Broken NPC
Oh look I'm posting something This is a fic related to the NPC!Wels AU that @justletmeplayminecraft created! It takes place before this fic here so make sure you read that one too!
Read it on AO3!
A broken NPC has no place in its original server. There only seem to be two options: be deleted, or escape.
"Alright WelsKnight_9357, you must be the infamous singing knight everyone's been talking about on the forums."
"I am?"
The coder in front of the NPC looked up from his panels, eyes wide in surprise as if he hadn't expected the NPC to respond.
"Uhm, yeah." He responded, shaking his head and looking back down at the panels. "Hm, yeah your entire code is jumbled. That's odd, did someone hack you? Why would they bother to hack one random NPC? And make them sing for that matter? How long have you even been like this?"
"I started singing before I was moved to this route." The NPC answered, earning another surprised look from the coder. "I estimate seven months."
"You're… aware of all this? Wait, you can understand passage of time? For that matter, how are you talking outside of your script? Actually, why is that surprising you're literally singing, which I did not program in."
"Is singing bad?"
"Uh, well, I mean, no not really."
"Then what is the problem?"
"The problem is that you're clearly busted beyond any sort of quick fix."
"I am?"
The coder sighed, hitting a button on his panels. The NPC felt something click in the back of its head and travel down to the soles of its feet. "Follow me."
The coder began walking away and the NPC followed after, free from its set path finding. It let its eyes wander across the greenery and the decorations of the area it had been set up at, having only the chance to look at it from a distance. It thought they looked a lot nicer up close. It caught the coder giving it confused and skeptical glances from his place ahead of it as it was led into a tree, the decorative coding facade falling away as the coder opened up a way into a large room with swirling blue and purple walls encased in a dark material.
"What are those?" It asked. It hasn’t seen anything like them in the world.
"Those are world and hub portals. Players can leave the server through them."
The NPC watched as the coder's words were demonstrated, various players standing in the transparent swirls and disappearing without a trace. "Are we going through one?"
"No, we have a maintenance room in this hub. That's why we're here."
"Maintenance?"
"Yeah, you need a hard reset. We can scrap all your old code and replace it. Add a firewall or something, too, to prevent this from happening again."
"Will I still be able to sing?"
The coder sighed, stopping and turning to look at the NPC with a tired expression. "No. You won't be able to sing anymore. Or do this." He gestured at it.
"Do what?"
"Ask all these questions."
A few beats passed, the NPC looking down at the ground as it thought about the coder's words. "I do not want to stop singing. I like singing."
The coder's eyes widened before hardening. "Let me ask you this. What are you?"
"I am the NPC WelsKnight_9357."
"Exactly. You're an NPC. You can't want anything. You can't like anything. You're not sentient. You're just complicated pieces of coding made to execute simple routines, repeat basic dialogue, and complete designed motor tasks to make actual players' experiences on the server more enjoyable."
The NPC's brows furrowed, thinking back to all the players that had gathered around it when it would sing its made up songs. How they would clap for it for some reason, and laugh at the rhymes it made, and return with another player in tow and gesture to it excitedly.
"I thought the players enjoyed my singing."
"That doesn't matter because it isn't a part of the design. It's not a part of your design."
"But you said I am supposed to make players' experiences more enjoyable."
"By doing as you're supposed to and nothing else." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "How else can I say this? You are not real. Nothing you do or say matters because you cannot, and should not be able to, make decisions for yourself. You should not be singing. You should not be interacting with players outside of your script. You should not be asking questions. You should not be aware you do anything at all."
"But… I am."
The coder turned around again, shoulders slumping forward in defeat. "Maybe I should just completely scrap you. Your design is out of date anyways; coding is several years old. And you're clearly broken. This isn't worth the headache."
The coder began walking but the NPC didn't follow. It stood there, processing the words the coder just mumbled. Scrap? As in delete? Was he going to delete it? Just because it wanted to sing?
You're an NPC. You can't want anything.
That can't be right. If it really were an NPC then it shouldn't feel this way. It shouldn't feel dread crawling up its spine at the idea of being deleted. It shouldn't feel sorrow at the idea of never singing again. If it were an NPC, it must be really broken if it was acting this way. Maybe it would be better if it were scrapped, if it were completely erased from existence before it could get more confused about who and what it was.
Movement caught its eye and it watched as a player walked into a blue portal, the swirls and particles enveloping them until they completely disappeared.
If it were an NPC… then it shouldn't want to run through that portal and get away as fast as possible.
Maybe it wasn't an NPC.
Maybe they weren’t an NPC.
They heard a call from behind them as they made a dash for the blue swirls, shutting their eyes tight as the feeling of the portal covered them. It tickled their nose and made their eyes itch, and slowly but surely they felt as their coding was sifted through and pulled through the portal.
Almost pulled through, anyways.
The NPC(?) screamed as it felt like their coding was being ripped in two. A searing feeling coursed through them that they had never felt before made them fall to their knees, gripping their arms as they stared at the ground unseeing.
Voices weren't registered around them, but they felt a hand land on their arm and slide up the armor, making contact with the portal.
And just like that, the pain numbed and the broken NPC was gone.