Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tenna had lost it completely. He was in the middle of fighting the lightners, no care about if they got hurt or not. One of his attacks targeted the human, who fell to their knees, their breath weak. The purple lizard monster, rightfully upset, gripped the axe in her clawed hands tighter and readied an attack on her own, the little goat boy meanwhile rushing to the human’s aid, a bright green magical spell appearing on his paws as he healed them.

Pluey couldn’t keep watching. It held its own arm tighter as it averted its gaze from the monitor above the three of them, taking a few steps back. As the fight dragged on and on, it started to shiver lightly, feeling the tip of its nose and its fingers grow cold. The temperature in the studio had been dropping incrementally ever since the big boss went mad and his crew left him. It didn’t help that when the lightners made it to the static snow fields, they didn’t think to close the door leading to it in their rush, more cold air spreading throughout the halls, and even all the way to their room. It was kind of understandable, given their situation, but that didn’t make it less uncomfortable.

“What the hell is he doing?!”, the Pippins seated at the control hub held his head in his hands in frustration. Next to him, the Zapper placed a hand on his shoulder, seemingly transfixed on the screen. They didn’t say a word, the contact likely just a reminder of their presence, an attempt at giving the other and themselves a bit of comfort.

The Shadowguy suddenly felt his chest contract and tighten in an unfamiliar way, his hands automatically shot up to clutch the area. He could barely hold back a gasp when he looked down, noticing a light gray spot slowly growing on his otherwise shadowed torso. No, this can’t be happening… He grit his teeth and gulped.

Telling their partners what was happening to them was the right thing to do in this situation. Maybe they could figure something out together to stop the petrification process, or at least stay with each other to warm up. Their last moments would be spent with one another, even if it wasn’t the most happy one. At least they would be together until the stone cold embrace took them all.

But Pluey couldn’t. It couldn’t bear to see their faces once they’d realize what would become of it. It slowly, as quietly as possible, sneaked out of the room, the stone spreading all the way over its stomach already. As much as it hurt, it had to stay as silent as possible. As it reached the main room, it already became harder to breathe, its throat tightened wit each second.

A second of hesitation. With shaking hands, the Shadowguy then reached for their hat, placing it on the couch cushions nearby. They gave it a little pat, then headed for the bathroom, locking themselves in once inside. It took a bit of fiddling, the tips of their fingers having turned rock hard in the meantime, and they then curled up in the farthest corner, finally allowing themselves to let out quiet sobs as the cold embraced them further.

“W-what was that?!”, Battat yelled as the monitor showed two blades slashing at Tenna from behind, then the feed abruptly cut out. The hand on his shoulder tightened as he tried in vain to turn the screen on once more, pressing every button and flipping every switch he could find at least three times, before slamming his fists onto the control hub.

“Damn it!!”

This wasn’t supposed to happen. The lightners had defeated him, they were able to finally calm him, they finally had him at the point of returning the human’s mother to them, letting them seal the dark fountain. Who or what was it that attacked him back there? None of the feeds showed anyone else enter this dark world, he would have seen it if they did! How could this have happened?

He shook his head in disbelief and hopped out of the seat, his eyes lingering on the screen now showing nothing but static. His shoulders rose to the side of his face, and his hands formed into tight fists, his claws digging into his palms in what seemed like a mix of anger, shock, and fear. But he still would not be standing here doing nothing after seeing this.

The Pippins took a deep breath, grabbing at his nearest partner’s sleeve, “Jongler, Pluey, get as many healing items as you can carry. I’ll get the tape. We’re-”

He stopped as he turned around, the lack of his other coworker catching him off guard.

“Pluey?”, he called out, but nothing. No sound of footsteps, no scampering, not a single note sounded in response. He tried again, with the same outcome. He felt his pulse quicken, starting to hammer hard against his chest, and rushed out the door to the main room, the Zapper not too far behind. Battat called its name again, significantly louder than before, and his throat tightened at the continued lack of a response. They couldn’t just have vanished into thin air, could they?

“Pluey, I swear, if you don’t come out right this instant, I’ll-”

“Uh, boss?”

The Pippins whipped around, immediately falling silent. Jongler held up the black hat they had found lying on the couch and carried it over, handing it to the other.

“Dey’s never leave deir hat lyin’ round like dat…”

“I know!”, he gripped the brim of the hat tighter, threatening to rip the fabric with his claws, “I know they don’t!” His voice started to falter, breath shaky and uneven. “Where the hell are they, then?! They can’t just-”

Two hands on his shoulders, the taller crouching down to his level. Despite what it might have seemed like, they were as worried as him, if not even more. They squeezed his shoulders tightly for a second, grounding him for a moment.

“We’ll find ‘im. Jus’ breathe fer me, okays?”

Battat hadn’t even realized how shallow his breathing had become, coming in sharp and quick. He clutched the hat tightly to his chest, nodding hesitantly as he focused on his partner setting a rhythm for him to follow. He closed his eyes and-

Jongler’s hands left his shoulders in an instant, gripping their chest as they keeled over in pain, and Battat immediately dropped his missing partner’s hat, holding up the other’s body.

“Jongler? W-what’s going on?!”, immediately back to rapid breathing, his eyes widened when he spotted a discolored speck of gray spreading underneath the Zapper’s arms. He felt his throat tighten, his eyes moisten, and he grabbed their wrist to pull it away from their torso. The stone had just settled over their buttons, wandering over to their hips as they trembled.

“I’s- I ain’t sure…”, they breathed out, their voice low and strained. It hurt to talk, they could barely even hold themselves upright, toppling over to the side when their tail couldn’t support their weight anymore. The smaller fell to his knees, gripping the other’s shoulder tightly as he felt tears rising up in his eyes, crawling down his warm cheeks and dripping from his chin onto the body he held onto.

“No, no! Y-you can’t- Stay with me, Jongler, stay-”, he let out a loud sob, head crashing against their hardened chest. Why was this happening, and why to them? He was the one who didn’t belong in this world, hell, he wasn’t even sure he belonged anywhere at all, if anything it should have been him turning to stone! His grasp became tighter as he felt the other’s body underneath his hands turning completely solid, his chest hurting like it had been ripped open and torn apart into a million little pieces.

Jongler let out a strained wheeze, their hand reaching out to hold the others’. Moving it was agonizingly painful, but they had to at least feel his hand in theirs for one last time before their time came. Uncertain how much longer they still had to go, they slowly attempted to entwine their fingers, although unsuccessfully as they wouldn’t move far enough apart anymore, no matter how hard they tried.

“Boss?”

No reaction. The Pippins continued to sob, shaking heavily, muffled sounds of crying against the Zapper’s chest. The realization that he wasn’t able do anything anymore to stop the process hit him at full force. He would have never been able to stop it in the first place. He felt so utterly useless, unable to prevent his partner from dying right in front of him. Hell, he couldn’t even properly hold them in his arms in their last moments, that’s how useless he was!

“… B-Batts.”

This time he perked up slightly, head still lowered, couldn’t bear to look them in the face. He felt their index finger slowly drag across the back of his hand, the only digit they could still somewhat move, and his breath hitched as he swallowed another sob. Their hand is so cold…

“Please- look at me”, they managed to press out, and for a second he pressed his eyes shut tighter and turned away, before taking a shaky breath and slowly, carefully daring to take a look. His partner’s face had turned a pale gray, safe for the spot on their forehead where the white line functioning as their eye resided. He could see tears leaking out of it, lifting a shaking hand to wipe them away while trying to prevent his own tears from breaking out again. His breath quickened once more.

“I’s jus’-”, a short wheeze, “wanna see… yer eyes one las’ time”, the line on their face curved ever so slightly upwards, indicating a weak smile, barely noticeable if one wasn’t familiar with Zappers and their expressions. Battat tensed, watching the last inch of their face turn completely, before he couldn’t hold himself upright anymore, heavy sobs filling the air. He smashed his fist against the floor, accompanied by cries of It should have been me and Come back, pleading and begging for them to move again, to wake up once more.

Despite knowing better, he cried out to Pluey once again, earning, as he should have expected, no response. It was so silent now, so lonely. Not even the slight buzz of static, or the idle hum of electronics in the air anymore. It all felt so lifeless.

He didn’t know how long he had laid there on the floor, waiting for the sweet release of death that never came. Not a single inch of his body had turned to stone, and with how much time already passed, he doubted it would come for him any time soon. Great. He couldn’t even die properly. Why couldn’t it just all end already?

A shaky sigh. He looked over to Jongler’s body next to him, that weak, pained smile permanently stuck in their eye line. As if it was mocking him, as if it knew he couldn’t join them, knew he had to endure and watch as the life slowly drained from them. As if it knew he would never be able to see another one of his partner’s smiles ever again.

He was exhausted. He still felt like crying, but just couldn’t bring himself to do so anymore. It was as if he had cried every single drop of liquid out of his body, and then some. His head throbbed and pounded, it felt like it would explode any second now, but he didn’t care. He just wanted this all to end. Even if he didn’t believe in an afterlife, he wished he could meet the two again after he would inevitably die here, forgotten and unwanted. After all, nobody besides his two partners ever cared for him, and Tenna was gone now too, so he wasn’t even needed as Mike anymore.

Battat turned over, hesitating for a second before he decided to snuggle close to Jongler, or what was left of them. He wrapped an arm around their body, desperately trying to latch onto the fabric of their jacket, his claws scratching over the stone and making an unpleasant sound in the process. If they were awake for this, he knew they would have hated that noise more than anything. He wanted to smile at the thought, yet his body wouldn’t let him. As if it forbid him, punished him for thinking of them. He sighed.

From the corner of his eyes he spotted Pluey’s hat still laying nearby, and his frown only deepened. His partner was still gone, nowhere to be found. He wanted to get up, look for it, just see it one last time. Yet his body was too weak, he could barely even lift himself up into a sitting position, let alone remain in one for more than a few seconds.

With the Shadowguy’s hat retrieved, he laid back down, putting it over his head. If it couldn’t be there with them, at least it was here in spirit. Once again he reached out, this time to lay his hand on the other’s. A few deep breaths followed, and he would have felt silly if this was any other situation.

“I-”, despite it all, he choked on his own words, a single warm tear threatening to crawl out of the corner of his eye. He shuffled closer, letting his eyes slowly drift shut in so, so much exhaustion.

“I l-love you guys…” And despite the lack of tears, he sobbed harder than ever before for a long while, until he drifted into a deep unconsciousness, laying with what once were his two loving partners on the cold, hard studio floor.

He awoke to a hand caressing his cheek, warm and soft to the touch. Subconsciously, he leaned into it, his own hand finding its way onto the other. He heard a surprised little hum, then a light chuckle, and-

His eyes shot open, met with the sight of Jongler staring down at him, their usual color back on their body, moving again, very much alive. He could only stare for what felt like hours, disbelief clearly written in his face as his bottom lip started trembling.

“Hey, boss” Their voice, so soft and quiet, as if they were afraid of startling him. He thought he’d never get to hear it again. Tears started to form in his eyes again, and when the Zapper’s hand had cupped his face, he couldn’t hold himself back anymore.

Battat immediately buried his face in their chest, their warm chest, gently rising and falling with their breath, choking out various words of gratitude, as if it had been their own decision to start living again. He took in their scent, grabbed at their clothes and hooked his claws in them, savoring the feeling of them near him, their breath hitting his skin, the slight give of their body as he pressed against them. He never wanted this to end.

The taller rubbed his back soothingly, whispering words of reassurance as they held him closer, a sniffle of their own escaping them. Their tail wrapped around the small Pippins’ body, embracing him even further as they leaned down to place a gentle kiss on the top of the other’s head.

“M’ not goin’ anywheres, Battsy.”

The click of a door nearby, followed by a weak, questioning saxophone note. Both Jongler and Battat immediately perked up, and shortly thereafter, quick footsteps approached before another weight fell onto the two laying on the floor. A pair of arms wrapped around them, the Shadowguy frantically nuzzling into both their faces as if its life depended on it, all the while releasing cries of wobbly notes. The Pippins managed to get a hold of its face (equally as teary as his), and without a moment of hesitation, pressed his lips onto its in relief. Pluey sighed as it leaned into the kiss, breaking away after a second to press their foreheads together, then placed a kiss onto Jongler’s face as well.

They continued to lay on the floor, embracing and smooching each other in immense relief of them and their partners being alive. It didn’t matter to them how they survived, how they recovered from being turned into statues. In this moment, all that mattered was that they had each other. They could find out everything later.

Chapter Text

A few weeks had passed after the trio had been transferred from TV World to a new dark world, Castle Town, as it was oh so creatively called. Although, the name of their former place of residence hadn’t been much better now, had it? The town was lively, filled with various types of unfamiliar darkners from other dark worlds, bustling with movement and excitement, almost as much as their studio had been.

The prince – coincidentally one of the kids that had fought Tenna, and later on the three of them along with the two lightners – had offered them a permanent new home, with a few adjustments and renovations to their room. For one, the control hub and surveillance monitors were removed, as they wouldn’t be needed anymore, the room those stood in now fused with their shared bedroom. All in all, Mike’s room had somehow grown a bit larger, yet most of the layout stayed as it was, as they were familiar with. One thing they opted to keep, at least for time being – for privacy reasons, as well as the shortest one’s paranoia – were the pin code lock in the front, and the password locked door to their main room. It had finally been fixed after just a few days of arriving, the worry of people being able to waltz in by merely yelling at the door now a thing of the past.

The first week was strange and unfamiliar. There were no alarms, nobody had called for either of them, they had no real job to do, all the trio did was just… sit in their room, waiting for something, anything to happen. It took a bit to get used to, especially for the Pippins of the group, but even he quickly managed their new schedule. After all, getting to spend more time with his partners was something he had secretly been longing for – something he, of course, wouldn’t ever dare to admit.

After another productive day – which consisted of carefully familiarizing themselves with more ares of their new home, visiting the cat cafe (Pluey was a big fan), and a lengthy session at the cork board (Mike’s ever elusive identity still haunted the little die) – Battat finally decided to join his two partners in bed. He crawled up to them and sandwiched himself in between their arms, letting out a long sigh. It usually took him a long while until he fell asleep, but he already felt his eyelids getting heavy and his mind drifting off to slumber.

He was sat in the main room, having just finished a plate of something he couldn’t identify – all he knew was that it tasted heavenly – cooked by his partner, Jongler. They gave him a warm smile as they took the plate from him, promptly placing it in the sink. From behind him, Pluey snuck up on him, rubbing over his belly and purring into the side of his head where his ears would be. He giggled, kissing their cheek as his hands joined theirs, mumbling something he didn’t quite catch himself. “… that big yet” had been all he could latch onto, his subconscious uncertain of the exact meaning.

Next thing he knew, he was turned around in his chair, the room around him pitch black, a massive monitor staring down at him from above. It only showed static, yet an attempt at a stable connection was apparent as the screen began to flicker. He could sometimes make out something that resembled a wide grin, strangely familiar. He turned his head around, staring into nothing but darkness. An invisible entity grabbed at his face and forcefully turned it back, twisting his head to look upwards at the monitor again. The screen had cleared, though nothing could be seen on it. He gulped as his eyes transfixed on it.

“What, you’re giving up already?”, the voice came from all around him, loud and droning, and it sounded like he should know it, yet he didn’t. It had a hint of his own voice in there, the voice he always used when he was Mike, and something else. He just stared ahead, unable to think of a response as his shoulders tensed and his breath quickened.

The screen flickered once more, blinding him momentarily before it showed what seemed to be his former boss falling to the ground, both his arms violently cut off from his body. He hit the snowy field, a strange shadowy figure floating above him, but he couldn’t make out who or what it was. The feed cut to an image of the backside of a Zapper, their back seemingly burned off by acid. The red, pointed fingers of a Pippins clawed at what was remaining of their jacket, before it abruptly switched back to static, mocking laughter echoing through his head.

Battat slammed his fists against the console, sending sparks flying from the controls. He attempted to get up, but the moment he landed, the floor beneath him vanished, and he fell into nothingness, darkness enveloping him.

“That wasn’t very nice”, the voice simply spoke, devoid of any emotion. The sound of static filled his head, and he wanted to scream it all out, yet no sound escaped his lips. The attempt seemed to have made it worse, and he grasped at the sides of his head, clawing at his scalp, scratching as hard as he could until he felt warm blood trickling down his cheeks. A black paw, almost invisible against the endless darkness of the void came to rest on his chin, then its claws extended and with one swift movement, his head separated from his body, tumbling away lifelessly.

He stirred, and as his eyes shot open, he found himself laying face down on the floor of the Green Room, eerily empty. It was freezing cold and uncharacteristically dark, not a sound to be heard – safe for the howling of harsh wind nearby.

From nearby, he heard something shatter, and he immediately got up to his feet, rushing down a hallway. No matter which one, just away from everything. The hallway seemed to stretch on and on, and he passed a few doors, conveniently barred with wooden planks he had no hopes of removing, until he reached the door to Mike’s room, lock laying on the floor, broken into three unevenly sized pieces. When he rushed inside, the inside seemed almost as it always was, yet the cork board had fallen from the wall, various pieces of evidence strewn about in front of it.

“Too late!”, the voice spoke again, this time in a clearly amused and mocking tone, a hint of a purr present in its tone. Battat whipped around when a hand landed on his shoulder, Pluey grinning back at him, seemingly unfazed about the situation they’d found themselves in. He watched as they slowly cocked their head, revealing an unnatural amount of teeth in their mouth, pink and yellow eyes now staring back at him. The Pippins yelped, pushing the Shadowguy away from him and running in the opposite direction, bumping right into a large figure.

Jongler glanced down at him and picked him up by the scruff, shooting him an unreadable look. He struggled as he kicked his feet, panic starting to set in. A quick glance behind him, and the other was gone, vanished into nothingness. It was as if it was never there in the first place.

He fell and hit the floor hard, the Zapper following suit as they knelt in front of him, clutching their chest. His throat narrowed, and tears already threatened to fall, his suspicions confirmed when they moved one of their hands to the floor to stabilize themselves.

“No!!”, was all he could cry out before a sob interrupted him, crawling over the floor to be next to his partner, whose body was slowly turning a pale gray right in front of his eyes. He reached out, hands grabbing the other’s, when-

“Gah- don’t-” Jongler pressed out in pain, the stone gaining a few cracks with their boyfriend’s touch. He gasped, breath hitching as he choked on another sob, and his face fell onto the other’s chest. More cracking and pained cries, Battat clutched his claws into tight fists and smashed them into the floor.

“Why?!”

His mind wasn’t capable of forming full sentences at the moment, and he once again reached for the Zapper’s arm, hearing another loud crack, followed by a scream. Looking down into his hands, he held their arm, broken off and crumbling into a pile of dust in between his fingers. What had he done? His touch actively killed them even faster. His breath got rapid and panicked, body trembling with realization. They were dying, and he was speeding up the process.

Battat looked down at his dust-covered fingers, unsure what he could even do in this situation, looking around for something, anything that would help him out, yet the room seemed so empty now. The walls had vanished, replaced by a vast void of looming darkness. All he could do was scoot nearer to Jongler, his knee lightly bumping into their tail, and-

It completely broke apart, and all the other could do was wheeze in pain before they drew their final breath, fully petrified. The Pippins felt warm tears in his eyes, and he fell onto their lifeless chest, arms wrapping around their neck. It lasted only a few seconds, before he lay in a big pile of dust, sobbing uncontrollably, crying out their name in vain.

Battat awoke with a loud gasp, cold sweat clinging to every inch of his body, tears blurring his vision. The room was dark, just barely enough light to see in front of him. He only registered the hands on both his shoulders after another second passed, then a relieved sigh. His hands lifted to wipe the tears out of his eyes, yet came to rest on his forehead, shaking heavily as he tried to calm his breathing.

A weight leaning into his side, and a pair of arms wrapping around him. The hand from his shoulder moved onto his chin and lifted his face, and he was met with the worried gaze of his partner, the very same one he just watched crumbling into dust before him. He tensed, drawing in a sharp breath.

“Nightmare?”, Jongler questioned in a low voice, their thumb caressing his cheek tenderly. He sighed and nodded weakly, idly letting his hand wander up to the back of Pluey’s head, lightly scratching it and drawing out quiet, comforting purrs. The Zapper tilted their head to the side, “Wanna talk?”

The Pippins sighed once more, hesitating to look at either of them, then brought a hand up to the other’s face and leaned forward ever so slightly. They met him halfway, placing a gentle kiss on his lips, and pressed their foreheads together.

“I think… I need a minute.”

Pluey continued to purr, nudging its head against the shortest one, while Jongler had sat up to rub comforting little circles into his back. Battat sighed, focusing on the feeling of his loving partners next to him, taking in deep breaths. It would be a little while until he could find his words, and the two would stay with him until he got there. They wouldn’t be going anywhere. He knew they wouldn’t.