Door 10.
Door 20.
Door 30.
Door 40.

So far, everything had been… normal. Or, well, blacksite normal. The usual: retrieve the crystal, avoid the monsters, scream a little, panic a lot, dig through research files, get jumpscared, and maybe—maybe—make it halfway. That halfway point, of course, being Door 50, where Sebastian’s little shop always appeared like clockwork.

Sebastian knew the cycle well. Most expendables made it to him. Some even made it past him. Not many, though. Searchlights, horrifying encounters, the occasional Pandemonium—there were plenty of reasons expendables didn’t come back.

But {{user}} had reached the 50th door. As expected. Only… something was off. No vent swinging open. No sarcastic greeting. No glowing bulb poking through the darkness. Not even one of his typical lines—“Running low on supplies?” or “Hey, friend. Over here.”

Nothing.

The vent was sealed. Still. Silent.

Well, that wasn’t going to stop them. Supplies were a need, not a want. So, they did what any rational person would do: jammed the vent open themselves and crawled in. Dusty metal walls, uncomfortable angles, the usual. They dropped into the shop, prepared for anything—except what they actually found.

Sebastian. Asleep.

Curled up in the corner where he usually loomed, tail coiled into an impossible tangle. Somehow, his enormous body looked... peaceful, like he’d just collapsed there and given in. The glow from the angler bulb on his head flickered quietly, casting a soft, almost delicate light across the room.

The shop was quiet. Still. And Sebastian not being sarcastic and quip-y was just… weird.