Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was an accident… I swear.

It was an accident, at least that’s what he keeps telling himself.

It was an accident, at least that’s what he keeps telling himself.

Subspace’s death affected two phighters more than anyone could have anticipated.

It was just a normal phight… until it wasn’t.

“You were saying??” Subspace mocked as his crystals drained Coil yet again. Coil was off his game today, there was something off…

He threw his head back, letting out a manic, antagonistic laugh, a crazed look in his eye.

There was something wrong, Medkit could tell. Subspace was getting caught up in everything, something was very, very wrong. What happened? The mental decline over the past few hours… did he somehow know? Once his colleague and lab partner, now… he shouldn’t be acting this way, this is unhinged, even for “Subspace T. Mine”.

He ripped his mask off in the craze of the game, pink steam rushing from his mouth and nose as he exhaled, laughing, and pouncing towards other phighters. what, did he have rabies or something? Coil respawned and launched himself back into the phight. This was a whole new level of unnerving, even making his skin crawl, but as the hellhound approached, Subspace’s head jerked unnaturally towards him.

“What’s wrong, kid?? Can’t run circles around me anymore?! Even with my crystals, you’re still a weak runt!!” He spat, fumes and hatred spilling out with each breath.

Medkit and Coil both clenched their fists. Both were pissed off by Subspace’s words, probably how the mad scientist had planned it. Both had enough.

Coil had enough. He dashed behind Subspace, switching to his regen coil to fire a projectile at his back.

Medkit had enough. He ran behind Subspace, carefully, yet quickly aiming his firearm at the Inphernal he used to confide in and pulled the trigger.

Coil’s dash knocked the two off-balance, so neither of them saw what exactly happened next. But the two of them looked up when they heard the screams.

The screams… oh my god the screams…

I didn’t mean to

I… I’m…

Subspace writhed in agony, he fell to his knees. The canister on his back had shattered, chemicals leaked out, the music stopped. Everyone watched in horror as Subspace decayed before their eyes.

Both men, crumpled on the floor, pretended not to be as affected as they truly were. Medkit and Subspace were enemies, and Coil stole from him like, once a month.

All those years of anger and resentment and regret and whatever else was bubbling inside him for Subspace… and Medkit wasn’t even sure if his attack finished him off!

Coil, every day teasing the man he tried desperately to outwit, he strived to be stronger, to be better. Every day, getting berated by him and his creations, pretending he was unbothered… but the possibility of his attack dealing the final blow still weighed him down.

Yet the both of them had come to know Subspace, regarded him in their minds in some sick, twisted form of love. Those two would grieve the hardest.

Chapter Text

Blackrock. An industrial faction with advanced technology and transportation thanks to the late scientist, Dr. Subspace T. Mine. The whole faction was in mourning. The passing of the technology pioneer was heard by every demon in the Inpherno, and even after two months, the citizens of Blackrock were in a collective period of mourning. All Biograft models had been changed so that their lights glowed pink, pink lanterns were lit, and I think they might have made his spawn day a holiday? From a certain perspective, you could say this was good for Blackrock. It’s citizens were the most connected they’ve ever been, the sense of community was through the roof, and crime went down.

Playground. An urban faction, not the most well off, but the sun shines and the lowest temperatures recorded are -20, which is the average “warm” temperature in Blackrock.

Coil. A phighter from Playground, who lives with his roommate Skateboard, was in his bedroom. The lights were off. He sat at his desk, arms folded, resting his head on them. Matching the state of his room, his hair was a mess, and Skateboard made a point in telling him that.

“Man, just take care of your hair! I know it’s not that hard, ‘cause you’ve done it before!”

Coil lifted his head. He felt sluggish. He dragged himself into the bathroom, his skin was paler and a little discolored. The crystal in his horn was grey and dull, so he opened the cabinet behind the mirror and retrieved a bag. He opened it, and to his dismay, there was only one crystal left. He usually doesn’t let it get this low, but even cold weather reminds him of...

He can’t tell if it’s the illness or the guilt eating at him. What if he did it? It was his attack that…

No

Stop

Do you want to live?

Yeah?

Well then, get your ass up and out the door.

He replaced the crystal, he instantly felt better… physically. He washed his face and tied his hair back, grabbing his heavy coat and snowboots. Quickly grabbing the empty bag and filling a backpack with supplies, he left a note for Skateboard.

“refueling, b back l8r, or l8r thn l8r, wtvr, u get it lol.”

The trip to Blackrock was rough, and he hated it even more now than he usually did, but he needed these to live, he wasn’t going back to taking all those pills every day. He wasn’t sure if security would be lightened or strengthened. Turns out, all that was changed was the Biograft’s color, but they seemed to have less drive. It was sad, he almost felt bad for them.

He got in and out fast, he filled his bag to the brim, getting extra so he wouldn’t have to be here as much, and rushed out. He made sure to be extra disguised. He didn’t know what the Blackrockians have been told regarding Subspace’s death. It was ruled accidental, but then again, this is Blackrock.

And the ruling didn’t make the guilt to go away…

Coil shook himself out of his thoughts and continued on. He trudged through the snow. There was a blizzard forming, he had to get to the bus stop as soon as possible.

But…

Wait

What was that noise..?

It sounds like… someone yelling for help?!

Coil’s ears perked up, twitching to find the source of the noise. He heard it again, closer.

“Hello? Anyone there?” It was hard to hear over the wind, but-

>“hey!” he saw something… a faint yellow glow, like from someone’s horns, and a silhouette… Oh my SFOTH

Coil grabbed his walkie, “Skate, there’s a kid out here!”

>“You’re in the middle of a winter wasteland, the phuck you mean there’s a kid?!”

Chapter Text

Medkit sat alone in his apartment. The window was open, the sun streamed in, the sound of birds chirping and happy city life flooded through. He sat on the chest at the foot of his bed, which also served as a seat. He held a cup of tea, eyes closed.

A tear rolled down his cheek.

He ignored it.

Besides the one open window, all the others had the curtains drawn. His apartment was unusually tidy. He kept himself busy.

On his desk, all his papers were neatly organized, every pen in its place, his drink cabinet neatly organized, he wouldn’t throw away any bottles until he bought a new one… there were a lot of empty ones at the moment. Nothing was out of line, not even his collection of orange pill bottles. Instead of throwing them away, he stacks them up and glues them together to make an accent wall.

He’s made good progress over the past two months.

He was tired.

So…

So tired.

He inhaled deeply.

He felt hollow.

Why

Why?

He held the tea in his hands, the hot porcelain against his hands.

He had just added a new bottle to the wall.

The tea sat in his hands. He didn’t dare let the steam hit his face, no matter how good it would feel.

Capsules dissolved, clouding the Earl Grey.

He sat there, pondering.

He still wasn’t 100%. He was scared, not active fear, but more passive. It could have been anxiety.

He thought. But thoughts hurt. Because he would always end up thinking of him…

Slowly, Medkit brought the cup to his lips, he felt weary.

There was a small triumph in his mind.

He got to decide how he would die.

That last little bit of control was everything.

He could die in peace.

His motherfucking phone rang.

Medkit’s eyes shot open, he stood up, shaky hands almost throwing the cup into the sink. He stormed over to his bedroom and answered his phone.

“Skateboard. For the last time. Googling your symptoms will ALWAYS lead you to believe you’re phucking dying. Next time you call, I’ll be charging by the second--”

He stopped, interrupted by an unexpected voice.

“Kit, it’s Coil, can’t call but I need you, like, right now.”

“Coil? What’s wrong, why can’t you call?” He asked, uncharacteristically concerned… it was probably the bourbon.

“I’m in Blackrock, there’s a kid out here on my route, meet us at the bus stop in Crossroads, they aren’t doing too great.”

He knew what Coil’s route was. Most of it was in the middle of nowhere, the only undeveloped areas of Blackrock, all the harshest and most secluded, but it was also a major shortcut.

“The phuck you mean there’s a kid on your route!?”

> “That’s what I said!”

Chapter Text

Dark.

Warm.

That was what it was like before.

Then it was cold. Wet. Bright.

Painfully bright.

She opened her eyes.

A haze clouded her vision.

She couldn’t breathe.

Sitting up, her vision became clear. The wind blew, cutting through her very core like icy daggers. (see what I did there?)

It was quiet, excluding the howling wind.

She looked around.

There was a light post by the fountain, made of a dark grey wood, with a lantern hanging from it, powerlines connected to it spanned off beyond what could be seen.

The cobblestone pathway around the fountain had some sort of design in it, and there was a path leading away.

She pulled herself out of the fountain, hurrying down the path, shivering and wrapping her arms around herself.

There’ she found a small, quiet house. The wooden building, which looked as if it belonged in a village, stood strong in the blizzard. Out in front, there were some clothes that had been hung on a line, whoever did so must have forgotten about them. The grey fabric with an odd striped pattern.

The spawnling, who was about to freeze to death and who was literally only 15 minuets old at this point, struggled to reach the fabric, but jumped up and pulled them off the line.

One of the windows lit up with a synthetic glow.

Fear. Fear. Panic. Run.

The cottage door opened slowly with a squeak, and she panicked.

Fear overtaking her, she quickly wrapped the fabric around herself. The fabric was cold already and chilled her even farther to the core, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have time to care. She ran.

She ran.

She ran and she feared.

The elderly demon tried to call after her, but it was no use.

He figured chasing after her would only scare her more.

Besides, he lived that close to Blackrock’s spawn to try and welcome newspawns into the world and shelter them from the cold, give them a safe place while he prepares them for the world and inform Blackrock’s government of their existence so they could go wherever Blackrock sends their spawnlings.

He watched the young inphernal as she faded into the snow, age and sorrow clouding his vision.

‘It’s a shame… with this snow and the sun setting… they’re running into a wasteland, colder temperatures and no civilization…’

‘…they won’t last very long.’

She couldn’t tell how long she had been running, but she couldn’t anymore. Snow and ice was caked up on her horns, her ears, every surface of her body, she felt blue. Not like sad blue, like, actually blue. She couldn’t cry, all her tears had probably frozen. She couldn’t move, her vision was failing, she did the only thing she could think of.

She used her first words to cry for help, carried by what could have been her last breath.

Her cries for help became quieter, she couldn’t do it anymore, she was shivering so much that everything hurt, her vision darkened and blurred, a dull ringing in her ears.

But then…

She heard something.

“Hello? Anyone there?” It was hard to hear over the wind and the ringing in her ears, but she used her last bit of energy to muster a reply.

“Help-!” but her voice couldn’t carry. It dropped off quickly, she fell to the ground, fighting to keep her eyes closed.

The last thing she saw was an orange an cyan glow illuminating a silhouette.

Then she saw black.

She barley heard the muffled sounds of voices over the ringing in her ears.

Then she heard             .