Work Text:
D3tective sat down at the computer desk, frowning as he watched the black screen. Blood was still on part of the keyboard, a few of the keys stuck or crooked.
No sense in fixing it. He’s the only one who would use it now.
The disk case rested in his hand, looking down at it, tightening his grip before setting it down.
Best not to damage it..
He reached and turned on the computer, hearing the whirring of it sputtering to life while opening a gui in between himself and the screen.
Damn computer wasn’t working right.. wouldn’t boot up the game. At least he had a work around. He wasn’t quite sure how well the interface would work, seeing as both the computer and the disk were old, definitely not made for newer technology.
The gui connected, the Roblox disk showing as file.
He has to find out one way or another…
For his sake,
For Jacob’s sake.
Clicking through the menus, he entered the demo.
The world morphed around him, the sudden cold jarring him out of his mind. Opening his eyes, the world was coated in static, causing him to grimace at the unpleasant sight.
Seems he was right about the equipment being outdated.. He would’ve rather had stayed only on the computer, but this is the only way he’s been able to even get in after that thing shut down the computer last time..
He rubbed his hands against his arms in an effort to keep his warmth. Looking down, donning the outfit of the preset avatar he chose.
At least it wasn’t some kind of summer wear.. gave him a scarf too, which he supposes is helpful.
D3tective pulled the scarf over his lower face, shivering slightly as he felt the snow through his pants and continuously falling from the clouded sky.
Observing his surroundings, he recognized the snowy grounds, the dead trees surrounding an unpaved road, a path. He looked either direction, deciding to go the way he knew best; towards the crumbled house.
Eventually making it through the trudge, D3tective laid his eyes on the remains of a small home. To his right was the strange door that led to those weird sky apartments, but that wasn’t his focus today. He’d spent too much time there already. There was more to explore, maybe even figuring out that pit-prison-thingy or whatever it was, he wasn’t quite sure.
D3tective shook his head. He had plans for now, no need to stray off them unless required. Stepping through the doorway, he looked around the broken shack. Nothing much had changed.. that weird red present was still on the table, yet the snow never collected onto it as it did every other surface..
Odd.
Recalling Jacob’s recordings, he decided it best to not touch it. As curious as it made him, he watched his friend spiral after letting.. whatever the hell that thing is out. He knew better, unfortunately.
Walking past the table, he peeked his head into the only off room, the room remaining as barren as last time he was here.
Seems like nothing actually changed.. that might be all there was to this ‘house’.
D3tective let out a heavy sigh, he figured there wouldn’t be much left. May as well check out the apartments again to see if anything new had changed since he was online anyways. Turning to walk back through the doorway to leave, he was startled by a rough voice ringing through his ears.
“yiu for,got y our,, gi, ft, sil,,li”
The voice sounded like it came from every angle. That’s definitely different than just using the computer…
D3tective looked around, unable to pin the person to the voice. It echoed through his mind loudly. Maybe it was actually in his head, not being spoken out.
He stayed quiet, stepping back inside the doorway and looking up and around as he approached the table, the roof being nonexistent allowed him to see if he was being watched from above, to which it didn’t seem so.. You can never be too careful..
“g o on no,w openn,i t”
D3tective eyed the gift, his lips pursing into a thin line. He didn’t like this. Shaking his head in refusal, he took a step back once more.
“wh,,era re y,ou goingg detectiv?”
He’s seen and been through enough situations like this regarding the recordings and his own experience, but never through an interface. They always left him with aching headaches..
D3tective turned away from the present, walking back out the door yet again. Taking a few steps out earned a sharp ringing in his ears, causing him to cover his ears instinctively despite it doing nothing to deter the noise.
“do you,u not a,,precia te, my gif,t ?”
Its voice seemed harsher, a headache forming in the back of his mind. His hand remained on his ears, looking down the path he came on to go back to spawn to exit safely, although the likelihood of getting there seems to become slimmer by the second.
D3tective grimaced, taking steps back to where he came from, the ringing getting louder, surrounding sounds seeming to fade out compared to it. It was overwhelming.
He began to start running back towards spawn, but focus wasn’t coming easily, causing him to lose his footing in the slick snow, earning a pained grunt upon ground impact.
He began to stand up when he noticed the visual static growing more dense, looking up immediately after and seeing it approaching.
He tried to hurry to his feet, but it was fast, grabbing him by the front of his sweater, lifting him off his feet. D3tective tried kicking at it, but it was like an immovable pillar, his attacks doing little to nothing to move it.
“you,r eclever ,, i,ll give yiu that,”
The voice.. it’s voice was out of his head, now in front of him, having a source. It tilted its glass head, a rough hum vibrating through its chest.
“j,,ust not a, vvery fas,t runer”
D3tective grabbed onto its arm, trying to pull himself to get a bit of leverage.
“i wa,s hopingg youwo,uld com,,e peasfully—”
There was a loud shatter that interrupted it, dropping D3tective as it recoiled. D3tective fell to the ground, scurrying to his feet to rush away. Running with a limp, he managed to stumble towards spawn. The loud roar of the entity echoing behind him, chilling him more than the cold could.
He saw the wooden sign that pointed towards the house again. Finally, he could leave—
“WH ERE,, DO YO,U TH,,INK YOURG,OING ?”
D3tective felt a rough force hit his back, knocking him down into the snow. He lifted his head up, his vision swimming. He felt sick, he was in pain, and he was especially in danger. The entity peered its head into his vision, the damage visible on its head. Even without expression, it looked pissed.
“you can,,not outr,un mee, det,ective”
D3tective huffed out a weak breath, glancing to the sign..
He was close enough.
Worth a shot..
He opened his gui in his hand, gaining its attention. It reached towards his arm but he hit it away, inputting his recall and executing it.
The last thing he heard was it’s unintelligible yelling before all sounds and sights faded out.
Silence.
He couldn’t feel anything yet.
Was he safe?
…
D3tective opened his eyes, feeling nauseous near immediately, but despite such, he recognized his surroundings. Jacob’s house.. He was safe, for now.
He sat down in Jacob’s chair, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.
That was a fucking nightmare and a half..
He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. His head hurt, though honestly that’s a recurring thing to come from that damned disk.
He leaned forward again, staring at the computer screen. It had turned itself off at some point, it seemed..
D3tective sighed, moving to stand up to maybe figure something out with it when he felt a sharp pain in his foot, yelping at the sudden pain. His adrenaline was wearing off, it seems. Looking down, he noticed blood at first, making him grimace. Sitting back down, he lifted his leg up to observe it.
Glass.
There was a glass shard in his foot..
D3tective looked away for a moment, resisting the urge to vomit.
Suppose that since he was interfaced that it carried over.. though that wasn’t usual..
He groaned quietly, standing up carefully on his other foot, keeping his hands on the desk to keep his balance. He let his head hang, letting out a sigh.
This was a lot to deal with…
He limped off towards the bathroom in search of some form of first aid as he couldn’t just leave it there.
Upon reaching the bathroom, he avoided looking at the bathtub, keeping his gaze forward and keeping his mind off the growing stench. Peeking his head into the closet, he dug around for supplies, eventually finding some things to suffice.
He sat himself down on the counter, staring at the glass chunk. He put his hand on it, wincing at the pain.
It had to come out somehow…
He hissed quietly as he grabbed onto it, putting his free hand on his leg to hold it down before ripping it out, stifling a scream.
Tossing the glass to the side, watching it remain in one piece, he pressed a towel to his foot, trying to stem the bleeding some. Reaching to his rummaged supplies, he grabbed some cleaning alcohol he’d found and doused a rag in it, moving the towel to clean it, remaining relatively quiet now.
Eventually, he had it cleaned and wrapped as good as it would be with cheap bandages and some cotton squares. D3tective carefully got off the counter, reaching down to grab the glass shard. Upon grabbing it, he rinsed it off in the sink before examining it.
It looked bluer than normal glass, but seeing where it came from that was no surprise.
Would anyone believe him about this? Likely not. Best to keep quiet.
D3tective sighed heavily, closing the alcohol container before turning to take his leave, yet stopping halfway. He stood there for a moment, thinking.. debating, on if he should look.
This is his tomb. He wouldn’t be able to visit a grave after all of this. It would become a crime scene after the landlords decided that enough time had passed from their last payment and call the police..
D3tective turned to look at the lifeless body that lay in the tub, his face torn through from the buckshot, the flowers he had set on him.
He didn’t know how to feel.
Anger at the creature that caused this? Anguish on how he was too late to save him?
He didn’t want to dwell on it, as remorse wouldn’t change Jacob’s outcome.
D3tective slowly grabbed his hand, holding it in his own. Cold. He frowned, being gentle about his grasp.
Cherish what remains. You cannot bring him back. Finish what you started.
D3tective set his hand back down where it lay before, drawing his own back.
He wanted him back, but that just wasn’t possible. The most he can do is make his death worth something.