Chapter Text
Noob woke up to the sounds of people talking. Someone had turned the lights on in the cabin. There were many voices overlapping, but everything was muffled.
They didn’t want to wake up. They were so comfortable where they were, surrounded by soft fur. They cuddled closer to the other party, burying their face in the fluff. The other party purred, also content.
They heard faint chuckling. They dragged themselves out of sleep, yawning and stretching. They didn’t want to leave the welcoming comfort into the harsh waking world. However, it was probably morning and the others wanted them awake.
They finally begrudgingly opened their eyes. Almost every other survivor was surrounding the couch, speaking in hushed voices, glancing at them. What were they talking about?
They turned their head to the side and back to the comforting mass they had slept against.
Noob froze for a second. They had refused the possibility of this situation at first, but there could be no mistaking it now. They had been cuddling with Sixer.
The other survivors were never going to let them live this down. They clearly already saw the two, and they knew no amount of explaining would help now. The least they could do was try to spare their friend from this by keeping it asleep.
They quietly slipped off of the couch, trying their best not to wake Sixer, but the moment they left, their friend stirred.
It was clearly groggy at first, not aware of its surroundings, but when it opened its eyes, its face cycled through the same emotions Noob had felt when it discovered what had happened.
“Thanks, pal!” Chance was the first to speak up, patting Noobs back. “You’ve earned me a lot of money tonight!”
“H- What? Money?” Noob was confused, still a bit scatterbrained, having just woken up. What was Chance talking about?
Shedletsky sighed, a sound of regret. “We might have been placing bets on you two”, He admitted.
007n7 snorted a laugh from the corner. Even though he had mellowed out since his hacking days, a hint of snarkiness could still surface if he let his guard down.
Noob smiled. At least whatever happened last night was providing entertainment for the others. It was almost impossible to get a laugh out of 007n7.
~~~
Shortly after it figured out what had happened, Sixer got up from the couch an began to walk around camp. The medkit had done its job, and the monster was healed almost back to full strength.
It jumped into the lake, ambushing a fish and clamping its jaw around the slippery thing. It felt the fish’s spine snap in its mouth before surfacing.
It paddled back to shore, the trophy in its mouth. Pulling itself onto the dock, it shook itself off before chowing down.
It didn’t want to burden the survivors with asking for food, having seen the sad contents of their fridge. It could easily sustain itself from fish and the creatures in the woods, anyways. Perhaps it could catch a few more fish as a kind of thank-you to the other survivors for helping it despite what it had done.
As the last fish was flipped out of the water and added to the pile, Sixer crawled out of the water and looked around.
The camp looked deserted. There were no survivors chatting around the bonfire, no one entering or leaving the cabins.
It shook the water off its coat once again before walking around the camp, looking for the survivors. It couldn’t find anyone.
Was this the Spectre’s punishment for its escape? It would make sense, but then another idea popped into its brain.
In its memories of chasing around the survivors, it remembered multiple locations where it killed them. A half-buried battlefield, a derelict pizza place, but no camp full of cabins.
Now that it thought about it, the Survivors were probably at one of those places. It wasn’t sure why they would all leave, but it tried to stay optimistic and hoped they would come back.
Sixer entered the main cabin, struggling to squeeze itself through the door, and began searching through the cupboards and drawers of the kitchen.
There. A collection of skewers, made for cooking things over an open flame. Perfect.
Sixer wondered if it could hold things with its tail. It knew the limb was prehensile and quite strong, but it still had doubts.
It carefully wrapped its tail around a skewer, slowly lifting it up. Surprisingly, it felt almost like grabbing something with a hand. It felt good, knowing its tail was good for something other than beheading.
It grabbed the rest of the skewers, taking them all outside.
Sixer was roasting six fish over the fire at once. Each of the skewers it found could hold two fish, and it could hold three- one in each hand and one with its tail.
It was contentedly watching the flames flicker around the fish, letting the heat of the fire wash over it and cook it to perfection, when it heard an ear-piercing scream. The cacophonous shriek sounded like it was coming from everywhere, making Sixer flinch. What was that???
~~~
Somewhere on the edge of the purgatory…
The spectre didn’t know how something like this could happen. It hasd just started a round and was settling down to feed when it became completely incapacitated, not being able to move or do anything.
Teal ropes wrapped around the Spectre, connected to the being that had trapped it. Just who was this?
“Hello, Spectre.” The other being spoke, beginning to draw closer. Everything about them seemed relaxed, from its tone to its body language.
Its skin was shiny, and it wore a beige polo shirt with some sort of bug pin on it. Its head was adorned with six turquoise gills and a pink beanie. It had sky-blue cheek patches under its eyes, and the tips of its fingers and toes were the same color. A thick tail with a fin on it flowed from its spine. It looked like a juvenile salamander if it decided to stand up on two legs and act like a robloxian.
The spectre could overpower gods. How was this being so easily defeating it?
The other being giggled, the sound threatening in its genuine joy. “The name’s Snails, by the way.” it informed them, introducing themselves.
“I can tell you’re wondering just what I am, but I’m not sure you would like the answer” They said, leaning back and levitating in the air.
“Tell me.” The Spectre responded, its voice echoing around the space. Its words dripped with malice.
“Ah, it speaks! I would tell you, but that's not important right now.” Snail leaned closer.
“You've got yourself a hefty collection of robloxians, all here for you to gorge yourself on their negative feelings. I will admit, I'm impressed.
But what would happen if all that negativity would disappear, I wonder?” The being put its finger on its chin in mock curiosity.
The Specter was growing agitated. It struggled against the bonds holding it, but to no avail. How did this… thing capture it when it didn't even have a true physical form?
“What do you want from me?” It growled, its patience running thin.
“You think I have some ulterior motive, don't you?” Snails laughed again, the sound grating on the Spectre’s nerves.
“My motivation for doing this isn't what you should be worrying about right now. All that matters is what I ask of you now.”
The Specter waited for an answer, glaring at Snails. It hated this thing more than it ever thought it could.
“All that I need you to do is not bother anyone or anything in that little camp the survivors set up. You can still hold the rounds, but outside of that, leave everything be. Can you do that?” It asked.
“...What would happen if I refused?” The Specter asked. It had no intention of following whatever this amphibian wanted it to do.
“Does it sound like I'm giving you a choice?” It laughed again.
“Fine. If you decide not to follow my order, then I could simply obliterate every single line of your code. Or, better yet, I could strip you of your abilities and send everyone you've so carefully collected back to wherever they were before you found them. I would take pleasure in slowly watching you starve, as your code starts to cannibalize itself. I could watch as you cry out in pain, completely alone and without relief.”
Snails smiled again, the threat made clear.
“I hope you consider my offer, little ghost!” It exclaimed before its arm transformed into a spike as it stabbed the spectre in the gut. It shrieked, the sound of agony reaching across the purgatory.