Chapter Text
“Charlie? Charlie!”
Charlie blinked, squinting into the darkness before shoving himself upright and slamming hard into…something? Wherever he was, it was dark as hell , and he couldn’t see anything. And why did everything hurt?
“ Fuck , man, what the hell? Give me a warning next time!” the ‘something’ replied, and Charlie had to wait for his eyes to adjust to be able to see a vaguely blue and white person kneeling beside him, holding his hand over his nose.
Charlie tried to reply, but his throat felt like sandpaper. Fuck , how long had he been out for? And why had he been knocked out?
Swallowing, he managed to croak out a reply.
“Sneeg? I-is that you?” he rasped, and the figure in front of him nodded.
“Yeah, it is. What the fuck happened to you, man? Why are you covered in blood? And where’s Ranboo? Or anyone else that was in that…carousel shit?” Sneeg inquired , standing up and reaching his hand back down towards him. He took it, forcing his legs to stand despite them screaming in protest.
What had happened? He’d been streaming, and then Ranboo had come along, and…
Oh.
Oh shit .
“Sneeg, I-I think Ranboo’s in trouble” he replied, prompting Sneeg to raise a brow.
“Uh…what kind of trouble? Like, call the police and wait kind of trouble or we need to fucking go now kind of trouble?” he asked, and Charlie grimaced.
“The second option is probably where we’re at, I think” he responded, squinting around in the darkness as his eyes adjusted. Fuck , it was dark in here. And was that his pool of blood? How was he still alive?
“You think?” Sneeg replied incredulously, before sighing and shaking his head. He started to walk towards what Charlie could vaguely make out as the escalators, and he stumbled to follow him.
“Look, it’s kind of foggy, but I think that I, uh…” he trailed off, trying to sort out the murky fog in his head. “I was…streaming? But not really? And then Ranboo found me, and then we were trying to escape, a-and we found the cabin that we were all in? Which isn’t really a cabin? And then this huge fuckin wire thing jumped me an-”
“Charlie” Sneeg turned around and put his hands on Charlie’s shoulders, and he stopped. He hadn’t realized he’d been beginning to hyperventilate. “Calm down, man. Take a minute to breathe” Sneeg instructed calmly, slowly taking his hands away. Charlie put his head in his hands and tried to inhale and exhale at a somewhat normal pace.
“...Whatever happened to you was fucking awful, and I’m sorry to have to brush you off like this, but if Ran’s in here somewhere by himself then we’ve gotta get going and get us all the fuck out of here” Sneeg said after a minute or so. Charlie nodded, and they both made their way towards the escalator.
•·················•·················•
“Soo…how are you here? I sort of remember you being in the cabin with Ranboo and I, and then kind I can kinda recall being in that room with everyone on that carousel?” Charlie brought up as they descended, treading lightly in case those masked…people (or whatever they were) were still around.
“Look, I can kinda remember that stuff, but it's like, fuzzy? I dunno how to explain it, but in terms of what I can properly remember, I woke up in a dark-as-shit room with all these masked freaks, but they were, like, completely still, and didn’t try stop me when I left the room” Sneeg replied, lowering his voice as they came down to the next floor, which surprisingly had the lights on.
There were heaps of those "masked freaks" around, frozen in place and completely unmoving.
“Uh…what the fuck?” Charlie whispered, barely moving from the bottom of the escalator.
“I’m guessing they’re like, inactive, or something, considering they didn’t try to stop me from leaving earlier” Sneeg guessed, slowly walking towards one and waving out his hand, but gaining no reaction.
“What is actually going on here? Like, why are we here?” Charlie whispered, shaking his head and turning to go down one of the sections of the mall, Sneeg hot on his heels.
“Your guess is as good as mine. I can’t remember anything before the cabin stuff, and even that’s kind of hazy. But I still somehow knew everyone? Especially you? Like, I feel like I know you on a good-friend level?” Sneeg acknowledged, and Charlie nodded.
“Yeah, same with Ranboo. Like, I know them, but I don’t fuckin’ remember anything ” he responded, anger slowly filling his still-tender-feeling body towards whoever was running this...show?
“What did they do to us, man? And where is everyone else that was part of that…that carousel thing?” Sneeg frowned, glancing around.
“I dunno, but I’m not sure if the other’s are around anymore, I feel like we would’ve seen them by now” Charlie replied, about to turn the corner before stopping dead in his tracks.
He could hear a voice.
And a familiar one at that.
Thankfully, Sneeg had heard it too, and could tell that Charlie recognised whoever it was. They both ducked back behind the corner and waited, Sneeg looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Heh, you really thought you could escape us, huh Ranboo? Unfortunately for you, we’ve upped the dose of the sedative. There’ll be no more waking up and flailing about for you!” the patronizingly-toned voice floated around the corner, and Charlie instantly knew who it was.
Hetch.
But...wasn’t he supposed to be dead?
“You two, keep an eye on him. Any sudden moves, I need to know as soon as possible . Understand?” Hetch instructed, waiting a minute or two before he began walking away, his footsteps slowly fading until Charlie heard the faintest familiar “ding!” of an elevator.
They waited for another minute or so before slowly poking their heads around the corner.
Lying in the middle of one of the old shops, looking almost fucking dead , was Ranboo. Their mask had a chunk taken out of it, revealing a still-dripping bloody cheek, and their jacket had been taken off, showing deep cuts and bruises.
“Oh fuck” Charlie muttered, trying not to gag at the sight, while Sneeg clenched his fists and started towards the shop.
“Sneeg! NO!” he whisper-yelled, running forward to grab his shoulder. “We can’t just go fuck ‘em up! What if they’ve got cameras or something in there? That Hetch guy will just come straight back!” he pointed out, but Sneeg just shoved him off, nothing but anger in his eyes.
“Goddamnit” Charlie mumbled, before running after him into the store.
The masked figures on either side of Ranboo’s bed had no reaction to their entry, but that did not stop Sneeg. Without hesitating, he clocked the guy to Ranboo’s right, hard , knocking him down on the ground, where he remained unmoving. Panicking, Charlie looked around for security cameras, and saw one in the upper-left hand of the store. Sprinting over, he (against his aching body’s wishes), jumped up and grabbed it, yanking it hard off the wall. Panting, he turned around to see Sneeg had taken care of the other masked guy, and was now looking at Ranboo’, fury still dancing in his eyes.
“These fuckers. These fuckers. I’m gonna kill them. Every last one of them” Sneeg spat, glaring at the masked people with tears of rage in his eyes, while Charlie ran back over, glancing out the storefront to check if anyone was coming.
“We can do that after we escape, okay? We just gotta find the exit” Charlie exhaled, knowing that was much, much easier said than done. Sneeg only continued to glower at the now-unconscious workers, but as Charlie came over to help carry Ranboo he pushed him away and picked Ranboo up himself, easily hoisting up the lanky teen’s frame into a gentle carry.
“You lead. I can probably carry them easier than you, considering how fucking long they are” Sneeg replied, scowling, and Charlie nodded, not wanting to upset the guy further, especially now that he was carrying a half-dead Ranboo.
Cautiously poking his head out but finding no masked workers, he turned back and gestured for Sneeg to follow him out. Hopefully, they'd find the fucking exit, and somehow heal from whatever the fuck they'd all just been put through.