Chapter Text
It was a normal round, the stench of iron filled the air and the grass no longer a healthy shade of green- or even green at all.
Elliot was currently repairing a generator before his head snapped upward at the sound of.. a portal?
Must be another hallucination of Noli’s, the theater god was the killer this round, much to the survivors- especially Elliot’s- dismay.
.. but the portal stayed, and curiosity got the best of Elliot, even if curiosity usually got people killed here.
—
Elliot reached out to the flimsy looking portal- it looked like it was made of paper, like some child had haphazardly colored on it with crayon. But the environment inside it was so familiar. It was home.
He missed home so much, he missed his dad and his little sister. He missed the days of just saying hi to new interns and helping out around the pizza place. He missed everything about it.
Even if it was a hallucination, he wanted to try. Before he entered, though, he dropped the med kit and bloxy cola he was carrying, and left a single slice of pizza in case he died from this possible hallucination, how are NPCs even ABLE to hallucinate??
Carefully, oh so carefully, he pushed one hand against the front of the portal, and his hand went through. He could see it on the other side, it even looked colored in like the rest of the environment in the portal.
Elliot closed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath... and pushed himself into the portal completely.
—
Elliot fell to the asphalt with a soft thud, a groan escaping him as he pushed himself up and looked around wearily. It seemed right, nothing was even slightly amiss.. was that portal real? Was he finally free?
A grin made its way onto his face, his thin plug tail started wagging behind him as he got to his feet, Elliot was happy to be home after.. admins knows how long- it didn't take long for Dued1- his creator- to show up due to the weird new code in their ‘experience’. Elliot was delighted at first- He was home!
That dread that he’s grown so accustomed to washed over him once more, the staticky buzz filling the air behind him.
“[Oh boy!! What flavor!!]!! Freedom, At lo-o-ong last!” Screeched Noli, random audios could be faintly heard in the constant hitching and buzzing of Noli’s breathing, the Demi-God cackled, and immediately ran to go destroy something-
Wait.
Why aren’t they destroying stuff? Elliot was sure they’d wreck havoc!
Instead, Noli ran off into a nearby forest, manic cackling following behind the crazy robloxian until it went silent, and a white flash behind the trunks of the trees appeared and vanished as quickly as it came.
—
Dued1 and Elliot were both equally floored by that, but only Elliot really related to the desire to want to leave and see robloxians or things one missed. Dued1 glanced at the trees, then to Elliot. The Demi-Admin looked between those things a few more times before finally realizing- Elliot was back!
“Wait,” he muttered “Elliot? Elli?”
Elliot blinked at Dued1, mouth open to speak, but no words came out. The Demi-Admin didn’t seem to mind that Elliot didn’t say anything, just pulling the NPC into a tight hug.
“Elli.. Oh admins above, Elli-” Dued1 practically whimpered against Elliot’s chest, the Demi-Admin’s head fins drooped, pressing against their scruffy, short hair. “I thought- I thought you were gone forever-!”
Elliot glanced back at the portal, tail lashing behind the NPC. Dued1, of course, noticed. Especially when a yellow skinned arm suddenly appeared in the portal, followed quickly by the rest of- probably- the most famous admin and ragebaiter, Shedletsky themselves.
Just as quickly as Shedletsky appeared, they immediately tripped and fell face first on the pavement, wings flaring out haphazardly, along with a squawk of surprise.
It didn’t end there, everyone else from the round ended up going through, causing Shedletsky to have to scramble to their feet and get out of the way. Nobody wanted to stay in that place for a moment longer.
—
Even though it's been a few years since then, working at the register has been difficult for Elliot, it never had been before.
He looked down at his hands, the mechanical joints of his digits was freaking him out internally, but he can recall years and years of seeing his robotic hands and not really caring, why does he care now?
.. why is he aware? Why is he THINKING? His thoughts aren't in code anymore. It's getting harder to stay calm on the outside. The customers are robotic too, but there's still players mingled in there too,
Wait. Players. Players?
Have they noticed he's different yet? Did they ever notice he was even gone? Is he even Elliot Builder?
He needs to stop thinking like this. It was making his head hurt just thinking about this.
“Uhm. Hello?” A player spoke up, “Are you there?”
Elliot glanced up. Oh. Right. He’s still in the building, he needs to get his shit together.
“Y- Yeah! Sorry about that!” He chirped sweetly, fixing his posture and lifting his hand to the panel in front of him. “What is it that you ordered again?”
Everything seemed to go fuzzy after that, he felt like a drone, just continuously repeating the same phrases over and over and over and over again. How have the other NPCs NOT GONE CRAZY?
Elliot took a deep breath, and exhaled. He could do this, he’s Elliot Builder! He’s the son of Mr. Builder and related to the Builderman!
Admins above, how was he gonna manage a normal life after everything?
He was so happy to finally be done. He could go home and just relax. Nobody to listen to, nobody to serve, nothing. Just him, and his house, and his increasingly worrying thoughts.
Yeah! This was just fine!
Just! Dandy!
And then something- someone?- crashed right behind him.