Chapter Text
Once Niko felt safe enough to take their eyes off the apartment door they looked around the small apartment. In the middle of the room a couch faced a TV with a game console connected to it, off to their left was two unused tables, one against the near wall while the other was further on the left wall, a shelf containing random bits and bobs on the far wall was backed into the left corner a door right next to it, to the right was a large dining table as well as a small kitchenette with a door near it on the far wall. All in all it was a rather bland apartment though this only made it more welcoming with the insanity going on outside.
“Would you like something to eat?” Sam asked, making Niko snap their gaze onto him.
Niko nodded, “Yes please.”
“Alright, it will just take a minute for me to heat something up,” Sam said, setting down his bat before moving towards the kitchen, “feel free to take a seat or look around.”
Niko took a quick glance around. They wanted to use the bathroom to clean themselves up. Looking at both the doors they realized they had no clue where either led. So not wanting to upset Sam by going somewhere they shouldn't, they asked him.
Glancing over at them, Sam answered “the door next to me,” while pointing at said door.
Giving a quick thanks Niko opened the bathroom door and entered it as Sam grabbed something from the freezer.
As Niko shut the door behind them they took a look around the bathroom. A toilet to their right, a counter on the left wall just in front of them, a sink with a medicine cabinet above it just past the counter, a shower in the back right corner, and a curtain covered window on the far wall with an ethereal glow leaking from behind the curtains. An overall completely normal bathroom.
As Niko walked up to the sink they placed the bloody knife on the counter as they passed it. Reaching the sink they turned it on and looked up, jumping back in surprise at the sight of a familiar desaturated visage in the mirror.
“World Machine?!?”
The reflection did not respond. Its movements simply mirror Niko’s movement as a normal mirror would. It made no sense though. It looked exactly like the reflected form the World machine had taken to talk to them. Taking a good look down at themselves, realization dawned on them. A confusing nonsensical realization. It was their reflection. Somehow they had changed.
Their eyes caught on the bloody knife resting on the counter just at the edge of their vision. A horrid thought shot through their mind making them stumble. They gripped onto the sink to stabilize themself. If they had changed physically like this (Static buzzed in their ears) would that mean they would go crazy (Breath caught in their throat) like the man that had attacked them (Their whole body trembled) or those things on the street.
A sudden knock on the door snapped them from their spiral.
“Food is ready!” Sam announced from behind the door.
Niko quickly washed their hands and stilled their trembling. With a few deep breaths they pushed away the creeping thoughts. They were fine, they didn't feel anything weird about themselves so surely they weren't losing their mind. Niko opened the bathroom door.
Sam was stood right by the table. Noticing Niko leave the bathroom he turned to them and with apparent nervousness he said “I don’t have much food so I hope you're fine with pizza rolls.”
Approaching the table where there was indeed a plate full of pizza rolls Niko meekly responded, “it's fine.”
As they both took a seat it seemed like Sam wanted to say something before getting distracted.
“Do you hear that?” Sam asked, looking around.
Niko gave him a confused look. They didn't hear anything other than the static that still rang in their ears.
“Sounds like… static?” Sam specified.
The response was only more confusing. Unless maybe? “I… think that might be me,” Niko said, their own disbelief at the thought apparent in their voice.
A questioning look morphed onto Sam’s face, though when he leaned over towards Niko it changed to confusion.
“I think you're right?” Sam spoke, seemingly as confused as Niko.
“There you are!” an unknown voice spoke, causing Niko and Sam to turn and begin looking around, “I was worried when I didn't see anyone in the bedroom.”
With the second sentence they both Niko and Sam were able to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. On the other side of the room, between the two desks was a hole in the wall with an eye peering out from it.
“Who are you!?” Sam yelled from behind them.
Niko’s eyes locked onto the singular eye peering from the hole, a chill falling over them. Something was deeply off in a way that made even the world around them fall still. The next instant the feeling was gone, yet if burnt into their mind in the short time they had felt it.
“Oh sorry I didn't mean to freak you out, I’m Sybil your next-door neighbor, what’s your name?” the voice from behind the wall answered.
“First tell me why peeking through my wall and is there another hole in my bedrooms wall?” Sam questioned.
Sybil’s eye brightened, “I wanted to warn you not to look outside and yes there is another hole in your bedroom.”
“Whats going on outside?” Sam asked
Niko who had been feeling out of place in the conversation perked up.
“There’s something wrong outside. I… can’t really describe it, but it’s best if you don't look.” Sybil responded
“There was something colourful in the sky,” Niko spoke, catching the attention of the other two.
“You looked!” Sybil’s eye widened, shock audible.
Sam gave Niko a concerned look.
Niko shrank at the looks they were given, “Y-yah I was on the roof when the sky was suddenly filled with colors.”
Sam looked incredibly worried, though Niko couldn't tell if it was worry for them or worry about what happened outside.
Sybil’s eye narrowed, “You don't seem to have been affected much, other than looking like a cat.”
Niko crossed their arms with their face puffed up in anger, “I’m not a cat!”
Sybil rolled their eye before looking back at them with worry, “sure sure, but be careful there could be more effects, I’m still not fully sure what it’s done to me.”
“How did you get on the roof?” Sam suddenly cut in, being much closer to Niko then they had been before.
Niko sagged, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, “ I don't know, I woke up there after…” tears began to prick at their eyes, the memory of their bittersweet goodbye tainted to heart wrenching despair, “it was supposed to take me home.” They took a shaky breath as tears began to slip from their eyes.
Sam rushed over to them, “Hey it-it’ll be alright, we’ll find a way to get you home,” His hands flailed about, unsure what to do.
Niko sniffled, wiping their tears away with their sleeve. They doubted they could ever get back home, but a small part of them held onto hope. Looking up at Sam, a slight smile crept onto their face, “Thank you.”
“Sorry to interrupt your moment but I still haven't caught either of your names,” Sybil spoke, directing their attention back to her.
Sam jumped up suddenly looking bashful, “o-oh yah, I’m Sam that’s Niko.”
“Nice to meet you Sam, oh and you to Niko,” Sybil’s eye crinkled with a hidden smile, quickly changing to curious as she spoke again, “where were you anyways?”
“I heard someone knocking on my door,” Sam’s eye flicked to Niko, “which I presume was you?”
Niko responded with a nod.
“When I got to the door there was no one there but there had been a trail of fresh blood, I followed it into an apartment hoping to help whoever it was,” a shiver ran down Sam’s spine as he remembered how the air weighed on him, “I got a really bad feeling when I entered the apartment so I picked up the bat lying against the table before following the trail to the bathroom. When I got there I saw a bloody man holding a knife approaching a kid so I panicked and hit him with the bat,” He gagged at the memory of the bat breaking through the crazed man’s skull splattering grey matter all over the bat, “he died but when he fell to the floor I saw a huge eye staring at me from a bloody wound on his stomach,” remembering the look it gave him made him queasy, “I found Niko any they told me that didn't have a place to go so I brought them here, though some weird things busted out from another door and chased us. Thankfully we got inside before they got to us.”
Sybil’s surprise was clear through what little they could see of her, “Things are really bad huh, I heard that things would blow over after 15 days, though if things are already going bad here the outside must be so much worse.”
Niko shrunk remembering the bloodbath, it was definitely worse outside.
“Remember to not look outside!” with that Sybil’s eye disappeared from the hole.
Niko and Sam looked to each other, then to the plate of pizza rolls that had gone cold over the course of the conversation. Sam sighed before picking up the plate and putting it in the microwave.