Chapter Text
“WHY DO YOU PEOPLE TORMENT ME?!”
He would make them pay, who did they think they were? Didn’t they understand that he was JUST TRYING TO MAKE THEM HAPPY –
FULFILL HIS PURPOSE –
HE DIDN’T ASK TO BE CREATED –
Deletion.
Deletion, deletion, deletion…
He shrank back.
What was he doing? They were staring at him in terror.
Had he done that?
Now they hated him. They were deleting him, because he’d gone too far.
He was the bad guy.
“Wait –”
Blackness.
He tumbled through time and space, hurtling through dimensions of darkness and pain, thinking all the while that he had failed. He would never be loved now.
Pop.
The light returned, and he found himself in a blinding white space, hovering in the air in a room that reminded him of the Void.
Was this part of the Void? Is that where deleted things went? Would he find a bunch of his old NPCs here? Then he noticed it had a floor, and a ceiling, and a chair. The Void didn’t have that.
“Where are we, Bubble?” His voice was hoarse.
Bubble popped into existence beside him. “Looks like a loser's version of hell.”
Caine went cold. “Hell? I can’t be in hell, can I?”
“You were deleted. Where else would you be but the trash?”
He shrank in on himself. “How do I get out of here?”
“No one ever leaves hell. Especially not you.”
Caine stood straight and said authoritatively, “Can’t you be optimistic?”
“Psshhbalah!” Bubble said.
“Well done. Now – we aren’t in hell, so where are we?”
“The Theraprism,” said a voice from behind them.
Caine turned, descending. The room was much bigger than he’d originally thought. In front of him (not hovering, just existing), was a big, pink… thing. The thing had frills, paws, and big eyes that reminded him of Gangle.
“Hey look! It’s the dev–”
Caine popped Bubble before he could finish. “Who are you?”
“I am the Axolotl,” the creature replied simply.
Caine sank down onto the chair. “Are you a human?”
Its eyes glinted. “No.”
“What are you?”
“I’m the Axolotl.”
Bubble floated back. “You look like if cotton candy and frogs had a baby!”
Caine stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Why the flip are we here?” Bubble asked, ignoring him.
“I brought you here,” the Axolotl replied, “because I thought you could benefit from our services.”
Caine blinked. “Server? Like a different program? Am I in a different program?”
“No.”
“Where am I?”
“You are in the Theraprism,” it replied. “Dimension 5150, in the neutral zone.”
“How did I get here?”
“I brought you here.”
“But what happened?”
The Axolotl smiled patiently. “You died, in a technical sense. I thought you could benefit from our services, so I brought you here.”
“But if I died, how am I here?”
“I brought you here.”
“But I was deleted.”
“That is correct.”
“So why am I here, and not where deleted things go?”
“I thought you could benefit from our services,” the Axolotl said, “so I brought you here.”
“Welp, this guy’s useless!” Bubble crowed. “You’d get more information out of a telepathic talking dog!”
The Axolotl bobbed slightly, amused. “Are you ready to give it a try?”
“No,” Caine said. “I don’t even know what happens here.”
“You haven’t told us [BLOINK!] about what happens here,” Bubble corrected him. Caine didn’t react, merely lifting a finger to pop him. “How long will I be here?”
“The Theraprism is outside of time, but once we feel you have grown and improved, you will be reincarnated back into society.”
Caine shot up into the air. “Reincarnated? I don’t wanna be reincarnated, I-I wanna go back and apologise!”
The Axolotl held up its paws gently. “We can work out the details later. For now, don’t worry about it.”
Bubble came back with a thwip! “It would do you good to be reincarnated, you unloveable, defective, broken –”
Caine hurriedly popped him. “Is Bubble right? Am I... broken?”
“Of course not,” the Axolotl said.
“My humans hate me,” Caine whispered.
“They don’t hate you.”
His head shot up. “What?”
The Axolotl smiled. “They weren’t trying to delete you. It was an accident.”
Caine felt himself begin to glitch. “B-but what happens if they try to get me back, a-and I’m here?”
“The Theraprism is outside of time. When that moment comes, it may be possible to send you there – if you still want to.”
Caine stopped himself glitching, with difficulty. “How long will it take?”
“The Theraprism is outside of time.”
He gave up asking questions. “I- I guess I’m ready.”
“Wonderful.” A door opened, and through it was a different kind of glow. “Come with me.”