Chromatober 2024 - Steve Lab Edition

Day 10 - Sinking

World / Series: Steve Lab
Timeline: Implied to be Before Prompt / Day 1
Overall Feeling: Angst
AU: Steve Lab
Characters: Sabre / Prof. Favre
Settings: The Void
Word Count: 828
Warning: Drowning, Dissociation (Probably)

*

He didn't know how long he had been floating– or was it sinking? He wasn't sure, how long has it been since he was here? Since he had been in this dark, sense of unknown? Who even was he in the first place? He wasn't sure, but for some reason, he felt as though he didn't want to be in this dark place.

He didn't want to sink further and further into the cold.

Was he even sinking? Was he floating?

He doesn't even know what's happening. Who even is he? What purpose does he survive? Did he exist as he is or does he fade from existence?

Was even alive or was he dead? Does he really exist or is he really fading away from it? There is nothing that he could even hope to think of or ever understand that tells him if he lives or not. Did he always exist in the inky black nothing? He wasn't sure, but...

One thing he knows, the more he remotely thinks, the more he felt as though he was sinking further and further into nothing. There wasn't even a single bit of light, was there ever any? He doubts any form of light could ever exist in a place like this. And yet...he can faintly yet ever so barely remember the sensation of feeling the warmth of the sun.

What even is the sun?

He knows it, yet the knowledge slipped past him like water that he could barely even hold at all.

He keeps sinking, he knows that much. He was losing himself, he also knows that, was there anything he was losing? Was there anything waiting for him? He doubts it, he doubts there's anything waiting for him, there never was, if there was in fact something waiting for him– would he have been here anyways?

Sinking slowly into nothing as his consciousness fades–

He didn't want to.

Some part of him wanted to live.

But what does it mean to live?

Is he already dead?

He doesn't feel alive. Nor does he feel dead.

He wants to live. Of course he does. He wants to feel the warmth of the sun again, he wants to feel the gentle breeze of the sun. He just wanted to live again– but he couldn't. Not when he felt himself sink further and further into nothing...

Feeling exhausted, he felt himself fall into some sort of slumber–

Until suddenly, out of nowhere, he felt warm. Like something was stopping him from sinking further into nothing. He barely managed to open his eyes– was his eyes always closed? He wasn't sure, but the first thing he saw was some kind of light. A light in the shape of a star. He could feel the light from it being warmed.

It was comforting.

It felt like home...

What was his home?

He doesn't know, but he held onto the star as he felt himself sink further and further away...

Until suddenly, he felt pain. He didn't know what pain was, but what he felt most certainly can be described as such– he hated the feeling. He tried to struggle, to even scream– but all he felt was the sense of feeling being drowned by the void itself– he felt himself sink even further– he didn't like that. He didn't want to disappear–

He begged for someone, anyone, to let him exist. To live–

Suddenly, the star he was holding put him through pain. He didn't know why such warmth had made him feel pain, he cried, but all sounds were silent by the void itself. The pain was far too much, at this point, he actually wished he was being pulled into the void, to be erased from such pain if it meant that he would be free–

*

"Professor!"

Said Professor immediately sat up, feeling a painful dizziness overcame his mind as he gently cradled his head. He looked around, seemingly confused and in pain, but eventually calmed down a bit when he noted that he was in the room that Goggles let him borrow during his temporary stay at his lab.

It was strange.

He never thought he would dream about The Void ever again.

Then again, it was inevitable. The only thing he wished to never feel again–

Was the sinking despair that claimed him.

With a sigh, he got up carefully, he might as well go see what his dear friend is up to, maybe prank someone if he was in the mood.

Anything to distract himself from such pain, most of all–

He ignored the throbbing pain coming from his chest, where the Star he had used to escape the Void itself, embedded itself into. His only lifeline to existing, unfortunately, mimicking his very heart. 

*

Just a bit of lore of how Prof. Favre felt about being in The Void and a bit about how he has a artifact acting as his very heart/reasoning for existing.