Chapter Text
Turns out, coming back to life after ceasing to exist for almost two years is a very confusing experience. For one thing, a lot can change in that span.
Marker is green and Tree is purple now, for instance. There’s a new pope in the Vatican and some guy called “Charlie Kirk” got killed. More importantly, however, is that TPOT is now down to its final 10 contestants.
The last time Gaty was conscious, when One deleted her from the timeline, was new years day, 2025. The fact 2026 was over halfway done now made her head spin.
An important detail of getting erased is that you aren’t just in a void for that time. You, definitionally, aren’t anywhere, for that matter. And it’s not like you can get bored of that state of nothingness because you are nothingness. You can’t perceive time or think about your sorry state because you have no brain to think those thoughts or feel those emotions. The closest way to describe it is how you felt during those 13.8 years billions of years awaiting your birth. All that time gone unperceived feeling like no time at all.
So you can imagine Gaty’s confusion when one minute, she was arguing with that psychopathic One, pleading with her to fix the timeline, signing a deal, watching the world snap back to normal, and the next, being surrounded by what seemed like the entire TPOT cast in the hotel, although in reality, it was far fewer.
As Gaty later learned, after the contestants managed to talk One out of her revenge-driven rampage and helped her see the error of her ways, she agreed to send everyone back home and bring the erased contestants back.
Now, brought back into existence, they now stood looking at her like some sort of cryptid sighting. As if they worried that at any moment, she, Basketball, and Barf Bag might reveal themselves to be a hopeful mirage and fade away into mist, never to be seen again.
Most noticeably worried among the crowd was Two. They looked to be in the greatest disbelief. But Gaty, knowing Two from their many conversations could see that under all that was just a deep tang of … exhaustion. The kind of exhaustion no amount of sleep can fix.
Before she could discern properly her surroundings, Two ran at her, picking her up exclaiming “You’re back! You’re really back!” through tears and hugging her.
“Y-yeah…? Is everyone doing okay from that rift in the sky? And… why is Tree purple?”
Now, it wasn’t only Gaty, but everyone else who was confused. It was Pin who realized Gaty and the others were still mentally stuck where they were when they got erased, and much to their gratefulness, began explaining what’s been happening since their disappearance, or more specifically, the fact that they’ve disappeared at all.
Everyone seemed to agree that the three erased contestants needed some time to process everything and made a pact to give them their space for the rest of the day unless asked otherwise. Thus, Gaty went to her room for the night. As she opened the door, she was surprised to find everything in exactly as she left it, as if she was never gone. That was comforting, at least. One neat little semblance of consistency for this chaotic day.
She flopped backwards onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while, wondering what the carpenter had just happened. It just didn’t feel real. Maybe it wasn’t and she would awake any moment now from this weird, weird dream. She sat like this, steeped in catatonia for what felt like minutes, but as she noticed the sun beginning to dip below the horizon, she knew it had been more like hours and figured maybe it would just be best to sleep on it.
Just as she prepared to settle in for the night, however, there was a sudden knock at the door.
“Come in?” she asked, as if it were more a question than a permission.
Walking in was none other than Two.
“Oh hey, Two, what’s up?”
“Hello, glad to have you back. Have you been doing okay?”
She thought about it for a moment. Nothing was really… wrong. She wasn’t in any pain, she wasn’t in danger, and quite frankly she’s been in worse spots than this. She did feel uneasy and confused about many things but that wasn’t really a huge problem, was it?
She drew a sigh. “I’m alright, just a bit overwhelmed is all.”
“Overwhelmed?” they repeated.
“There’s just a lot that I missed and it’s all pretty jarring, I guess. It’s nothing, really.”
They looked skeptical. “I just want to make sure you’re alright. And safe. I’ve really missed you. I was a wreck, and I still can’t believe you’re actually… well… here! Promise me you’ll stay safe?”
Gaty smiled warmly. “Promise.”
“And promise you won’t leave me- I mean, leave again, right?”
“I promise, Two.”
The two of them hugged and shared a silence for a moment.
“We have… a lot to catch up on.” they murmured, still attached to her.
“Yeah, I guess we do.”
“It’s been just awful these past few … who knows how many months without you. It’s been so lonely, and I’ve missed our talks. No one understands me like you do, Gaty. No one… cares about me like you have. You’re one of the most important things in my life, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing will happen to you ever again. Nothing can take you from me. Not One, not death itself, not-”
They noticed her stiffen. “I-I’m alright for now.” she reassured them. “I think I just need some space right now.”
This interruption seemed to make them buffer a bit. “Oh…sorry,” they resigned, pulling back. “That was a bit much of me. I’ll… leave you be for now. Have a good night, Gaty.” With that, they stepped out and left.
That was… weird. She thought. She brushed it off. I guess I’d have strong emotions too if someone I was close with just disappeared suddenly for over a year. Now that One’s not a threat anymore, I’m sure things can finally go back to normal tomorrow.