DSMP Backrooms AU

Chapter 17

Level 69: Hilbert's Motel

"Do I make myself clear?"

Karl felt fear ebb from Quackity, who hadn't responded to Sam's question. Sam pressed his trident deeper into new wounds on Quackity's throat. "Answer me! Do I make myself clear?" Sam's aggression seemed oddly placed to Karl. Quackity stammered out with another snide comment and Karl felt like it really wasn't the time for Q to be snarky. "Yes but you can't hide it forever, Sam! You need to confront it! I'm the only reason you-" Sam cut Quackity off by twisting the trident slightly, opening the wounds more.

Ant walked up and pushed Sam to the ground. "You aren't going to fucking kill him over something like this Sam!" Ant seethed, "Can't we have one, ONE, expedition where we aren't at each other's throats?"

Sam looked up at Ant with shock, which quickly turned into diminishing emotions as he closed himself off from the others. "Fine." He sighed and stood up. Karl still had so many questions boiling in his throat like water in a burning pot. Getting ever so closer to boiling over. The only thing Karl knew was that Sam had some clear trauma from Facelings.

Sam pulled himself up from the ground with a huff and began stalking off. "We should eat. Not that we really need to but..." Sam trailed off, looking away from Ant and Quackity. He clearly didn't care about food as he walked away, muttering to himself. Karl looked at Ant who now had to tend to Quackity's wounds. Ant was scrounging around in his bags for something before muttering, "Where is my Almond Water?".

Suddenly a man dressed in almost pure black walked over with a bottle in his hand. "What are you looking for?" he asked. "Almond Water. I can't find the bottle I packed." Ant groaned. "Here, have mine! I have a decent amount. I can survive without this bottle!" He chuckled, handing the bottle to Ant. Ant looked up gratefully. "Thanks! Do you want to tag along with us? You seem calmer than... him." Ant pointed to Schlatt who was chugging some liquid from a bottle marked with 'XXX'. Karl surmised that it was more than likely more alcohol, which was very likely.

The man seemed to think about it for a moment before shrugging. "Sure! My name is Illumina! Where are we headed after this?" He smiled from under his mask. Illumina held out his hand, shaking Ant's hand. "I'm Ant! We are probably going to be heading back to The Hub after this.". "Cool! I'll probably hang around for a few weeks then head out again. I'm trying to explore as much of this place as possible. I like to live at a quick pace here!

"Fair enough. You can stay as long as you want! Sam might complain but we just won't acknowledge his complaining!" Ant chuckled and Illumina shared his amusement. Karl held his hand out, smiling. "I'm Karl by the way!". Illumina took Karl's hand. Callahan began typing away.

"I'm Callahan. I can't speak."

Illumina chuckled softly, "Hi Callahan.". Sapnap raised his hand enthusiastically, introducing himself too. Foolish seemed lost in their own world. "How about you? Who are you?" Illumina turned his attention to Foolish. Foolish turned their head to look at Illumina. "I'm Foolish, it's my preferred name. It came from a nickname that some friends of mine in the Frontrooms gave me." They hummed softly, going back to what they were doing, which was just them running their hand on the walls. Illumina nodded, smiling warmly. Illumina seemed to enjoy being surrounded by this group. Quackity remained silent, still feeling a bit bugged after the whole ordeal with Sam.

Karl had to admit that it made sense. To what Karl knows, Quackity just made a snide comment, nothing new, and Sam snapped at him. Karl has no idea why but Quackity seemed to have poked a nerve in Sam and Ant seems to have some knowledge. After a while, the group dispersed, going off to their own devices. Karl walked over to Ant and quietly spoke. "Hey Ant, I have a question."

"Sure what is it?" Ant turned away from his duffle bag, which he was sorting, still confused on where his Almond Water went. "Do you have any idea why Sam snapped at Quackity like that?" Karl watched as Ant sighed and signalled for Karl to sit down, to which the brunet sat down next to the cat hoodie wearing man. Ant pushed his glasses up with a sigh.

"Well... It happened a few months before you joined the group. Me, Sam, and Quackity were in this one level, and to this day I don't remember what level it was. I had stepped away to find something I had seen. Sam had decided to go off on his own and got ambushed by some... very aggressive Facelings. I don't know what kind specifically but it's clearly stuck with him. It seemed to have traumatized him. If it wasn't for Quackity, Sam wouldn't be alive right now. I was barely able to fix him up." Ant shivered, it seemed to have bothered him too. Ant looked at the door to the motel room cautiously before continuing.

"Sam doesn't like when people bring it up. He, as you saw, got enraged by even the vaguest of mentions to it. In my opinion, Quackity was out of line for his comment. I think the 'not yet anyways' was what set Sam off more than the rest of the statement. Quackity knows better than to bring it up, especially like that." Ant hummed, turning back to what he was doing. "Don't let Sam find out I told you about it. He hasn't let anyone in the group know apart from those who were there. He has scars from the injuries they inflicted. Scars he covers with his gas mask.". After that Ant turned back to what he was doing entirely. Karl sat there, letting the information sink in.

Karl had subconsciously begun scratching his arms and it took him a while before he realized. Karl looked down at his arm which now had long red scratches on it from him. He groaned. "Ant... Do you have anything to help with this?" Karl held his arm up and Ant shook his head, frowning. "No sorry Karl.". Karl nodded solemnly in response. "Ok thank you Ant." He watched as Ant went back to sorting his things with an unreadable expression.