Playing God (Newton X Reader)

Chapter 15 - The Most Ironic Chapter 15 You Will Ever Read

[Author’s Note: Why is this ironic? It just is. Portal 2, you know.]

(Name) and Patricia had entered the heart of the Ziggurat once again, gently treading through the unsettlingly dark and eerie corridors. The air felt heavily ominous and somehow difficult to breathe… Finally, they reached the room where they had left Toggle. (Name) glanced inside with a sigh.

The room was surprisingly intact, apart from chains littered all over the ground. The silence was unearthly and caused their ears to ring, until Patricia let out a loud gasp, clapping a hand over her mouth and pointing to something. (Name) quickly identified it as a fabric stuffed limb, severed and having been torn off. Fluff spilled out from it.

“I-Is that Toggle’s?” (Name) stammered.

Patricia stepped gingerly through the chains, in fear they’d lurch out and wrap around her neck, before gently lifting the arm and inspecting it.

“It’s Toggle’s…” Patricia whined in a pained response. She glanced around and saw a small tin at the back of the room, closed tightly… “I think he stopped the titan…”

“How are we gonna confront Newton?”

“I’m not sure…”

(Name) felt an incredible sense of guilt stab her in the chest.

“This is my fault, isn’t it? Toggle died because I just… I just held him back to stop him from killing Newton…”

“He’s an old family friend as you said, though…” Patricia sighed.

The thought puzzled (Name) for a second. She had set up a facade of lies to prevent Patricia figuring out that she liked Newton, but she was wondering if Patricia’s mind was beginning to leak through the thin gauze wall, entering and probing her for secrets.

“Why do you keep… You know, earlier, you were bundling up your duvet and kissing it in your sleep…” Patricia asked. She was onto (Name) and was trying to figure out the truth about Newton.

“Well, uh…” (Name) said, scouring her mind for a clever excuse while trying to stall naturally.

“Is it about Newton?”

“NO!”

(Name)’s voice echoed loudly and caused both their ears to ring and whine ceaselessly.

“Are you sure?” Patricia asked, unfazed by her crying ears.

“Just, shut up, let’s go to Bunkum Lagoon and go stop him.” (Name) said hastily, sounding out of breath.

The real Newton’s previous illusion had been pulled out from under him, leaving him floating in a dark void with no more than a few glimmers of light from here and there, the distorted sound of his own voice, yet he wasn’t talking, and every now and then the slightest grasp on some sort of his own senses. He was confused by now, wanting to see the real world, everything, he wanted to run into the arms of his mother and cry, knowing that he’d be welcomed in warmly. He hoped, at least. After this last failure… Was there any going back? He had convinced himself irrationally.

The entity of violet, the remaining titan that haunted Newton’s fragile frame and used it like it was a mere puppet was having the time of it’s life. Servants all working for him without hesitance, it was great to be Newton. The queen hadn’t been seen for a few days now, although she was locked in the grasp of chains and torture to keep her quiet. The titan ignored Newton that floated in his mind. He was insignificant, useless…

Newton’s fortress had been completed in all of it’s glory and terror that cast a maliceful shadow over the cheery atmosphere that the area had once been. Newton had wired up a few devices to himself, giving him full control over the fortress. He could do anything with it, like a giant exoskeleton. And he loved it.

(Name) crept into Bunkum Lagoon, feeling her stomach flip and tie itself into knots as she saw Newton’s fortress looming over everything. A black and purple stain, a disease, a mould on the regal capital. The area seemed to be in deathly silence, leaving only the wind as it dipped and ducked through the lagoon’s platforms. Patricia gently tapped (Name)’s shoulder and pointed to some majestic brick ruins.

“Is that the queen’s castle?” Patricia murmured. She had a feeling Newton was watching them and would leap out at them with some sort of sharp weapon to slash her back’s fine stitching open, so she was being as quiet as possible.

“Looks like it… It’s been completely destroyed…” (Name) replied in a hushed whisper, shuddering. “Maybe we should check it out…”

“Good idea.” Patricia replied, before gazing over the platforms that lead there and began to calculate a short, stealthy and quick path.

By the time they got to the castle gates, they had been warped heavily and had lost their shape, the intricate steel regal patterns to make the gates seem prestigious and admittedly, they looked rather snobbish. Although melted and warped, it just looked derelict, along with much of the castle, bricks strewn everywhere uselessly as if it was some kind of ancient ruin.

Patricia gently pushed the gate to find it budged slightly with a loud, horrible grating noise. (Name) winced slightly, before the two both pushed the gate open with their combined efforts and began to circle the perimeter of the broken castle, as they scoured and searched for a way in.

“Hey! Patricia!” (Name) said in an ironically loud whisper to call her over, before Patricia came lumbering over to inspect what (Name) had found.

“I think we can shift this brick if we try…” (Name) said, trying to get a steady hold on a brick that was on an odd angle and seemed unstable. Patricia managed to get a steady hand, and pulled the brick out.

“It shouldn’t be too hard to pull some others away…” Patricia whispered, before grabbing at another brick just below the hole from the brick she had pulled out. It came away without much trouble. (Name) tried a few more, and soon enough they had a large hole in the wall.

“If the queen is in here, she might be able to tell us something about what’s going on, oh, and Swoop’s marbles. And maybe Newton.” Patricia said, stepping inside the dark corridor. (Name) followed inside the dark trashed corridor, banners sporting the Bunkum Lagoon logo torn to shreds and blowing gently in the eerie breeze, a few bricks on the dark floor which could be tripped over, but (Name)’s eyes were caught by some dainty lilies in a vase, with light gently shining through a small hole onto the pale petals which drank up the light like the most delicious, golden sophisticated drink.

“Hey…” (Name) thought to herself. “Maybe I could take those and give them to Newty once we’ve got the titan out of him.” (Name) gently tread over to it, glancing down at the floor and being careful in case she stood on something sharp, before gently touching the lilies. To her surprise, they disappeared right before her eyes in a small puff of smoke.

“Huh?” She said to herself, before reaching inside her pocket and pulling out her red popit string. With a quick thought, she gently dropped a lily from it, which fell into her pale hand.

“Infinite lilies…” (Name) commented, before hearing Patricia hiss a quick “hurry up” and beckoned her towards the darker end of the corridor.

“I found a door!” Patricia hissed in a quiet voice. There was a flimsy wooden door with a large iron ring as the door handle. It didn’t seem to even have a proper mechanism, when they heard a British, enraged female stuck-up voice screech out from inside.

“Wait! Who’s that? Is it the purple twat himself?!”

“No! It isn’t Newton! Who’s in there?” Patricia called back as she gently pushed open the door.

The room was dark, dank and smelt strongly of must. Inside was a woman wearing a very grand and pompous outfit, against a vertical table with chains strung all over her and binding her to the table. Various torture devices were stationed around the table and hung menacingly. Patricia’s stomach lurched as she saw a massive pile of fluff that had been swept into the corner.

“Uh, the Hero of Craftworld and someone who was brought here by a lightbulb.” (Name) said, too distracted by the surroundings.

“Well, what are you doing?! Free me or you’ll be beheaded!” The woman threatened.

“And who are you?” Patricia asked.

“I’m the Queen of Bunkum, you imbeciles!”