Project A.L. (BFB AU) (COMPLETED)

Twelve - Trip to the Void

I've fallen asleep, it appears. The hunger couldn't override the need for the minimal amount of rest that could've been put off for another week or so. No matter, I suppose.

I walk in my own white void for a moment before I find the bubble in reality that I was looking for. It's harder to see at the moment, mostly for the reason that both the void and the bubble are white. Regardless, I enter the wormhole.

I'm taken to a white void not too dissimilar from the one I just left. The floor is soft and fluffy like how I'm told clouds feel, a feeling I may never get used to within my own lifetime.

There also isn't an immediate wave of thoughts rushing through my head when I enter, a quality unique to this one plane. It might be to keep dreamhoppers like me at least somewhat sane, or it might be to keep the "staff" sane. Either way, it's a plane unlike any other, both imaginary and very, very real, making it impossible in the eyes of others. The pillars ran high into the sky, and coming up to one of them, it lowers automatically. It seems they already know that I'm here.

"Hey, how's it hanging, Four?" The Guardian of the Gate remains at the top of the pillar as usual.

"I don't know what you mean. I don't hang," I say in confusion.

"It's an expression, I'm asking you how you're doing."

"Ah, well, I'm doing just fine, Log," I say as I can feel myself smile slightly. "I'm here to make a visit."

"Same person?" Log asks, pulling out a massive block of glowing matter and picking off a piece. "You know I can't approve these without the expressed spoken words." They hold out the chunk of matter for me to speak into. "Full name."

"Five A. Integer," I state into the glow, which forms into a ball and absorbs into my skin.

"Alrighty, you're good to go. Have fun and don't die while you're up there!" Log gives a thumbs up as they violently whip a hand up into the air, sending me to where I've been visiting, the Rooms.

It's an infinite hallway filled with every new soul within the past week. The doors are all different from each other, some wooden, some painted, some are even plastered with drawings from children. I don't hold any nostalgic feeling for any of the doors. I guess it's a side effect of being raised in a lab.

The one similarity between doors is the number on them. Though the numbers go in numerical order, it's hard to decipher them when I'm illiterate. As usual, I just walk by until I found the door with the right number of symbols. The matter Log gave me flies out of my chest and absorbs into the door, unlocking it.

The wooden door opens into a small room with quite a few items lying around, most likely what Five's room looked like before they perished.

"Oh, it's you again." Five sat on the bed in the opposite corner to the door. I can't tell whether they're unamused at my presence or slightly intrigued at my arrival.

"I came to say goodbye to you," I start off.

"Are you not gonna visit anymore or something? Your wording is very ominous," Five questions me.

"I won't be able to visit after today. It's your final judgment day tomorrow, so everybody will be gone from all the rooms who died on the day that you did as well." We both wait in silence, waiting for the other to speak.

"Great," they finally speak. "I'll finally be free from you." This finalized my decision that Five's tone was condescending. I'd expected this response, however, and I turn to leave.

"Wait," Five yells after me. "I want you to do something for me. One last favor."

I turn back around to look at them. "Sure, it's only customary to respect a dead number's wishes." I shrug at the predicament, ready to hear the request.