Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“ ...I forgot there was a six there.. ” Stella said, exasperated. She dug through the backpack she had taken with her, flipping through a few pages of the notepad before examining one of the papers.

“ So... 9077...832.. ” She murmured, squinting at the paper, “ 502...6078! I really need to fix my handwriting I've already ended up in the wrong place five times... ”

Stella lowered the notepad, looking around for the table and armchairs. She groaned, rubbing her eyes as her vision kept becoming blurry, she knew she had to sleep at some point but her determination kept her awake and the lack of consistency of time within each universe didn't do her any favors either. Taking slow steps forward she was able to actually make out the spot where the radio had been.

“ Phew.. there we... are..? ” The water bottles sluggish steps forward came to a halt once she saw someone else teleport to the table infront of her eyes. It took her a few minutes to really realize that there was really someone and not another one of those very distracting illusions of either her family or past friends.

huh, I wonder what they'd be doing now...

However, Stella immediately shook those thoughts out of her mind as she leaned forward, pressing a hand towards the cold metal of what appeared to be a lantern.

She felt it flinch and immediately turn to face her, a little shaken up.

“ ...Sorry. ” the lantern... apologized?

“ Huh? ” Stella hummed, clearly not really in the right mindset since she had been relying on her mind to keep working after all those restless days, but she herself could tell that her mind was starting to numb down.

“ ...Did you... need something..? ” The lantern asked, taking her hand and prying it off of him in the most polite way it could really imagine.

“ ...I'm sorry, you look... pretty familiar. Do you- uhm... Name, please? ” She rubbed her eyes, barely able to see the lantern in any way other than a copper blob.

“ ... ” the lantern looked away for a few seconds, seemingly unsure, “ ...Airy. ” it, or perhaps he, answered. “ ...Are... Are you okay..? ”

“ Never better! ” Stella's tone suddenly grew pretty loud and determined, causing Airy to flinch once more. “ ...Well maybe not really but also.. yes really! Really.. ok..  uhhh... What was I.. oh, yeah! Radio. ” Stella slurred out.

“ The... ” Airy paused, “ That radio? ”

“ Yeah. Or... were you using it before..? ” Stella asked, watching Airy shift around a little, placing his wrists ontop of the knob at his front.

“ I don't... know where to go, actually... ” Airy shrugged, “ ...Sorry. ”

“ You don't even need to be sorry wha... ” Stella paused mid-sentence, “ Hey, wait.. you can join me if you want! I'm... trying to get back on earth, actually... or at least somewhere that's not here... I could really use the company or else I might go insane... ” She breathed out, “ ...Please..? ” She said, now desperate.

Airy shrugged, Stella took it as her best answer, gesturing Airy to move to the side. Stella flipped through her notepad, there it is! She thought, moving her hand to the knob of the radio while her other hand held the notebook.

90778325026078079225485611200563880524509876429765907528.5

... God, that was longer than she had ever wished.

Her gaze shifted towards Airy, his eyes glued onto the radio.

“ Could you perhaps check over this for me..? ” She asked, handing him the notepad.

Airy silently took the notepad, leaning over the table to look at the radio, his gaze shifting from the radio to the paper multiple times, during those few minutes of silence Stella looks at Airy, deep in thoughts. He looks familiar... but maybe that's just my mind tricking me... Stella thought to herself before feeling a could touch on her arm.

Airy nodded. phew, Stella internally sighed in relief, moving her hand to the antenna, pulling in up.

And after a few seconds of pure, ear-wrenching noise.

they dissappear.

Stella looked around a little, sighing as she leaned against a tree. The soft chirps of nearby birds and the rustling of leaves left her with a comfortable feeling inside, it's was better than the static-like noise from that other place. Airy stepped next to her, “ ..Are you sure you're okay..? ” Airy asked, kneeling down next to her.

“ Yeah, just tired ” She nodded, sitting with her back against the tree. “ ...Where did you come from? Like.. before you appeared at that odd place with the radio. ” She asked.

Airy sat down next to her, pressing his legs to his chest, “ ..It was like... a forest, I guess. I was there for a while but then.. yeah. ” He said. Well, so much for that...

“ Is there... anything else you can say about that place? Maybe something specific? Maybe I can get you there. ” She said as she flipping through her notepad. “ I've been to a few places that have forests, I can help you. ”

“ Uhm... no.. not right now.. uh.. what about you? ...Where did you wanna go?”

“ Earth. It's where ive been trying to go back to for a while... I dont.. really know how long but... yeah.. ”

“ ...I see.. ” Airy awkwardly responded. He didn't exactly know what to say to all of that. “ What do you plan to do after that? Like.. after you go back to earth... ”

The question seemed to have caught Stella off-guard as she herself seemed to start thinking about it. What was she going to do afterwards? She can barely remember how long she'd even been here, maybe the world barely has any trace of her left, heck, where will she go? She doubts her family members will be the best place to go to, where would they even be now? We're they even still there?

“ I... I-I don't know... ” She sighed, “ I've just been.. so caught up in going back home that... i-is there even something our there for me..? Oh God, what am I going to do... ” She covered her face with her hands.

Stella should've thought about that much sooner than just now, if anything she could just be dead to the world, if anything some years must've passed since she'd arrived here...

“ ... ”

Airy's eyes shifted to the side, unsure on what to do. This was the tamest interaction he has had in the decade of being alone.. well, until backpack arrived. But that didn't go all that well no matter what Airy tried. He didn't really understand why backpack was angry with him in the first place, he was just having fun and thought his contestants were too, what wrong was in having fun?

Airy stared ahead once again, the setting sun visible past some of the trees and bushes and other plant-life. It looked pretty. He then looked back at Stella, her hands weren't covering her face anymore, but her eyes were now closed. ...closed? Airy nudged her a little but no reaction came from the slender bottle. Probably asleep, he thought. He rested his hands ontop of his knees, still looking at her.

There was something about her that felt oddly familiar, but he couldn't exactly remember seeing her anywhere either.

He looked around the place, tense, he hoped that Stella had brought him to some place without any dangers or threats. Because as much as he thought this place looked pleasing to the eye, he couldn't really let his guard down. Or, maybe he could if the two were planning on going back and forth.

Besides, even if he wanted too getting some shut eye here didn't exactly feel right to him. In all honesty, he missed his own universe already, he had already grown accustomed to every little thing there and now he had to get used to every other universe to get back there? It didn't feel great.

But right now all he could really do was wait for Stella to wake up, she was the only one who knew this place to its fullest after all.

or at least that's what he assumed.

a sigh and Airy shifted himself into a slightly more comfortable sitting pose, his legs tucked under the metal base of his body as he tried his best to get some sleep too.

besides, it was going to be a busy adventure with the water bottle by his side.

Chapter Text

To describe the journey between the copper lantern and water bottle I'd have to say they've been... incoherently going back and forth the whole time.

It might not seem like such a big deal at first but finding a specific destination amongst millions of locations was, of course, not the easiest thing to do. if anything, it probably made it worse as the two had completely different locations they wanted to go, and both kept insisting that they search for the other's place first.

It was all just a complete mess that neither had planned far ahead for. So really it was just two idiots hoping to soon arrive at their own worlds with a supposed luck on their side.

Too bad that the universe wouldn't give them such a satisfaction. Or least... not yet.

So death after death after death and so on they— well, mostly Stella— have been chasing pointless hope.

It wasn't after what they had assumed was the gazzilionth time where they finally chose to stop their search for a while and rest their limbs until they've continued their search.

“ This is hopeless... “ Stella groaned, her leg bobbing up and down at the maybe-slightly-too-late realization.

Airy didn't really react to her statement, he was a little shaken up by the constant deaths he had to endure. I mean, he can't really be blamed for that, it was Stella's boost of determination that kept them continuing this death-speedrun. Airy barely had a say in telling her that maybe, just maybe they should take five and actually rest for once.

But well, at least they were taking that much-needed break now, right?

well, it didn't really feel much better.

While Airy was stuck in his little crisis whilst squeezing the armrest of the chair a little too harshly, his body trembling, Stella on the other hand was flipping through her notepad rambling on who-knows-what.

But I guess there's always going to be some bumps along the road on such a quest so why should I bother, besides no matter how much anyone would've critiqued this it didn't mean either— but once again, mostly Stella— would really call it quits now, would they? or mostly her but whatever.

“ Well we've already been to those places so there's really only a few more places left on here that contain forests with some.. odd cave– “

“ Uhm.. Water bottle?– “

“ But if it isn't any of these either than we might have to go back to flipping through random worlds via using the radio– “

“ Water bott– “

“ But I'm sure that one of these just has to hit the mark I mean, how many forests with some "odd caves" can there even be, right? “

“ Wa– “

“ But what if there are more than we can eve– “

“ Stella! “

Stella finally stopped her mind-numbing rambling, “ ..Huh? “

Airy sighed in relief, finally getting her attention, “ Water bott– er.. Stella, we've been... going from place to place for... a while. Can't we just maybe... sit here..? In silence maybe..? dying over and over again isn't exactly a feeling I'm used to and... I don't know if I can go again right now... “

“ Oh... I'm.. I'm sorry. “ Stella sighed, her voice now softer than a short while ago when she was rambling. “ It's just... I want to get out of here. I want you to get out of here aswell... This whole place is just... messing with my head right now... “ Stella looked down at her hands, “ I want us to leave this place for good, y'know..? “

Stella might not be able to see it but Airy nods at her sentence.

“ ..Yeah... “ he muttered, “ The.. place where I came from... it was.. pretty great. And it took me a while to get there so... that's why I wanted to go back there.. I'd rather go there than.. try and find a different place to stay in. “

Stella sighed, “ I understand. I mean.. you've been there for a while, right? “ She turned to face him. “ ...If you don't mind me asking.. were you from that world or.. from earth..? “

“ From earth... but.. I prefer that place over earth... I mean.. it's been at least over a decade... I doubt there'd be a place for me on earth... “ he shrugged.

“ ... Would you.. mind telling me more about that place? “ Stella asked out of curiosity.

“ ..Well.. I told you there was this cave there, right?... “ He stopped for a second, continuing when he saw her nod, “ Yeah, well... there's also a computer there... it.. allows me to make planets and stuff.. and after a while I found out I could... also teleport other objects onto the planets.. so.. I decided to try and.. host a gameshow. ”

“ So you were a host there? What did you host there? In the gameshow, I mean- ”

“ ..Well.. in the first season I.. wasn't able to do much because.. the planet broke during one of the challenges.. after the first elimination... so I decided to do a second season and... it was going pretty well until... I.. died and stuff. ”

“ Is that also why you want to go back? ”

“ ...Yeah.. ” Airy replied,

The two were both dead-silent for a few seconds before Airy decided to ask, “ Wh..What about you? You said you wanted to... go back to earth, right? ”

“ Yeah, but... ” Stella sighed, crossing her arms, “ Now.. I don't know.. I've been gone for so long and.. Theres probably nothing left out there for me! I'd be dead to the world anyways.. some walking corpse... So.. I don't actually have a single clue where I can go... ”

“ Well... maybe if we go back to my world.. you could be my co-host and.. we could host together. ”

Stella turned to face him, a small smile visible on her face, “ Thank you for the offer... I'll.. think about it. ”

“ Hey.. ” Stella began, “ If.. you don't mind me asking.. how.. did you even get here? ”

“ What? ”

“ How you died. I'm asking you how you died. Not.. in your world but... before. ” Stella immediately responded.

“ ..Well.. I remember it was at least.. a decade ago but.. uhh.. ” He paused, thinking, “ It was.. probably cause of some... car crash I think... uh.. You? ”

“ Oh... same reason. Car accident.. ”

“ ...Sorry. ” Airy blurted out.

“ Why are you sorry all the time? You didn't do anything wrong. ” She raised an eyebrow at him.

All Airy did was shrug, but Stella just took it as her best answer and chose not to bug him any further. Besides, what other response could she get out of this guy? He barely seemed like the talkative kind and she's surprised on how she'd been able to talk to him like this in the first place.

I guess the unexpected is the one that's most likely to happen. Or.. however that one would be worded...

But other than that, maybe the lantern and Water bottle's journey would go better than either of them woukd have expected.

...

Well... only maybe.

Chapter Text

Another death,

At this point it felt so repetitive, all of it. Although Stella knew she had been dying and entering this afterlife time and time again for what felt like maybe years, this time... felt sickening in a way.

Now having someone by her side again felt both welcoming and oddly discomforting. She would never say it out loud but Airy was... a wierd guy. The lantern behaved in a way that she had never really seen before, but on the other hand, it felt rather familiar. It was like she'd seen him somewhere before, its the main reason she'd already stuck so close to the unreadable lantern.

That, or she was growing desperate.

She never saw herself as clingy or dependent to anyone before, having this slight independence that kept her from gluing herself onto whoever she seemed to fancy most, but she'd been alone for so long. Too long for her to stay well after all of this. She hadn't come from the best household either, she didn't know how to act on her own thoughts and demands, but now that she had taken the lead she was growing really unsure.

She doesn't think Airy has any thoughts lying in his mind, but she still thinks he's growing bored of it too.

The dying.

She's tired aswell, but she can't bring herself to give up, she's been doing this for him. Why?

...

Why was she doing this?

Why couldn't she have just left him there? He seemed fine off alone. If anything she felt like a burden on his shoulders, like time was ticking and she was wasting it minute by minute with her stressed back-and-forth banter.

The two were trying to relocate eachother, one having died earlier than the other, but Stella couldn't bring herself to remember who accepted that death better than the other.

She then stopped, the weight of all of this hitting her like a truck almost, her knees were weak and her limbs were shaking, she could even tell.

She sighed, lowering herself to her knees, trying to regain her energy to even take one more step forward. Her body drooped forwards, her hands rubbing her now teary eyes. Oh, she hated this, she wished she could snap out of this emotional state but she did need this moment, at least a little. Her tears falling into the fluid ground caused a rather calming aura to wash over the bottle in distress, the colorful swirls twirling past her plastic body.

She let herself weep just a little, letting herself cry away whatever had been eating at her for the possible decades until her eyes felt sore and dry.

She wiped her eyes, wiping away her tears until they stopped pooling up in her eyes. She rubbed her eye one last time before looking down, seeing not a fluid-like ground, but a rough street below her.

“ Stella..? Are you okay..? ” She heard a distressed voice next to her.

Oh

Oh no...

Her body snapped towards the voice, causing the smaller bottle to stumble back a little.

“ I-Im sorry! You were just.. c-crying here.. I-I didn't want you to get hurt.. ” The young soda bottle said, fidgeting with his hands.

Stella had to rub her eyes again to pray she wasn't dreaming all of this.

“ Bryce... ” She breathed out, praying to her own conscience, Please. Don't do this to me, not right now.

The young bottle looked up at his older sister, a worried look still on his face.

Oh, what has plagued her mind this time.

If she'd still have it in her she'd bawl out loud at this point, but she was worn out. For the better, she thought. Her lips wobbled, and if her body allowed it she would be slouching. She sniffed, rubbing her sore eyes for what felt like the hundredth time, her eyes stinging.

“ Why are you crying? ” Her brother asked, “ Did something happen..? ”

She turned around, her hands numb. She clutched her chest as she felt her breath grow quick, her throat stinging with pain as it closed up. Oh please not right now, she begged, for the love of god not right now...

She felt her brother's eyes on her, they were practically glued onto her at this point. Those eyes, they don't understand a thing that's going on...

She grew tense as she felt a hand on her. However, nobody said a single word, almost as if the world was growing quieter around her, her shallow breath being the only thing her ears could properly pick up from all the ringing.

She felt a presence loom over her before kneeling beside her, removing her hands that were plastered over her eyes.

Her breath hitched, her eyes darting to her side. Everything was the same as before now...

No suburbs, no street, no family member, just that same, eerily comforting place.

And the presence next to her was the same lantern she'd been with, Airy.

“ I found you. ” He blankly stated, almost as if that silent gesture from earlier didn't happen. Not that it did couch anyway...

He lifted her up. “ Come on. The radio, right? ” He asked, surprisingly allowing Stella to loop her arm around him as he helped her hobble towards the table and armchairs.

“ I.. ” She sniffed, “ I need a minute. ” He said, her voice clearly strained. Airy hummed, helping her walk towards one of the armchairs as he stepped over to the second one, the two sitting on their respective sides.

Airy placed his hands to the knob on his front, “ Is there.. anything you want me to do? ” He asked, his gaze fixated forward, almost as if he's trying to see something that only she'd been seeing.

All he then heard was a quiet shuffle, and then a small thump. Turning his head to the table he saw her pushing the notepad towards him. Almost as if he'd read her mind he took the notepad, flipping through a few of the pages, noticing one of the notes had a circle around them.

“ The.. ” His eyes scanned the paper, “ The train station? Is that where you want to go? ”

She placed her backpack onto her lap, nodding.

And so Airy then stood up, having to awkwardly lean forward as to see the numbers on the radio properly

54187351589761614677674897343543853474322272019200192918.2

He rechecked the numbers over one or two times just to be sure before poking the side of her label to get her attention. He poked her at least three times before she really payed attention. Third time's the charm I suppose.. he thought before tugging at the antenna, sort of feeling Stella shuffle out of her seat to stand next to him, her backpack now slung over one of her shoulders.

The two shared a quick glance before readying themselves for a possible danger, if the number was wrong.

...

there was a quiet rustle of nearby plant life that had soothed their ears from the painful silence. Standing on old and rusty train tracks the two respectively relaxed their limbs in sweet relief. The pair then slowly made their way up onto the platform with a little bit of struggle.

But before they could really take in their surroundings

SCCCRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCHHHHH

The pair, although mostly Airy, flinched twisting on their heels to spot a rather broken down train infront of them, watching the doors creek open almost painfully slow, revealing a.. surprisingly much more cleaner inside compared to its exterior.

“ Uhm.. ” Stella muttered, tugging at the straps of her backpack, “ I-I guess we go in..? ”

The copper lantern nodded, stepping inside first and helping her up afterwards. Airy looked up, seeing a rather large hole in the roof of the train, some vines creeping through, it's leaves falling with grace. He caught one leaf, holding it in his hand before following Stella.

He held onto the bars with each step as the train started to drive along slowly, a leaf tightly held in his free hand.

The two then sat across eachother on one of the four-people seats.

He looked at Stella, watching her lean her head against the mildly cracked window, her bottle cap tapping against the glass with each rumble.

“ ...What happened? ”

“ Hm? ” The water bottle hummed, shifting her eyes to him, watching him hold the leaf in his hands rather happily.

“ On the Plane. ”

“ ..Plane..? ”

“ With the.. ” He paused, “ The seats, and.. the radio. ”

“ ...I don't want to talk about it. ”

“ ...You.. You know we're going back there again... right? ”

He watched the bottle's face turn a little sour.

The two shared a small silence, the quiet rumbling of the train filling the peaceful atmosphere.

“ We have to go back. After this... ”

...

“ I don't want too... ” She admitted, her voice cracking a little.

...

“ ...Do you know exposure therapy? ” Airy suddenly asked,

“ ...What? ”

“ ...When.. When I was alive I had.. a fear of small spaces.. ”

“ Claustrophobia? ”

“ Yeah.. ” He nodded, “ I was given exposure therapy for that... It's when.. you directly face your fears. ”

“ Doesn't that stress you out more? ”

“ Well.. yes, but.. ” He lightly tugged at the leaf, “ I was given moments where I.. take a break from it. Like right now with you. To overcome your fear you need to face it. And when you.. take breaks inbetween it can help you relax during all of it. ”

“ How'd it turn out for you..? ”

“ I'm still scared.. it won't always go away fully.. but I feel better than before.. ”

She nodded.

...

“ ...Please, ” He began, “ tell me, what did you see..? I don't really like seeing you like that.. I want to help. ”

She leaned away from the window a little, her eyes widening. If anything such a statement from a guy like Airy himself surprised Stella. She stumbled over her words a little, even.

She looked away, unsure how to word anything proper for him

“ I just... ” her bopped her leg up and down, “ Saw someone.. who meant alot to me.. I-I haven't seen them since I've been stuck here and.. j-just seeing them there.. ” She sniffed, wiping her glossy eyes.

“ ...I'm.. ” Airy stopped talking. He then looked down to the leaf in his hands then back at the tearful bottle, handing her the leaf.

Stella looked a little confused at first, but still took the leaf nonetheless, holding it up by its stem.

“ Thank you. ”

“ ...Of course. ”

The two continued their silent ride along the blocky path, not really thinking of anywhere specific. If anything, the two seemed like they'd rather know a little more about eachother than where they'd want to do.

The past can be a story sweet to tell sometimes, no?