Nuit blanche [A Batter x Puppeteer Story]

But never again, I suppose.

You plunged into the nothingness, feeling the living life sucked out of your body and then being pumped back in as you arrived in a black nothing. You took a few moments to catch your breath, requesting the Batter to set you down. You hunched over and put your hands on your knees for support. 

"You...don't.." you spluttered, still regaining feeling. You finally managed to catch your breath and stood up straight, looking up at the man who looked at you as if you were an idiot. "You're not affected by that?" 

"I'm not human." he deadpanned. You patiently waited for more words to be explained, much to your disappointment as the Batter said no more. You sighed and looked around.

"Hey what's over there?" you pointed to nothing, mostly another area of black void, the Batter turning in the direction of your finger and readying his bat before you yelled in an attempt to lighten the mood, "WOAH,  NOTHING!" and you laughed at your own joke. 

The Batter turned back to you, looking dead serious as his arm slowly fell back to his side. "You got me there. Thought there was a spectre," 

"How would there be a spectre in the nothingness?" you wondered aloud, tilting your head. 

"I don't give a shit about how's. Only possible's." he said. Once again you expected more words, but like the last time, only disappointment awaited.

You furrowed your eyebrows as you began walking around on what seemed to be a solid surface in the nothingness. Questions that sprung up in your head were vocalized through your mouth like, "How the hell am I walking on nothing?" and, "What am I walking on?" 

"Player," the Batter hissed, knowing you were wasting time again. He frowned from under the shade of the brill of his cap. You knocked yourself out of your thought process and turned back to him.

"Sorry. I shouldn't be wondering - Motherfucking miracles, am I right?" you shrugged and walked around more.  After looking around and stepping on various abstract patterns on the ground, you still had no clue where you were.

"Uh, hehe, which one goes to Zone 1?" you asked the Batter. He pulled you up over his shoulder again and walked you to a particular swirly pattern in the ground. Your defenses went up once again, knowing you were high in the air. He tapped the ground lightly with his foot, and again the excruciating pain of everything being drained from you and forced back in. 

Your puppet and you materialized in the next zone, otherwise known as Zone 1. You flopped off The Batter's shoulders, only to be caught in a cradle of his arms and set down carefully. 

"FUCK," you heaved, going through the process of regaining your energy again. You didn't like teleporting through the zones and you knew you never were going to. 

The Batter put a hand on your shoulder and knelt down to your height level, looking at you with 2 pairs of worried eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked.

You wiped the sweat from your forehead with the back of your hand, rubbing your eyes and standing up straight again. "Isn't there a simpler way to traverse through the zones?"

The Batter sighed in relief and stood up straight. "I'm afraid that's the only way," 

"It sucks." you groaned before looking up at your puppet. He looked into your eyes and you into his, and you stayed there for about 2 minutes.

"Four, huh?" you grinned and walked on. He watched you move away, not sure of how to react to that (or what you were talking about). He ran along to catch up with you, in case there were any loose spectres that were prowling, waiting to pounce on a delicious Player.