Chapter Text
After the night was over and the morning came, it was finally time for another round. Actually, finally sounded too positive.
It was unfortunately time for another round.
The C00l Carnival was the same as usual, only 1x1x1x1 was on the opposite side of where they’d usually spawn.
“Look! It’s my map!” c00lkidd said excitedly, having spawned next to the creation of hatred.
They looked to the ferris wheel, seeing a robed figure with a sword in their—
No.
They’d wanted to go back to that moment of power. That moment an army of the undead were at their fingertips, their creator trembling in fear, feebly attempting to look brave while knowing death was at hand.
This isn’t what they wanted. The urge to charge at their creator was boiling inside them, like a volcano preparing to erupt. But they pushed the urge down. Their new statuses would make a direct attack with no preperation equivalent to suicide.
Instead, they waited. They always either killed Shedletsky first or left him for last, so they assumed Telamon would do the same thing.
As they finished their thought, they saw Telamon point his sword in their direction… but not at them. Something they hadn’t noticed came flying forwards, a small blue shape, flying straight towards the child.
It flew too fast for them to draw their sword and counter it, so, without thinking, they threw themselves in front of c00lkidd. The weapon embedded itself in their back, frost gathering on the skin around the wound. It didn’t puncture the spine, thankfully, but it still hurt like hell.
So Telamon had the Ice Dagger as well. They turned towards their creator, drawing their Daemonshank. It was weaker than before, but still effective enough.
“You’ve grown soft,” Telamon spoke as he approached, a smile on his face, “Your efforts are valiant, but I’m not here for you just yet. Now, out of the way.”
That smug bastard.
“Fight me. If you’re so confident in yourself, fight me.” 1x knew in the back of their mind that taunting him was a bad idea, but their hatred clouded their mind.
“Feisty, aren’t you?” he laughed. “I’m surprised to see you so eager for a rematch. Don’t worry, your death wish will be fulfilled soon.”
With a flick of his hand, the Ice Dagger reappeared behind Telamon. With the open wound no longer blocked, 1x felt the blood trickling down their frozen skin. Then… Telamon just left. Not even running, just walked off.
The audacity of this man…
They sheathed their sword before hearing sniffling behind them. Cowering behind them was the child they’d for some reason thrown themselves in front of.
“Are—” he sniffled, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” 1x dismissed the question. “There are more important things to worry about.”
“C-can I come with you?”
They wanted to say no, but they doubted that would stop the kid.
“Come on. Just don’t be annoying,” they grumbled. C00lkidd grabbed their hand as if they were his parent. Already off to a great start as the pair walked into the drakobloxxer ride.
1x had paid attention to generator locations as the killer (long range abilities that go through walls are great for catching survivors on generators off-guard), so they remembered there was usually one in here. As they’d expected, there was one in there. They removed their hand from c00lkidd’s and began to work. C00lkidd didn’t start working on it, which annoyed them.
The puzzles were much easier than they’d expected. They didn’t know why some of the survivors took so long with them. In the middle of the third puzzle, they heard c00lkidd’s voice.
“1x! 1x! I found a medkit!” They finished the puzzle and turned around, seeing the kid with the medkit he mentioned in his hands. “Here you go! You can use it!” He shoved the item towards them. He seemed… very excited compared to how he was a moment before.
1x was silent for a moment before taking the medkit. “I’m going to use this. Work on the generator, there’s one puzzle left. If you finish before I’m back, stay right here.”
“Okay…” The kid seemed upset, but he started working anyway.
1x turned the corner and started to patch themselves up. Looking at their torso felt wrong. It was fleshy. Their entire body was fleshy and they hated it.
The wound wasn’t even that bad in theory, but they knew how things worked here. Even the smallest of wounds resulted in faster deaths for survivors. Even slashes that barely grazed the skin were major damage.
They managed to get themselves patched up, immediately feeling better. Physically, at least. They were still the creation of hatred of course.
They were about to return to the child when a body flew past them, slamming into the carts of the ride. They perked up at the sound.
Well then.
It wasn’t that surprising, they’d seen bodies of dead survivors go flying before, but seeing Davie’s corpse draped over a rollercoaster cart was certainly not a pleasant sight.
Telamon was working quickly. It made sense, despite how much 1x1x1x1 hated their creator, they had to admit he was a formidable swordfighter, and with The Spectre boosting his power, Telamon would be just as, if not more powerful than 1x was.
They stood up, passed by the cart, and returned to c00lkidd.
“I’m back,” they said, shortly before c00lkidd ran up and… hugged them? What the fuck?
The child cried into their legs, obviously terrified.
Did this kid not know how the realm worked beforehand? Why was he so scared?
1x didn’t know what to do. They’d never been hugged before. They didn’t return the hug, they didn’t say anything, they simply stood as still as a statue.
Eventually, they spoke: “Kid. We need to get moving…” they paused, “I’ll protect you.”
C00lkidd nodded, seemingly okay with this idea.
Great, now they’d agreed to be with the child for the rest of the round. The child stuck to their side as they left the ride. The generator in the truck wasn’t there, so they went to the ferris wheel instead.
“Work on the generator. I’ll keep watch.” 1x told c00lkidd.
The child nodded, kneeling down to work. He seemed to feel safer with 1x. They looked away from the ferris wheel, standing guard. Their eyes caught Telamon chasing… a bat?
Oh. The vampire.
Two swords flew towards Nosferatu, missing entirely, embedding themselves in the stairs leading to the ride. 1x took the stairs to the side, attempting to be stealthy. If they could get close enough, they could get in a slash in on Telamon.
They hid by the lost and found building, waiting. Nosferatu just needed to come closer…
Closer…
Closer…
1x1x1x1 emerged, managing to catch Telamon by surprise, leaving a cut across his chest.
Telamon glared at them with pure hatred.
“FIGHT ME! STOP COWERING AND FIGHT ME!” 1x yelled.
Telamon got over being stunned and smiled, slashing at 1x1x1x1. They’d prepared themselves though, and backed up. The sword only grazed them, but even still, that was considered a good hit in this realm.
“Not. Yet.”
Shit.
Telamon turned back to where Nosferatu had run off to, continuing their chase.
1x sent a weak entanglement towards Telamon, slowing him down slightly, but he completely ignored the debuff, continuing forwards.
This was bad. They’d run off and gotten themselves injured. They returned to the ferris wheel, bleeding once again.
“1x?” c00lkidd asked quietly, seeing the others approach. “1x!” c00lkidd ran towards 1x1x1x1, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. Did you get the generator done?”
“Yeah! I did. Why did you leave though?” The kid seemed upset. Not surprising, they’d told him they’d stay and then proceeded not to do that.
“I had something I needed to do.” They weren’t protecting Nosferatu, they were taking their chance for revenge. Protecting Nosferatu just happened to be part of the process. “Come on, let’s go.”
They walked down the stairs, c00lkidd following behind like a duckling following its mother. They looked for more generators, but they seemed to already be complete.
All the while, Telamon continued to ignore them. Despite their best attempts to get their creator to pay attention to them, to stop cowering behind the fear he still held deep down, he still barely acknowledged them. He was simply toying with them.
When he wasn’t toying with 1x1x1x1, he was efficient. Terrifyingly so.
And with each death, he became stronger. Another sword in his collection.
Despite their role as a protector in these games, they couldn’t protect everyone. They couldn’t protect anyone.
Everyone else was gone.
It was just him and them.
“Finally…” Telamon spoke, “I’ve been waiting for this.”
They wanted this, right? They wanted to face their creator once again. But deep inside, they felt something odd.
Something they’ve never felt before. Sweat dripped down their face, another unfortunate symptom of mortality. Their heart was fast, yet slow at the same time, as if something was trying to keep its beating in check. All the while, their wound was still open.
They took the Daemonshank in their hands, attempting to hold it steady.
Telamon, on the other hand, was entirely calm.
He didn’t fear them.
They feared him.
Why were they afraid? They were hatred incarnate.
They weren’t supposed to feel fear. So why were they scared?
Telamon’s hand opened, and the sword in his hands disappeared. The Illumina replaced the Linked Sword, the standard sword inserting itself into the collection of blades circling behind him.
He lunged forwards with a slash, 1x countering with their own sword.
The pair weren’t fighting for the same thing.
Telamon was fighting for glory.
1x1x1x1 was fighting to survive.
How the tables have turned.
Telamon knew he couldn’t die. He could push as hard as he wanted, as much as he wanted. 1x1x1x1 needed to play defensive. Just until time ran out. They had to keep their guard up and their senses sharp.
But of course, this was no normal swordfight. They both had abilities aside from slashes and stabs.
If Telamon paused to send the swords at 1x, they could take the opportunity to slow him down with an entanglement. But they’d have to do it right. Too soon and they’d find a sword in their gut. Too late and he'd be able to avoid it, leaving them vulnerable.
They couldn’t avoid every hit, but they avoided as many as they could. Parries, blocks, retreats.
They couldn’t keep it up forever. This body’s energy was limited. They failed to manage their energy properly, they weren’t used to this.
The swords flew to them again, one managing to catch them and pin them to the wall.
Telamon approaches slowly, toying with them once again.
“You did well I suppose, but I’ve won this t—”
Everything disappeared.
They found themselves at the same table they’d had dinner at last night.
Did…
Did they survive?