Chapter Text
“Telamon. Mister Telamon!”
“Mister Telamon, where are you going?”
“Mister Telamon, have I improved?”
“Telamon…how dare you…how dare you to leave me to rot.”
Scars and stab wounds littered his whole body. His arms ached from the brawl. His left eye socket was bleeding dry.
He can’t move.
He doesn’t have the strength.
He struggled against the chains. The metal rubbed against the wounds. It hurts. It burns.
…
“Ugh—!” 1x woke up from a sudden jolt of pain. He glanced up and stared straight at the horn-faced child. His clawed hand retracted away from his arm once he noticed 1x’s frown.
“kid, I swear I told you—!”
“AHH!” C00lkid scurried backwards. He tripped over a rock, falling flat onto the grass. “I’m sorry, Mr 1x, I’m sorry.” He crawled backwards and shielded himself behind his pizza delivery minions, his clawed hands covering over his eyes, his spade tail curled up beside him as comfort.
1x sat up straight, leaning his back against the log behind him. He bit his lower lip, attempting to simmer his anger down. Sigh…forget it. He is just an oblivious 10-year-old.
“It’s fine.” He examined the scar on his shoulder. “Just remember, your claws can hurt, kiddo.” He pulled the scarf off his neck and tied it around the scar to block the blood flow towards the wound.
“Alright…But I just wanted someone to play with me,” c00lkid whimpered.
“Maybe you should try playing with Bluudud and Pr3ttyPrincess—”
“But they just keep ignoring me.”
Of course, they always ignore him. I would shush this kid for good, but with my brain hay-wired? Perhaps not. What else to shut this kid up… He adjusted his vision towards the campfire. Something right across him caught his attention; a hooded figure with a skeleton as his body. The illuminating Void Star in his hands stood out from the dark forest behind him.
“Noli!” He hollered at the figure. “Get over here and take care of c00lkid.”
“Ughh-h-h-h—” A groan came from the hooded figure. A masked face glanced up at 1x. “WHY must *glitch* I-I-I-I— be the *glitch* one to BABYSIT-T-T-T— him?!”
“I just finished a damn round. My head still hurts.”
“Then why can’t your *glitch* minions—”
“Speaking of that, where are my minions?” 1x stared straight at a green, slimy pile of bodies burning in the fire. “For fuel? Really? Did you really think about how much effort it takes to summon them?”
“Chopping wood is too TIRING-G-g-g—“
“Well stabbing two swords into yourself just to summon those mildly-amusing morons is both painful and tiring.”
“Besides, he’s your friend’s son—”
“Do I LOOK–K–k like I want to ASSOCIA–A–ATE myself with that *glitch* traitor.”
“Just suck it up.” 1x’s hands were now inching closer towards his Dæmonshanks; the idea of sending “a few” stabs into Noli is tempting with each glitchy, snarky comment. The static from the warp already hurt his head like hell; now he has to deal with this?
“Sigh-h-h-h—*glitch* Fine-e-e-e—” The hooded figure grumbled in defeat, staggering from the campfire towards the kid. No matter how much he despised the idea of babysitting, he could never withstand the wrath of 1x and his blades.
Now that the whining has subsided, 1x heaved a sigh of relief. He could take a proper break. His eyelids were already drooping, shoulders sagging. The thrill of the previous round and the routine of warping took a toll on him. Couldn’t that gamemaster find a better way of warping?
“Other me…?”
The voice. It made 1x perked up. It was that mysterious child from the round before. There he was, sitting between him and his Dæmonshanks, knees hugged close to his chest.
“How the heck—!”
The exclamation earned a stare from all the killers around the campfire. Azure's hands flinched away from the Nightshades he was tending to. Slasher’s hand that was sharpening his blade froze. Even John Doe and Guest 666, two who were stripped of their humanity, jerked in instinct.
“Other me, why are you surprised?”
“I—!”
A clatter of metal was heard across 1x. 1x looked up, catching sight of Slasher setting his blade aside.
“What are you screaming at?” Slasher signed to him.
“What do you mean, ‘what are you screaming at’?”
Slasher shook his head. The mask may be covering his face, but his gestures were clearly frantic. “You literally screamed at a blank spot this whole time.”
“…”
Silence hung in the air. It was broken by 1x’s sigh. “Maybe because Azure’s cultist friend keeps pushing a dagger into me whenever I’m chasing someone.”
What a lame excuse. But that piece of shit is scary at ruining chases.
“‘My friend’? You've got to be joking.” Azure’s eye twitched at 1x’s remark. “He’s a backstabber and a fool, and he will always stay that way.” “Also,” one of his tentacles reached for the helm of his wizard hat tilted it up to get a better view of 1x, “For whatever reason for screaming at a blank, maybe this endless cycle of purgatory is the root cause; it drives all insane. Not all of us have fallen into insanity, but everyone has their limits.”
“Me? The pure manifestation of hatred? Insane? No way."
…What if I am going insane?
Forget it, maybe the flames are making my head spin.
A tiny hand latched onto 1x’s scarf and gave it a gentle tug. “1x, …can we talk? Please?”
1x lowered his head, letting his hair flow down and cover his gaze. He glanced at the child over the corner of his eye, it held an air of…naivety? And why does it feel familiar?
1x snatched both swords from the ground and strolled away. The rest of the killers cast questioning glances towards his back.
“Is Mr 1x alright?” C00lkid pondered
“Uhhh-h-h—With someone with such a big damn *glitch* ego-o-o— *glitch* —maybe?”
“Perhaps not,” Azure switched his focus to his Nightshades. “He’s showing signs.”
“What signs?” C00lkid asked.
Azure kept his gaze down, fingers busy with extracting the weeds, “Insanity. Similar to when that traitor became too devoted to Spawnism…”
“Insanity. What is that? Is it a bad thing?” Coolkid pondered
That question sent a shiver down Azure’s spine.
“Depends on what he thinks.”
“Other me……! Other me…! Other me, wait up!”
The kid was staggering, huffing and puffing, struggling to keep up with him. “Well, my bad.” 1x crossed over a fallen log. The kid reached for a branch, hauling his tiny stature over the log. “What is it that you want to talk about?”
“Huh—oh! Other me, I wanted to ask…why do you hate Mister Telamon so much?”
1x stopped in his tracks. His long, white hair concealed his gaze, but his zipper-like mouth curled downwards into a scornful frown. “He neglected me, neglected us.” His ever-glowing eye flickered and flared more intensely. “The treatment wasn’t human. Heck—as if he ever saw me as one.”
“He…he did do all that bad stuff to us,” The kid sat on the trunk, both hands clutching the bark. “But maybe he realised his mistakes. Maybe he Maybe he changed for the better.”
Sympathy? HIM having sympathy?
Laughable.
“When pigs fly.” He spat. “That sick god doesn’t give a DAMN about anyone; that egoist bastard. He only cares about him and himself!”
“He is always on his high horse; as high as the sky’s limit—heck, as if the sky ever had a limit! How in the WORLD would he become sympathetic?”
Telamon. Oh, Telamon. That fake, fake god. That very god who took pleasure in suffering. That very god beloved by all, yet had none in return.
The very creator of 1x1x1x1.
The very creator who abandoned his own creation, left it to fend for itself.
I already saw his downfall, but now I need to see his endless suffering.
I
must
return
the
favour