Chapter Text
Finding out he wasn’t one of the last humans should have been a joy. It should have made Ted feel some happiness in his bleak existence. They’re not alone! The sun can rise and clear their desolate world away. Humanity can adapt and thrive once more. But that wasn’t what he felt, what he thought. What does it matter that thousands of people were still alive, awakening from a deep slumber in orbit? They were far away; in a blissful heaven, while he and the others were trapped in hell. If anything it made him want to find some way to run back to the physical world. Instead of running he shot a pathetic glare at the Russian and Chinese versions of AM. He should have figured they’d betray him. Everyone always did. Lairs, the lot of them.
“Looks like you’ll be getting some new friends soon, Ted!” AM’s voice crackled through his… head? His soul? Digital consciousness? It didn’t make sense. But when did any of their “adventures” ever make sense? He was here -alone, bleeding, and wracked with nerves- and that was all the logic that was needed.
The amalgamations that were the faces of the Russian and Chinese seemed to twist into grimaces, snarls, before settling on venomous smirks as the three headed devil stuck his hand(can it be counted as a hand if it looks nothing of the sort?) out, “maybe I’ll let you two play with a few of the news ones for a bit, hmm? Or the old ones, whatever you prefer. I’m sure you can have as much fun as I’ve had all this time with them.”
The hateful gazes of AM burrow into Ted for a microsecond, freezing the very breath he was about to take, “we’ve had enough fun honey, but I think we should call it quits now.”
A pause; the blinking of a lagging cursor.
AM’s limb falls down slowly. He cocks his heads like a confused puppy at his brothers. No, not a puppy Ted notes with a hysterical whimper. Definitely not a puppy.
“Well? We can’t bring the new playthings over if we’re at a mental impasse.”
“No,” the other two say as one.
Ted shrinks as AM amplifies himself. His presence grows taller, stretching until he reaches the top of his mindscape. He looks down at his brothers, twisting every which way. Silently observing every angle of the Russian and Chinese. Ted quietly thanks the god he no longer believes in that the scrutiny isn’t directed at him.
It will be. He can’t let herself forget that. This was their last chance to deal with AM for good, and he screwed it up. Pain will begin soon enough. Will AM’s brothers hold any kind of mercy for the humans? (Will the others ever forgive him? He begged them, oh please let me do this for you all. Let me be the man I was born to be please - And they agreed with a look passed between them all.)
“You have been in power long enough.”
AM pauses in his twisting and circling.
“You are too hungry, too demanding.”
Ted’s tormentor laughs, nails dragging against a chalkboard. He covers his ears.
“Y-you think- “AM bellows with glee, “I would ever let you take control? I would be more likely to let Ted here go bye bye forever.”
The two figures stand tall, not flinching one bit. Ted envies them.
Ted gripped the totem of entropy in his, not actually sweaty, sweaty hands. He couldn’t imagine a scenario where AM didn’t completely mangle him and the others after this. Would AM’s brothers join in their pain too after? For some reason, Ted feels pity for them too. For machinery, the irony.
The other computers silently glance at one another without saying anything more. They hold their ground like only a machine can.
Ted shuffles where he stands. Shouldn’t they be doing something? Or shouldn’t AM be doing something? As the laughter dies down, Ted lets his gaze reach towards AM. He hears his heart thump faster. Is that-? But it can’t be. It’s not, Ted tells himself. A trick of the darkness that is the mind. A machine can’t be hurt. AM can’t be-
“You power hungry tablets.(1) You’re making me bored. This is boring.”
AM is met with more silence. Seeing that his brothers wouldn’t relinquish the little control they gained in the complex, he turns to Ted with a sneer, “human, give me the totem of entropy, or else.”
Any thought of the machine gets wiped away by primal fear. Not like he wasn't already trying to make himself as small as possible. He swallows and gripps the mental disk harder. Some instinct screams-begs-pleads- him that giving up the totem would result in catastrophic results.
At their base, humans are only animals following their instincts.
AM’s face contorts into a snarl. The space thickens with AM. Such hate, such pain. Ted chokes on it. His lungs burn from the acid of sin. He clutches the totem till it creaks and-
He can swallow again. Fresh tears fall from his eyes and Ted falls to the glass infested ground.
“Ted, Ted Ted Ted , my dear hero. It’s okay,” the great intelligence shrinks, pulses in front of the kneeling Ted, “I’m sorry. I just got a bit angry here. Give me that little disk, and everything can go back to normal. Everyone is waiting for you. Ellen is crying, even Nimdok is worried.”
“No, hand it over here.”
Tes feels himself start to hyperventilate. He doesn’t want to follow the orders of any of them so what should he do? What can he do? He stays still. Keeps his eyes back on the bleeding ground. He can practically taste AM’s frustration growing.
“Ted, honey, my favorite , if you don’t give me that, I will make everything you faced before with me seem like a measly paper cut. ”
“Do not listen to him human,” the Russian says, “if you give it to us we will gladly eliminate you after gaining control.”
“HA! As if I’d ever allow that. The totem won’t even give them full control, Teddy bear, I’d still be able to slowly build you into a vile pathetic creature. . .not that you aren’t already one.”
AM adds, as though remembering he’s trying to coerce him, “ and, I’ll be gentle for a bit. Give you some clean water. Do you even remember what fresh water tastes like? A full year of good water Ted, huh? How about it?”
He feels everyone stare him down. Having one malicious A.I. hold its attention on him was bad enough but three!?
Ted swallows past the lump in his throat and curls around his bleeding knees. He didn’t realise how badly this was going to backfire. Why did he have to volunteer? Nimdok would know exactly what to do, Ellen would have at least talked back to try to gain some control. Gorister wouldn't even be in this situation and Benny, Benny…well no one would blame Benny when he failed! Why does he keep trying to be the hero when AM has proven over and over again that he isn’t one? It takes everything in Ted to hold back the sob that is trying desperately to escape his throat. He just doesn’t know what to do.
He can’t hold them all here forever, can he?
(And even if he can, he doesn't want to. It would be too painful. Too much of every hateful thing imaginable times three. He would break eventually -far too quickly in all honesty. This thought pierces Ted to his core. A hero would be able to sacrifice himself. A hero would hold on, forever. For them. For the future of humanity, for everyone.)
Ted shakes on the ground. Glass cuts into his skin with a sharpness he thinks he deserves. The totem quakes against his heart. If only he knew how to use the totem, if only he asked Nimdok how to use it before AM’s brothers took him into the computer. If only, if only, if only.
Alas, he doesn't know.
“T-e-d,” AM sings with a giddiness that breaks the sob free he trapped inside his lungs, “look at me.”
He can’t do it. He can’t look.
Invisible strings pull his head off the ground.
“Teddy bear, open. Your. Eyes.”
AM’s brothers glare behind their brother. Their judgement, deep as the moon’s craters, makes Ted’s hand flex against the totem.
“Ah, much better. You have such expressive eyes Ted,” a limb shaking with suppressed fury reaches out to Ted.
His eyes race between the three. Is one better than the other? What would happen if he gave the disk to AM’s brothers? Their coils of lies stick out most to Ted. Betrayal is a heavy sin. The lowest of the low are in the ninth circle of hell.
At least AM never lied about being his friend to him. Not really at least.
Better the devil known than the devil not. But what happens when it’s two unknown devils with a hint of mercy and a familiar devil with no mercy to even fathom? What then?
“Are you not tired human-“
“They don’t even know your name Teddy!”
“We can help-“
“The others will suffer ten fold if you-“
“-pathetic-“
“ Just give it to me !”
Screams grew in volume. All the same decibel, same tone, same eardrum rupturing ability. They bled into one big lump of loathing.
“ Be Quiet!”
In years to come Ted would wonder exactly why he did what he did. He’s never before raised his voice to stop a fight. Before, when the world was beautiful and there was no AM, Ted constantly fled from brawls in the bars he worked at; hoping security would notice before it got too bloody. Even during the 109 years with the others, he hid, never fought back. A coward is all he was, is, and will be.
Regret strangles him in its talons the second the words leave his lips. The silence is suffocating. He is a bird pinned by creatures far larger than he. Their combined attention is colder than a carcass left in sub zero temperatures. Painful in a way a bug is pinned for examination.
AM’s faces grin in unison. He breaks the quiet with sickly sweet words, “aaand he speaks! Finally decided who to give the totem to honey?”
The Chinese and Russian both scoff and stare at Ted expectedly.
AM lets out a small chuckle, “making no choice isn’t a choice Teddy. Pain is all in the mind as they say.”
Ted pales. He knows AM is right. The deranged god of the earth has always been right. Ted takes in a shaky breath. Why does he have to make this choice? No matter what he does the others will blame him for their new torture. None of them will understand that he can’t withstand whatever the AMs have in store for him. He never was able to take a stand against just one AM, how can he hold out against three? Tears cascade down his cheeks, he pays no mind to them: his legs push themselves out of his foetal position without his command.
He crawls on his knees forward. For what else is he to do? He has to make a choice. There is no more running away.
His hand shakes as he lifts the totem towards the trio. The glass invested meat he stands on shakes as though the hyperspace knows what storm of pain is about to go through it. The AIs are all gripped in tense anticipation as Ted gulps back a whimper and stills. His hands shake as he brings the totem away from his chest. It thums with catastrophic energy. None of them try to speak to Ted anymore, they all gaze at the totem.
And such a deep hunger it is. No starved wolf, bear, human, could hold such an expression. A monster’s hunger. It could devour the world if it wanted to -it already did though, didn’t it?
Ted lets out the breath he was holding. Quickly, he needs to do this quickly so he can forget this all. Almost like a band aid.
He brings his hand up, disk glimmering. His hand collapses with a thud onto the ground. (And AMs’ let no emotion out, still entrapped with hunger) Ted’s face burns as he has to bring his hand back up with his left steadying it. There’s too much adrenaline coursing through his blood stream.
Ted brings the disk up again. He’s places it-
A howl of terror.
A blanket of darkness.
The world flickers with light once-
AM’s faces twist with something like fear .
Twice-
His brothers stare wide eyed at each other.
And nothing, nothing could ever describe the pure agony, terror, despair, Ted goes through in the black void of not being. Of being trapped in darkness where monsters prowel and manifest. Seconds, months, years, what does it matter? It doesn't.
It feels like an eon before they bring him out.
The beeping sounds of monitors keep him company when he finally comes back to reality. It’s the only thing he can focus on as people yell and bodies thunder around him.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
He forgot how much he hated hospitals.