“And The World Began Anew” (Stanley and the Narrator Have Feelings Pt 4)
WARNING: Cheesy, A Little Hurt/Comfort, Swearing, Mention of death (reset related), SLOW BURN that pains even I, generally wack as hell and longer this time
Floor 4 was the final search that was taken half seriously. They checked the walls like for all the others, but skimmed the desks, checking under plants and doing bits such as “I bet there’s a hole underneath Narry, Adventure Line” and “I think it’s about time we check under Stanley”.
While their tomfoolery and company of each other were more than enough to make up for it, there wasn’t much to enjoy in terms of adventurous endeavors. That is, there wasn’t until Stanley’s hand phased through a window.
“Whoa, did you see that?” Stanley asked his companions. Both the yellow creature and the indigo robot nodded.
“Let me get a closer look.”
The narrator stuck his face near the window, finding a slight discoloration the size of Stanley’s torso. He took a sharpie and drew around it.
“There! We should be to fit one by one. I’ll go first since, you know, being omnipotent and all.”
With that, the narrator stuck his head in to start.
“Ooo, a balcony! Thank goodness I don’t have to worry about finding a new body.”
The narrator essentially dived through the window and Stanley and the Adventure line followed shortly. As they got up and brushed the dust off themselves, the three stared in awe. The horizon was mainly bright blue with not much else to see except mountains, hills, and trees for miles along with a lightly yellow sun. With medium-high ceilings in their building, they were at least 50 feet up and some birds could be seen in the distance. Stanley was overcome with emotion and teared up.
“I haven’t seen the sun in so long,” he choked, “I haven’t seen the sun or the sky or birds. And now we’re here and I get to see them again.”
Narry held him tight. “I’ve never seen it before,” he said softly, “It’s beautiful.“
Adventure line briefly nuzzled against both of them before attempting to stare over the ledge. They stretched their body downward until the tip of their nose touched the ground. The creature shot back up to the balcony and squeaked with urgency. The pair looked over and watched them touch the ground again. Stanley looked on in shock while the Narrator grinned widely.
“Adventure line, you’re brilliant!” he shouted with glee, looking over to his human companion, “Stanley, we can leave! We can all-“
And the world began anew.
===
Stanley abruptly gained consciousness in his office and grumbled.
“Do you remember?” he asked tiredly.
The narrator nodded with sigh before realizing Stanley couldn’t see him.
“Hmph, forgot I wasn’t in my body. Yes, I do remember you, your dog, and our adventures together. Including the finding of the balcony.” He clicked some buttons before saying, “And my tapes still work just in case.”
“Good. Let’s figure this out, shall we?”
“We shall, my fine fellow.”
After finding his body again, the narrator went with Stanley towards the window. In his eagerness to get the hell out of the drab office building, Stanley slipped through the hole first, only to end up right back into his personal office with a bodiless narrator.
“Goddamnit!” the pair shouted at the exact same time.
This happened twice more before they took the hint that Stanley should not go first. And then, much to the Narrator’s pleasure, they began to research.
When the Narrator finally went first, Stanley could follow before they had about a minute before the next reset. When the adventure line joined, they all had least three minutes UNLESS the creature touched the ground. Once they touched the ground, the game would give up until they came all the way back up.
It seemed simple enough: Stanley and Narrator just had to hitch a ride on Adventure Line as if they were a rope, right?
Wrong.
First, Stanley died because he was underneath the Narrator who slipped. Pardon my French, but gravity’s a little bitch, so when you fall around 30 feet up, it doesn’t end well. Secondly, when the Narrator was below Stanley, Stanley slipped and accidentally kick the narrator, who barely held onto the Adventure Line who was in the zone. Stanley remained clinging, but since the line wasn’t really paying attention, the narrator’s body was crushed, and the game suddenly decided that it was a bad idea to have an unconfined omnipotent being running around. Thirdly, once they successfully got to the ground, the adventure line could not leave the building due to their very long torso. Not wanting to leave them behind, the biped pair decided “Fuck it, we’re basically immortal” and so the narrator swiftly killed Stanley with a blast to reset the game.
After re-awaking for the tenth or so time, Stanley was nervous. The narrator had yet to forget, but the fear still in the back of his mind.
“Do you still remember?” he whispered, almost wishing he didn’t to avoid the possible disappointment.
“I think so? The dog, our past, my body…Yeah, it’s still all in order! My tapes sound a little funny though,” the Narrator replied calmly.
Stanley bit his nails, “We have to get it right this time. Just in case.”
“My dear, my tapes still work fine, and I still remember! We just have to-“
“No! …I’m sorry, but no. I can’t have us lose it all now. We need to plan the non-loop way. Please.”
The narrator looked upon the man softly and agreed solely for Stanley’s peace mind.
“Okay then. You get the paper and pens all set up and I’ll join you in your office once I have hands, alright?”
Stanley stiffly nodded and gathered the things as the narrator drifted away.
Narry came back to an open seat for him at the far right end Stanley’s desk (much to his displeasure; he was starting to…feel things toward Stanley again, but it seemed like a bad time to mention it). Stanley was honed in on his scrawling away, trying to think of all the logistics.
“I’m here, dear boy,” the Narrator said softly.
Wait, softly? That’s not what he intended.
The man of flesh shyly looked up from his work, rapidly tapping his pen on the table. How unlike him.
“May I see what you have so far, Stanley?”
Stanley simply nodded and passed the paper over before grabbing a new one. The narrator looked at the first sheet, impressed at the amount of content: A scissors plan assuming the line didn’t have nerves and stuff, an alternative plan to find the start of the line, various other back up ideas and safety measures like harnesses. Even so, he couldn’t help but be concerned at the jittery nature of the writing that he could see and hear.
“Hey, Stanley?”
Stanley kept writing. The narrator gently put a hand on his shoulder.
“Stanley, please stop writing for a moment.”
Even in facing toward the Narrator he loved so dear, that calmed him in times of stress, Stanley was tapping his pen again. The Narrator, gently, once again, took said pen and set it aside, pulling Stanley to be about a half a foot away, placing his hands on both of Stanley’s shoulders.
“Stanley. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be alright.”
His resolve did not break right away. It started as a small shake, then then man began to shake violently before slowly, hesitantly, holding onto the narrator for dear life.
“Narry, I’m scared,” he stuttered, “I don’t want to lose you again.”
The omnipotent being was at a loss. With equal hesitation, he returned the embrace, still gently, but tightly.
“You won’t. I’ll be sure of it.”
After a long pause, he laughed quietly, nervously before continuing, “I’ll remember so hard that…my tapes will start to swear.”
Stanley snorted at that. And then he giggled. And then he burst into loud laughter. The sound filled the Narrator with warmth.
“You and your stupid tapes!” the human said fondly, wiping away a few tears.
He nuzzled into Narry’s shoulder, and the Narrator was turning red. Not that he was displeased whatsoever, just an awkward doofus. Stanley quickly pulled away, and laughed sheepish this time.
“Anyways, any suggestions, Narrator?”
“Ew.”
“What?”
“Sorry, I’m just not used to hearing that, you use Narry all the time.”
“I thought you hated that?”
“Uh, no, but, um- You know what, Stanley, we can talk about this, um later- The- The plan, Stanley, I would only suggest that we check in with Adventure Line before we take any scissors out and-“
Stanley was trying so hard to keep a straight face and listen. And with a breath, he did, and the Narrator eventually composed himself.
Meanwhile, Adventure Line was pissed out of their mind since they had seen the whole thing. “These idiots!” they thought, approximately that is, “Got heads of rock, I swear. And they didn’t even talk to me first, so they’re getting what’s coming to them”.
For the Adventure Line had a plan.
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