Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cruel King sighs as he started out of his window overlooking his kingdom. The people were still healing after his corruption 2 years ago, though the snow and ice had stayed, their hearts were warmer than a sunny day. Though, he can't help but reminisce.

Of a hero who's life was cut short before they could even finish their first yet most important quest. Cruel King knew it was foolish to hope, but he can't help but imagine a future where Player would sit on the floor of his throne room as they claimed it was more comfortable, talking about what had happened when they had went missing. Explaining why they had been gone so long as they called him dad and apologized after wards.

"𝘖𝘰𝘱𝘴, 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘢' 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘒,"

"𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦."

Cruel King closes his eye, deep in memory, ignoring the sounds of the wooden doors to his chambers opening until two voices greeted him, one much softer than the other.

"Hey CK, how ya' doin' today?" Kyoko said, her smile ever present but today it seemed strained. "Hope we're not bothering you too much."

"Y34H, W0ULDN'7 W4N7 Y0UR 0LD 455 T0 C47CH 4 C0LD, Y0U'D PR0B4BLY D13 0V3RN17GH7 1F 7H47 W3R3 T0 H4PP3N." Griefer said, with all too much confidence. Knowing full well that ever since getting the Ice Dagger, CK had never caught an illness. Much less, a cold. Despite his swagger, Cruel King can see the signs that Griefer was pissed or at the very least, irritated.

"Good afternoon Kyoko, Griefer. What brings you two here today? Any news about the search parties?" Cruel King asked, raising his chin a little out of habit, showing a small stubble of hair growing on his chin.

Kyoko's smile faltered completely and Griefer dropped whatever act he had been putting on. "Cruel King, look- t-this is why we came here... Actually," Kyoko stuttered out, she sounded dissapointed. "They've decided to-"

"7H3Y'R3 S70PP1NG 7HE 534RCH," Griefer interrupted, holding in so much anger that his hands clenched into fists as Cruel King's eyes widened in disbelief. "7H3Y THINK 17'5 4 L057 C057, 7H3Y 7H1NK Player's D34D."

Cruel King looked at Griefer, wishing that whatever joke he's putting on would drop every next second. "What? No, that can't be- this is just one of those jokes that you young ones play, right?" Cruel King approached Kyoko, placing his hand on her shoulder. Kyoko didn't flinch just from the cold. "Kyoko, you are the reasonable one, yeah? Tell me that they have not given up hope on finding our hero."

"CK, I'm really sorry. B-but it's true, they just pronounced Player de- ead on the Bizville news," She said, voice shaking as well as her body. "We know that you don't really have a-any sort of technology here but you needed to know. We didn't want you to be left out in the dark about this."

Kyoko places a hand on her face before leaning into Cruel King's cold embrace. The king looks at Griefer who had already sat down on one of the chairs, head bowed low as he furiously wiped tears out of his eyes. CK puts his attention back to Kyoko and starts rubbing circles on her back to try and comfort her. Knowing that this is something that they will not move on from easily.

"17'5 57UP1D 70 7H1NK 7H47 Player's D34D. L1K3- C0M3 0N! 7H47'5 Player!" Griefer said, waving his arms around to make a point, barely holding back even more tears and sob.

"Not only that- they think the reason why Player d-disappeared, is... Is because they think they didn't want to be charged of their crimes," Kyoko's voice was broken up in sobs. "They think that Player didn't want to be held responsible for that incident."

"I... I see. Well, it seems I must take measures into my own hands," Cruel King stated, grip firm on the girl and gaze on the griefer. "I shall tell my knights to begin searching bigger areas, where was the last place our Player was seen?"

"Roblox HQ in Bizville, though you might not be getting in any time soon. They haven't opened to anyone ever since the admins started disappearing," Griefer said, finally dropping that earrapping voice for once. "You know, that Shedletsky guy who was the one who sent Player on that quest in the first place? Builderman dissapeared as well..."

"I-I heard that another admin dissapeared just recently," Kyoko wiped her tears away as Cruel King guided her to sit down on another chair just beside Griefer. "Dusekkar was his name, I think."

Cruel King sighed. "Let's stop talking about other people's disappearances for now, let's just get this Player situation on with."

"CK'5 R1GH7, 7H05E 4DM1N5 C4N D3AL W17H 7H3IR 0WN M155ING P3RS0N'S," Griefer bumped his fist up in the air. "WH47 W3 N33D 70 F0CU5 0N, 15 F1ND1ING 0UR FR13ND/4LLY!"

"Yeah... You're right," Kyoko said all too quickly, standing up at the same speed which left Griefer somewhat speechless inside as how is she not dizzy??? "CK, you said you'd tell your nights to search further correct?"

"You are indeed correct, Kyoko," Cruel King smiled a bit at seeing the two's spirits light up at the hope that had been presented to them. Hope to find their closest friend and The Hero. "Come now, let us go to the barracks I'm sure they are free at the time-"

Cruel King said but was cut off at the realization that Kyoko wasn't focused on his words anymore. Nor was Griefer.

That was because, despite no escape routes other than the still closed door and the unopened windows, Griefer. Was. Gone.

Without a trace.

(Meanwhile, in a far-off realm, something smiles as it finally had found a new plaything.

Another one that was connected to a killer no less...)

Chapter Text

It had been a rough round, to say the least. 1x1x1x1 was the killer and Elliot had died early on. Everyone else dropped like flies afterwards mostly because the majority had a recent existential crisis, throwing them off their game. Noob was left for LMS, yet despite all odds and the fact that there was still a minute and a half left- the little guy managed to clutch the win.

Ensuring that they'll have enough food until next round.

Now, they were all sat in the lobby- patching each other up from the scars that didn't get healed when teleporting back.

Though Two Time was being difficult as always.

"This one has no need for your medicine, The Almighty Spawn shall heal them!" Two Time yelled, trying to resist Guest's hold as Builderman tried to wrap gauze around their arm. "The medicine burns this one, proving that The Spawn does not wish for their flesh be tainted with this vile poison."

"It's jus' antiseptic kid," Builderman explained as he finally secured the bandages around the cultist's very much mangled arm. "Kay' Guest, you can let the cultist go."

"Good, I'm pretty sure they were about to bite me anyways," Guest said, letting Two Time wiggle out of his arms and scurry over to Chance.

Builderman and Guest watch as Chance turns around a split second too late before getting tackled by the shorter survivor onto the floor. "How do kids fin' love these days?" Builderman asked as Two Time pampered Chance with kisses.

"Beats me, just nice to see some positivity," Guest replied. "Plus, 007n7 seems happier with those two around."

Just as Guest says those words, the hacker appeared from the kitchen doorway, carrying a tray full of snacks. "Hey..." 007n7 said as he notices Builderman's and Guest's stare. "Something the matter?"

"Not at all 7," Builderman answered, "Jus' talkin' bout' yer partners, wonderin' how love could ever be found in a place like this."

"Aren't you dating Shed-" "Anyways!" Builderman cuts 007n7 off, intentionally or not and waving off Guest's smile. "What're you up to? Doubt all that food is jus' for yerself, less you got Shed's appetite."

"Yeah 7, whatcha' doing with all that food anyways?" Guest backed Builderman's question up, looking at the hacker expecting an answer.

"Oh!- uhm... Me, Lucky and Timey are gonna hang out in my cabin tonight," 007n7 answered, a light blush spreading along his face. "We're gonna start hanging out more now that we're officially not hiding it..."

"Good for you, you deserve even a little bit of comfort like everyone else in this hell," Guest said, waving bye as n7 went out the front door.

007n7 walked over to a smaller cabin on the other side of the lake. He requested it from Builderman, mostly because he likes being secluded and partly because a retired hacker isn't a really good thing to have on your reputation. Sure the others were nice(except Elliot), but 007n7 doesn't want to bother them too much.

Going inside, he closses the door behind him, making a quick note of everything to make sure nothing was inside. The bed, table, chair, closet the rug and the little items on the window were all in place. He puts the majority of the foods onto the table and takes a snack bar for himself.

Eating on the bed wasn't a problem as there weren't any bugs to worry about here. The only animals they found were rabbits, weird birds and the very occasional deer(sometimes it would be a skin walker unfortunately...).

It won't be a while until Chance and Two Time would come over because he heard from Elliot earlier that they were gonna help him cook meals for the other survivors. It would be the perfect time for a nap, he'd probably wake up to Two or Chance cuddling him.

He lays down after throwing away the wrapper out of the window then pulls up the thin blanket over his body. Closing his eyes, he starts to drift off.

Only to be interrupted by the door opening. Peeking an eye out, thinking it was Chance or Two Time, he is surprised to see... Someone else? They were holding a crowbar and seemed to be inspecting the room, probably thinking n7 was asleep.

007n7 shifts slightly to get up, that was enough for the person to see him and close the door immediately.

"Hey!" 007n7 tried to shout after the guy, opening the door to see him gone. "Who... Gotta tell the others-"

007n7 sprinted around the lake to get to the main cabin, but even from afar, he could hear commotion coming from inside. Getting there and opening the door- he sees Shedletsky getting tackled by a person in thick scarves shouting curses as Builderman and Chance tried to get them off him.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!!! I'LL KILL YOU- WHERE ARE THEY!?!?" The person shouted, clearly being angered at Shed if the fighting wasn't enough to say that.

"Woah buddy- calm down, I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding," Chance said as he lifted the person off the ground, effectively putting them in an air jail of sorts. "And like, shouldn't you be worried about your own whereabouts? Instead of fighting Shed?"

"... I don't care. This guy- Let me go!!"

"Bud, we ain't lettin' ya go after tryin' to fight Shed," Builderman explained, patting Chance on the back. "How bout' if ya' agree not to try and kill poor Sheddy, we'll let you down...

...

As they bickered, 007n7 didn't know what to do. Sure he was gonna tell the others about a second person that the Spectre brought in alongside this one(which never happened before mind you), but they're all kinda distracted with the new person.

Except for Dusekkar who had just floated in. 007n7 walked over to the doorway where the admin of knowledge was, his eyes skimming the scene where the new person gets a ball from nowhere and nails Shedletsky in the head with it. Causing even more shouts from the distracted survivors.

"Hey Dusekkar!" n7 greeted, making Dusekkar turn his pumpkin towards the hacker. "Just needed to tell the others something but they're a bit distracted it seems..."

As 007n7 says that, he hears Elliott shout something along the lines of 'don't' and 'dagger'. (Probably because Two Time was readying their dagger).

"Greetings dear hacker, what brings you to me? Other than the commotion caused by the new person, you see," Dusekkar asked, pumpkin tilting slightly which unnerved n7 a bit.

"Well you see- uhm... That guy's not the only new survivor," n7 rubs the back of his head, looking away to avoid 'eye' contact and seeing Noob try to call the person down only to have a card thrown at her face. "There was this other one who I saw at my cabin, kinda... Ran into the woods before I could talk to them however."

"...Ah, I see, this is certainly news to me." Dusekkar slowly looks down, he forgot that n7 really doesn't like eye contact so he's doing this to show that he's not hostile. "Do not fret, the others will learn about this new friend. Do not worry about the survivor in the woods, you now that path always loops."

It was true, no matter how far they ran away from the cabin, looking for any sort of escape. They would always end up running back, one way or another.

"Okay, thanks Dusekkar. I'll be getting out of your hair right now," 007n7 said as he went over to the kitchen, not wanting to be part of whatever commotion that had now moved way too close to the front door. There was always the one in the kitchen anyways.

As he does that, the penguin now human is biting a gambler as a cultist, who was about to stab the previously a penguin, gets held back by a pizza delivery boy.

Chapter Text

Terry could care less about the fact that he got teleported into an unknown location with a bunch of people who went missing over the past 5 years. Even lesser at the fact that he was human. It just makes things easier for him to fight the motherfucker who is most likely responsibile for his friend's disappearance.

Shedletsky was still a bit dizzy from getting hit by the ball but he knows he saw 007n7 walk into the kitchen. He's tempted to follow the hacker in order to escape this random kid but his escape plans were once again foiled as Chance accidentally lets go of the new survivor.

After a bit, Shedletsky was nursing a black eye and the new guy was tied up on the other side of the room. Least the guy was calming down, sorta. He was still staring Shedletsky down for Shed knows what and Chance was unfortunately caught in the crossfire. They were in another room with Two Time getting their hand bandaged.

Now Builderman was standing in front of Shedletsky and the new survivor with Elliot to back him up.

"Alright bud, can ya' tell me why was the first thing ya' do after being teleported here was tryin' to beat Shed up?" Builderman asked, the question obviously pointed at the new survivor.

"Yeah, usually the first thing people do after getting here was ask the nearest person what the fuck was happening," Elliot followed up with Builder's question. "Definitely not beat up a well known admin."

"Except Two Time, kid was being cuckoo about The Spawn since day 1," Shedletsky interjected, getting a firm look from Builderman telling him not to fool around at a time like this. "Okay! I'll stop joking, jeez-"

Terry glared at Shedletsky as the admin continued to grumble in frustration, he then glared at Builderman and Elliot for tying him up. "Okay first of all, this guy is most likely responsible for an important person's disappearance a couple years back-"

"It's been over a year?-"

"Shush, and second of all. My name is fucking Terry, stop calling me bud or kid or whatever the fuck you guys can make up," Terry glared at Builderman in particular. "Now can anyone please tell me; why the fuck am I human and where in the SFOTH arena am I?"

Elliot seemed a bit taken aback at the guy's sudden focus shift but won't complain, he's not trying to beat the absolute shit out of Shedletsky anymore. "Well, you're in the Forsaken Realm as I and the other survivors got to call it, to answer your question."

"For yer' other question how'ver, what'dya mean 'why're ya' human'?" Builderman asked, confusion evident in his tone. "We're ya' not beforehand?"

"Of course not, I was a penguin, a talking one at that," Terry explained, Shedletsky immediately whipped his head over to him.

"Wait- Terry?! The fuckass penguin 1- er... [Player:Insert] hangs around with??" Shedletsky asked, a bit baffled at the fact that a talking penguin suddenly became a human in thick winter clothes.

"Ugh, yeah. Took you too fucking long to figure it out," Terry said with disdain and a deep scowl. "Also, why do you say Player's name like that? That's fucking weird dude..."

As the two continued to bicker, Elliot and Builderman looked at each other then back at them. Surprised that they know each other, I mean- it was probably given the fact that Terry hated Shedletsky for a reason. Just not the fact that they both knew each other personally.

"Uhm- you two know each other?" Elliot asks, raising his voice a bit in order for the two to hear him through the bickering. "Also, Shedletsky, what do you mean Terry was a penguin before? He looks pretty human to me..."

"No no, you don't get it, this 'guy' was a talking penguin. Had the eyebrows of the red bird in the mobile game as well-" Shed explained, like that cleared up anything.

"Yeah dude, I was a penguin before getting teleported to wherever here is," Terry followed up after Shedletsky as Builder untied him from the ropes seeing as the penguin/human was docile now. "Also, Builderman, didn't you go missing two years back? I also think I saw pizza boy over here, missing on the news."

"Heh, there're lots of things goin'on in this hellhole," Builderman said, not exactly answering Terry's question. "But yeah, everyone here has gone missin', but we honestly don't know the exac' timeline. Least I know me and Shed have been gone for two years, thanks to ya'."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now why am I human?" Terry asked once again, getting even more irritated that his question was being avoided. "Like come on man, you don't just decide to take a guy's feathers."

"Well-"

"Not you fatty."

":{"

"Oh-er, probably the Spectre's doing, the being that trapped us here," Elliot says being since he's not exactly what (ꁝŁS ርɹ𝖊₮ðᏒ) their torturer is. "Not like this was the weirdest thing it ever did."

"I'll kill it," Terry said, like he could beat an inter dimensional being who is currently writing his thoughts right now(What? Must've been the wind...). "I really want to go back home and eat some tuna right about now."

"I doubt ya' can do that kid, me, Shed n' Dusekkar are all admins yet we're still trapped in this 'ellhole," Builderman said, wanting to discourage this person as he worries for everyone's safety and angering The Spectre is a whole other problem.

"I agree with Builderman," Shedletsky followed up. "It can even pull people from whole other worlds, I mean- look at Guest! He's from a movie yet the one we have ain't an actor..."

"That's true, Terry. You probably shouldn't anger someone who could do that," Elliot said, pointedly looking at the 'penguin' who now had a deep frown on his face.

"Ugh, whatever. I don't like any of you dudes anyways," Terry grumbled, looking down at the floor but still thinking of beating whoever this Spectre thing was. "Anyways-"

"I sincerely apologize for interrupting your interrogation," Dusekkar suddenly floated in, interrupting Terry with Taph in tow. "There's just some news that you need to know."

(Bro can rhyme using my narration??? Sick.)

"😣🏃‍♂️🌿⬅️🏚🌲🌲," Taph signed too quickly for people to understand, the emojis above his head floating and dissapearing after a second. "🌿👦❓👨‍💻🗣️"

(Some new survivor ran into the woods instead of the cabin, some sort of plant person n7 said.)

"The fuck is that guy saying?" Terry asked, exasperated at the fact he's seeing someone talk in emojis. "Why he talking like that?"

"Ah, yeah, that's just how Taph speaks," Elliot said, waving at Dusekkar and Taph to get closer. "It's just how he is, don't really know why though."

"While our dear Taph's speech is interesting, the news I bring is rather surprising," Dusek floated closer to the 4 other survivors in the room. "This new survivor, Terry did not come alone as like the rest of us. A second soul had appeared elsewhere, met the hacker and ran into the woods, his whereabouts must be discussed."

Elliot stared at Dusekkar in disbelief. Two new survivors teleported at the same time? That was new. Sure some of them had teleported only hours after the previous one, like how Chance was here just 5 hours after Noob got here. But no one had ever teleported here at the same time, this was weird.

"A secon' one? Are ya' sure?" It wasn't a surprise that Builderman was skeptical especially since it was 007n7 who saw him, the guy was known for not being able to tell reality from dreams. Maybe n7 saw someone while asleep, woke up and thought it was real. "Ya' know how n7 is, never bein' able to know what's real or a dream..."

"While I know that the survivalist cannot fully be trusted, it wouldn't bother one to make truth of what he stated," Dusekkar said, trying to convince Builderman to just check it out.

"👍🏽🎃👉🏽🗣️❗," Taph signed once again, supporting Dusekkar's statement. "👌💣🎃👉🏽🌲🌲❗💣🎃☝👐🫥,🥺👮,👌"

(Yeah, what Dussekar said! We can go ourselves but we probably need a 3rd person, hopefully a sentinel, just to be sure.)

As Builderman pondered this plan for a minute, Shed pipes in.

"I can go! Need some fresh air anyways," He said, smiling at the thought of getting away from Terry(his past resurfacing). He gets up and bolts it for the door. "I'll wait outside for youz two, Taph and 𝔐𝔄𝔗𝔗."

Terry covers his ears in hearing Dussekar's ⱤɆ₳Ⱡ ₦₳₥Ɇ, Elliot and Taph merely flinch as they had both gotten used to the admin's calling each other that, Taph moreso.

"What the fuck was that!?" Terry was ignored.

"Wait, Shed, We haven't asked about how you know-" Elliot tries to call out, but Shedletsky had already shut the door. "Ugh. What's up with him?"

"Hello?? Can anyone explain the incomprehensible audio shit that guy pulled?!"

"It's probably nothin', 'sides, we could jus' ask Terry over here," Builderman said, placing his hand on Elliot's shoulder to try and comfort the kid about the lack of information.

"Ugh." Terry crosses his arms and sinks into the couch in frustration.

"May I inquire the Suddenness in our dear 𝕵𝕺𝕳𝕹'𝕾 quick departure?" Dussekar asked as he started at the door, hearing faint, impatient humming from the other side. Not really nothing Terry groaning and pressing his hands harder on the sides of his head at the sudden earrape. "I say, I have never seen his personality rupture."

"Eh, it's nothing probably. We'll ask Terry in a bit- oh," Elliot cuts himself off at finally seeing Terry's suffering.

"Whoops, forgot mos' folks don't really got tolerance 'gainst ol' tongue," Builderman commented as he watched Terry glare at him, still holding his hands onto his ears.

"✌👉🏽, 🎃💣👉🏽🏃‍♂️🪽," Taph signed, not wanting to be in the same room as the short tempered survivor, even if the idea of staying in the same room as Builderman is quite appealing. "🫴🎃."

(Peace out guys, we're gonna catch up to Shedletsky now. C'mon Dusekkar.)

Elliot watches as Taph drags Dusekkar outside before turning his attention back to Terry who was still glaring at him and Builderman. Welp. Hopefully he'll be cooperative?

He was very wrong.

Chapter Text

"I fucking hate these woods," Shedletsky said, kicking a rock into a tree. It lodged itself within the bark, splintered wood flying out, showing just how much strength the swordsman still had despite the Specter's influence. "Even if you walk the whole 4 kilometers, you'd still end up back in the cabin- why should we look for the survivor?"

"These woods are eerie and an inconvenience to trek, though it is necessary as the survivor doesn't see safety in the cabin yet," Dusekkar places a hand on Shedletsky's shoulder as he looks back to make sure Taph was still following.

The demolitionist had fallen behind, distracted by seeing an empty nest in the canopy above. Dusekkar tightens his hold on Shedletsky's shoulder, making him stop. The admin of knowledge turns back to fetch Taph as Shedletsky gets the silent message to not go ahead.

The sword fighter grumbles under his breath as he notices that Dusekkar had gotten stuck in conversation with Taph. He decides to just look around to see anything odd in the environment. Despite being skeptical about whether or not what 007n7 said he saw was real, he was glad to get away from Terry's confrontation about Player.

Player...

His pride and joy, his greatest creation, the hero who had a legacy that could've rival 2x2s, his greatest creation, his child-

Telamon's worst mistake.

Before Shedletsky could sink into his thoughts completely, he sees something. Something green that was snagged on a tree branch. Can't be a leaf because all the trees here were either black, or a sad shade of grey.

"Dearest Shedletsky, what has intrigued you?" Dusekkar asks as he approaches from behind, noticing how Shedletsky's eyes are squinted at something. "May I and Taph inquire to see it too?"

"❓🍗😵‍💫," Taph signs, the speech bubble above his head displaying emojis as usual.

(What's got you puzzled Shed?)

Shedletsky ignores them in order to approach the branch. Realizing it's a piece of fabric, he takes it and walks back over to Dusekkar and Taph who were still standing there, confused. He walks back and shows the other two what he had found.

"Some piece of fabric? Anyone in the cabin who wears green?" Shedletsky asked as he inspected the fabric.

"Our dear Noob wears green bottoms, though this particular shade is too vibrant," Dusekkar held his hand out, silently asking Shed for the fabric. "I do doubt our fearful companion would not wish to go into these woods, they would've been far too frightened."

"✔️,💛➡️😫🌲🌲🌲," Taph said as he looked over Dusekkar's shoulder in order to see the fabric more cleary. "💚🔆, 🤔🫥❓."

("Yeah, Noob would be top scared to go into the woods. The Green's too bright, who could this person be?")

"Dunno... Maybe n7 wasn't hallucinating the new survivor he was talking about," Shed said, putting a hand on his chin. Green fabric... Came with Terry... Hm...

"My dear 𝕵𝕺𝕳𝕹, you are troubled I can tell," Dusekkar pointes out, seeing Shedletsky stare at the fabric with that face of his. "If one could explain his thoughts, I might be able to help."

Shedletsky looks at Dussekkar, a far off look in his eyes and his brows furrowed. He looks back at the piece of fabric in his hands before waving Dussekkar off.

"It's nothing," He says when it's obviously not. "Just thinking about who this second survivor would be."

"Now let's go, the woods are gonna loop soon and the survivor might be ahead of us," Shedletsky pumps his fist into the air and turns around to continue walking.

Taph and Dussekkar spare a glance at each other before following in Shedletsky's steps.

They walk forwards, looking for any signs of this other survivor as Shedletsky filed the silence with banter. Mostly directed at himself which will only, and only be answered by himself.

Taph suddenly spots something hiding in the bushes before it darts away. He pats Dussekkar's shoulder in order to get his attention before pointing at where he saw the thing dart to.

"👁🫥➡️🌿🌿, 🏃‍♂️," Taph signs rapidly before darting off to pursue the mystery person. He didn't even care if Shedletsky or Dussekkar were following.

("I think I saw someone in the bushes, they ran that way!")

"My dearest friend, please do not go alone!" Dussekkar shouted as he floated after Taph, trying to keep the demolotionist in his line kf sight. "Being by oneself is unadvisable as this person's intentions are unknown!"

"Taph! Get back here!" Shedletsky shouts, but Taph couldn't hear him.

Taph had always been a fast runner, always running from those trying to hurt him. He was catching up to the survivor and he finally caught a good glimpse of the guy- green and red jacket, white skin, brown hair, a crowbar-

Taph would've caught up to the person but paused after hearing a ticking sound in his head.

---

"-I didn't know Shedletsky had a son," Elliot said in surprise. "Didn't see him as the fatherly type."

"Yeah, he did," Terry grumblee, giving a pointed stare at Builderman seeing as the guy already knew this.

They had been interrogating Terry ever since Shed, Dussek and Taph left an hour ago. Terry at first tried escaping, then tried biting, then gave the silent treatment before finally deciding to cooperate.

He had told Elliot about Player, how Shedletsky was sending them on a quest to find the SFoTH swords, and by extension Builderman. How Player seemed to slowly loose themselves after each li̶̶̶f̶̶̶e̶ sword they had taken. How Player went mad after a few days of holding the Firebrand. And how they had seemingly disappeared into thin air the night after.

"Builderman, do you know anything about this?" Elliot turned to the admin in question. Sure he knows Builderman wasn't there to see the events as he had been here in this hell when it happened, but Elliot also knew that Shedletsky would tell Builderman about everything that even slightly bothered him.

"Hm, can't say Shed had tol' me anythin'," Builderman lied, he knew full well what had happened. "Shed may tell me a lot of thins', but there're also thins' he'll keep secret, 'ven from me."

(It wasn't a complete lie to be honest.)

"So your telling me, Shedletsky hadn't told anyone about his kid?" Terry accusingly points his finger to Builderman. He pauses, looks at his finger, then continues to point. "That's fucking bullshit."

"Now now Terry, maybe Shed needed some privacy, could be in mourning," Elliot said, trying to calm the penguin-turned-human down, he seriously doesn't want more commotion from this guy. "We should shift our focus for now, you still don't know how rounds work, yeah?"

"Rounds? The fuck are those?" Terry watches as Elliot looks away and Builderman rub the back of his head.

It seemed that the two got so caught up with who Terry was and why Shedletsky was acting funny, that they completely forgot to tell Terry about the rounds.

"Well, ya' see kid," Builderman began. "The Spectre is the one that trapped us 'ere, yeah? It makes us play these games where we basically 'ave ti run 'round a map.

We gotta survive some killer of sorts," Builderman continued, this time sitting on the couch, keeping eye contact with Terry. "There're skills we gotta figure out in order to 'elp us survive said killer. We gotta figure out yours in the next round."

"A killer??? How many were you people at first??" Terry asks, suddenly very fearful for his own life. These people can die for all he cares.

"Don't worry, we just respawn back in here, death is not permanent," Elliot assured Terry seeing the not-penguin panic. "Don't think you can just hide and do nothing though, how well we do in rounds corresponds to how much food there is in the fridge."

"But the deaths are painless, right???" Terry looks at Builderman hopefully. With how Builderman cringes and looks away, Terry gets an answer. "Fuck this, I'll kill those killers..."

"Don't think we haven't tried," Elliot quickly warned Terry, knowing full well that killers would also respawn... Somewhere. "They either respawn or get angrier, they have more health and endurance than us."

" ...Whatever. I don't fucking care," Terry said, crossing his arms and definitely caring at the question of how long will he be in this hell. "When do these rounds begin anyways?"

"Ah, well, i's the Spectre's decision on when the roun' starts," Builderman answered. "We don' really got a choice of when they're happenin' and who's gunna be picked to 'play'."

"So there's a chance I won't be picked?"

"Nah, newbies like you and tha' possible new survivor are guaranteed to be in about... Two or three roun's."

"Damnit."

Terry grumbled under his breath, welp. At least he'll be able to get a gist of what these rounds actually do, and skills? Maybe they'll be cool. Actually, the skills might correspond to the cards he was carrying, afterall, he still managed to beat Shedfatty up with a ball.

Terry digs through his pockets to look for the cards he had carried before getting taken, yup. He's got the superball card and- that's it. He's onky got the superball?? How's he not notice?

Elliot looks at the guy confused at why he was holding a card and glaring ag it. Terry feels Elliot's stare and slowly turns towards him, changing to glare at him. Elliot slowly turns away, grimacing.

Terry was gonna say some sort of insult, but he hears- feels? A ticking in his head. Oh god- is there a bomb???

"What the fuck is that noise?" Terry asks and looks at Builderman, the admin also seems to be hearing it. Terry is not immediately going crazy, hooray.

"Ah, indica'or for when the roun's starts," Builderman answers, glad that Terry didn't freak out too much with thinking it could be a bomb. "Seems like 'nother one's startin'."

"Alraady? Some of us still haven't fully recovered from the previous round," Elliot says. "Most of the others didn't even get to properly meet Terry yet."

"Damn, I didn't get to curse anyone out yet. Wait- you're here!" Terry looked dissapointed at first then lit up at the realization that he could shout all his frustrations onto Builderman. He points at the poor admin who can't even get them out of this hell. "Fu-"

In the blink of an eye, Elliot, Builderman and Terry were gone. Guest walks into the living room, looking confused because he swore he heard something.

Oh wait. They're in hell, a round probably started and left him behind. He wonders if anyone else got left behind...

Meanwhile Dussekkar and Shedletsky are still after Taph, not knowing that the demolitionist had already been teleported into the map they call: Glass Houses.

Chapter Text

Hey, sorry about this but uh-

This is gonna be discontinued, I think?
I don't wanna abandon this, but I've honestly lost the motivation to continue it as well.
Everytime I think I'm gonna get work done- I don't.

It doesn't help that school is stressing the shit out of me, or the fact that I'm not even in either fandoms anymore.

I feel horrible at the fact that I'm only leaving this with only 4 chapters, but I just can't.

You can all just take this fic and write your own chapters for it.

Who knows? Maybe I'll get back to this...

Once again, truly sorry.