Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“A big investigation has been launched at an old abandoned warehouse where five corpses have been found in sick and twisted ways with one survivor. The killings highly resemble the work of John Kramer or more widely known as ‘Jigsaw’ by an unknown perpetrator. Some of the traps are said to have been the ones Kramer originally used in his own games while some are newer and updated versions of original traps used over thirty years ago before and after the infamous Serial killer’s death. This new killer has been named the ‘Modern Day Jigsaw’.”

The news report Kyle had seen merely a day prior played over and over in his mind as he found himself locked in one of these sick and twisted traps the news reporter had spoken about, he reached up to touch the metal contraption around his head, his breathing heavy and rapid as his eyes reminded wide in fear and darting around the room for any sign of the sick bastard who was carrying on the legacy of a mad man who’s been dead over thirty years now.

He looked to his side and his eyes widened as he saw a familiar face, one of his childhood friends, Kenny McCormick. His eyes widened as he tried to speak but couldn’t as something muffled his voice, the metallic taste of blood on his tongue, paired with rusty metal. The taste makes him grimace as Kenny’s eyes meet his own, both men looking at each other before ahead of themselves at the rotten corpse on the ground, Kyle would have puked if it wasn’t for the metal in his mouth.

All of a sudden, the screen from beside them lights up, they look to the side and stare at the screen as some sort of distorted voice plays.

“Seems you both have finally awoken, Kyle. Kenneth.” The voice spoke cold and deep, a puppet on the screen, it seemed old and tattered, one of its eyes missing and its hair wispy and thin. Kyle narrowed his brown eyes at the screen even though he could see it clear as crystal.

“you’ve both done bad things which cause you to need to go through what Mr. Kramer called the rebirthing process. I know what both of you have done, one of you may not have physically broken the law yet you were aware of it and let it continue, letting blood shed for many years due to substance abuse.”

The voice says with distaste and threat, as if you could hear the scowl on his face through his voice, the fury in this man’s eyes as you tried to make a mental image of what the man behind this whole twisted punishment game looks like. Kyle looked at Kenny, both men stared at each other, one with more guilt in his eyes than the other.

“One of you is a drug dealer, the man who willingly supplied what has killed many as they succumb to their addiction, the other aware of everything that man has been doing and you’ve done nothing to stop what is killing many.”

Kenny glances away from the video as he touches whatever it is on his head, he touches from front to back the voice echoes through the dull and dimly lit room.

“those contraptions on your head were designed and made by the one and only John Kramer himself, aren’t they unique? They’re called the Reverse Beartrap. They could be considered a relic of his legacy at this point, you two should feel honoured to be wearing the only two in existence”

The voice says, as if he’s proud of this. It sickens Kyle to his stomach. He glared at the screen, as if the man would be able to feel it through the screen.

“But there is a way to escape them.”

Kyle and Kenny's exchange glances as the man continues to speak to them, making them more anxious as the only other sound in the room is a ticking clock.

“See that corpse in front of you both? She failed this test and tied from the very contraptions you both dawn. There are padlocks on the back of each Reverse Beartrap. There’s a key which unlocks those padlocks yet there’s one small issue. . .”

The voice began to trail off, pausing for a moment to really let the tension of the situation set in. Kyle put his hands back down on the armrests of the chair just for metal cuffs to restrain him, his eyes widened as he thrashed and rocked back and forth.

“Only Kenny can get up and retrieve the key and only one of you will make it out of here alive. . .Kenny has the choice to choose himself and go back to his life of crime and drug dealing or he can free you, Kyle. The slightly more innocent party within this situation which would resolve in his own death.”

The voice says with coldness and edge to his voice as if judging them still, Kyle looks over at Kenny, his breathing more rapid at this point, Kenny looks back at him with wide eyes as fear flows through his veins.

“And he only has two minutes to get the key and make the choice of who he saves. Himself. Or his friend. If he doesn’t unlock one of the traps in time. You both die, let the game begin.”

A strange laugh played from the TV as the video was coming to an end, the screen flashing bright white before shutting off.

Kyle looked at Kenny who rushed out of his seat the moment the timer went off, throwing himself to his knees in front of the rotting corpse whose face was completely flayed, the gore and blood seemed as if it had half dried up by this point as her mouth was left open in a terrified scream and her brown-blood stained teeth showed. He stares before quickly shoving a hand into the guts and blood which lets out a stench like no other, as he searches around for the key, the sound of squelching and squishing fills the room, Kyle looks like he was going to faint at the sight. Kenny’s hand dove deeper, pulling out the woman’s decaying stomach and tossing it aside before grabbing one of her kidneys, the key shoved halfway into it, and he pulled it out, covering in fluids and blood. He then looked at the timer and at Kyle.

Kyle stared back at him, his eyes wide in fear as he looked at the timer himself. 30 seconds to go. Kyle had tears in his eyes as he looked at Kenny who decided, at that moment to rush over to Kyle, shoving the key into the keyhole of the padlock and turning it, pulling it out of the mechanism and removing the Reverse beartrap from Kyle’s head, blood on his mouth, his hands still restrained to the chair.

Kyle stares at the timer and then back at Kenny.

Three. . .Two. . .One.

The trap goes off, Kyle’s eyes widen as he lets out a blood-curdling scream as Kenny’s body collapses to the floor. The images of the trap snapping open and ripping Kenny’s skull apart were engraved in his mind, the way the flesh tore from the top half of his jaw, exposing the tissues beneath as the metal clasped on Kyle’s wrists open, he stared at Kenny’s body as tears flow down his face, the taste of blood and tears is the most unpleasant Kyle has ever tasted, he grimaced as a loud bang could be heard.

He slowly looked toward the light which was now getting brighter and saw a door slowly opening as he sat there feeling defeated, he leaned back in the chair before looking back at Kenny’s mangled and faceless corpse.

“you bastard. . .” is all he managed to croak out as he slowly removed himself from the seat and made his way towards the door, opening it wide to take in the hallway before him, before stepping out and closing the door behind him, having to leave his friends corpse behind to decay and rot.

Chapter Text

Kyle walked down the dark and dingy halls, the smell of gas and death filling his nostrils as he covered his mouth, looking around. Pipes and tiled walls, no windows for miles to see. He sighed as he stopped for a moment to clear his head, running a shaky hand through his curly dishevelled red locks.

Every time he closes his eyes, he can’t get the image of the Reverse beartrap snapping open and tearing Kenny’s skull apart. He grimaces and sighs as he keeps walking down the hallway, finding a few doors and staring at them. He knows he’s going to have to go through at least one of them is to find a way out.

He reached out for the first door and grabbed the handle.

The sirens blared as Detective Wendy Testaburger pulled up to the crime scene. She opened the car door as she got out, putting on her reading glasses and pushed her hair behind her ear. Her eyes glanced around as she looked at the yellow police tape which was keeping the citizens away from the crime scene.

Her heels clicked as she walked towards the warehouse and went underneath the police tap, showing her badge to the police chief who led the way into the entrance of the warehouse.

“Detective Testaburger” A familiar voice called, she turned around and smiled at the man, looking up at him.

“Agent Black” she responded, he put his hand out for her to shake to keep formality in check, catch up can happen off the clock.

“it’s good to see you again, I heard you’ve been working on this case since the first copycat killing happened?” Tolkien asked her, crossing his arms, Wendy nodded as her hands found themselves on her hips, focusing on the empty hallway of the warehouse.

“Yes, I’ve been assigned to the case since day one, I know everything you need to know” Wendy responded, she sighed and looked around “So which rooms were the victims found in?” she asked as Tolkien led the way into a room which an automatic door, raising it by the arrow button.

Inside the room one person, sitting limp on the ground with a bucket on his head, his back fully pulled into the blades on the wall. Wendy sighed as they walked close, some police photographers were taking photos of the crime scene.

“you see, there’s a huge difference between these victims and Kramer’s victims, whoever this ‘Modern Day Jigsaw’ is, he wants his victims found as if trying to convey his message. He leaves their I.D’s in their pockets as well.” Tolkien says as he shows Wendy a small clear bag with the man’s I.D in it, it reads ‘Daniel Smith’, she nods as they walk through each other room with different traps.

One a pit of razor blades with the cut up women within it. . . another with an odd collar around his neck which had shot multiple bullets into his head. They then go to the last room, a woman is lying on the floor, a metal case around her head.

“The Venus flytrap. . .he hasn’t used that in a while” Wendy says, sighing and walking over and putting on some rubber gloves before going into the pocket of the woman’s jeans to take out her I.D. She pulled it up to read the name and her heart dropped.

“Wendy, is something wrong?” Tolkien asked, walking over and getting on one knee beside Wendy who was staring at the I.D in her hands which rested on her knees.

“. . .it’s- the sick fuck killed Bebe” she whispered, holding the I.D up for Tolkien to see, his eyes slightly widen as he looked down at Wendy and puts an arm around her, the black-haired woman staring at the photo of her best friend on the card “I’m going to catch this guy if it’s the death of me.” She said through gritted teeth, putting the I.D into a zip lock bag before standing up.

Kyle opened the first door, empty. Nothing. He goes to the second room. Also nothing. He goes to the one down the hallway, before he can touch the handle, it creeks open to reveal a room filled with hanging jars.

He sighed as he looked around, closing the door behind him and unknowingly starting another timer. The TV flashes on within the room. Kyle turns his attention to the screen and stares at it.

“Time for your second test, it’s quite simple you see, you just have to smash these jars, get the key to the door” the deep, distorted voice echoed throughout the room, Kyle looked above his head at the jars hanging above him “oh, I almost forgot to mention! There is more than one key, you just have to find the right one to open the door.” He added, chuckling a little “And you only have three minutes before those nail bombs in each corner of the room blow up and impale you, leaving you to bleed to death. Let the game begin.” He finished as the TV shut off and the timer began to count down.

Kyle looked around the room for something to smash the jars with, panic setting in for the redhead as he noticed a metal bar on the ground, he rushed over, picked it up and swung at the jars, smashing all of them as quickly as possible, not caring that some of the shards are hitting his face, cutting it in some areas, once they’re all smashed, he dived to his knees and grabbed all the keys on the ground, glass stabbing his hands and making them bleed, slicing him up. Kyle groaned and gritted his teeth as he ran over to the door and glanced back at the timer, only a minute left.

He started to shove the keys one by one into the lock. The first one failed, same with the second, third and fourth, he had three keys left to try, his breathing speeding up as there were only 20 seconds left, he shoved the fifth key into the lock and turned it, and the door opening as his eyes widen, he shoved the door open and closed it behind him and took a few moment’s to breath, closing his eyes as the nail bombs go off.

“holy shit. . .” He says as he slides down the door and sits on the floor, his hand over his heart as he tries to regain his composure and find some way to restore his mental and physical strength for whatever next game is in store for him.

His silence is interrupted by another door opening and footsteps which come to a halt. Kyle’s eyes shot open as he looked up.

“Kyle?”

Chapter Text

“Kyle?”

Kyle looked up, his mouth slightly open as he stared up at the person in front of him. Black hair, tanned skin and gold-tinted eyes.

“Craig?” he asked in disbelief, Craig sighed and got down on his knees and then sat with his legs crossed in front of Kyle, he looked all beaten up, his jumper tied around his waist as he sighed, rubbing his forehead “Dude, why the fuck are you here?” Kyle asked, looking up at him.

Craig bowed his head and took a deep breath “The same reason we’re all here, to go through the ‘rebirthing process’ or whatever that lunatic calls it.” Craig answered, his voice horsed and raspy as he rubbed his forehead.

“but why? What did you do?” Kyle asked, looking around the room. It’s empty. Nothing in here which means the sicko behind this game had intended for Kyle and Craig to meet here. To continue the twisted game together.

Craig looked away, sighing and then looking at the ceiling. Kyle crossed his arms as he waited for Craig to speak to him, the look in Craig’s eyes told Kyle he was trying to figure out what to say, what to tell Kyle.

Should he tell the trust or lie to him?

“I. . .I’m a rocket engineer for Nasa. I gave the go-ahead on a faulty rocket by mistake, and the rocket ended up blowing up and Killing six people. . .I- another man got the blame, he was new to the team and I just let him take it to keep my job. . .I don’t know how this ‘Jigsaw’ guy found out 'cause I never told another soul besides-” Craig stopped, hearing a laugh echo throughout speakers within the room which captured both men’s attention.

“As I expected, Craig would come out of his game, Clyde was never good at the monkey bars when we were younger” the raspy voice says, Kyle and Craig looked at each other.

1. . .

Did they know this guy? Who the fuck would do this that they knew.

“Now, I think you should know a little something, somewhere in this building I have someone dear to you locked up, a familiar face which both of you might want to get looking for.” He said, you could hear the smile on his face.

Craig goes to yell as the sound of a metal door coming up is heard, they turn to see the door opening wide to expose a long hallway which connected to more of the building. Craig looked back at Kyle who’s now standing up, offering a hand to him, he took it and stood up.

“You have two hours to find and free him before more than just his legs don’t work.” When he finished speaking, the door finished rising. Kyle rubbed his neck as they began walking, trying to figure out who he was speaking about.

“it’s Jimmy. . .” Craig says, his hands in his pockets as they walk through the door and down the dark, echoing hallway.

“Jimmy?” Kyle asked “yeah- I guess that makes sense, someone we know and his legs don’t work” Kyle said, sighing as he looked around the hallways and then back at Craig “Before the speaker came on- what- who was the only person you’ve told about the rocket accident. That might lead us to- you know, who the fuck is running this game” Kyle says, as he peeked around a corner which leads to a flight of stairs.

Craig looked down, as he didn’t want to say what he was going to say next, he looked up at Kyle and opened his mouth. . .

“Tweek.”

The blonde opened his eyes, he looked across the table at the person before him, Tolkien looked at his old friend and put a cup of coffee in front of him, but Tweek pushed it back. He kept quiet and looked at him.

He seemed like a whole other person, his messy blonde hair sits past his neck, his green eyes aren’t wide and twitchy anymore, they have a heavy-lidded look to them, his left hand stood out due to the state it was in.

“hm?” Tweek answered blankly, looking at the taller man who glanced at his hand again and then pulled out his notepad and pen.

“. . .in your own time.” He says, Tweek looked down at his hand, moving the fingers slowly, struggling to somewhat do so. Tweek looked at him and then at the coffee.

“What if I don’t want to tell you.” He says, looking at Tolkien and crossing his arms, Tolkien was taken aback by Tweek’s comment, he tried to figure out what to say, he raised a brow.

“Well, for one, why wouldn’t you and for two, it would be preventing the court of justice and you could get in trouble for it, maybe get a prison sentence- some cops will do anything to get someone locked up. You’re still a suspect in this, Tweek.” Tolkien explained as he clasped his hands together and leaned forth “because- you never came to the police after you where in one of those Jigsaw traps, why not?” He asked, looking at Tweek who seems to be trying to weight the pros and cons.

“I was scared.” He answered blankly, looking as if he’s staring through Tolkien, his voice was small and quiet “At the time I was.” He says as he looked down at the table, Tolkien dotted it down in his notepad.

“At the time?” he asked as he glanced at Tweek who’s now examining his notepad.

“I’m not scared of him anymore” he says, looking at Tolkien and leaning forth “He helped me, I didn’t see the worth in my life! I was a drug addict and- after everything happened. . .I didn’t feel the need to- take drugs anymore- I didn’t want nor need them, it’s as if- the method he used gave me a whole new perspective on my life, I went to rehab, I stopped taking drugs.” He says, gripping the front of the table, his eyes widening a little, as he rambled on and on he started to look more like the Tweek Tolkien grew up with.

“. . .and he did this how?” Tolkien asked, writing down anything Tweek told him he saw as slightly helpful or worrying. He looked at Tweek who sits up straight.

“He said Mr. Kramer called it the ‘Angel Trap’. . .” Tweek says, his hands move around a little “I was. . .hoisted into air, a mechanist wrapped around my abdomen and locked with a padlock, a key in a beaker of acid” he says, Tolkien glanced back at Tweek’s hand as Tweek stared at him and then down at his hand “his words and voice where engraved in my mind for months. . .”

Tweek’s eyes opened to a dark cellar, once he came too his eyes open wide as he looked around anxiously, moving and grabbing at the chains.

“GAH! W-WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS THING?!” he pulled at the metal around his abdomen and his shaky hands fidgeted with the lock as his teeth chattered and he hyperventilated, a small screen lighted up beside him and he looked at it with wide eyes, he grunted, a sharp pain from something digging into his skin.

“Hello Tweek. . .” a deep voice echoed through the empty cellar as he looked around and kicked and groaned “Don’t move too much, those metal rods will just cause you more pain” he says, Tweek stopped moving and he looked up, his eyes widen as he grunted “there is a way out, this is one of my personal favourite traps designed by Mr. Kramer! It’s called the Angel trap. . .when it springs open it looks as if your in the position of an angel! I feel it’s quite fitting for you. . .as you can easily find redemption, see that lock? You can open that with the key in the jar of scalding acid but you should be quick. . . it’s going to dissolve. You have one minute.” He says as the timer In front of Tweek starts up, Tweek looked at the jar and then at the timer, putting his fingers into the jar just to scream and pull his hand back out.

Tears welled up in Tweek’s eyes, he gritted his teeth as he looked back at the timer and gritted his teeth, he shoved his hand back into the acid, screaming as he tried to pick up the key, he managed to do so put he dropped it, his eyes widen, he shoved his hand back down and grabbed the key again and yanked it out as he scrambled to undo the lock, his hand shakily tried to put the key into the keyhole, he looked back up at the key which is on twelve seconds.

“FUCK! FUCK! COME ON!” he screamed to himself as he managed to get the key into the lock and turn it, he pulled it off and throws it aside and he pulled the restraints around his ribcage outwards, freeing him as he falls to the ground, he gasped for air as he turned onto his back and looked up. The timer finished and Tweek watched as the rods went off and spread out, his eyes went wide as he shakes and looked at the trap and laid flat on the ground.

Tweek just laid there, tears in his eyes as he tried to calm himself down, hissing in pain from the feeling of the acid that had burned his hand. Tweek sighed and paused as the sound of a door opening can be heard, he looked towards the sound as he sits up to see a messed-up doll, it’s all withered and tattered, the paint chipped and an odd laughing sound comes from the doll, the bell on it’s tricycle rings.

He stood up and looked at it as it turned around and goes towards the door, he walked after the doll as it looked like the only way out of here, he followed it down a hallway and stared at a door, he reached over and opened it.

“I’m impressed, Tweek- that trap is. . . exceptionally hard to get out of!” a voice says, it sounds similar to the one on the speaker without the voice changer, Tweek recognised the voice as he stepped closer and looked around, cameras accessing other rooms with different people in them. He looked over at the man in the chair who was turning side to side in it, he couldn’t see his face due to the room being dark and with everything happening he doesn’t think he’ll remember it either “I like your resilience. . . I always have” he stood up from his chair and stepped closer the camera’s lightly dimmed the room, Tweek couldn’t see his face clear enough no matter how much he squinted.

He tried to make out his features before his face was pulled closer and his eyes covered with his hand. Tweek remained still, he says nothing as his chin’s held firmly by the familiar man.

“I was a little. . .proposition for you. . .” he says as he whispered in his ear, smiling to himself as he looked at Tweek.

“. . .a proposition?” he whispered as he felt both anxious and curious as he still shakes a little as his hands raised up to touch the hand on his face, as if he was trying to figure out if he truly knew him.

“Yes. . .how would you like to become my apprentice?”

Tweek looked back up at Tolkien, his eyes focused on the agent in front of him, he left out the last part of what happened.

“so you just followed the doll out and he let you go?” Tolkien asked, Tweek stared at him and then nodded.

“yes.” He lied, he sounded how he has the whole interview, giving Tolkien no reason to think he’s lying, he crossed his arms tightly and rested his head on them.

“well. . .that’s- everything I needed to ask, you’re free to leave. Take care of yourself Tweek.” Tolkien says as he stood up, Tweek did the same and Tolkien patted his shoulder and opens the door, Tweek walked out before him, going towards the entrance of the police station and down the steps and towards a car waiting for him in front of the Station.

“so, did you rat Mr. Jigsaw out?” a mocking voice asked, Tweek groaned and looked over at the person.

“If anyone’s going to betray him it’s you, Cartman.” Tweek snapped as Cartman starts up the car and begins driving.

“As much as I’d love too, I can’t. He has record of every thing I’ve done as a so called ‘dirty cop’ on file, I make one wrong move my career is over and I’m going to the goddamn slammer” Cartman groaned, keeping his eyes on the road as he drives.

“Yeah well- you’re more likely to do so. If I didn’t show up it would of looked suspicious.” Tweek added, looking out the window and staring at the road, Cartman snickered.

“You just wanted a chance to gush over your beloved psychopath after months of keeping it hidden from the world” He says, smirking and turning towards an isolated road.

“Don’t talk about him like that!” Tweek snapped, getting defensive “He’s doing good for this horrible world and people are too ignorant to know that!” he snapped and glared at him, Cartman smirked.

He had figured out who this ‘Modern day Jigsaw’ was on his own and when he presented him with black mail, they aligned a partnership. Cartman had his identity under his belt while the madman had dirt and evidence of his immoral police work in his grasp so it’s best to play it smart and not dive in head first.

Cartman wasn’t stupid, he could tell whatever going on with Tweek was defiantly a typical case of Stockholm syndrome, it was obvious with how he acted, Tweek glared at him and looked away, as they approached the abandoned warehouse, Tweek get out of the car and slammed the door, running into the warehouse and straight to the monitor room.

“I’m back” he says as he walked over and sits in the seat next to him, looking at the camera “. . .how are they holding up?” he asked as he leaned in and looked at the two men wandering the halls as a hand is now in his hair, running through it and lovingly touching the vulnerable blonde.

“fine so far.” He responded coldly, Tweek’s eyes drifted over to him. To him this was fine, it was good, it was the start of something good for him but to others, it’s blatant manipulation of a predator and his pray.

This man was aware how vulnerable and mentally gone he was. . .his hand moved to Tweek’s jaw and rubbed it with his thumb, Tweek smiled as he looked at him, leaning into his captor's touch as if this wasn’t a fucked-up situation, where people where dying, where he almost died. He was already so desperate for affection and care that even someone who had intended on his dying giving him affection made him feel safe.

He looked back at the screen and stared at Craig and Kyle walking down the hallway, his small faded as he stared. His heart feels as if there’s a sharp pain in it.

He genuinely hoped they completed their rebirth. . .