End of the World.

[ 2 ]

They thought they landed back in the void again, seeing how dark it was around them, but when they tried to move, they were restricted. By what, they couldn't tell. Dummy struggled for a while longer, before they heard a voice begin to speak. It was unfamiliar, but they were stuck where they stood, so their only option was to listen to the unknown being.

"Hello? Is this going through?" The voice sounded nervous, unsure if what they were trying to do was working.

"Yes, yes it is. who are you though?" Dummy replied. "Oh hey, it's Orby. I'm using the remaining energy I have to speak." Dummy relaxed a bit. Even though they've never properly spoken to it before now, they felt a little calmer knowing they were talking with someone they knew.

"I'm sorry I couldn't speak back there, I was so exhausted..." "It's okay Orby, it wasn't your fault. You were overloaded from all the info you took in, I understand." Dummy reassured it. They both went quiet for a while, before Orby broke the silence.

"..Things could've been different, if only they..." Orby trailed off, trying to figure out what it was about to say. "'They'? Do you mean Player?" Dummy questioned. They wondered what it was talking about. They wondered if maybe Player could've done something different, if there could've been a different outcome, one where Cashier didn't...

Orby interrupted their thoughts. "..Never mind. It's ok. Kyu can't know about this anyway." "What? What can't it know about-" Dummy was cut off by Orby. "Maybe they could try again... Player, I mean." "How? Is there a way we could bring them back, maybe they could change whatever they did to-" Dummy tried to speak up, but Orby didn't acknowledge their questions. It just simply replied, "I hope to see you again, in another timeline. For now though, the game ends here. See you soon." "Wait, Orby!-"

Dummy suddenly jolted up from their bed in a cold sweat. Wait, bed? Had they been asleep? The conversation with Orby they just had felt so real, it puzzled them. After a while of thinking about what happened, they slowly took in the environment around them, their eyes adjusting to the dark room. Although there was little light around them, it was nothing like the void they once lived in.

A desk with various items, a vending machine, emitting low hums and small light, posters with various strange images, a statue shelf... Was this Player's home?

"...Why am I here? Aren't I supposed to be in the void now?" Dummy thought to themself, slowly rising from the bed. "Player hasn't been around here for a while... Did I somehow take their place?" That was a thought they'd decided to save for later. For now, they were more focused on looking around to see if anything's off. "Well, everything seems to be fixed now. No visible corruptions," Dummy picked up a dollar off the desk. "Items seem to work again, and everywhere looks normal."

That's when they remembered.

Outside. The convenience store. Cashier.

They started to feel the same fear they felt earlier. What if Cashier really couldn't hold all the information? Or worse... What if he sacrificed himself to do it?

There was only one way for them to know. Dummy navigated their way through the unfamiliar home until they found the front door. As soon as they stepped out, they could see the store through the distant fog. They slammed the door shut and started running. "Oh god please- please tell me he's in there."

They made it to the store shortly, throwing the door open on arrival.

They then took a good, long look at their biggest fear.

There was no one sitting at the counter. The break clock was cracked and no longer displayed numbers. They quickly began searching everywhere, shouting out desperately, "Cashier? WHERE ARE YOU?!" They walked around all the aisles, peaked inside the employee-only freezer, looked behind the store, and checked inside his car. 

He was nowhere to be found. Dummy sadly walked back into the store, failing to hold back tears. They walked behind the counter to sit on the floor, muttering to themself.

That's when they saw the thing that confirmed all their worries.

Cashier's visor. Sitting untouched, where its wearer normally would.

They couldn't hold anything back in that moment. They slowly grabbed the visor and started sobbing, sliding down the wall behind them. They curled up, with his visor in their arms, and let it all out.

Dummy wasn't sure how long they'd been sitting there, but after a while, they looked up, and quietly choked out the words they wished they'd never have to say.

"He's gone. He's really gone."