Chapter Text
The world was ending, again.
This wasn’t new to Gaty. She’d endured her share of apocalypses: the lava flood, the zombie apocalypse, the storm. Every few months, everyone’s lives were threatened.
Every time, someone would appear with the solution, usually within the day. Gaty was sure this apocalypse would be no different.
The problem was, this time, she was the solution.
The implications were laying in front of her, neatly detailed on a contract.
A contract Gaty hadn’t even tried to read.
Gaty looked up to the television on her left, where she could see her friends. They hugged each other desperately as the world spasmed around them; impossible and familiar spaces spilling across the screen. Scenes switched from the tear in reality, to Tennis ball and TV, then to death PACT. All people who deserved better than to die.
She shouldn’t let One kill them.
“I- you- ugh! FINE!” Gaty spat as she stamped the contract.
“About time,” One chided, “Hehe, get it?”
Gaty didn't say anything. Her eyes were trained on One, who leant back into her chair and scoffed;
“Ugh! You guys are all so boring. Whatever, I’ll revert everything back to the way it was!”
"And send me back, right?" Gaty asked.
One stayed still, looking at her blankly.
"Right?" Gaty demanded.
Then, One raised her leg and snapped.
The sound ricocheted, rioting up Gaty’s insides. She crumpled, burned and numbed. The floor wasn’t there anymore. Psychedelic nothingness circled around her in crazed colours she couldn’t comprehend. She was behind herself, her understanding and experience of her body inches away from her senses. She heaved forwards, desperate to reach it, her feeling, her hearing, her sight, her taste, her smell, her emotion, her pain, only to stop when she found nothing there, only to fall back into the nothingness.
As Gaty slowly returned to awareness, she was unsettled to see nothing but her own legs. She was standing in complete blackness, as if stickered onto it. Struggling, Gaty tried to orient herself against the invisible ground, which suddenly softened beneath her.
Something thick and liquid, like wet cement, climbed Gaty’s calves. The void slowly crept up her leg, as if eating her. She startled, struggled and stepped forward into more sludge. It tensed under her, softened, then tensed again as Gaty took another hasty step.
Gaty took a deep breath, realising the void was viscous enough to walk on, so long as she kept moving. She started walking, then trucking, then jogging forwards into the abyss.
“Hello!?” Gaty called, “Hello, is anyone there!?”
No answer.
“Hello!?” she tried again.
Nothing, again.
Fence, that was pointless.
In her head, Gaty compared the blackness’ occasional shifting and flinching to that of a sleeping giant. She couldn't see it move, but she felt it, like it was close and hot against her.
Every sudden twitch made her want to tread lighter, make less sound, become smaller, for fear of waking it up. But, every time she did, the void would lazily creep towards her, and Gaty would start running again.
When she ran, she often looked down to watch her steps, to see if the darkness would try to eat her again.
It hadn’t, yet.
Why had One sent her here? If One wanted Gaty for something, why not put her in the flower field, with the other people One had kidnapped? Why did One isolate her?
Was the void a part of One’s pocket dimension? Probably not. When she had entered One’s dimension, it was strange, but not as disorienting as teleporting here. But, if she wasn’t in One’s pocket dimension, where was she?
Would One come back for her?
Gaty hoped the answer was yes, even if it felt wrong to admit. She wanted One to tell her what was happening, where she was, why One had put her here. She wanted to yell at One, yell at One for trapping her in that meeting room, yell at One for trapping her here, yell at One for holding her friends hostage.
But, most of all, She wanted out.
The scariest part was, she couldn't have escaped coming here. She couldn’t escape One kidnapping her, she couldn’t escape the world ending, she couldn't escape One.
The problem was, Gaty hadn't fought before, either.
She shouldn't have become so passive. Even before meeting One, she should have talked to Two, explained her feelings about working in the kitchen, explained it was unfair not to properly eliminate her, explained she had other friends she was being kept from. If she had, One might not have stolen her, and Gaty wouldn't be here.
She was too late. She was stuck here, with nothing tangible to fight against: not Book, not One, not Two. What could she do? Yell at the darkness? The only options were to keep moving or to find out what disappearing into the void felt like. She didn’t even know where she was going, or if there was anywhere to go. She seemed to be completely alone in this vast pocket of nothingness, and she didn’t even understand why.
So, with nothing else to do, Gaty kept moving.
Gaty struggled to tell time here. But, after what she imagined were a few hours, she saw a hint of visceral red in the distance.
Stunned to see anything bright in such a dark space, Gaty almost expected her eyes to burn in the colour.
They didn’t, so she kept moving towards it.
With no way to tell perspective in the void, Gaty didn’t know how far the red in the distance was. It seemed to hardly move as she approached it, which made Gaty fear her mind was playing tricks on her.
But, slowly, the speck of colour became something bigger, more tangible, until, finally, she felt her foot hit something solid and smooth. Plastic.
Gaty had made it. Relieved to be on solid ground, she fell to her knees and panted and laughed. She'd made it! How long was she running for? Hours, probably.
What even was this place?
Standing up, Gaty realised the ground beneath her wasn't just a floor, but a path. It wasn't the only one, either; surrounding Gaty were dozens of plastic paths, all converging to something red in the distance.
The paths weren’t natural in material or colour, but seemed strangely organic in the way they meandered back and forth like rivers. For a moment, Gaty hesitated. She couldn’t tell what the paths lead to. For all she knew, it could be an exit, something dangerous, or something else entirely. However, she didn't want to test the void again, and the possibility of it being an escape was too tantalising to ignore.
So, Gaty followed the paths into the unknown.
Gaty didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
It had taken a disgusting amount of time to reach this place; the point all the paths converged to. What she’d found was surprisingly inoffensive; a plastic imitation of a park, complete with uncanny picnic tables and children’s play equipment.
Looking at the ‘park’, Gaty was reminded of the fields and picnic tables back home. She recalled talking with Saw over lunch during BFB, how Saw would ramble about flowers she'd seen or pottery she'd collected or other beautiful things in the world.
Afterwards, Gaty would think a little more like Saw, and the world would seem brighter.
Gaty hadn't seen Saw for almost two years now. They seemed to be moving further and further away from each other. Recently, Saw had felt like the only person Gaty could be honest with, which had made her absence hurt so much more.
When Gaty was voted out, Two'd kept her in the kitchen, away from the other eliminated contestants. She'd never admitted it, but every new day of kitchen work wore at her hope of seeing Saw again.
The feeling had been irrational. TPOT had to end eventually. Then, Two would free Saw, and Gaty would reunite with her friend.
The feeling wasn't just paranoia now. Gaty didn't know where she was, but she knew that Saw was probably very, very far away.
The picnic tables remained empty.
Gaty was still grateful to have somewhere to rest. She was quickly learning that here, a stopping point, no matter how strange, was a blessing.
Exhausted, Gaty slumped onto one of the benches and leant her head on its table. In her hazy scepticism, Gaty worried about the nature of this place. Why was there a park in the void? Was this place the only solid thing here, besides her? If so, why? Was this place a trap?
...Did it matter? Gaty was so tired. At least if the park killed her, her final moments would be restful.
She shouldn't think like that. She would find a way out of here, reunite with Two, and ask them to eliminate her properly. She couldn't let this place get to her; she had to keep trying.
...Just not now. Now, she wanted to sleep.
With that final thought, Gaty, promptly, passed out.