RF Wally Darling x Reader || "Inside the Factory"

~ Ch. 34: Watch It All Burn ~

! TW: violence, suicide attempt, fire !

Astaire and Harold continued to try and warp the subjects away, but the more they were tossed into the void, the more they seemed to appear. "We can't hold them off!" Astaire called out through the sounds of energy ripping through the fabric of the universe. A sudden crash came from behind, and a bursting explosion shook the factory.

"One of them got in." Harold snarled, abandoning his post. He wielded a sudden ball of black fire, casting it into the flames to identify the interloper. "What are you doing? Help me!" Astaire screamed, finding it harder to hold them off. "The void isn't going to work. It'll only make them more panicked!" He shouted, trying to get Harold to help him.

Harold tried to put out the fire with energy, but nothing worked. A fire started to grow. "The factory is going to burn down!" He called out. Astaire widened his eyes when he realized this. "Harold..." Astaire let go of his power, letting it melt off his hands. He walked up behind Harold, bringing his hand up to the tall man's shoulder. "We can't fix this." He told him. Harold looked around, and everything was chaos. Everything was burning down and being destroyed.

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You sat up, all the doctors spreading out. Among the doctors and scientists, Noctine came running up. Her breathing was heavy, and her pink eyes were glowing subtly with fear. You looked at her, the rainbows in your eyes scaling her. You immediately knew who she was, but you had no idea how.

"There's a fire in the lab by the front lobby. You all need to get out." She said, composing her posture back to its stature. You sat up, the doctors taking a step closer. Everyone just stared at you, waiting for you to say something. "Where is my Wally?" You asked, your voice slightly echoey. You were surprised with yourself. Your Wally?

Damn right, he was.

Sally raised her eyebrows, nudging Barnaby in the stomach. "Told you." She whispered. Pinkamena had a worried look on her face. "He's being taken to the grinder." She didn't even have to finish that sentence before you leaped from the operation table, your metal limbs clanking as you hit the floor. You didn't have any clothes on besides a scrub shirt. You took your pair of destroyed pants; beings ripped into shorts with strings of fabric dangling from them. You quickly put them on.

"What are you standing there for?" You looked at the people behind you. Noctine certainly didn't want to be a part of it, but she walked towards the group as if she were going with you. "Let's save him." You stormed up the operation stairs as doctors called after you. "Wait!" They all shouted, but you didn't stick around to listen.

You heard footsteps speed up to get closer to you. The four of them, you guessed. "Do you think they'll let him go while the fire is spreading, hon?" You asked, not bothering to turn around as you went from one door to the next. You didn't need them to explain. Your mind was right, he was out of control. Everyone thought for a minute, but Pinkamena quickly spoke up.

"Not likely. Their only job is to kill the subject, no matter what. As long as there's a will, there's a way." She smiled at you, even though there was no reason to smile. But you turned back around and busted into the lobby, seeing Astaire and a tall man, towering seven feet, in a colorful suit with red skin and silky indigo hair. "Astaire!" You called out. He had a forcefield shimmering around him and the tall man. Harold of So Below, the realm in which Astaire lived. You had no idea how you had such information, or if it was true, but it's what your gut said.

He looked over at you, fear glazing his eyes. He let the forcefield, and he and Harold walk towards you, Pinkamena, the lawyers, and Noctine. From behind them, through the flames, ran in Frank and Julie. Everyone was together, but that meant that Wally was in trouble and the fire couldn't be controlled. Subjects ran loose through the factory and outside, tearing apart anything they saw.

Julie's eyes were puffy from crying. She and Frank held their hands on their knees, panting to compose their breaths. "We got away from them.." Frank huffed. Julie didn't speak. Her eyes were wide as if they always would be. Sally walked up to Julie in haste and pressed her hands firmly on her shoulders. "Jules?" She whispered, getting down on her knees. You were concerned, so you kneeled beside her. The fire roared behind you all as a pillar crashed down.

"We should...probably leave, folks." Barnaby looked around, starting to feel a little shaken up. "He's going to die." She trembled, holding Sally close. You felt a wave of fear and regret fall into you. This was your fault. He was doing this for you.

'I could never imagine my life without you in it, [name].'

So the one thing you could do now was save him and make sure he never feels like he has no way out without you ever again. Until another support beam came crashing down, the balcony looking over the lobby crumbling down. You looked up as your breathing hitched. A platform of concrete and tile began to fall, big enough to take all nine of you out without a second crumble.

As everything started to become dark under the concrete plate, you stood up at pressed your hands firmly against it. You felt your arms tremble in pain as if they were breaking, and your intact arm was. It snapped, making you scream in pain. But the metal one only shined its green glow brighter, red and green flashing through your prosthetics like it was Christmas morning.

You were holding up the platform, even through the pain shooting through your arm. Not a good first use of your rebuilt body, but it was better than everyone dying all at once. "How the..?" Sally squinted her eyes and tilted her head. Noctine scoffed and smirked, her demon tail whipping around as she grabbed everyone and got them out from under the platform.

"What happened to the warping stuff?" Frank asked, pressing their hands firmly on their head. "It's not working," Harold said, holding his hand down on Astaire's shoulder as if to keep him protected. "We need to round up all of the lab rats and warp them into a pocket dimension- a transmission dimension. It'll genetically relocate their souls back into their original state." Harold explained, holding a small black hole in the palm of his hand. Everyone looked at him as if he spoke in another language, but it was obvious he knew what he was doing.

"While you two do that, I'll take Pinkamena and we'll get Wally. The rest of you try and put out the fire." You were shooting out demands like a pistol, but everyone seemed to listen. You looked at Pinkamena, the flames only growing. "Let's go, hon. We don't have much time." You ran past them all, jumping through a trail of fire to get to the staircase that led to the grinder. Pinkamena followed, trying to open the door. "It's..jammed!" She grunted, pushing against the metal as the fire began to surround you both. "Move, doll." You politely shifted her away from the fire, holding back your knee and slamming your foot into the door.

It buckled back, dented enough for the knob to no longer be of use as it was bent back to where it would never close properly again. You looked down the stairs, seeing the metal cage-like floors of the Grinder room. You could hear the machine running, seeing the faces of the scientists coated in pink face coverings like some sort of cult. They spotted the both of you, but didn't seem to care. That confused you. You looked at the pink coverings on their faces.

Wait.

Pink.

Pink...

Pinkamena.

"Oh fuck." You groaned with a clenched fist as Pinkamena kicked you down the stairs. "Not you too."

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