before freezing up again in terror. The entity followed her, still staring. Ruby assumed a defensive position with her arms while still on the ground, cowering with tears welling up in her eyes.

But to her shock, the entity did not attack. Instead, it just floated there, staring at her in silence with the only thing being heard was the sparkles coming from the door and its flailing tentacles writhing around. It tilted its head to the side, blinking a bit, much like a curious animal.

It got closer to her. Ruby, still shivering, could only lean back slowly.

“Hi!” The entity excitedly said, still in an echoey whisper.

“Uh- H-hello..?” Ruby stuttered her response nervously.

“What’s your name?” It asked with enthusiasm, much like a small child.

“M-my name-?” Ruby struggled to talk. Still shaken up. “It’s R-Ruby…” The words finally escaping her lips.

“Hehe, I like your name.” The entity squinted its eyes and smiled. It drew closer to her. Ruby shuffled back.

“Why is this thing being so friendly all of a sudden- “Ruby thought to herself, “Maybe it’s a trick! I need to get out of the dark!”

The entity interrupted her thoughts, “Wanna be my friend?” It asked with excitement.

“Friend?” Ruby replied in surprise. “F-friend?!” Ruby began thinking to herself. “Why does it want to be my friend? It just tried to hurt me! Maybe it was an accident…no, wait… what do I do- “Ruby looked behind her. The door was still glowing, insisting she proceed. Best option now was to run.

She gathered herself as the entity awaited her answer. Looking as if it was very eager for her to say yes. Ruby got on her feet and slowly got up. The entity followed her movement upward. Ruby angled her right foot to the side, and with all her will; she forced her legs to run.

Ruby ran towards the door, leaving that mass of writhing tentacles there. Ruby didn’t look back, scared to see that thing staring back at her. As she approached the door, she heard the thing call to her.

“Hey! Come back! Where are you going?!” Its voice overcome with desperation. Ruby turned around to see it. It stayed behind, the once large smile of chattering teeth, now turned into a frown.

Ruby shook her head and quickly opened the door. Running into the light, once again in its safety. The girl stumbled to a stop and turned around once more. It’s glowing eyes staring at her from the dark room, looking eager to leave but it didn’t, as if something was stopping it. Ruby turned around again and ran to the next room numbered “013”.

Chapter Text

“Door 20… I wonder how many rooms there are.” Ruby mumbled to herself, as she reached for the doorknob. The girl opened the door, peering into the next room. The room appeared as a long hallway with multiple doors on each side. Ruby stepped into the room, walking for a bit. Halfway down the hallway, she saw that the door was locked. “Must be a key in one of these rooms-” Ruby thought.

The young girl began to wander around the different rooms, looking through the drawers and collecting the shiny coins in there. She walked into another room, careful with every step. Just like the rest of the rooms, there was a bed and a few drawers in the room. Ruby walked up to a nightstand and began to open the drawers and found a flashlight in one of the drawers. “Finally! Something bright!” Ruby clicked the flashlight a bit. Lighting the room in rapid succession, giving her a small amount of comfort.

The girl put the flashlight away in her small dress pocket and continued to the next room. She continued to look for a key. Going through the next room then another. Clicking a few typewriters along the way. The typewriters were fun. She had two rooms left to search. Walking in the next room, she heard a familiar sparkling sound again. The blue light was back, and it was coming from a nightstand next to the bed.

Ruby walked towards it and opened the drawer, and there was indeed a key. She grabbed it and rushed out the room. She ran to the door and began to unlock it. With a click, the door swung open. With that, she continued with her usual pace.

The little girl soon made it to door 023. She opened the door and was met with a dark room and a metal gate on the other side. Ruby walked up to it confused. How was she going to open it? She shook the gate but it didn’t budge. The girl looked to her right: barely making out a silhouette of another door. She walked to it and swung it open. Ruby was met with a descending staircase, the bottom completely encased in darkness.

She carefully walked down the stairs, slow and steady. Ruby’s heart began to pound, not knowing what was at the bottom. Ruby then stopped in her tracks. “Wait, I have a flashlight… I forgot.” Ruby grabbed the flashlight from her pocket and turned it on, pointing in at the bottom of the staircase. The flashlight illuminated a door at the bottom.

Ruby reached the door and opened it. Shining the flashlight in the room. She could make out a weird basement or cellar type place. Fences and barrels lined the room. Ruby walked around the maze-like structure of the room. She wandered around for a bit; eventually finding a lever on the wall next to some barrels, again illuminated by that blue light. She tried to reach it but her fingers could barely graze the lever. She was too short.

“Need help?” A familiar echoey voice came from behind her.

Ruby yelped and jumped, quickly turning around and shining the flashlight on the thing behind her.

“Hey! Don't point that at me!” That entity she had seen from before hissed and dashed away from the light.

“Ah! S-sorry...?” Ruby backed up, pointing the light to the ground. She looked up at the entity floating a few feet away from her.

“So, do you need help?” The entity asked.

“Uhh…” The girl looked back up at the lever above her head, “uh, yeah?”

“I can help you pull it!” It smiled.

“Uh really?” Ruby’s face lit up a bit.

“Of course, I can! Well, so long as you agree to be my friend. And you can’t run away this time!” The entity scoffed, crossing its tentacles much like a person would with their arms. Clearly still upset about her running away from it.

“Your friend? Didn’t you just try to bite me?” Ruby asked. Her body began to freeze up again. Saying the wrong thing could get her killed. Or so she thought. “Oh yeah… It was just a prank! Don’t worry about it, I won’t do it again if you don’t like it!” The thing’s smile widened.

…

Ruby stood still for a second, “Huh-? A prank?!”

“Yeah! I do it all the time. It’s so much fun watching people scream or jump back. Scaring people is fun. You should join me one day!” It suggested.
“But why didn’t you attack me again?” Ruby’s face was a mask of confusion.

“Oh! Cause you're a kid too! Other kids rarely, if ever, come by here. It’d be a shame if you were to be killed off so soon!” Screech still smiled, completely oblivious to Ruby’s horrified face.

“Huh?!-” Ruby’s sentence was interrupted by a flickering light. Her flashlight was running out of battery. Ruby’s eyes widened.

“You should probably turn that off and save what little battery that's left.” The entity suggested, pointing at the flashlight. That thing sounded a little bit too excited about the fact that the light was going away. But unfortunately, that thing was right, she needed to conserve the battery, so she turned it off.

“Now answer my question!” It continued to press on. Ruby looked up; it seemed like saying yes was her only option to get out of here. “Uh, ok… I’ll be your friend.” The little girl looked down and shuffled her feet.

“Yay!” The thing giggled. And as promised, the entity floated up to the lever and pulled it down. Ruby could hear the metal gate swing open from above. “Uh thank you, but I have to go now.” Ruby began to shuffle away. “Hey! You can’t leave just yet. You’ve barely told me about yourself. Friends should get to know each other.” It stated.

“Well… can I ask you something first?” Ruby looked up.

“Huh- oh sure!” The entity responded.

“What’s your name? It’s only fair that I know yours after I told you mine.” The girl asked. “My name… well I don’t know my name. None of us do. We just go by what the people who pass by here call us.” It said, “They call me Screech. Weird name but fitting I guess.”

“Screech...? Hmm, wait- What do you mean by ‘Us’?” The girl questioned. “Oh yeah there are a bunch more of us here. I think you encountered Rush when I first met you. You heard that thing scream past you, right?”

“Uh yeah.” Ruby responded. “I see, just be careful and hide. It always flickers the lights. But that’s beside the point. We are getting sidetracked, so tell me about yourself! Like, why are you here n’ stuff.” The entity called Screech asked.

“Why am I here...? Well, I don’t really know. The last thing I remember was running away because my mom told me to run. So I ran in the rain and got lost. Then I found this place and boom! I ended up here.” The young girl explained. “Oh, well that’s interesting. Tell me more!” The entity urged. Ruby decided to sit down on the floor, and the entity floated down to her level too. “Ok!” Ruby’s nerves began to settle, and she finally started to feel a small sense of comfort.

Chapter Text

“Well, what do you wanna know? I’m kind of bad at explaining things…” Ruby said. “Hmm...” The entity looked down and thought. “Well, uhh, guess I’m kinda bad at asking questions too.” It nervously laughed.

Both sat in awkward silence for a few seconds. Ruby scratched the small bandage on her nose, not going unnoticed, the entity asked, “Hey, why do you have so many bandages? I see at least 3 on you right now. Did you get hurt?”

“Huh? Oh, right.” Ruby looked at the bandage on her right arm and left knee. “I guess I did get hurt, but it was way before I got here. I like the bandages. They're pink. It’s kind of hard to see in the dark though…” She added.

“Oh, don’t worry! I can see in the dark just fine! My eyes have night vision, cool right?” It bragged. “Wow! That's so cool!” The little girl praised. “Ha! I’m glad you find that interesting. So, what else…hmm…” The entity brought up one of its tentacles to its chin, like a person would when thinking.

As the entity thought, Ruby looked to her right. She could see the glowing blue light down the cellar. Urging her to move on. She should probably listen to it.

“Hey, this is nice and all, but I really have to go.” Ruby gestured to the blue light. The entity looked up in disappointment. “Aw come on. Don’t listen to that annoying light. Stay here with me!” It begged.

“Well- Why can’t you come with me?” The girl suggested. “Huh- What, no! I don’t wanna go in the light!” It cried. “Huh? W-why not?” Ruby asked, now worried.

“I-I I don’t know… The light, it scares me. Just, don’t go! I don’t have anyone else to talk to! Besides, it's too dangerous. Just stay here with me, okay?” Ruby could hear the entity start to choke on tears. It seemed so desperate and lonely.

Ruby sat still. She didn’t know what to say. It was clear she needed to go, but she didn’t want to leave the thing behind. Especially not after it began to beg for her to stay. “B-but I have to go…” Ruby began to stand up slowly.

“Why do you have to go! Stay here with me where it’s dark and safe!” The entity moved upward, growing slightly agitated. “Well, uh-” Ruby looked around for an excuse, “What am I going to eat then? I don’t think there is any food around here anyways.”

The entity paused. She was right. She couldn’t stay here forever, but it didn’t want her to leave. It’s so lonely down here. “Hey, I have an idea.” Ruby cut the silence. Screech looked up. “How about I carry you around? You can help me stay safe since you said it was dangerous, and you clearly know more than me. We can still talk, and I’ll help you not be scared of the light! Or something…” Ruby looked down, shuffling her feet again.

The entity stared at her for a moment. That did seem like the best option. “Sure! But promise me you’ll stay with me the whole time!” It said, Ruby nodded.

“Let's go then.” Ruby gestured for the thing to jump into her arms. It did, and Ruby held screech much like a stuffed animal. The entity was surprisingly light, especially for its size, making it a bit awkward to hold. But the little girl didn’t mind.

Although the girl couldn’t ignore how weird the thing felt. It felt cold and like a solid inky substance. It was weird but it didn’t seem to stain, so it was fine. The entity wrapped its tentacles around her like a hug. “Ready to go?” Ruby asked.

“Y-yeah. Let’s go.” The entity responded. With that, Ruby began walking towards the door illuminating with light. She made it back to the staircase and headed up. Clutching the entity in her arms. Hopefully it could help her escape this place…

Chapter Text

The girl held the entity as she carefully walked up the stairs, then passed through the metal gate, which was now opened, the blue light guiding the way. They made it to the doorway, Ruby stopped. “You ready?” Ruby looked down to ask.

The entity stared into the brightly lit room, nervous, but it wanted to stay with the young girl, so it had no choice. “Y-yeah I’m ready…” The entity squirmed as the girl walked into the bright room. It shielded its eyes with one of its ‘arms’ and did its best to try not to look at the lights around the room.

They walked for a bit. Screech telling her about the other entities around the area while she looked around and collected coins from drawers. It also helped her when she walked into a room and noticed two doors with the same number. This initially freaked her out since she hadn't been counting, but luckily screech went to check both doors. It leaned close to one of the doors labeled 24. It floated there for a sec before gliding to the other door numbered 25, across the room. It leaned near it too and appeared to have checked for some type of noise. After a bit it flew back into Ruby’s arms and directed her to the 24th door. She carefully opened it to see it safe.

They eventually made it to room 025, where Ruby finally spoke up. “So, what’s life here?” The girl asked. “Huh? Oh- It’s alright. I guess…” The entity mumbled. “I mostly just stay in dark rooms alone. I try to talk to the others here, but they don’t seem to like me.”

“Huh really? Why?” Ruby grew curious. “Well, when I try to talk to them, they get annoyed or tell me to leave them alone. It’s not very fair cause they talk to each other just fine. They call me names too.” Screech’s voice began to soften. “Many of them say I’m useless or bad at my job since people get away from me easily. The rest just don’t care about me. So, I just… stopped trying to make friends with any of them.”

Ruby stopped in her tracks. She began to feel a bit of pity for the thing. “That sounds awful! I’m sorry you get treated like that. What bullies…” The girl began walking again.

“Thanks…” Screech buried its face more into her arms. “Thanks for talking to me then...”

The heartfelt moment ruined as they entered the next room. The lights flickered and the walls grew black. Ruby stared in horror as eyes formed on the wall.

“What are those?!” Ruby asked in terror. “Huh? Oh no… It’s Seek.” Screech got nervous.

“Who?”

“Seek, another entity here. It can control the eyes on the wall and see through it. It’s going to appear soon. When it happens, run. Seek is strong and deadly…” The being warned. Its tone now serious.

“Does that mean it’s watching us right now?” Ruby looked down at the entity in her arms. “Most likely, yes. But for now, we have to keep going.”

“Maybe I can convince it not to attack us. But I doubt that’ll work…” Screech mumbled. Ruby nodded and continued to walk forward, passing room to room.

Screech tightened its grip on the girl while staring at the floor. It couldn’t bear to look at the eyes. It felt ashamed, embarrassed almost. “What are the others gunna think of me when they see me helping this girl?” The entity thought. “I’m going to be made even more fun of, aren’t I...? … Should I still help this girl-?... No, I’m going to stick by her side, no matter what…” Even with this declaration it thought, there was still a lingering sense of doubt. The entity tried to shake off the feeling as Ruby made it to door 34. A long hallway stood right in front of them, with no eyes that could be seen.

“The eyes are gone…” Ruby noted. “That means Seek is going to show up.” Screech stated. “I hopefully can convince it to leave us alone… if not, you know what to do…”

“Run?”

“Run.”

The little girl walked down the long hallway, her body shaking, anticipating a chase. Screech could hear her heartbeat speeding up. She was scared, but there wasn’t much it could do to make her feel better.

Ruby took another step before hearing a strange sloshing noise behind her. Her body quickly turned around to see a black mass on the floor and eyes forming on the wall. The black mass began to rise into a humanoid form with a single eye on its face. So, this is who people call Seek.

The entity broke free from the substance holding it to the puddle on the floor and ran towards them, almost like it was gliding for a second. Ruby’s legs tensed up as she tried to take off and run, but her fear kept her from moving, her legs felt like stone. The entity drew closer.

“Screech… do something.” Ruby mumbled quickly, sweat forming on her face. She still couldn’t move. “Uh-! Yeah. Yeah!” The entity scrambled for words. Clearly just as nervous as her.

The entity faced Seek as it ran at them. “Wait Seek! Please stop!” Screech’s voice called out. Seek stopped dead in its tracks only a few feet away from them. It looked up, confused at the request.

“Huh-?” The entity called Seek spoke. Its voice deep and slightly distorted, muddled almost. Screech struggled to form another sentence, stuttering on words.

“Did you just tell me to stop?” Seek scoffed with a serious, almost angry tone, “I’ve been watching you for a bit, tell me why you are helping a human?” It began to step closer to them, Ruby stepped back.

“I-I dunno! But please just spare this one!” Screech requested, its voice shaking fear, it did its best to hold itself together. It couldn’t bear to think of its friend dying right in front of it.

“Now why should I listen to you?” Seek dashed forward, only stopping inches away from them, slouching over. It met ruby’s eye level and stared right in her face. “I’m going to kill this human.” Seek’s eye widened, its voice got lower. “Whether you like it or not.” It threatened.

“C-come on man! She’s just a kid…” Screech’s tentacles began to move erratically. “She’s my friend!” The entity cried.

Seek stood up straight, “F-friend?!” It began to laugh maniacally. “A human? Your friend?! HAHAHAH-!” The entity continued to laugh hysterically despite it’s lack of mouth. Ruby trembled in fear, tears began to well up in her eyes as that thing continued to laugh in her face. Not knowing how to face her possible mortality.

Seek immediately stopped laughing and ducked back down to their level. It bared its claw-like hands. “Don’t make me laugh. What difference does that make?” Seek began to stare screech down. “You can be her friend once she’s dead.”

Screech’s fear began to turn to anger. It didn’t like being mocked. “Of course there’s a difference! How is being friends with her once she’s dead the same?” Screech shouted. It tried to move upward, but Ruby’s grip kept it from doing so.

“Oh, never mind! I just remembered who I’m talking to!” Screech’s tone turned very passive aggressive. “You’re just lonely. So lonely in fact you can’t comprehend the thought of having friends! You couldn’t even try holding a normal conversation even if you wanted to! Oh, and those eyes on the wall don’t count!” It added.

“H-hu- w-wha-“ Seek stood up and froze, twitching a bit. It began to stutter, not knowing how to respond to being retaliated against, as well as the lengthy insult.

“And you’re not just lonely either! You’re pathetic too! No one’s had the guts to say it to your face though!” Screech shouted. Ruby looked down in horror. What was it doing?! Was it trying to get her killed?!

Screech didn’t notice the girl’s horrified face and continued to go off, “Imagine appearing twice to try to throw off a person and still failing! You mock humans all the time, yet you can’t admit that they’re always faster than your slow ass!” Screech cursed, which threw both Ruby and Seek completely off. “You’re so unlikable that even people who come here want to run away from you!” Screech yelled. It had a wide toothy smile. The entity began to chuckle at its own insults.

The room went completely silent. Both Seek and Ruby were too stunned to speak, but only for a moment. Both Ruby and Screech look up to see Seek, shaking in absolute fury. Even with the lack of facial features, both of them could tell that it was beyond pissed. “Screech...” Seek mumbled with the angriest tone imaginable. Its hands trembled before quickly baring its massive claws once again.

“Ruby.” Screech whispered, “You should start running now…ahahaa…” It laughed through its nervous smile and sweat. Ruby gladly took that advice, she quickly turned around and got the strength to take off and open the door. Seek let out a loud roar. “Get back here you brats!” It shouted, sprinting forward. Its heavy footsteps echoed out.

The room began to shake, eyes formed on the wall, and furniture was all broken and knocked over. Ruby ducked below the fallen bookshelves and tried her best to run as the room became unstable. It was too awkward to run while holding Screech, so she instinctively let it go. Her speed increased as she ran to the next room. Screech didn’t mind this though, it just began to levitate and rushed through the room with her.

The next room had a large pile of items in its center, obscuring her vision of the room. It was either right or left, but she couldn’t decide which way to go in such a short notice. Lucky for her, for a brief second in the corner of her right eye, she could see a familiar blue light. She immediately turned right to the correct door. The next room was the same as the other one except the light came from her left. Ruby continued to follow it as the heavy footsteps began to draw closer. The next room had no light coming from the right or left side. “Keep running! The right door has to be in the center!” Screech shouted. The little girl ran left and to the center. Indeed, it was the right door.

Her legs were burning, her breathing grew heavier, and sweat dripped from her face. Ruby ran a lot so she was quite fast, but never before had she ran for so long. Slamming open the next door, Ruby ran into a long hallway, as chandeliers came crashing down, igniting on the floor. To make it worse, large arms came crashing through the windows, flailing around. All this caused the room to shake more, nearly knocking the small girl off balance. But she persisted. The girl dodged the claw-like hands and did her best to avoid the fire. They made it halfway through before hearing another roar coming from behind her. “Keep going! Keep going! We’re almost there!” Screech yelled. Ruby got a small burst of energy and pushed herself forward, reaching out towards the door. She fell forward, catching herself with the doorknob. With fast heavy breaths, Ruby panicked and swung the door open. She stumbled forward, making it through the doorway and into a normal looking room. Her stumbling caused her to trip and fall to the ground, landing on her hands and knees.

Screech turned around to see Seek desperately trying to make it to the door. “Wow! You can’t even outrun a child!” Screech hollered, “See you later!” It laughed and slammed the door shut. Seek ran right into the door, causing a loud bang. Screech backed up from the door, as the banging continued. “I’m going to kill both of you brats! Just you wait!” Seek’s roar could be heard from the other side of the door. Eventually the banging stopped, and its loud footsteps began to fade.

Chapter Text

“HA! Sure showed him!” Screech laughed. “Seek didn’t stand a chance against us!” The entity continued to brag, but Ruby couldn’t listen. She'd landed on her knees and hands. They hurt. She almost died; she looked that thing right in the eye. She ran more than she ever did.

Ruby sat up on a nearby wall and held her knee. Her left knee, which already had an injury with a bandage on, was hurting badly. Her vision was blurry, and her head felt dizzy. The little girl grazed her knee with her hand, a sting of pain shot through her leg. Ruby slowly looked at her hand, shaking violently, desperately grasping for breath. Blood. The wound had reopened. The girl felt the room spin around her, her eye’s hyper focusing on the deep red color staining her hands.

“Well now that we dealt with that, let’s keep going!” Screech giggled. It never felt so good. It felt nice to finally say something back to the thing that degraded it all the time. “Come on Ruby we gotta deal with the rest now! Haha… Ruby?” The entity looked down at her. It only just now noticed her sitting on the floor. “Hey Ruby? Are you oka-” Screech’s eyes widened as it noticed her clutching her knee. It moved closer and saw blood. “You’re bleeding! Are you ok?” It looked over at Ruby’s face. She couldn’t take it anymore.

Ruby began to cry. She covered her face with her hands and leaned into her legs in a fetal position. Her quiet sobs echoing around the room. Ruby barely cried; she knew not to, it was useless if she did. Crying out for help never worked, normally it only made things worse. That much she knew, but she couldn’t contain it now. She desperately tried to keep quiet, but her tears and sobs kept coming out.

Screech stayed still. It didn’t know what to do. It hadn’t heard the sounds of crying in so long. It began to panic, quickly trying to find a way to comfort its friend. It darted its eyes around trying to think of something. By this point, blood from Ruby’s injury was running down her legs, close to staining her small, laced socks.

“Ruby! Please- Are you ok?!” The entity was finally able to spit out. But Ruby kept on crying. She sat back up on the wall, desperately wiping away tears with her hands, staining her face with blood. The entity moved to her side. It tried to call out to her again, but Ruby couldn’t hear it. The sounds around her felt muffled and her vision blurred. Screech was confused. What could it do? What could make her feel better?

Screech leaned on her puffy sleeves, wrapping its tentacles around her, giving her a hug. It could feel her rapid heartbeat as it leaned on her. This was so strange. It felt like a lifetime ago since Screech felt the warmth and comfort of a hug. It made it feel… strange. As if a piece of its humanity, long since torn away, had returned in the moment.
The little girl looked over at the entity hugging her. She slowly wrapped her hands around the mass of goo. Ruby closed her eyes. They embraced. Ruby’s warmth rubbing off on the cold entity. “Are you ok?” Screech kept its voice low. The little girl sighed and let go. “Yeah- I think so…” She wiped away any last tears. “My leg hurts. I feel so tired.”

“Lemme find a bandage or something else that can help you. There are always bandages ‘n stuff lying around. I’ll be right back! Don’t go anywhere.” Screech backed up into a shadowy corner, before disappearing into the darkness.

Ruby sniffled. She looked over at her leg. She could feel the warm blood running down her leg. A bit dripping on the floor. Although blood didn’t bother her that much, she was used to blood, but she could never get used to the burning sensation and pain of a wound.

Ruby let out a deep breath, relaxing her shoulders. She still felt dizzy, her eyes weighing down like leather. She leaned her head back against the wall, slowly closing her eyes, patiently waiting for her friend to return.

…

“Guys. We have a bit of an issue…” An entity peered through a closet, whispered.

“Is this why you called us here?” The entity, Rush, spoke with a distorted, raspy voice.
“Well, it was Seek who asked me to bring you all here…” The closest entity, Hide, mumbled. Looking around the room, Hide could see every entity in the hotel either sitting or floating by a long table. Except for Dupe, who was peering behind a false door, looking in on the situation.

Seek sat at the head on the long table, its head in its hands. It stared down with a serious look. It seemed ticked off, it almost looked like it was trembling. The room was eerily quiet, with the only sounds being the strange whispers from Eye’s and the glitching noise coming from both Rush and Ambush. Finally Seek spoke up.

“It seems… We are having an issue with a certain entity…” Seek’s voice was low and stern as it continued to stare down.

“Hey wait a second. Where’s Screech and Figure? I don’t see them there.” Jack asked, his voice speaking from the other closest in the room.
“Apparently it didn’t want to come and told Hide to relay it the information afterward. As for Screech…” Seek’s tone shifted to slight anger, “That’s where we are having an issue…”

“Ha! Since when is there never not an issue with the thing?” Rush chuckled. “What did it do this time?” It asked with a sarcastic smile.

“It’s not doing its job…” Seek grumbled as he lowered his hands on the table.

“Is that it?” Ambush looked bored, “You called us all here just for that?”

Seek sat in silence for a moment, the tension growing. But after a moment, its hands began to claw at that table, “That brat…”

Seek rapidly stood up and slammed both its fist on the table, the table shook as a loud bang echoed through the room. Everyone jumped at the sudden noise. “That brat has pissed me off for the last- FUCKING TIME!” Seek’s claws began tearing away at the table more, none of the entities had ever heard Seek sound so… angry, it was even twitching in fury.

Everyone in the room backed up a bit and stared in horror. Hide and Jack both hid back into the closets. The room atmosphere felt even heavier.

“Damn! What did Screech even do to piss you off?!” Halt asked with a nervous, tense snicker. If Halt could sweat, there would be a pool underneath it. Hide and Jack already knew what was going on; they had seen what Screech was up to. Dupe also had some idea that something was off but didn’t know everything.

“That mother- Ugh…” Seek tried to cool itself down for a second before continuing, “That brat has decided to help out a human.” Seek managed to get its tone to sound more serious than angry.

Most of the room gasped or looked shocked. Helping out a human was a serious taboo, it was the reason Guiding light, Jeff, and Goblino had been outcast.

“What do you mean by ‘Helping out a human?” Eye questioned, multiple voices speaking at the same time in a whisper, creating a weird, layered affect to their voice. “I’m curious about its actions or motivation, if you know.”

Seek sighed somehow and looked up at everyone’s confused faces. “Screech has been accompanying this human girl. A child and has been helping the human around and avoiding us. When it came to my room, Screech had asked me to not kill the girl, stating it was its… ‘friend’.” Seek huffed. “What a joke.”

“Friend?” Dupe chuckled. “You can’t be serious. Since when would someone like Screech resort to such a ridiculous thing? It can’t be ‘that’ desperate.” Dupe continued to snicker at the thought. Most of the entities in the room echoed the same sediment.

“I don’t get it either. It’s stupid, but Screech had the gull to insult me right to my face and I-” Seek began to claw at the table again. Clearly holding in some, not so friendly, thoughts. Suffice to say everyone in the room wondered what in the hell did Screech say to piss him off so much.

“It doesn’t matter right now. Right now I need everyone to listen up!” Seek walked away from the table and slowly towards the door. “I want you all to kill that girl and bring me Screech as soon as possible… We can’t let the girl escape or let Screech’s friendliness become a constant thing.” With that order, Seek walked out the door. “You are all dismissed.” And the door shut right behind it.

The room was quiet for a moment as everyone tried to process this.

“Well, what are y'all waiting for? You heard what Seek said! Get going!” Rush roared, before speeding out the room, knocking down the door. The others followed suit, either dashing out the door, or teleporting via their own means.

…

“This is bad…” A small blue light glowed as it spoke. It had watched from above as the meeting went on. The girl’s life was in serious danger, and so was Screech’s. It couldn’t imagine what would happen to the entity, even if Guide didn’t want to admit it, it was worried for the child’s fate. Both of them.

“I have to do something…but what…?” The light pondered, it then faded away, it was going to help these kids. Somehow…

Chapter Text

Ruby sniffled a bit as she waited. She slouched forward and stared with dead eyes at the ground, trying to not pay attention to anything around her. She sat there patiently for a few minutes, a small amount of blood still running down her leg. It felt like an eternity, yet it went by so fast. Eventually, a voice would snap her out of it.

“Ruby! I’m back! I found some bandages n’ stuff in the drawers.” Screech exclaimed as it reappeared in a shadow in the corner. In two of its tentacles, it held some bandages and vitamins in the other. Screech moved towards Ruby and hovered right next to her. “Let me, uh, wrap your wound…” Screech narrowed its eyes and moved to her injured leg.

“Huh-? Oh. O-ok…” Ruby snapped out of her daze. She hadn’t realized that she had been out of it for a while. She looked over at screech as it placed the vitamins down and held the bandages and a cotton pad out towards her.

“Uh Ruby… Can you unwrap the roll of bandages? I don’t have hands…” It asked awkwardly. Ruby nodded and grabbed the roll with her small hands and tried to unroll it. She picked at the edge until it peeled away from the roll. She then handed the roll back to screech and grabbed the cotton pad. Silently, she wiped a bit of the blood off her leg with it before placing the cotton pad on her wound. Screech took the initiative and wrapped the gauze around the pad to keep it in place while Ruby held it on her leg. Quietly, they finished wrapping the wound.

Screech floated a bit back as they both stared at their attempt to cover the wound. It wasn’t perfect, but it’ll do. Strangely, they both felt that they grew a bit closer from this. It made Ruby feel a bit better, knowing that she has a friend that will have her back. Ruby then turned to Screech and smiled gently.

“Thanks Screech! I feel a lot better now…” Ruby then slowly tried to stand up. She stumbled down, but Screech caught her and helped her to get up, acting like a support. With a bit of effort, she finally stood up and stretched a bit.

“Your welcome Ruby! Anything for my friend!” Screech felt a warmth from her smile. It felt so proud of itself. “Oh wait- I can't forget!” Screech then floated down and grabbed the vitamins it had placed down. “I found these! They can help the pain subside, and they make you feel better. I think- at least that’s what I’ve seen when other people have taken them.” It said with a curious expression.

“Hmm…” Ruby was couscous, but she trusted the creature's words. She carefully grabbed the bottle and tried to open it. It was pretty tough, the lid hardly budged. She tried with all her force, but the bottle was impossible to open.

“Curses the child safety lid.” Ruby groaned.

“Uh… read the label… maybe it gives instructions on it.” Screech pointed with its tentacles. Screech looked a bit awkward as Ruby narrowed her eyes and read the old, faded label. She looked confused, but nevertheless followed its instructions and pressed the side of the lid with some force and then twisted it. With a nice pop, the lid finally opened.

Ruby stared at the instructions again and then took a few pills out and tried to swallow them. They were a bit tough to swallow, but she got it down. Instantly, she felt more energetic and livelier. She stretched again and yawned.

“Ok let's keep going!” Ruby said with volition. Her face now determined and cheery. Screech’s smile widened as it giggled with her. They both nodded and began to walk to the next door. A sort of resolve filled the room, a resolve to get out of here, together. Screech could feel that it was growing closer to the human. Who would've thought that a human and a monster could be such friends. Perhaps it’s their child-like view on the world. But either way, with an affirming grip, Ruby swung open the next door, and screech jumped into her arms.

They walked up to door 40 with no incidents, and to Screech’s luck, it was a dark room. Screech floated from Ruby’s arms and floated around room 40, clearly more comfortable. Ruby felt confident as she searched the room with a smile. The door was locked, so they both split up and looked for a key. But since Screech was on her side, she had nothing to fear. The dark wasn't so bad with a friend around.

They both struggled to find the key, the room they were in was quite large. The door they were trying to find was on the other side of piles of furniture. It was too tight even for Ruby’s small body to fit through. Luckily a separate room led to the door. Eventually screech found the key in a drawer of a separate small room. It nodded to the young girl as they walked to the glowing locked door. Ruby fumbled with the key a bit and slowly raised the key to the lock, but before she could turn the key-

“Halt your action.” A wispy, almost angelic voice spoke. The voice caused the glowing blue light to illuminate brighter with every word. Ruby jumped back from surprise. Both her and the entity looked shocked from the sudden command.

“W-who are-” Ruby stumbled on her words.

“I am the guiding light that paves the way to your escape.” The light glowed with its voice. “And I’ve come here to warn you.” The light sounded concerned, yet it’s voice felt oddly calming. It made Ruby feel dazed.

“You? Help us? You never talk with other humans! Not from what I’ve seen. What are you up to?” Screech clearly didn’t trust the sparkling light. It seemed more on guard now. The light stayed still for a second, pondering its next sentence.

“They will be after you. The both of you. You both are in grave danger. Seek has made the call to hunt both of you down.” The light paused, “Escape will be more difficult. And I can’t let that happen.” Somehow, the guiding light sighed, and its glow grew brighter. “I’ve never seen a monster befriend a human before. It’s clear to me that there is something more special between you two. And I can’t let that end in tragedy. I don’t usually interfere like this, but I won't let a child die.” The light spoke with conviction.

“Seek sent them to hunt us down?” Screech’s voice cracked, “Does this mean the others will be after us more often and with more force?” It seemed to trust the light more now, meanwhile, Ruby looked more terrified, but the light felt more comforting.

“Not just the girl, but you too.” The light seemed hesitant. “I don’t help entities very often, but I'm worried. Your life is in danger too Screech. Seek wants you alive, and I fear it will tear you apart itself.” The soft glow of the light danced around door 41. It illuminated the children’s terrified faces.

“So how will you help us?” Ruby asked, the sound of the key echoed out as her hands shook. Guiding light stayed silent before glowing brighter again. The light mumbled something and the two kids stepped forward to hear it. The light whispered into their ears with its heavenly voice. The kids nodded as the light laid out a plan. A plan that would hopefully guide them to safety, despite the lights seemingly iffy perception on Screech, it really did seem like it wanted the best for it. But one thing became clear. Screech might actually have to leave the hotel too, or else it faces death once again.

Chapter Text

Ruby and Screech nod as the light finishes telling them its plan. They both step back as the light illuminates brighter with every word it speaks. “I pray for your safety. I’ll do everything in my power to help, but like I stated, my power is very limited.” The holy voice from the light pauses for a bit. “Keep going, the library is just up ahead. Screech can help you avoid the entity that lurks there. Go, I must leave too now.”

Ruby nods her head and moves towards the door and unlocks it. As the door opens, the yellow dim light from the next room lights the way as the blue guiding light disappears. Screech looks a bit disappointed to leave the dark room, but it goes ahead and floats into Ruby’s arms. Ruby holds Screech tightly and keeps going. Walking down the hallway with her small legs.

“So what’s in the library?” Ruby looked down at Screech with a curious expression. She continued to walk up the two flights of stairs. It was quite tiring but she could push through. “Oh… It’s this really really tall monster with a large mouth on its head. It’s got these really long arms with claws too. We called it the Figure.” Screech explains before pausing for a moment. “It’s also blind but its other senses are really good.” It adds. To Ruby, Screech almost sounded amazed by it, like it held a respect for the thing. Her thoughts were interrupted by the entity in her arms talking again.

“From what I know, ya gotta find a code for a lock while it roams around. As long as we are quiet, we’ll be A-OK!” Screech smiled while holding one of its tentacles out, which Ruby interpreted as a thumbs up. Ruby finally reached the top of the stairs and looked at both sides.

“Double doors… aw crumcake… What number were we on?” Ruby said, slightly panicked. She looked frantically at both doors, one labeled ‘43’ and the other ‘44’. Screech looked around and carefully floated from Ruby’s arms. “I can just check by hearing if Dupe is behind the door. I know its tricks!” Screech said with confidence.

“Don’t.”

Screech and Ruby jumped back simultaneously by the sudden voice. It was that same wispy voice from the guiding light. “They are playing more seriously this time.” The light appeared at door 43. “Dupe is being more careful now… Your usual methods will not work anymore. Keep count.” The light’s holy voice faded as the sparkling light remained at door 43.

Both of the kids looked at each other worried. Screech awkwardly went back into Ruby’s arms as she held it tight. She sheepishly walked to the door with the light and opened it. Ruby was relieved for a moment as the door opened without issue, but that immediately got shattered when the lights flickered. Her eyes widened as she practically ran to the nearest closest, tightening her arms around Screech. The entity let out a small ‘Eep-’ as Ruby opened the closest door and entered, the dreaded roaring of Rush hastily approaching.

She closed the doors shut as Screech stayed by her side inside the cramped closet. In the next moment, Rush bursts into the room before leaving soon after, the lights breaking as it passes through. Screech gestured to Ruby to leave, which she gladly did and skedaddled out the room.

The door across from them was locked. Luckily another door to the side of the room was open. Both kids nod at each other before walking into it. The room was large with a fireplace and a bed. Large windows and painting adorn the room. “Hey over there!” Screech pointed to a large desk with drawers. Ruby walks towards it. “There is always something in them. Open the desk!” Screech requested. Ruby nodded and opened up the desk to find some lockpicks on it, which she quickly grabbed and put into her other pocket. Then she checks the other drawers. In one of them, there were some batteries.

“Batteries! Finally- something for my flashlight!” Ruby takes the flashlight from her pocket and replaces the battery with the new one. She clicks the button and turns it on, the light shining brighter than before, before turning it off for her light sensitive friend. Screech huffed, “I forgot you had that on you.”

Ruby chuckled a bit, “Me too honestly.” She then opened another drawer and found the next room’s key. She takes the key and rattles it a bit before turning back to leave the room. The girl shifts her grasp on Screech to be more secure as she unlocked the door, and they continue on their way.

…

“I have to tell Figure- quickly…” Hide whispered as it traveled through the closets. Hide’s domain worked in a very peculiar way; every closest and bed led into it. It was a black void with every entrance and exit appearing around the void like a doorway, glowing white. It allowed for fast travel and communication. If any other entity tried to enter it, they would get lost, but Hide already knew every exit and where it led to like the back of its ghostly hands.

Hide floated around the void, quickly heading to a closest exit in the library. It’s wispy body hurrying along, it had to relay the information from the meeting to the Figure before those kids got there. The light from the exit got closer as Hide made its way to it, but before it could reach the door, the blue light suddenly manifested. The second Hide’s form touched the light, it jumped back in pain. Its angelic force burned it. Hide looked up in horror as the bright light compressed and took a very vague humanoid shape, glowing bright in the dark void. It stood out compared to the area it was currently in.

“Guiding Light? What are you doing in my domain?” Hide sheepishly asked, its voice shaky and nervous. The entity moved back a bit, intimidated by the light’s sudden form.

“I am here to prevent you from speaking with the Figure.” The light’s tone was serious and stern. “I won't let you put the lives of those children in jeopardy.” The echoes of its holy voice rang out, irritating Hide’s sensitive hearing.

“W-what…? You-” Hide was a bit taken aback from the light’s motive. It titled its head as it stared at the light with its own dimly lit pupils, the sound of its wispy horns clattering as it did. “Where is this coming from…?” Hide mumbled, it slouched and backed up a bit in a form of subtle surrender. “You never come here…L-let alone help visitors ‘that’ much…” The entity's voice was timid and shaky, rubbing where it got burnt on its arm.

“My motivations are none of your concern. I will keep these children safe with what I am limited to doing. I cannot fight or send you away, I’m too weak for that right now… but I most certainly can block you from leaving, unless you risk getting burned.” There was a strange conviction and resolve in its voice. That, paired with the fact it was already intruding on Hide’s private space, was already making the shy entity uncomfortable and irritated. But it didn’t have the courage to speak up; for it the light merely grazed it, its holy force would burn Hide’s form, and Hide didn’t want to risk it.

“So you’re not going to leave…?” The closest entity asked in a mumble, it slouched more and more.

The guiding light’s vague form glistened in the void, shining a brilliant blue around it. It seemed to be thinking as it stared at Hide, seemingly burying its eyes into its soul. Hide found this strange, and honestly, it didn’t even know the angel could compress its light into this shape. It looked at it, observing it carefully as Hide often did when it was alone, sitting in a closet. The light was humanoid with large eyes of a single, teal blue color. They glowed as its wings stretched out. Well, what was remaining of them; the wings looked torn and much smaller than they probably should be, ripped and uneven feathers adorned its battered wings. Whatever happened to them quickly crossed Hide’s mind, but it didn’t want to ask, nor did it really care to know. Oddly, the sight of Guiding Light’s battered wings brought Hide a small sense of comfort, knowing that the light wasn’t completely immune to being weakened.

“I won’t leave until those kids leave the library in one piece.” The light cut the silence with its echoey voice.

“Don’t you have to light the books or what not for them though…?” Hide asked out of curiosity. Surely the light had thought this through.

“I can be in more than one place at a time.” Guiding Light spoke with a low tone, still blocking the way of the door as Hide looked behind it and noticed that any other exit into the library was blocked off by an extension of Guide. Honestly, Hide didn’t know what it expected, but it had to leave. The urgency to tell Figure was making it stressed and more nervous than usual.

Hide dashed past Guide, moving around it and to the only door that didn’t have any form of protection. Unfortunately for the lowly entity, Guide quickly manifested its signature blue sparkling light on the door, and even more unfortunately so, Hide had gotten too close to it.

Hide jumped back with a loud yelp as its arms and parts of its chest touched the light. The sound of sizzling taunting Hide as it backed up and coward in pain. That yell of pain was loud, much louder then the shy monster had ever been. Hide desperately clutched its arm and chest as it writhed in the burning sensation. The entity keeps its eyes shut as it twitched in discomfort.

The light spoke again, masking Hide’s cries of pain with its calming, holy voice. It made Hide so irritated and made the burns feel worse and embarrassing. It couldn’t stand this level of shame as it got hurt and its safe space was intruded. “I will stay here… not until they are safe.”

Chapter Text

Door 45, the lock clicks and Ruby and Screech proceed. Ruby clutches Screech tightly in her arms as they walk closer and closer to the library. A tenson of sorts is growing with each moment. Ruby decided to make these next few rooms less awkward.

“So Screech, how long have you been in this… old hotel?” Ruby looks down at the entity resting in her arms. Screech seems to be so calm and relaxed in its friend’s arms. Screech’s head, or well body, perks up by the question, “Hmm? Oh, honestly… I dunno. It’s been like forever. You can’t really keep track of time here, but I know it’s been long enough for it to be soooo boring.” Screech complained as it let out a long huff.

“Then what do you do to keep yourself entertained?” Ruby asked as she opened the next door and walked in.

“Oh… umm, well if there is some person wandering the hotel, I usually try to scare them or bite them. Usually I get a few bites in, but most of the time, visitors here die to another entity or they escape.” Screech let out a small huff. “But when I'm alone… I prefer to lay around some dark room or read. Sometimes I like going to the library and reading some cool books there! Although, if the library is closed, I find some random book in some bookshelf.” Screech added, squirming a bit in Ruby’s arms.

“I can’t read half of them…” The entity frowned a bit, “But I try my best to make heads or tails of them! Mainly because there’s nothing else to do…” Screech sighed. The entity was nothing but a child, and no other entity had bothered to teach them to read at a higher level. So the thing was stuck trying to understand literature by itself. Screech looked up at Ruby as they entered another room. “I spend most of my time alone. The only other entity that can stand me is the Figure… Well… I think it does…” Screech let out another disappointing sigh.

“Oh really? You seem to admire the… ‘Figure’...” Ruby tilted her head to the side as she made her way down the stairs of another cellar room to find the lever. “Why’s that?”

Screech took a moment to ponder its response. “Well the Figure doesn’t mind if I go into the library. I think I'm the entity that goes there the most other than Hide and uhh Jack…I think… but anyways-” Screech flew out of Ruby’s arms and pulled down the lever that Ruby had found. It was like instinct now to pull the lever for the short girl then float back into her arms. “The Figure gives me advice and it has cool stories… which I don't know how it describes so well. Since it's uhh blind…” The entity’s voice is a bit timid and Ruby made her way up the stairs and to the now open gate. “But the figure tells me to keep my voice down a lot, since it calls me ‘Loud child’ which - makes sense.”

“Huh…” Ruby narrows her eyes as she looks down on the mess of goo in her arms. After a moment of silence, she shrugs and walks through the gate and into the door. “Do you think the Figure will let us go then…? It seems to be more uh… reasonable.” Ruby adds as she makes her way through door 47.

“I have no idea. I think it just… puts up with me. Which at least is better than ignoring me completely.” Screech’s tone suddenly shifts to be depressing. To Ruby it was a bit clear that the bar for ‘friendliness’ for Screech was especially low.

47…48… after a bit, the pair was right outside door 49. Which is already nerve racking enough, but Ruby could feel herself shake and sweat more as she could hear the rumbling and a low roar of the Figure. The two stood outside the door, both equally nervous.

“So are we going to make a better plan…? That blue light was pretty vague about the thing in the library…” Ruby whispered, clutching Screech a bit tighter in her arms, like a plushie. “Uhh yeah, we should do that.” Screech replied, keeping its voice low too. Both were subconsciously being quiet, either out of fear or out of the fact that the Figure was sensitive to sound. But they’re both a bit dumb, so mostly out of fear rather than logic.

Suddenly, a familiar aura entered the room. Both the kids look around at the sudden shift in atmosphere, clearing some tension. Before either of them realized, the blue sparkling light appeared on door 49.

“Hello children.” The familiar holy light spoke. “This will be the last time I will speak with you a lot before you enter the library. First, I will speak about certain conditions.” The light paused for a moment before glowing brighter again. “The Figure is blind, yet its other senses are far beyond your own. It can smell blood and track you easily. Which worries me.” Even though the light had no real form, both could feel it turn to Ruby.

“My dear child, you are covered in blood and wounds. You will be a magnet for the Figure. There is dry blood on your face and leg, as well as some fresh blood as well.” Ruby touched her face softly with one of her hands. The light was right, when she had gotten injured earlier, when she had rubbed her face when she was crying. Her hands had blood on them, guess the girl hadn’t realized that the stains were still there.

“Do your best to wipe off the blood before you enter. You can conceal your scent better that way. Although… You have many open cuts around your body…” The light’s echoey voice suddenly became concerned, “Dear child, are you alright? Since the beginning I have observed bruises and cuts on you. Many gained far before you arrived in this labyrinth.”

“Oh…” Ruby looked down and shuffled her feet awkwardly. “Uhh… I’m alright. I just get hurt easily…” That was a lie. Even though there would be no real consequences for spilling the truth, there was still this incentive to lie. For some odd reason, Ruby felt as if she would be punished for telling… just like last time.

The glowing light observed the girl’s hesitation, but it decided not to prolong the awkward conversation. “Well let's move on…” The light cut the tension. “Ruby, you grab the books that unlock a code, many are high up so Screech can help you reach those. I'll try my best to distract the entity, or perhaps Screech can do that. Only fate will tell if you survive.” That didn’t help Ruby’s confidence. “But some luck is on our side… The Figure has not been told to go after you yet. I have prevented Hide, as well as Jack, from telling it. So best of luck to the both of you… also wipe that blood off.” The light pointed out with an exhausted tone, much like a parent to their kid who got dirty.

“Oh- ok…” Ruby timidly nodded. She looked down at the entity in her arms, it squirmed and let out a soft whine. The gooey thing was clearly as nervous as her, even if it knew the entity better than her. Which did get her hopes high… The young girl sighed, her breath shaky. “You have a cloth or something to clean the blood off…?

Suddenly, she had a small cloth thrown in her face. The cloth fell from her face and Screech caught it in one of its tentacles. Screech looked up and handed her the cloth.
“Where did that come from…?” Ruby asked all confused, taking the piece of fabric from Screech and muttering a small ‘thank you’.

“Don’t worry about it, dear child.” Guiding light voice was monotone. That and the vague response left Ruby very confused on where it came from and how the light even tossed it to her, but whatever, if it works it works. Ruby lets go of Screech and wipes off some blood from her face and any other wounds with the fabric cloth. As Ruby cleans herself off, the light keeps speaking.

“I believe that is all- and remember, hide in any closets if the Figure gets close and keep your heart rate in check.” The light’s tone softened. Ruby got a bit confused for a moment on how you would control your heart rate in such a scenario. The light continued its spew of info, “And stay crouched, but you are small, so you hopefully won't make as much noise.” The light seemed to have a calm and cool appearance somehow, well that's how its glow felt like, but there is a small aura of concern as the light focuses on Screech now. “Screech… I know it’s in your nature to be loud… it's in your name. But please, for your sake and your friend, it's important you must stay quiet…” Guiding’s echoey voice turns into a somewhat melancholic and concerned tone, like a concerned parent. “I believe in you that you can help your friend's life and survive this. Remember, you both are endangered.” Screech floats by Ruby, slightly frowning, and staying quiet. The room gets quiet and Screech takes in the light’s concerned, with the only sound being their moving tentacles. Although Screech perks their head up for a moment as they realize that Guide was the first to acknowledge their friendship with Ruby as an actual friendship and not some joke, which Screech appreciates. Even the fact that such a good hearted entity like Guide slightly cares for them… it's weird…That hasn’t happened in years.

For a single moment Screech felt something. It felt like time went still for a second. A memory, a small fragment of the past lost long ago returned to them. The memory… it's foggy, parts of the details missing. A woman, leaning down in front of them, speaking in that same tone. “You must stay quiet, it's important. I know it’s hard to understand, but we are endangered…” Her voice is soft and comforting. It feels so familiar, but Screech can’t remember their face or the details of their appearance… Who is this? Where did this memory come from? Where did this happen?

But as Screech keeps asking questions in their head, they then snap out of it as Ruby nudges them. Screech’s eyes widen for a moment as they come back to reality. Screech shakes their head for a second and then speaks. “I understand… I’ll do my best…” Screech nods slightly with a quiet voice, squirming a bit as it floats close to their friend. The light then glows bright once again.

“Alright then. I pray for the best of luck to you both.” Guiding light’s voice now sounds confident, probably to make the kids feel more comfortable too. “And may God protect you.” Then in one final glow, the light disappears, leaving the kids alone in the dim room. Now it's quiet with low sounds of the figure coming from the other side of the library door. Ruby and Screech look at each other nervously before turning to the door. Ruby places the cloth into her dress pocket and goes to hold one of Screech’s tentacles, like two friends holding hands. The young girl squeezes their tentacle for the nerves and comfort. With sweat coming from her face and slight shivers from Screech, they approach the door, hand in hand, and push open the large library doors.

A loud roar sweeps through the room as the heavy doors slowly swing open. Out peeking from one shelf, a large monster with a mouth for a face appears and approaches the sound of the opening doors. Ruby presumes this is the Figure, and as that thing gets closer, she holds her breath and freezes, and so does Screech, if Screech even breathes. Suddenly, the sound of something crashing to Ruby’s left draws the Figures attention to it and it rushes the noise. Ruby and Screech take this opportunity to sneak in as the Figure is distracted. The library doors somehow close behind them and this game of hunter and prey begins.

Screech points one of its tentacles to the left as the both look at each other. Ruby assumes that means they are taking the left so Ruby takes the right. They both nod at each other and split up. Ruby crouches quietly to the right, looking through the vast shelves. ‘How on Earth am I going to find the code with all these books?’ Ruby thinks to herself. Luckily her question is answered as she notices a soft glow and noise admitting from a book close to the floor. Ruby moves towards the book with a green spine and grabs it, opening it up to see a code. A star shape is on one of the pages and on the next page is a 3. Ruby is confused on what this even means, but she assumes this is important. Somehow, Ruby sees a bit of the code in her vision. Ruby shakes her head and makes sure she isn’t hallucinating, but no, the shapes and numbers appear in a corner in her vision. The young girl wants to question it, but at this point, she just blames the blue light for this.

Ruby continues on her way, slowly moving around the shelves on the right side of the library. She finds two more codes, and once she sees the code, she places the book back. Loud footsteps from the monster echo in the library, growing louder as it draws closer. Ruby can feel her body tense up and her heart race every time it gets closer, but to her relief it leaves before it can find her. Ruby then sees more codes appear in her vision despite the fact she didn't find any books. She looks to her left as she approaches some fallen furniture by a closet. She sees Screech picking up a book before quietly floating over to some large desk with a blue glow on it. She sees them pick up some piece of paper and look at it, clearly confused as it tilts his head. Then the Figure walks through the middle of the library looking for whoever is intruding on its space. It can’t find anything so it stomps up to the upper level of the library. Screech uses this window of time to quietly float over to Ruby who is hidden behind some furniture.

Screech looks like it wants to chat with her, but it can't so it just shows her the piece of paper wrapped in its gooey tentacles. Ruby slowly reaches for the paper and does her best to be quiet and she looks at it. Screech floats beside her and they both try to make heads or tails of the weird code. The paper looks old and has scribbles on it. The most important is what they both assume is the code. ‘Circle, Star, X, Square, Triangle; in that order.’ Both Ruby and Screech have a baffled look. Unfortunately these two are massive idiots who have no idea what this means. Ruby assumes this has to do with those codes they found in the books. Based on what she sees, they both have found five codes in total, but out of the codes in the paper, they both only have the circle, star, and triangle found. Meaning that the remaining books must have the square and the X.

But before either of them can think about it more, heavy footsteps rapidly approach. In their panic, Ruby tries to move away but accidentally brushes against a fallen lap, making the lamp squeak against the old wooden floor. The little girl feels her heart rush as the Figure immediately reacts to the sound and moves towards it. Screech, who unfortunately doesn't have many options, quickly disappears into the shadows, and leaves Ruby to rush to a closet nearby. Ruby quickly opens the closet doors and hides inside, the paper with the code rolled up in her small hands. The girl prays that the Figure walks right past her and for a moment it does. The large monster inspects the cause of the noise for a moment, growling quietly and it moves its head side to side. Unfortunately, the monster perks its head up and walks over to the closet, making more growls.

Ruby’s eyes widen as she covers her mouth with her hands. She holds her breath, trying her best not to move or make a sound, but her body isn't complying and is shaking intensely. The large beast continues to make animalistic sounds as it inspects the closets, moving its head around. Ruby can see it through the cracks of the closet, watching in fear as it won't go away. The terrified girl can feel tears well in her eyes as she tries desperately not to make noise, backing up all the way in the closet. Ruby prays for something to help her as the Figure lets out a louder roar, seemingly detecting something in the closet.

But luckily fate seems to be on her side, as her guardian angel answers her prayers. Ruby can feel the same energy of the blue light around her, but this time it isn't admitting any sound, it just glows around her. Almost instantly, Ruby can feel herself and body calm down. The glowing light feels like a wave of relief mixed with nostalgia. Ruby has a hard time describing the feeling, but she can sense her heart slowing down and her muscles lose their tension. Lucky for her, the Figure can’t detect anything in the closet anymore as Ruby stops making any form of noise. The monster growls before walking off. Ruby listens intently as the footsteps get quieter, and now that she is sure it's far away, Ruby gets out of the closet and goes back to crouching.

The little girl has to hold herself back from letting out the biggest sigh of relief ever. That was without a doubt one of the most stressful moments of her life. ‘Why do the worst parts of my life happen when I’m in closets…’ Ruby thinks to herself. The girl then makes her way slowly through the shelves and looks up at the upper floor to see screech finding another book. The Figure right now is making its way to the start of the library and is moving around the entrance doors. She takes this opportunity to crouch up the stairs and join Screech on the second floor.

Ruby slowly makes her way towards Screech who is by another closet with a couch nearby. As Ruby makes her way to the other side of the upper floor, she can see the library exit locked with a padlock. Ruby puts two and two together and realizes the code is for the lock. Screech greets Ruby, clearly happy to see their friend alive. Screech shows Ruby the two books it found. Screech luckily found square which is 9. Meaning the only shape left is X. Ruby looks around and spots a blue light on a high up shelf. Ruby points to it and Screech floats over to get it. Picking it up, the last shape, X is there with the number 8. Both of them have found all eight books and now have to put the code together. Their thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the Figure’s growl and loud footsteps up the stairs. Both Ruby and Screech look at each other panicked. Ruby looks over at the closets and looks like she is about to enter it, but then Screech wraps one of its cold gooey arms around her and pulls her behind the red couch. Ruby looks confused, but as the beast walks towards the area, it doesn’t notice them behind the couch and walks off after a second.

Ruby looks relieved to be safe behind the couch, and Screech and Ruby put their heads together to figure out the code. Ruby pulls out the piece of paper and lays it on the floor. They both look down and look at the order and then back at the codes they collected. If each shape comes with a number, then the order on the paper must be the order of the lock. The girl thinks for a moment and finally puts the code together. ‘Circle=1, Star=3, X=8, Square=9, Triangle=8; 13898.’ That’s the code, and it seems Screech has it as well. Since ruby is the only one with possible thumbs, she has to go over and put in the code herself. Screech floats over to the balcony and sees the Figure in the distance, since the monster is far away, Screech nods for Ruby to go and put the code on it. Carefully, she crawls over to the door and looks at the lock. She fiddles with the lock in her hand and starts to put in the code, moving the numbers on the lock to the code they found, she can’t mess up now. 1… 3… 8… As Ruby puts the 8 in, she can hear the Figure rapidly approaching. She tries to crawl back to the closet, the Figure is already behind her, she underestimated its speed. The girl looks up in terror as the massive beast towers over her. It’s razor-sharp teeth chattering in its mouth as it senses her around. Ruby’s body suddenly freezes up again and she can barely move or do anything. Yet again tears well up in her eyes as the monster stomps right towards her. Its low roars shake her to the core as it lowers its head and moves its large hands around, trying to find the intruder.

“Hey Figure!” The figure perks its head up immediately as it hears its name being called from a distance. Ruby looks at the source of the noise too to see Screech, near the stairs of the upper floor calling out to it. The figure loses interest in Ruby and walks over to Screech, no longer looking hostile. “Screech, what are you doing here?” The Figure’s voice is low and slightly echoey.

“Oh- uh I was uh- looking for something to read. Like usual since it’s so boring here.” Screech sweats as it tries to make a realistic white lie on the spot. The Figure buys it but still seems agitated. Screech decides to continue to keep him distracted. “Is this a bad time, Figure?” Screech tries to sound sympathetic but comes off a bit panicky. The Figure huffs and answers them, “there is an intruder here and I can’t find them! Can you help me Screech?”

As they chat, Ruby quickly goes back to the lock and rushes to put in the code before their conversation ends. 9… and finally…8. The lock clicks and Ruby quickly shoves the lock away and pushes the doors open. The Figure looks surprised as it turns towards the sound. Screech then flies towards Ruby as she opens the doors. “Yeah, I’ll help you. We were right here! Bye Figure!” Screech laughs as they both bolt straight out the door. The Figure lets out a yell and runs after them. Guiding light then appears once again and slams the doors shut right in its face.

“Screech you liar! You were helping them weren’t you!?” The figure roars so loud that the ground shakes. It pounds on the library doors, but they don’t budge. The red beast lets out one last roar before stomping off, clearly angry at Screech’s random betrayal.

Ruby and Screech stand there in silence, both sweating a storm. Ruby’s heart is beating so loud and so fast, and her breathing is erratic. Screech isn’t much better with its ‘arms’ frantically moving around and shaking. They both look at each other with panicked faces, surprised that they actually survived that. The both of them then promptly collapse on the floor in exhaustion.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god… We actually did it! Yippee!” Screech exclaims, panting heavily between words. Both kids were resting on the floor, tired from nearly dying on multiple occasions. Ruby was sweating like crazy and just spread her arms out on the old, rugged carpet. She pants and turns her head over to her friend.

“Yay…” She let out a huff before sitting up and looking around. The girl then fixes the two pink bows in her hair, using her fingers to comb it out too. “So what now?” Ruby asks, finishing up her hair restyle. Screech moves one of its tentacles to its chin and ponders for a moment before putting on its signature wide smile and looking at her.

“Well, we keep going obviously!” Screech exclaims, floating up beside Ruby. It offers a hand to the girl and helps Ruby back up on her feet. Ruby’s a bit clumsy and stumbles on her way up, screech’s ‘hands’ don’t have a good grip. They both smile and nod and turn to the next door. The young girl stretches her arms out in front of her and like clockwork, Screech jumps into her arms, and she holds the thing like a plushy once again. Ruby takes a deep breath and smiles confidently, ready to face the other dangers ahead. She opens door 51 and is pleasantly surprised.

The sound of upbeat music flows out the room from an old radio. Ruby’s and Screech’s faces widen in shock as they see a small red goblin sitting at a table with an old dusty skeleton with a blue cap. Ruby looks to her left and sees bright glowing eyes behind a counter. There are various items across the counter from a lighter, a key, and a cross. This wasn’t what either of them expected to see and both tensed up. But as they stepped in, both entities looked around the room with curious expressions. They don't seem to be hostile so while unexpected, it's not an unwelcome surprise.

The red goblin spoke up first, with a heavy Spanish accent. “Oi look what we have here! It’s a little girl, haven't seen kids around here before. And- SCREECH?!” The goblin jumps back in his chair as he notices what the girl has in her arms. The other entity in the room also looks at them with wide eyes. “Niña, what are you doing with that thing in your arms?! It's going to hurt you-” The red entity showed great concern for the girl and seems tense. Ruby stands there awkwardly by the door, tightening her arms around the slimy entity in her arms. She looks around at them and doesn’t know why they seem so scared. Is it because she’s holding Screech? She doesn’t believe so, Screech is nothing but a harmless kid to her. “What do you mean…? This is my friend.” Screech smiles and softly moves as it hears Ruby refer to them as a ‘friend’. It doesn’t know why, but hearing Ruby say that made it feel– warm inside.

“Am I hearing that correctly? Did you say you befriended the thing? …Eso no es algo que ves todos los días…” The goblin scratches behind its ears, but as it sees Screech not bringing any harm to the girl, he calms down and relaxes in his chair. “Well now that we got that… unexpected… surprise out the way, let me introduce you both to the club haha! Come closer, we don't bite, unlike the other ones.” The entity gestures for both kids to move closer.

“My name is El Goblino, this is my friend and shopkeeper, Jeff.” Goblino points to Jeff who waves to both kids with one of its many tentacles from the darkness. “And of course we have Bob! Bob isn’t much of a talker, he's just shy-” Goblino then points to the skeleton sitting across from him. Both Ruby and Screech look confused; the skeleton was old and dusty and not moving. “Is… Is the skeleton an entity or?” Ruby whispers to Screech, now concerned.

“I don't think so…I think it's just a regular skeleton…” Screech’s tentacles writhe around, it's just as confused as Ruby. Ruby walks closer to El Goblino and looks around the room again, taking in the strange fact that they are so close to other entities and aren’t getting hurt. Ruby decides to sit in a chair by both Bob and El Goblino. Screech stays in her arms and eyes the red goblin. It's clear neither trust the other. “So, little girl, what's your name?” Goblino asks, Jeff also seems very interested in this conversation.

“Oh my name is Ruby… And you already know about Screech.” Ruby responds. El Goblino nods then continues to ask questions. “You know, we rarely if ever see little kids pass through the hotel, and I'm quite curious. How did you end up befriending that…thing? That is something I thought impossible. Especially with that one's record of biting people's head off.” Goblino points to Screech, who lets out a quiet hiss as he calls them out on their violent little game.

“W-wha… I umm.. Well Screech did try to bite me at first…” Ruby looks a bit more awkward now. The entity is a bit nervous as Ruby brings up their first interaction. “But it got better! Screech… they uhh… said they were lonely and wanted a friend. So I said yes and now they help me around the hotel.” Goblino nods and he is told this. He appears more understanding now and can see that Screen plans to bring no harm to the girl.

“Well, that's certainly- interesting…” He narrows his eyes and stares at screech, who becomes uncomfortable with the staring. Goblino then looks back at Ruby, “Then again, it can get quite lonely being stuck in this hotel. So, I can see where it’s coming from. I guess…” He scratches the back of his head before looking around the room. She looks around the room too and she dangles her feet since she can’t reach the floor from the chair. She looks over at Jeff, who has been watching them the entire time. “What’s all that stuff on the counter over there with Jeff? Is he like a salesman?” Ruby asked.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, Jeff here is our shop keeper. So, if you ever need anything, Jeff can provide it to you. For a price of course.” Ruby then dug in her dress pockets, she remembered seeing some coins in drawers before, but she didn’t bother to pick them up or search through more drawers. She pulls out nothing and frowns. “Well, I don’t have any money on me…” Screech also looks somewhat disappointed. Goblino looks over to Jeff, he doesn't want to disappoint the girl, and doesn’t blame her for not having money. Jeff notices Goblino’s look and nods slightly, as if Jeff already knew what he was suggesting.

“Well don’t you worry. Jeff will get you something on the house! You are still a little girl, and even with Screech there. You’ll need all the help you can get.” Goblino gives her a thumbs up and sounds much more enthusiastic. “When you leave, pick up the cross on the table. It is the most useful and can protect you from any entity here.” Ruby’s eyes light up in a glimmer of hope. A possible way for her to remain safe is the best thing she could hear right now. Screech on the other hand lets out a soft whine, displeased at the thought of Ruby having a crucifix on her. Ruby doesn’t understand why until Goblino speaks again with a sterner tone, “However, necesitas tener mucho cuidado con la cruz. That cross is one time use only so you gotta be wise with it. Also don’t go waving it around because you could activate it on Screech. Screech here isn’t immune to the cross and they will get banished if used on them. And let me tell you, that thing *hurts.*”

Ruby seems a bit more unsure now. She didn’t like the notion of carrying something that could harm her friend, but it was a necessary precaution. It was a risk she was willing to take, and she hoped Screech would understand. She looked down to see what Screech thought. “What do you think, Screech?” Screech hesitated for a moment and thought a bit about it. In the end, Screech only wished for her survival more than anything else, and while painful, it could always come back from being crucified. Screech then gives a nod of approval, “Yeah that’s fine Ruby. Just promise you won't accidentally use it on me, ok?”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Goblino smiles at this cute interaction and decides now is the time to ask a question, “Glad that's settled then. So, diga me, what brought you to this place anyways?”

…

“What do you mean, they got away?!” Seek roared in Hides face, who was already barely peeking behind a closet door.

“I m-mean, I couldn’t get to the library in time to tell Figure, and by the time I did, they had already tricked Figure and left!” Hide’s voice was meek and he was absolutely terrified by Seek’s wrath. Seek’s eye twitched and they seemed to be on the brink of going mad. “Well why not?! What do you not understand?!” Seek boar is claws in Hide’s face. The black goo that Seek was made of threatened to boil out of sheer anger at this point.

“It’s because of Guiding Light! Th-they blocked the exits to the closets, and I couldn’t pass them! I tried, really! I did all I could to get past them, but each time I got burned!” Hide is desperately pleasing their case, worried they would be Seek’s next anger outlet.

“That little-” Seek growled. He tried to compose himself, taking a moment to collect themselves before turning to Hide. “Hide. Listen to me and listen to me well. Tell everyone to be on their A game. Those two are not leaving. NOW GO!” Seek hollered and swung its claws at the closet door, leaving a noticeable scratch mark on it. Hide yelped and retreated to its realm immediately.

In the darkness of the closets, Hide went out to tell every entity what Seek said. Although he couldn’t help but wonder why Seek was this angry at a child, or why he was so desperate to catch them.