From Sweethearts to Soulmates [A Stanford Pines x Reader]

Chapter 15

When my eyes fluttered open once more, Ford wasn't there. Nothing was.

I was suspended in a giant glass box, secured to a metal track above me. I stood up, only able to walk a few steps before colliding with the thick wall. I stood in the nothingness for a minute, until a button appeared next to me, protruding from the wall of solid glass.

In my ignorance I pressed it, thinking it would move my containment unit, but instead I heard a yelp echo through my dreamscape. "Who's there?" I blurted; my first thought wasn't exactly an apology.

"Y/n?" They called back, and I finally recognised the voice.

"Ford, where are you?" I yelled. It was then that the ground below me opened, revealing an even darker pit, one I couldn't see the bottom of as I fell. I squeezed my eyes, shut, curling into a ball when the box jerked to a stop, knocking me over. I glanced up as the ground sealed over me again, I was left in complete darkness.

A single light flickered on, fading before the whole area was bathed in a harsh white, blinding me at first. Once my eyes stopped watering, I noticed Ford sitting in a box identical to mine. A button popped into existence in his box and, in his curiosity, he pressed it.

A sharp pain jolted through my neck, causing a rather loud yell to emit from my mouth as I lay on the floor. He looked in my direction once more, his eyes seemingly adjusting to the bright light. He looked panicked, pressing his hands to the glass.

Despite the distance and the walls of thick glass separating us from one another, I could still hear him perfectly, as if he were standing right next to me. "Y/n? Y/n! Can you hear me? Are you ok?" I spoke, my mouth parched and my voice cracking, 

"I can hear you, Ford and I'm ok. How are you doing? Do you know why we're here?" Ford opened his mouth to respond to my question but was interrupted by a now familiar voice.

"I think I have a clue!"

I sighed heavily, hiding away anything that Razzle Dazzle Dorito could've taken as fear. Despite not possessing a mouth, he seemed to grin devilishly down at us, far bigger than we were. Ford began thrashing at the glass as I shouted insults at the dream demon. "Let her go, Bill! I'm the one you want!" he yelled; fear laced through his brave tone.

Bill seemed to get sick of this rather quickly and our shock collars went off, zapping us. Ford cried out in pain as I climbed up from the floor, walking to the wall closest to his box, holding my throat. If he upped the voltage enough these things could kill us. Something tells me, if we stepped out of line, he was gonna up that voltage as much as he needed to. I looked up at Bill, willing my hands to stop shaking and gathering the anger in my soul as I spoke up. "What do you want from us, Bill?" He merely looked in my direction before he floated over to Ford.

"Listen up, Fordsie. You give me what I want, and I won't hurt your little lady friend. You don't and..." My collar went off, the shock bringing me to my knees, my hands desperately trying to claw off the collar. Ford looked panicked before I stood up, breathing heavily as I brushed myself off.

"I'm fine, Ford. You're not gonna kill me that easily." Any hair that'd been tucked in the collar was now singed away. Bill hummed.

"You sure are resilient, aren't ya? Well let's see how you fare with 500 volts in your system!" I prepared myself for the worst.

"No!" Ford yelled desperately as I took 500 volts of electricity, knees giving out, a gut-wrenching scream prying itself from my throat. Ford was almost in tears at this point as I coughed up blood, massaging my neck to try and numb the pain as I sat in the corner of the glass box.

"Please stop." I half-begged. Ford was banging on the glass again, desperately trying to get over to me, as his collar gave him a nasty shock. He didn't stop fighting as Bill slowly increased his volts. All I could do was cry. I sobbed, crawling toward Ford's side. "Ford, stop! He's gonna hurt you! I can't lose you again!" I could see the pain in his eyes as he stopped struggling and sat, cross-legged facing me. I did the same, placing my head on the glass and letting a shaky sigh pass my blood-coated lips.

"Boring! NEXT!" Bill yelled, opening the bottom of both our containment boxes, dropping us into the dark abyss.

My eyes flicked open to see Ford's already in the same state as mine, confused and scared. He looked over to me and flung his arms around me, shaking violently against my shoulder. After a few moments, he pulled away to look me in the eyes, tears still glistening in his. "Bill... he was... hurting you, Y/n. He was shocking you. I did my best to get to you, b-but..." His lip wobbled.

"I told you to stop struggling." I finished for him.

"Oh god, that was actually you wasn't it?" I put a hand on the side of his face as he placed his own hand on mine.

"I'm fine, Fordsie. Wounds don't generally transfer over to the real world, remember? My neck's just a little tingly, not to mention itchy." He calmed himself down, nodding.

"Your throat is red, and it looks inflamed. Come with me"

We got up from the bed, walking to bathroom hand in hand, clutching onto each other like the other would disappear if we let go. I sat on the sink as Ford fetched some anti-inflammatory cream, letting him gently slather it over my throat, cooling my wound off instantly. Once I had checked him over and found no damage, he insisted we go get some fresh air.

Sitting on the porch, leaning into one another at roughly 3 in the morning, we talked for hours. We both knew there was no way in hell we were going back to sleep after that fiasco, so we relied on the bitter wind of the surprisingly chilly morning to keep us alert.

I could've listened to his stories for hours. He entertained me with tales of his adventures through the multiverse, all the while reminding me that there wasn't a moment where he didn't miss me for all those long years.

I told him what had gone on in the years he wasn't here, what had happened over the Summer, how much I adored the kids and how much I missed him.

God, had I missed him.