Chapter Text
007n7's eyes fluttered open slowly, the morning light that illuminated slipped through the window curtain gaps hitting him right in the eyes, making him wince instinctively. He groaned softly as he rubbed his eyes, drowsiness slowly wearing off, it had been a long while since he'd slept this good.
"Uhm... Wha—…"
The realization suddenly hit him, the sun? There's no sun in the realm of Forsaken, unless— he shot up to his feet, the blankets that covered him under it's warmth just the night before fell right on the floor, his hand quickly swiping the curtains open as the light flashed in his eyes.
"Where… Where am I—" His voice caught on his breath, this isn't the killer's cabin, this isn't the forsaken limbo at all, and where is Spec- "Ah! You are awake." The familiar voice called out from the door, 007n7 flinched in surprise, his head slowly turning to see the higher entity, The Spectre, grinning widely at the man with a tray of food in hand.
"You must watch what happened the night before, I have taken a recording of it all just as promised." It chirped in delight, playing the tray by the side table with a gentle nudge, but confusion still stirred in 007n7's chest especially with this unfamiliar surrounding of such a profoundly serene warmth.
There was a sun for Telamon's sake!! He hadn't seen the sun in so long-! Not that he was ever a day person but nonetheless he still missed the warmth of suns graceful rays. He did not care if this wasn't even the real sun since it looked real enough.
"Where- where are we?" The ex hacker finally gathered the courage to blurt out the question, and without a beat of hesitance, the entity answered as it neatly picked up and folded the blanket from the floor. "A realm I created just for you, every time you find yourself in my domain of course." The entity seemed to smile enthusiastically, placing the folded blankets and covers tidily at the foot of the bed.
007n7 looked surprised, blinking absentmindedly as he processed the information that had been handed to him so casually he almost dismissed it. A realm just for him? That's…
He didn't know how to feel about that, whether he be grateful, touched, put off or any on the latter, but instead of those options he felt rather loved and cherished, which felt odd since he hadn't felt like this in so long—or at all— by anyone.
"Eat first, dear 7n7, you'll need it for your recovery." The entity suddenly took his hand with its own, pulling him gently towards the bed and making the single father sit down as the Spectre propped the bed-table up and placed the tray of food on it.
007n7 was taken aback by the higher entity's careful and affectionate gestures, but soon he slowly ate as he watched the entity with careful eyes; observing its every move with how it made everything in its perfect ideal positions, as it checked for dust on the wooden surfaces of each furniture with such strict precision you'd think it was trying to impress a guest.
007n7 ate quietly, the food was delicious, he forgot how such simple noodles could still be delicious when cooked with care. He slurped up all the food on the bowl with a smile, his hair still loose in his face, messy and haggard. Despite the dark color of his eye bags and his constantly tired expression, for once, he looked happy, enlightened and free of worries, his gentle blue eyes meeting Spectre's hollow black.
Its 'heart' skipped a beat as the ex hacker smiled at it, it could feel its thoughts rambling and running in such a panic of an unexplainable complex emotion that it could not comprehend correctly. Its face flushed a dark crimson, eyes darting away and breaking the eye contact, 007n7 found it cute and giggled softly.
"If you wish to go back to the killers cabin now, do tell me, and if you wish to watch the recording I am also willing to give you the time." It spoke softly as it brushed its cheeks with its own hands, 007n7 merely hummed in acknowledgement of their words.
"A copy would be nice… I'll… See it later." 007n7 explained under his breath, he needed time to take it in and brace himself for what has been told to the survivors. He would need time to process it too and time for himself and his future decisions after watching that video, but for now, he'll put it off as another task to do once he's alone.
"For now… Can you also make it day in the realm? I really want to have a picnic with the kids…" 007n7 requested with a gentle smile, and for a few moments it stared in silence, the quiet stretching long before finally 007n7 spoke to snap the entity out of its trance.
"Spectre-?"
The single father spoke in question, snapping the entity out of its absentminded trance. "Ah! Ah, yes yes, of course." The Spectre immediately answered, shaking its head and shifting its top hat upright as it came to its senses. "If you wish to go back to them now, you can go right ahead and slip into a comfortable slumber and once you wake up you'll be back in the cabin." The higher entity quickly explained before rushing out and closing the door behind it.
007n7 didn't understand why the entity was rushing out and why it seemed so frantic, no matter how much he tried to boggle in his mind of a reason as to why, he couldn't quite pick up the reason, in the end he eventually just sighed out in defeat. He should probably go back, after all, he can ask the Spectre later to give him the promised recording via the c00lgu1, so there was no rush at all for 007n7. He slips back into the covers, his hands pulling back the covers over himself, he misses his son, he needs to get back to his boy, his baby boy, his world. His eyes slowly fluttered closed and his consciousness drifting back into a deep slumber.
»»——⍟——««
Two Time felt stupid, why we're they doing this? For the first time they were doing something more than with an intent to please and honor the spawn, this time they were walking through the thick fog of the whispering forest with heavy and shaky steps, their bare feet treading through the fallen leaves of the thick trees that covered the fake moon's light that shone bright upon this wretched realm. Their eyes flickered and their body jumped to every little sound that rustled softly nearby, they were alone and this was perhaps the (second)worst idea they have ever done in their entire life(s).
And they they didn't back down, they kept walking forward, every step feeling heavier and heavier as the impending sight of their goal cleared slowly within their vision, a stray cabin in the middle of nowhere, battered and broken to an extent but the signs of attempts to fix the sanctuary was visible by the way the walls had patched up holes. Two Time stopped in their tracks, far from the vicinity but near enough that they could see a lot of the details clearly, their eyes landing on the barely neat but stable looking greenhouse that decorated the far side of the killer's supposed section.
They swallowed all the fear that wrenched at their heart and muttered soft prayers under their breath, hoping and praying to the spawn to grant them good fortune and luck on their journey to this path that Chance had walked upon for several if not a hundred times already just to see their secret lovers. But alas, luck never did find fondness of Two Time in any sort of way for as soon as they stepped into the vicinity of the killer's sanctuary, their feet caught on a trap that lifted their feet up and hoisted them upside down and hanging now from a large tree branch.
"FUCK."
They snapped, their voice echoing in the silent forest, surely, someone heard them say that, but they hoped no one had at all, they struggled as they tried to lift their body up to their feet in hopes of untying it or cutting it with their dagger. " Oh holy spawn, bless me with your blessings and strength for this devout follower of yours has been caught in a childish trap—" They muttered weakly, tears of frustration prickling at the edge of their eyes as they bit their lip and tried to hold back another curse that dared to slip out of their pallid lips.
But of course, Luck will never be on their side.
"SIR DOOMBRINGER!! SIR DOOM!!! LOOK!!! WE CAUGHT SOMEONE WITH OUR TRAP!!" A familiar cheery voice of a child echoed in their ears, startling them and making their eyes look forward at the pink and red children, "HAH. Two Time… Eugh…" Pr3tty stared at the cultist with disdain, pulling a folded pocket knife under the long sleeves of her gloves and pulling out the blade to cut the rope that held Two Time up in the air. Two Time fell to the coarse dirt below with a loud thud and a pained groaned as they hit their head, "Greetings Again… Pr3tty…" Two Time greeted with a near exhausted tone and a wonky smile that tried to look pleased but failed in all the wrong ways.
"Fix your hair, Twink." She sneered, sticking her tongue out at the cultist with very clear displeasure, but before Two Time could utter out another snide retort, a large gloved hand lifted them up and with that their focus was diverted to the large unfamiliar figure that they remembered was called… Doombringer.
Now, Two Time knows names, they're not entirely stupid and blind and insane and IDI- either way, they hear things, they observe everything! And they sure as hell know of Doombringer! After all, the admins would talk fondly of the man and this wouldn't be a limbo if the coincidences never aligned and Two Time could see it clearly now! The Admin's precious colleague was a killer! An unreleased one at that! Well isn't that just pleasant. The cultist's eye twitched at the thought, their mask slipping just ever so slightly as their mind ran wild with explanations and pieces finally fitting together like a puzzle and fixing it all up in their head but their exterior eerie and non blinking stare had made Doombringer feel a sense of… Anxiety.
"Does it blink." Doombringer blurted out in confusion, Two Time still staring at him with a wide eyed hollow expression full of nothing but insanity and absolutely manic thoughts of one who's lost a host of their sense of self and being a long long time ago. "Sometimes." Pr3tty replied with a not so impressed expression, rolling her eyes on the familiar sight of this hollow cultist just staring ahead, but they have other things to do like wait for 007n7 to wake up, and then again, the cultist might be there for 007n7 too and that means they care… Pr3tty supposes she can let that slip only for now, and maybe more in the future if her uncle was fond of Two Time in any sense of way, but if he shows even the slight motion of dislike or fear for the cultist she will gladly send them back to where they belong.
"Let's go back inside, Uncle might wake up soon." She waved her hand in dismissal, "YAY!!!" C00lkidd cheered, practically running back inside without waiting for the other two, "HEY! WAIT UP!" She called out, her elegant shoes making it a tad bit hard for her to run after c00lkidd in such coarse and somewhat damp dirt. Doombringer stayed quiet, he decided to ignore Two Time's staring for now and headed back inside the cabin with said cultist still in hand, holding them up by the scruff of their shirt and making sure they don't choke while he carried them like that.
This was going to be a long day, probably. He just hopes it's not as chaotic as the last week had been, or tragic.