(IMPORTANT UPDATE) vanished (airy x reader)

10

Several months passed, and Airy's condition finally began to improve with your help. You kept a close eye on him when he was outside the shed in case he went into another strange fugue, but it thankfully didn't happen again. Things were finally going well.

Too well, you thought. Things were just too weird here for everything to just return to normal like that.

You pondered this from the fire pit as you watched Airy absently. He was at the shore of the pond, watching the waterfall and tracing shapes in the sand. He must've missed the water, you thought. It was sort of endearing.

You couldn't help but worry despite that. The crack would never heal. Airy was missing an eye. Navigation was hard enough. The first few weeks he was walking around, the lantern would constantly run into stuff or misjudge the distance of things. You were grateful he didn't end up hurting himself again because of it, but there had been some close calls.

All's well that ends well, though. At least that's what you should be thinking. But you couldn't stop the itching feeling that something was very off.

Your mind found itself wandering back to the strange cave Airy spent so much of his time in. You didn't want to go in there without his permission. But you couldn't help but feel like he was hiding something, whether intentionally or not.

That night, while Airy slept in the shed, you stayed outside, watching the stars. You were lost in thought. Thinking about your life and what little you remembered about it. Thinking about your predicament. Thinking about Airy.

Your thoughts wandered back to the cave.

You gave a heavy sigh and shook your head, rubbing your eyes to try and dismiss the thoughts. It was bad enough that Airy was injured. Invading his privacy like that would make you a bad person. Wouldn't it?

But...did you not have a right to know?

You stole a glance at the cave. You stood up.

Would you be a bad person for doing this? Would Airy be upset? Somehow, you doubted it.

You hadn't noticed you had been walking until you were suddenly in front of the cave, staring up at the vines obscuring the entrance. You hesitated as you started to push them apart. Something about this felt all wrong, like you were doing some sort of irreversibly horrible thing.

You could turn back at any time, you reminded yourself. At any moment you could decide this wasn't worth it.

Or, Airy could catch you.

Either way, you had an out, so it was no big deal.

Steeling your nerves, you gently pulled apart the vines.

The cave was the same as it always was. The computer, the strange planets. The only difference being that the monitor was on, illuminating the cave in a cold glow.

You squinted at the monitor. The screen displayed some sort of block of code, in a programming language you didn't understand. Not that you were particularly well-versed in coding to begin with.

But Airy must be, you thought, if he has all of this stuff on his computer. You wondered how much of it he was responsible for.

You decided to leave the computer alone for now, turning your attention instead to the large planet next to it. You had noticed it when you first walked in, but had never given it much thought. Airy must've made it, he mentioned that being a possibility...

You decided to file that information away. You could worry about it later. Until then, you wanted to see what was up with the planet. It seemed to be covered in strange, synthetic grass, and gave off a strange almost magical glow. Leaning down, you noticed a long cord running from the bottom of the planet to the computer. Could it be related to the code? you had no real way of knowing.

You leaned back up to inspect the planet's surface again.

You froze as you noticed the tiny figures moving around on it.

Were those...people?

Your eyes widened and you back up, startled. You hadn't noticed it before, but there were people living there. Other object folk, just like you. Small, but just like you. How did they get here?

Airy.

Your gaze darted to the side. Confusion filled your mind. Had Airy done this? Had he created them, like video game characters? Or were they real people, trapped here against your will? A chill ran down your spine.

You decided to try talking to them. "H...Hello? Can you hear me?" You winced as your voice echoed around the cavern. The object folk on the planet didn't seem to hear you. You scanned the planet and noticed an array of wooden structures scattered across it. Had they built them? With what materials? There weren't any trees around.

The entire situation was filling you with a sense of apprehension. What was Airy hiding from you? He had seemed honest when he was talking to you about the planets, but he had never mentioned this. What else was he hiding? Could you even trust him?

You were so focused on the planet and your own thoughts that you didn't notice the vines part behind you.

"...Hello?"