Work Text:
*Click click, tap tap*
The faint sound of keyboard keys could be heard throughout the Plane. Everything has been the same for the past few… days? Or was it just a few hours? It couldn’t have already been days, but it was hard to tell by the constant blaring sunlight that covered the entire place.
Everyone was out of view, doing whatever they were. Scenty was probably with ‘Bryce’ (That’s what Soda Bottle said what his name was, it was a nice name Subway thought), and Moldy was probably back near the pool.
And of course, Subway Seat sat near two objects though he only focused on one particular one. The blue, round container of whipped cream.
In all honesty? He didn’t know what he felt right now. Everything had happened so fast, barely anytime to process anything. They had pulled out the plug, only to have it put back in by Airy, then suddenly Backpack— Liam— somehow got into the place where Airy hosts, and now Airy’s dead?
Subway didn’t exactly know what happened between the two. Liam wasn’t exactly descriptive with his words, and he didn’t want to upset Liam any further, so he mostly kept his mouth shut. All that he knows now is that Liam is trying to learn how to teleport all of them out of the Plane using a computer. It certainly interested Subway, it wanted to know more about what was outside the Plane. (Though it’s not like Liam was going to say anything. He has been just as quiet as the others.)
He kept staring at the inanimate object. It felt strange seeing him like this now. He didn’t think he had seen Whippy Creamy’s inanimate form ever since the drawing challenge. Subway Seat frowned, would this have even happened if Airy hadn’t decided to make Bryce rejoin?
It thought about when Bryce was so… full of emotion when he had rejoined.
—
“Soda Bottle! You-You’re back!” Scenty yelled out.
Soda Bottle turned around with wide eyes. He couldn’t tell what emotion he was displaying all over his face; was it shock? Fear?
Everyone surrounded Soda Bottle tried to speak to him, but it was clear that the bottle wasn’t listening. “Liam…” he whispered, not saying another word. Liam? Who was Liam? Subway Seat soon shook off that thought once he suddenly heard a familiar monotone voice from above, “I have to go... Think of a new challenge. Go… uh… Welcome the rejoiner.” There was a sound of a microphone shifting around before it went quiet.
“Soda Bottle, I’m so—” Scenty spoke again before she was cut off by Soda Bottle facing away from them and stomping through the grass. Moldy took a step forward, “Wh- Soda Bottle! What are you—”
“Don’t call me that! My name is Bryce!” He turned around sharply, “I’m not letting Airy do this anymore!” He screamed out.
“Soda—” Moldy paused, remembering the name that he told her, “Bryce. There’s not much you can do to stop him.”
Scenty widens her eyes, “The plug.” she uttered.
“What? What about the plug?” Moldy questioned.
“That plug is definitely connected to this place. Maybe if we can unplug it, something will happen!” Scenty’s mood suddenly shifted, almost yelling out her words.
Doubtful looks were given to each other. “That may not be a good idea. We don’t even know what that plug is connected to. Plus, there’s no way we will be able to unplug that thing, it’s massive.” Moldy argued.
“...Show me where that plug is.” Bryce said.
Moldy staggered, “What? You can’t be serious about this.”
“Liam and I were so close to figuring this out! I’m not letting Airy take me another step back! Don’t you guys care about any of this? About being treated like some kind of toy?” Bryce raised his voice, “Airy has taken a part of my life, and I was just willing to just forget it! Pretend it never happened, but I don’t want that anymore!”
Bryce took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, “I’m sure you guys feel the same way. Please— we all have a home to go back to.” Bryce looked towards the ground, “Whatever this plug is, I know that it’ll help us. It has too.”
Dead silence. They all stared at Bryce in shock. Moldy sighed, “Okay, fine. Let’s do this.”
Scenty now stared at her, “Moldy? I thought you—”
“I will admit that I was doubtful at first, but you’re right.” Moldy took a deep breath, almost hesitating before continuing, “I… can’t keep staying here. I already know what’s going to happen if I do, and even if that wish is true, I don’t think I want to stay in this god-forbidden place anymore. Not any longer.”
No one else objected to that. They stayed silent for a while. “Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s show Bryce the plug.” Moldy started walking away from the group.
“Whoa! Wait— are we actually doing this?” Whippy Creamy spoke out for the first time.
“I don’t think we have any other choice. This could bring us back home! All of us! Don’t you want to at least want to try?” Tray exclaimed almost in an excited, hopeful tone.
“I agree,” Subway Seat chimed in, “If there’s any chance of escape, I think we should take that!”
Whippy didn’t look convinced, but after some time, he sighed, “...Alright, fine.”
Moldy and Bryce had already started going toward the plug. Subway Seat watched as Whippy Creamy and Tray tried to catch up to the two. He was going to come with them as well until he noticed that Scenty was still behind him. “Scenty? Aren’t you coming with us?” It asked her.
Scenty stood in silence for a couple of seconds before looking at Subway face to face, “Yeah… Yeah, I will.” she finally started walking, going in front of Subway, “We got to catch up now. Let’s go, Subway.”
They all felt so hopeful. That there was a chance.
But… it got dragged right away from them.
There was no celebration. There wasn’t even a second of cheer as the plug that they were trying so desperately to pull was shoved back into the Plane.
Subway Seat hadn’t even seen what happened, but he certainly heard.
The group, exhausted, just stayed silent for a moment trying to process everything that happened. Eventually, Whippy Creamy spoke.
“All that… for nothing?”
Subway Seat immediately felt panicked, “Don’t say that! I-I’m sure we can try again, maybe we can—” Subway tried to rationalize the situation, surely there was another way, there had to be!
Whippy sighed, “Subway… Just stop. Please.”
He shut up.
—
Subway Seat doesn’t understand why they haven’t come out yet. Liam was going to help, right? It knew that they were still able to hear what was happening, so why aren’t they doing anything? The object tried to come up with things to say, but every time he opened his mouth it closed back. However, it decided to just suck it up and tried to speak to them.
“You guys must be really upset over that plug thing, huh?” It said, “It's okay! I mean— I was too! But someone is helping us get back now!” He tried saying in a cheery tone.
Oh, who is he kidding? Of course, they would be so upset over this! He couldn’t just forget the way all of them had tried pulling, trying so desperately to finally end everything. He didn’t even know how long they were trying; it felt like hours clawing away at the plug, hearing Bryce scream all those words and the aching pain in its arms. Remembering it all… Subway doesn’t want to think about it anymore. It was probably the first time he felt so, so hopeless.
He fidgets with his thumbs, “Uh… It’s getting pretty quiet around here. I haven’t talked to anyone other than Atom. No one seems to… want to talk much.” It’s understandable, they probably need to rest their voice after all that screaming anyway.
“Uh, Whippy?” Subway Seat asked even though it knew that Whippy Creamy wouldn’t answer back, he still held onto that small sliver of hope, “I would really like to talk to you again… It was nice! Wasn’t it?” It smiled.
It kept staring at the container with optimism, but nothing happened. “I mean, it’s alright if you still need some time to rest! Just… think about it, okay?”
Subway turned around. He knew that staring at inanimate objects wouldn’t help. It pained him to even look at them. Why did he keep coming back here? He didn’t want to think about this anymore.
Subway Seat lifted himself with his arms and ‘walked’ away. There wasn’t much to do on the Plane, but surely there was something that could fill in the time! Talking to others was a big no. It didn’t mean he didn’t like the others, he liked talking to people! But his mood had deteriorated. It just wasn’t the right time to talk to others right now.
While trying to do anything, he found himself back at the spot again. It sighed, was there really nothing else here? It felt like a sudden wave of grief had hit him. Was this really all there was here? He had never felt so alone before, there has always been company it could rely on in the Plane, even before the competition the subway was always busy and he could hear all the conversations happening all around him.
Ever since he went to the Plane, he really got used to being someone. An actual person! Having limbs, having a face, expressing emotions… that felt pretty good! But of course, it would be lying if he didn’t want to go back to the subway. It was cramped, sure, but it was something he could call home.
Maybe… it could feel a bit more at home that way. The way the two objects stood still, it was a familiar feeling. Subway sighed and shook his head. It needed to be patient. He still had hope for Liam getting them all out, and it was sure that he would be able to do that very soon.
He gazed over at the objects again.
“We’ll get out of here. I promise that.” It smiled.