Forward note that I do have demiboy headcanons for Guiding and Curious- yeah, I don't know what I'm on, either.

     A short headcanon-backstory here: Guiding has two little siblings that are twins- there's a boy and a girl, and I named them Brynn and Bryce (i better not summon the whole entire hfjone fandom with that name) because I liked the cartoony feel that the names gave off, so that's nice! They're about 5 years younger than Guiding, but it's been at least 10 years since they last saw him and they thought he was dead! Yay, trauma!

     Anyways, Guiding used to be called Genesis before he almost died and turned into a light. Pretend that makes sense. (Human Curious was almost named Caesar- caesar salad, i was hungry, don't judge my appetite- but i thankfully didn't do that. But then I named him Cole, which isn't much better. At all. But I'm too lazy to change it, and thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.)

     Now that the informalities are over, enjoy! Hopefully.

~

     A ding could be heard from the elevator as Guiding got up from his seat, tracing a sparkling line of glowing light around him as he made his way to the lobby.

     "Hey, Curious?" he called, seeing a dim yellow glow around the corner. "Mind telling all the entities to get back to work, in case they didn't hear the elevator?"

     "Sure," Curious replied. "D'you want me to get Void on it as well, or do you trust the entities enough?"

     "I think you'll just need to get Screech," Guiding said. "The rest of us are usually- ah, quiet enough."

     Curious managed a half smile. "Alright."

     "And remember to stop being so pessimistic!" Guiding exclaimed as Curious made his way to find Screech.

     Guiding stretched himself out as he found the players, cooped up together at Door 003. They looked like siblings- twins, even, both with mousy brown hair and a miniscule amount of freckles scattered around. The two didn't notice Guiding until he lit up the door for them, putting his hands in his pockets and grinning a little.

     And... why did they look so... familiar? Nostalgic, even- but Guiding mentally shook the thought out of his brain, inclining his head over to the door with a slightly quizzical look on his face.

     But the twins didn't move.

     Guiding was tempted to open the door and shove the two through it by himself, but unfortunately he wasn't allowed to do that. Could he technically change the rules? Yes, but then what would the rules be there for?

     He could almost hear Rush's voice yelling "rules are to be broken!"

     Guiding gestured at the door again, now making it glow a brighter teal color as he looked from the door to the players to the door again, trying to make it as clear as possible that the door was meant to be opened. But the twins just stood there, until one of them took a step towards Guiding with a melancholy look in her eyes.

     "...Genesis?" her voice was painfully familiar- both that and whoever "Genesis" was seemed to strike a hard bell in Guiding's head.

     But he couldn't think of anything that had to do with these players or the mystery "Genesis", so he just crossed his arms and said "are you going to do a run through this Hotel or not?"

     "Genesis... I thought you died," the girl seemed to be pleading for something, but Guiding couldn't put his finger on it.

     "Okay, listen- I don't know who Genesis is but can you save it for later? We're not even at Door 010 yet, you've already taken up at least five minutes... and I still don't have a working watch. Hey, remind me to ask if Curious can make another one of his special batteries, I might need one- what are you staring at?" Guiding was really getting annoyed with these two players- didn't they know how doors worked?

     "C'mon, Brynn, let's go," the other twin muttered roughly. "He clearly can't remember anything."

     Guiding was still confused to who "Genesis" was, but was glad to see the two players finally going through the levels. They seemed slightly disheartened, though, but Guiding was willing to bet half his knobs that he could fix that one way or another if he tried.

     Going through the first 15 doors was an easy task- they didn't meet anyone or anything. Rush hadn't barged through, Eyes didn't appear, and the two players found plenty of the coin stacks Guiding had put around. Everything had been going on nicely, but then the lights started flickering- fast.

     "Get in a closet, both of you," Guiding instructed. The two players seemed alarmed, looking around, but they still followed Guiding's instructions anyways. Soon after, Rush came through- Guiding waved a hello and Rush yelled "hi!" back. The lights had all been shattered- but thankfully, the next room was left intact.

     The two players made their way out of the closets, looking a little shaken, and Guiding offered them a friendly smile as they made their way to Door 017.

     Throughout the entire ordeal of Door 018 to Door 031, the twins didn't seem to have too much trouble. They ran into Eyes but managed to look down in time, solved the painting puzzle and got to a closet when Rush came again, and went through the right door when one of Dupe's rooms appeared- even if they just got lucky that time.

     For the entire time, they were whispering about whoever "Genesis" was, casting Guiding weird glances and making him feel a little left out. Guiding was a little irritated by the time they got to Door 032- but as they came through a long hallway, a slow rumble started from the ground behind them.

     "Alright," Guiding said, a little bored with the routine. "Get ready to run, because unlike other stereotypical horror games, you can indeed run."

     "Genesis, what the-" What looked like the other one of the twins started a sentence before covering his mouth, left in shock at Seek's figure.

     "I'll ask you about the mysterious 'Genesis' later- for now, I think it would be a good idea to get the hell out of here," Guiding ushered- and before anything else could happen, the three of them were speeding down the hallway. Guiding seemed to be the only one actually enjoying the suspense, though.

     Doing a triple axis in the air like a figure skater, the bright blue light started yelling out instructions out of instinct. "Alright- crouch there, there, and there- now take a left, take a right... past the pillar- there we go!"

     The twins seemed out of breath by the time they got to the second hallway- but they couldn't stop there. "Watch out for the hands, watch out for the hands! Oh, and the arson. That might have been my idea, sorry."

     And through many twists and turns, Guiding finally got both players out alive and in one piece. They were sitting on the floor, barely able to breathe- but the moment they recovered Guiding had floated down to their eye level.

     "Okay- I've been meaning to ask this for a while now. Who's Genesis?"

     One of the twins coughed, seemingly choking on her own spit. "I'm sorry- what?"

     Guiding put his hands behind his back, straightening up a little as the twins managed to stand up. "Hey, not my fault! You guys are always talking about Genesis this and Genesis that and I wanted to know, okay? Listen- don't tell me if you don't-"

     "You seriously don't remember? You're Genesis!"

     Honestly, Guiding could feel a mic drop right there. "What?!? No, that can't be right, I'm Guiding Light, not whoever Genesis is! Are you absolutely sure-"

     "Can you remember what happened before you were Guiding Light?" the girl seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Try to remember- even just a small spark of something... please?"

     Guiding wasn't sure of what to do. "Listen- I know I was a player like you guys before, but... everything is a huge mess in my head, alright? It's all scrambled up, I can barely remember if I even had parents or not, let alone my own name. For all I know, I've been here for the entirety of my waking life-"

     "That can't be right," the twin said. "I had an brother named Genesis who looked exactly like you, and he died here- maybe you're just his ghost..."

     "Brynn, don't push it," the other twin said. "If he doesn't remember, he doesn't remember, at least he's as close to alive as we can find it...

     "He's right here! I can't just let go now, we haven't seen him for ten years..." Brynn, as Guiding assumed she was called, seemed to be using every cell of her body to keep herself from crying. "If we just-"

     Guiding was a little freaked out now. What did they know about him that he didn't? He actually couldn't remember the past 18 years of his life before he was a light in the hotel- did they know about it? But then again, did Guiding really want to find out?

     He settled as "no" for an answer, trying to swallow the panic attack he could feel coming up from his stomach. 

     "A-alright, sorry about that, I just wanted to know-" but he was cut off by Brynn, yelling for all she was worth.

     "Genesis- please! Just try to remember something..."

     "I don't know who Genesis is!"

     There were bells ringing in his head, memories trying to push themselves out of the trench they were stuck in- but no matter how hard Guiding tried he just couldn't think of anything. His breathing was rapidly getting faster, his heartbeat was increasing, he couldn't do anything now-

     Guiding took a step back, tripping on a pencil and blinding him for a second- but that was all it took to send him into a state of panic he'd never realized was possible.

     "I-" Brynn took a step forward, reaching out a hand, but Guiding backed away, vocal cords unable to make any noise as he pressed his hands over his mouth. Eyes wide open, he was trying to figure out what was happening to him- panic attacks did happen on the regular, but none of them got this bad.

     He felt like he was going to hyperventilate to death. His head felt strangely light, and there seemed to be a dark filter encasing his vision.

    The lights flickered again, and the twins both ran to a closet to hide in. Not a moment after, Rush came through- he passed right by Guiding, who was even more alarmed at everything now- but soon sped back, looking over at the distressed blue light with a surprised look on their face.

     "Guiding! Guiding- what happened?"

     The only response Guiding could manage was a small shaking of his head. Rush's usually bold, chaotic energy faltered a little, and he got up to his usual floating level.

     "...I'll get Curious," he said before disappearing into the next room.

     Brynn forced her way out of the closet, jumping down and running over to Guiding. She knelt down, laying a gentle hand on Guiding's shoulder, but the light pulled his knees in, flinching at the unfamiliar yet painfully nostalgic touch.

     "Genesis-"

     "NO!"

     Guiding seemed to finally have regained his ability to talk. Scooting away from Brynn, he had a scared look on his face as his breathing got uncontrollable. "I don't know who Genesis is! It's right there in my memory but I can't put my finger on it and- and-"

     "I'm sorry," Brynn said abruptly. "I... I got a little desperate, I'm sorry... hey, Bryce?"

     "Yeah?" Guiding finally learned the other twin's name- Bryce. "Should we keep going?"

     "Let's go," Brynn muttered, and the two of them left the room into Door 036.

     Now, Guiding was left alone in the room, curled up in a corner and fighting every inch of his body not to break down into tears. Everything had happened so fast today- what was going on?

     A door creaked open, and a pale yellow light slowly encased the room. Guiding perked his head up a little, catching sight of Curious- he managed a half grimacing smile, sitting up a little bit.

     "Guiding?" Curious walked over, kneeling down to meet Guiding in the eye. "What happened?"

     "Y- you missed the worst of it," Guiding managed to say, still shaking heavily. "And- give me- give me a second..."

     "Stop forcing yourself to cry later when you have the time, Guiding," Curious said with a sigh. "You've given most everyone here therapy and you're the one who needs it the most."

     "I-" Guiding was about to argue, but Curious gripped his shoulders, looking at him in the eye.

     "Just- tell someone about it, okay? Maybe not now, but..."

     "Alright," Guiding agreed with a smile. "I'm going to catch up with the players now, though. See you later?"

     "Okay," Curious murmured.

     Guiding got up, stretching himself out before he went through the open doors to Door 047. The players seemed to have gotten through most everything with ease, and after some help from Guiding's lights they got to Door 050.

     "Alright- there's an entity in that library called Figure," Guiding filled them in. "They can't see, but their other senses are far superior than ours. There's a code paper on the reception desk that you'll need to get, and the books have the code. Be careful, good luck!"

     "Thanks," Brynn said before rushing into door 50, pulling Bryce along. The two started immediately exploring the Library- they were halfway through to the reception desk when an outrageous roar sounded out from Figure.

     They paused in their tracks, Brynn whipping around into a defensive stance while Bryce slowly walked behind his twin sister. Figure, sensing heartbeats, started to slowly advance towards the two players.

     Guiding knew he was supposed to knock over the lamp. He knew he could just float up to the ceiling, sit on a bookshelf, and cheer the players on- he was supposed to do that, after all. That was what the rules were.

     But there was a flash of pale beige walls, an old, dark cerulean couch, shards of glass on the artificial wooden boards splattered with droplets of blood. He could hear a distant screaming- not from him, but from someone else that seemed so agonizingly familiar. He could taste fear in his mouth, feel his heart pounding out of his chest-

     Rules were made to be broken.

     As if on instinct, Guiding flew at speeds he didn't know he could even imagine- landing in a defensive stance in front of the twins, heels digging into the carpet, dust rising from the trail he left.

     Figure's first blow was blocked by his own flesh and blood, leaving him gritting his teeth and keeping his screams contained for all he was worth. Searing pain took over as he gripped his arm, and all of his instincts were telling him to run.

     But whoever these people were- a strong nagging thought in the back of his head told him to protect the twins for all he was worth.

     Figure, unable to see who they were attacking, shook the blood away from their claws and hauled Guiding into the air before throwing him back down onto the floor.

     The scene kept flickering between the house with the pale beige walls and dark cerulean sofa and the Library, and Guiding couldn't tell where he was anymore- but he had to get the players out of wherever he was.

     "Go!" he yelled. "Get the code- I can calm Figure down-"

     He could hear a small crack as he was thrown like a ragdoll back onto the floor, and a paralyzing agony prickled through his chest.

     "Figure!" Guiding coughed, rolling to the right as Figure dug his claws into the floor where Guiding was before. "Figure- It's me- Guiding-" he spat blood- "Figure, no!"

     Figure paused, slowing down his attacks to a stop. "Wh- Guiding? What are you- you're supposed to knock over the lamp! I thought you just forgot- I-"

     "That's me," Guiding managed weakly. "I- where am I again?"

     "What?!" Figure burst out suddenly. "Seriously?"

     "I can't tell whether I'm back at home or in the Library..." there were small sparks of memories rushing back to Guiding, most of them being what seemed to be his dad with a broken glass bottle, smashing the side of someone's head.

     "Guiding, what are you talking about?" Figure seemed genuinely alarmed, quickly kneeling over to where Guiding was and propping him up against the bookshelf. "We- we're in the library, Guiding. I- Door 050, remember?"

     Guiding seemed to be going delusional, muttering random things as the small influx of memories ceased to a stop. "But... the twins... and Dad's..."

     "GUIDING! Snap out of it!" Figure took the blue light's shoulders and shaking them, even though the only thing Guiding was able to muster was a small groan in pain as he closed his eyes.

     "I'll survive..." Guiding grumbled. "I- it's alright, Figure, just go get Void..."

     Everything from the sudden rush of memories to the searing pain going through his body had been too much for him- and as Figure started yelling for Void, an inky shadow fell over Guiding's vision and he blacked out.

~

     guiding really said "today i want to suffer from my trauma that i've been ignoring for the past 10 years! omg, yay! 😊😊😊"