CONTENT WARNINGS

This chapter contains descriptions of implied death, decapitated body parts, brief religious imagery

With a loud thud, the lift settled in its place. Looking down, BanBan held out a hand, which [YN] took in their own as they stood up with a small groan. The ride down to floor three was painfully slow, it felt like the two were on the lift for far too long.

Stepping off of the platform, the two slowly began walking. BanBan hummed quietly as he lead the way. [YN] noticed that his tail wasn't swishing as much as it had before but chose not to question it. His hands were held behind his back, he walked with confidence. [YN] made a mental note of it.

"You know, I can't get over how eerily familiar you look." BanBan stated, his voice sounding almost smoother than before.

[YN] snapped out of their trance, not realising they had been staring at BanBan's tail. Looking up, they saw that BanBan had turned his head slightly while he walked. He had a soft smile on his face, spinning on his heels he began to walk backwards. [YN] then noticed that his eyes seemed wider than before, dilated slightly and possibly even a lighter shade of gold.

"Are you sure we've never met before?" BanBan asked, his head tilting slightly.

[YN] shook their head as the two walked into a large cafeteria like area. The two looked around slightly before [YN] spotted a keycard on one of the many tables. Strolling over they picked it up before turning back to look at BanBan.

Eyes widening slightly, they finally fully saw the blue creature known as NabNab. He was covered head to toe in a royal blue fur, his face had five eyes, one of which had a scar over it. His arms and legs had several scars in the same matching turquoise colour that others had. Down his neck was an elongated mouth which was sewn shut by light blue stitches.

Noticing the staring BanBan turned to look behind him, he saw NabNab standing in the doorway. From what [YN] could tell he stood at around eight and a half foot tall. Smiling softly, [YN] waved at NabNab but as soon as they did he ran away.

Turning to look at BanBan again [YN]'s smile faded. BanBan hummed quietly as he began walking over to another door. Pulling out his ring of keycards he opened the door and waited for [YN] with a patient smile. They walked over and the two strolled through a green room.

"I wouldn't worry yourself too much about NabNab, he tends to be very shy around new people. And it's safe to say we don't get many new people nowadays." BanBan said with a small laugh.

[YN] nodded quietly as the two approached a small platform. The platform lead out into pure darkness, they looked up at BanBan who gave a reassuring smile as he held his hand out, gesturing for [YN] to step on.

Reluctantly, they climbed onto the platform, clinging onto one of the poles in the corner. BanBan pressed a button and the platform slowly began moving into the darkness. He hummed quietly while looking over at [YN] their face dimly lit by the flickering light above them.

[YN] stared quietly into the darkness. It was all around them, engulfing them. Surrounding them. Gripping onto one of the straps of their backpack, [YN] felt their heart racing. They could hear the sound of BanBan talking but his words were muffled, a distant ringing in their ears.

Despite the pure darkness, [YN] felt like someone was watching them, and not just BanBan. They took a small step closer to the edge of the platform, staring into the darkness more. For a brief moment it looked like there were eyes staring at them. If only they could get closer, then they could see better.

Another small step. Their heart was pounding in their chest, their grip loosening slightly on the metal pole. They were so close to being able to see it. They took another step. They could almost make out the outline of what looked like a disfigured face, the eyes of which appeared to be glowing ever so slightly.

Just as they were about to take another step, BanBan grabbed [YN] pulling them backwards. They snapped out of their trance, looking at him with wide eyes. His ears were pinned back, his eyes slits as he frowned with arched eyebrows.

Slowly, BanBan guided [YN] to sit down, he knelt in front of them, both hands on their shoulders. [YN] could feel their heart beating, though its pace began to slow as they looked into BanBan's soft golden eyes.

"Are you okay?" BanBan asked softly, his voice seemingly returning to how it had on the level above.

Slowly nodding, [YN] placed a hand on top of BanBan's. "Yeah I just... Thought I saw something in the darkness."

"It's probably best not to think about it. All sorts of things loom in the darkness here. For your own sake, try to pretend it didn't happen." BanBan's tail slowly swished around behind him.

[YN] nodded as the cart came to a stop. The two slowly stood up. BanBan gave them a reassuring smile as they stepped off of the platform and walked through a door into a brightly lit yellow and blue room.

Looking around, [YN] spotted another mural. It was one of a spider who looked eerily similar to NabNab. Her name was supposedly Nabnaleena. Next to her mural were words that had poorly been scribbled out. The words read there's a right somebody for everybody, you just need to look, or at least that's what [YN] thought it said.

They cringed slightly and continued walking until stumbling upon a small sealed office. [YN] hummed quietly, looking around to try and find a door, the closest thing they could find were glass windows. BanBan watched patiently as [YN] took off their backpack and began rummaging through it.

BanBan's eyes widened slightly as [YN] pulled out a hammer. Before he could say anything, they had smashed one of the windows and began climbing through it. Banban brought both hands to his head, mumbling incoherent words as he pulled on his fur.

Before long, [YN] climbed back through the window, an orange keycard between their teeth. BanBan let out a relieved sigh before gasping. [YN] had gained a small cut on the back of their hand as well as one on their cheek.

"Good Gods that was so incredibly irresponsible, you could have gotten seriously hurt, you are hurt!" BanBan exclaimed as he lifted [YN]'s hand to inspect it.

"I'll be fine, it's just a few small scratches, nothing I can't handle I promise." [YN] stated with a small smile, taking the keycard between two fingers of their other hand.

"It's not fine, you're hurt. Just..." BanBan paused for a moment. "Stay here okay? I'll go get some supplies, there's a medical ward not far from here that I can get things from."

Without letting them reply, BanBan ran off. [YN] sighed as they wiped the blood off of their hand and cheek with the back of the sleeve of their hoodie. The wounds were barely bleeding and they thought it seemed unnecessary to get patched up over something so small.

[YN] waited around for a few minutes before continuing their walk. Eventually they came across a tall orange door, unlocking it with the orange keycard they had picked up from the office. The door slowly slid open with loud clunking noises.

Stepping through the door, [YN] started to walk down a set of stairs, their wounded hand holding onto the railing. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, [YN] came across a tall wooden door. The door had a metal plate with the words Councillor Stinger Flynn engraved on it. They traced their fingers slowly over the words before knocking on the door.

There was silence for a moment before a voice behind the door said "Come in."

[YN] opened the door to be greeted by two faces. The first was the orange jellyfish, Stinger Flynn. His face seemed to soften upon seeing them. His single brown eye looking them up and down. In one of his tentacles he held a pen which he placed down on the desk in front of him. At the end of each tentacle was a black rosary bracelet with golden crosses.

Beside him was a yellow and green snail, [YN] recognised her as Seline. She had a large green shell and wore a golden dress and metallic neck plate. Seline had three blue gemstones around her face, one on her "forehead" and the other two hanging from her eye tentacles.

Seline looked at Stinger and smiled softly before looking back over at [YN]. She waved slowly, to which [YN] waved back. Stinger took off the single eyed glasses he was wearing and let out a soft sigh.

"It's a pleasure to see you again [YN], I've been expecting you. Though in honesty I didn't expect to see you down here at level three so quickly. It seems you don't waste time do you?" Stinger asked, his voice deep and monotone.

Seline turned back to Stinger, punching one of his tentacles playfully. He let out a small scoff as he picked his pen back up, tapping it slowly against his wooden desk. He gestured to the seat in front of his desk with another tentacle and like a child being told off, [YN] immediately sat down in the seat.

"I don't want to sound rude but.. I don't remember you." [YN] whispered, moving their backpack to their lap.

Stinger's face softened slightly more, his head tilting as he hummed quietly. Seline placed a hand gently on one of his tentacles, he nodded up at her as [YN] fidgeted slightly in their seat. Seline moved over to a cabinet and began going through a mix of folders.

"I don't blame you for not remembering. With everything he put you through, your childhood was far from perfect. Just by your expressions, even if you don't fully remember, I know you recognise me. Not that I mind either way." Stinger stated.

"You definitely look familiar." [YN] muttered.

Stinger nodded thankfully as Seline handed him a folder. Placing it on the table, he slowly slid it towards [YN]. They looked at the folder before looking back up at Stinger and then over at Seline.

"It's for you, you can do whatever you'd like with it but we've been keeping it specifically for you." Seline explained.

"What is it?" [YN] asked, slowly tracing their fingers along the seam of the folder, it was in perfect condition.

"It contains everything that he did to you. There are no other copies or duplicates. Every punishment he ever gave you was documented as well as all of his other crimes. He was truly a sick and disgusting individual and I'm very glad you had the chance to get away from him when you did. I don't expect you to read it. But if you ever want to know what he did and the dissociation from the trauma stops you, there it all is." Stinger stated.

[YN] looked up from the folder and over at Stinger, small tears in their eyes. Stinger slowly tilted his head as he hummed softly.

"You didn't deserve what he did to you. You were just a child." Stinger whispered, his voice soft.

[YN] stood up, the chair squeaking against the floor slightly at their sudden movement. They picked up the folder and shoved it in their backpack.

"I hope to see you again. But if I don't, I wish you good luck. The New God is waiting for you on level six. Try not to keep him waiting too long alright?" Stinger said, picking up and putting back on his glasses as he continued to write.

Nodding, [YN] walked over to the door. They stood in the doorway for a second before turning around. Seline smiled softly and waved at them. Stinger nodded quietly.

"Thank you." [YN] whispered before leaving and closing the door behind them.

Almost as soon as the door closed, there was a distant clanging sound. Shaking their head and taking in a deep breath, [YN] continued down the hallway, walking towards the noise.

Eventually, [YN] found themselves in a hallway with several side rooms. They stepped into one of the rooms. The room had a medical bed and a large tray with a mix of tools on it. Walking over to the tray, [YN] slowly picked up a set of scissors. Upon inspection they seemed in perfect condition.

A loud thud behind them made [YN] turn around. They saw both NabNab and Nabnaleena stood in the doorway. NabNab immediately ran away upon making eye contact. Nabnaleena's brows furrowed before turning back to look at [YN].

Nabnaleena had a similar build to NabNab, however she had almost pitch black fur. Instead of five, she had three green eyes. She wore a green dress and matching bow on her head. Similar to NabNab, she had an elongated mouth which was sewn shut with purple thread.

She took a step back upon seeing [YN] holding the scissors. They immediately dropped the scissors and held up their hands to show they weren't a threat. Nabnaleena tilted her head slightly, taking another step back.

"If you'd like I can help with those stitches? If you want them removed that is, they look pretty painful." [YN] offered.

As soon as they finished speaking, Nabnaleena ran off in the same direction as NabNab. [YN] sighed softly, they turned back to look at the tools but immediately was interrupted by a loud thud coming from the hallway. Running out into the hall they found what looked to be BanBan, except something was different.

BanBan was lying on the floor, his one fixed horn looked longer. Upon hearing footsteps, he looked up, revealing his almost fully white eyes. [YN] took a step back before watching as BanBan held out a hand, his eyes were filled with tears. His tail was wrapped around one of his legs as he stared up at [YN].

Slowly, [YN] walked over to him, kneeling down quietly. They noticed that BanBan was bleeding, the scar on his face and broken horn had the turquoise blood trickling from them. Beside BanBan was a large medical kit.

Letting out a soft sigh, [YN] leant forwards, slowly helping BanBan to sit up, they then stood up and helped him to his feet. While helping BanBan to the closest room to sit down on one of the beds, [YN] noticed that BanBan appeared to be almost a foot taller.

Humming quietly, they retrieved the medical kit and sat on the bed beside BanBan, opening it to take out some cotton swabs. Carefully they wiped at the blood, their other hand cupping BanBan's cheek. He slowly leant into the touch, letting out a quiet purring sound.

[YN] smiled softly, picking up a bandage and wrapping it around BanBan's face, he let out a soft whine at the loss of touch on his cheek. Leaning closer to tie the bandage at the back, [YN] playfully poked their tongue out.

"Better?" [YN] asked as they meant back.

BanBan slowly nodded. [YN] moved a hand to wipe away the tears on his face, as they did he closed his eyes. BanBan's body seemed to relax for a brief moment before tensing back up. Upon opening his eyes, [YN] noticed they had returned to the golden colour they had grown used to.

[YN] quietly pulled their hand away from BanBan's face, he instantly wiped away any tears that remained. Giving a soft smile as his horn began to shrink slightly, a shift in posture making it seem like he was shrinking.

"We should really keep moving." BanBan whispered as he stood up, his tail unwrapping from around his leg.

Standing up as well, [YN] nodded, slowly following BanBan out of the room and down the hall. The two walked for a while in silence, [YN] staring quietly at the ground. BanBan's tail slowly swished around as he walked, one of his hands holding and slowly twisting his cross.

Upon entering another hallway, the two found Stinger heading in their direction. He nodded at the two of them, BanBan stopping in his tracks to look up at Stinger.

"It's nice to see you again, [YN]. Remember to keep a look out for the New God, tell him I said hello when you meet him." Stinger said, one tentacle moving to wave at them.

BanBan scoffed slightly as he continued walking. "We have to go, goodbye Stinger."

[YN] shrugged and waved back to Stinger before quickly following BanBan. They noticed that BanBan's tail was swishing around a lot more aggressively, his ears pinned back. Humming quietly [YN] walked faster so they could walk beside him.

"What was that about?" [YN] asked, gripping onto the straps of their backpack.

"I have..." BanBan started, pausing briefly as he looked down at the ground. "Mixed opinions on the New God."

"How so?"

Before BanBan could answer the sound of Banbaleena's voice interrupted him. "BanBan, I need to ask you something!"

The slightly taller mascot came bounding towards the two . BanBan smiled softly and excused himself as he walked over to Banbaleena. The two hugged briefly and then began to talk in hushed tones.

Another distant thud caught [YN]'s attention, they looked over at BanBan and Banbaleena but after hearing another thud began walking towards the noise. As they walked they slowly traced their fingers along the wall. Lights above them flickered slightly, they looked up but continued walking.

[YN] stopped in front of a large door, looking up it appeared to be almost twenty foot tall. Humming quietly they noticed an orange keypad on the wall. Walking over to it, they tapped their orange keycard against the pad.

The doors slowly began to open, they made loud creaking and cracking sounds before settling open with a loud thud. The room inside was dark, dimly lit by a few flickering bulbs. Despite the darkness, [YN] immediately recognised the room, it was one they had been in far too many times.

Both hands gripping onto their backpack straps, [YN] slowly walked forwards. There were over a dozen pews, each one able to seat over ten people. The fabrics were torn and the wood was rotting, the carpet beneath their feet felt sticky.

The further into the room they got, the stronger an unrecognisable stench grew. The smell felt familiar yet something that [YN] couldn't pinpoint. They moved a hand to their face, covering their mouth and nose with the sleeve of their hoodie to try and cover the rotten smell.

As they took another step, [YN] tripped over something, almost falling over in the process. They immediately turned around and looked down. Eyes widening, [YN] let out a stomach wrenching scream. The thing they had just tripped over was a decaying, severed human head.

The face of the head was completely unrecognisable. It had decayed to the point that the bones underneath were showing while some skin was still there. [YN] immediately began to run towards the door. On their way they noticed a shelf next to the door with a green keycard.

With shaking hands, they grabbed the keycard before running out of the room, fumbling in their pocket to pull out the orange keycard to tap against the keypad. The large door then slowly began to close shut. [YN] then fell to their knees, dropping everything they were holding.

The sound of two voices was completely numbed out by the sound of their heart pounding in their chest. Their entire body began to shake, their hands gripping onto their hair as they curled in within themselves.

Feeling a hand on their shoulder made [YN]'s head snap up, through teary eyes they realised BanBan was kneeling in front of them. He slowly moved a hand to wipe away their tears. [YN] let out shaky breaths, their heart still beating rapidly.

Before they knew what happened BanBan had pulled them into a hug. [YN]'s heart immediately began to slow, shaky hands gripping onto the back of BanBan's shirt. It was then that they felt another set of arms wrapping around them, the quiet humming made [YN] realise it was Banbaleena.

"You're safe, alright? Whatever was in there can't hurt you. You're going to be alright." BanBan stated, gently squeezing [YN].

"I'm safe..." [YN] repeated as they squeezed BanBan back.

The three held each other for a while before slowly standing up. [YN] thanked the two of them before they continued walking together in a group. Banbaleena hummed quietly, her arms swinging by her sides. To keep them all distracted she spoke about space, telling [YN] about her favourite constellations.

Coming to a halt, the trio stopped in front of a large green door. Banbaleena looked at BanBan who let out a curious hum as he went through his keycards. [YN] went in their pocket to pull out the green keycard they had picked up in the church. The colour perfectly matched the door and keypad on the wall.

"You know, I've never actually opened this door before." BanBan muttered as he looked at the keycard in [YN]'s hand.

"Well, are we going to open it?" Banbaleena asked, her eyes lighting up slightly.

"It's up to [YN], I have no idea what's behind here." BanBan held onto his cross again, slowly twisting it between his fingers.

"I guess if it's something bad, we deal with it together right? There's three of us here, what's the worst that could happen?" [YN] said with a shaky smile, trying to forget about the head they had seen in the church.

"That's the spirit! Now open that door! It could be something awesome!" Banbaleena exclaimed, her tail swishing around faster.

BanBan playfully rolled his eyes as [YN] tapped the keycard against the pad. The three then stood back, watching as the metal doors slowly opened. Banbaleena and BanBan's eyes both widened, both of them turning to look at each other upon realising what, or more accurately who, was in the room.

In the dimly lit room was Jumbo Josh who stood at a whopping 16'4". His face was mostly covered by a mask but his yellow and green eyes widened as he stared down at [YN]. Around his arms, legs, waist and neck were chains which were attached to the wall and ceiling.

A low growl came from Josh as he began to pull on his restraints. The chains made clanging noises as Josh pulled on them more, yanking his head back and forth. He twisted and shook his body, pure rage and hatred taking over.

[YN] slowly began to walk backwards, the keycard fell out of their hand, landing on the floor below as they watched rubble fall from the ceiling above Josh. Without warning, BanBan picked up [YN] and began running. Banbaleena ran after them.

Looking over BanBan's shoulder [YN] watched as part of the ceiling collapsed, the hallway filled with dust and debris. [YN] clung onto BanBan as they watched Josh emerge from the dust. He looked around frantically before locking eyes with [YN].

As the trio moved around a corner Josh began charging towards them on all fours. The floors and walls began to shake, more rubble falling from the ceiling in the process. BanBan made several sharp turns, going around as many corners as possible as he clung tightly onto [YN]. 

Eventually the three ended up in a small room, the sound of Josh running growing further distant. BanBan placed [YN] down and immediately collapsed to his knees. Banbaleena knelt in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

[YN] watched as Banban's horn grew again, his tail slowly wrapping around his leg as his body seemed to expand in size slightly. Banbaleena wrapped her arms tightly around him, humming softly.

Before they could say anything, [YN] felt something head butting their side. Looking down they saw Opila and Tarta as well as their six chicks. Tarta wondered over to BanBan, nuzzling against his side slowly. BanBan let out a shaky laugh, slowly stroking the bird's head.

Letting out a shaky breath, BanBan turned to look up at [YN] he blinked and his eyes changed from the almost white to golden colour in an instant. He wiped away his tears and smiled softly.

"I'm sorry for that, it's just we all thought Josh was dead. He disappeared one day and no one ever saw or heard from him again." BanBan explained as he looked down at Tarta.

"Stinger and the New God tried to find him but neither of them ever had any luck. I feel so bad for him, locked away in the dark for so long. No wonder why he's so angry." Banbaleena continued, pulling a tissue from a pocket in her dress to wipe away the blood around BanBan's horn.

"I'm sorry if this is a bad time to ask but who's the New God?" [YN] asked.

"He's our saviour." Banbaleena whispered as she looked down.

They all spent a while in silence before slowly getting up and continuing to walk in a group. BanBan hummed quietly, his tail slowly swishing around yet again. Opila walked beside [YN] occasionally bunting their hand for head pets.

All of them stopped in front of the next lift, BanBan opened the small metal door and held it open for everyone before stepping onto it himself. Pressing the red button, the lift slowly began to lower with a loud clunking noise. BanBan looked down at [YN] with a soft smile, placing a hand on their shoulder, making them jump slightly.

"We'll find your sibling eventually, [YN]. I promise. I'll do whatever it takes to get you to them." BanBan stated, his ears perking up slightly.

"Thank you BanBan, I really appreciate it." [YN] smiled softly, placing a hand on top of his.

[YN] then looked up as the lift went lower, leaning over the edge and looking down at them all was NabNab. Upon locking eyes with the player he moved away, disappearing out of sight.

Letting out a small sigh, [YN] looked back over at BanBan who smiled softly. Despite heading down to level four, [YN] knew they still had a long way to go before getting close to seeing their sibling again.