Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Robloxia.

The sprawling city, full of different sights and scenes every day, kept in control by the admins. There was practically something for everyone. Horror? There were tons of Roblox myths that were still unsolved to this day. Action? Tons of cities where that was the biggest thing there was, the most notable ones being fighting games. 

Now, some may believe that this may not be the place for them. Perhaps it wasn't. There could be something out there, beyond the bloxy borders of Roblox! All you had to do was find it.

...What, did you think you were talking about yourself?

Hell no! You loved Robloxia! Even when it had its bad moments, it was so fun!

Case and point?

Obbies.

God, obbies!

Something about them was just... chef's kiss. The bright and insane colors, the terrible music that got stuck in your brain, and the absolute trolls that loved to block your jumps. In fact, you were headed to one right now!

Of course, you had to make a quick pit stop on your way.

Bursting down the doors of your local pizza place, you called out in a cheerful song, "Oooooh Ellioooooot~!" Your call gained the stares of everyone inside the establishment. Builder Brother's Pizza was easily one of, if not the best pizza place in Robloxia. A constant flood of customers came in per day. You weren't here for the pizza though. You were here for your favorite worker and the only employee working at this time.

You were greeted by a tired sigh paired with a fond smile. Elliot gave you a small wave while he worked the cashier. "Give me a moment, I'm finishing this up."

"Ugh, you take forever though..." You hopped over the front counter despite the protests of the customers behind you and, more importantly, Elliot. Draping yourself over his shoulders, you shook him back and forth, making him sway side to side. He shot you a quick glare before finishing the customer's order with a smile. "C'mon, I found a new obby and I think you'd really like it! It's got pizza png's and everything!"

Elliot pushed away your face that had been steadily encroaching onto his space. Huffing, he pinched your cheek. "The last time you said that you decided to ride your magic carpet and flung me into the air!"

You whined back at him, "But you had fun, didn't you?" You fluttered your eyelashes up at him, oblivious to how he suddenly stiffened up and a pink hue crossed his usually yellow skin.

As he looked down at you, you gave him your best puppy eyes you ever had. Finally, he relented with a sigh. "Fine. Just wait till I'm off my shift, okay?"

Your eyes sparkled and you eagerly nodded. Mission successful!

At this point, Elliot was too used to your antics. He didn't even push you off his back, even as he served up pizzas to the hungry masses. You were like a clingy little parasite attached to his back. Having known him for a long time, despite how much he grumbled about it, he wouldn't dare to peel you away. Besides, you knew better than to get in the way of his work. As much as you loved to joke about him shoving you into one of the pizza ovens, he wouldn't actually set you on fire.

Nuzzling your cheek against his, you cooed, "I love you, Elli!"

"...Love you too."

Peeking into the pizza place, your smile dimmed once you didn't see your iconic blond at the register. Strolling up to the employee working at the moment, a woman with pink hair that you had seen before, you gave her an award winning smile. "Hey--" you squinted at her nametag for a bit "--Lulu! Have you seen Elliot around? He hasn't been responding to my messages or invites."

At the mention of Elliot's name, she sighed. "Yeah, we haven't seem him around either. He hasn't clocked in since... Monday? Which is weird."

That was especially weird. The Elliot you knew would never ever skip a day of work. "Alright, thank you!" You gave her a small wave before quickly rushing off.

You ran over to his house as fast as you could.

Knocking on the door did nothing. "Helloooo? Elliot?" Calling out to him did nothing.

Frowning, you reached down to lift up the doormat he had, grabbing the spare key from underneath. You unlocked the door and with a much more wary voice, you called out to him once again while stepping inside. "...Elliot?"

There was nothing.

Chapter Text

"Oof!" You landed onto a rainbow platform, the rotating red bar of death narrowly missing you by studs. Letting out a loud laugh, you gestured to the players who had followed you all this way to do the same. "C'mon, you got this!"

The most notable of the group were two yellow Robloxians, one being female with hot pink hair. The two were giggling with each other, holding hands throughout the entire obby. It was a cute, heartwarming scene. Maybe they were a couple? It'd be insanely cute if they were. It wasn't too often you saw stuff like that on Roblox due to the restrictions

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the one with pink hair jump for the platform and narrowly miss. They weren't going to make it.

You dove in, grabbing their flailing body from out of the air right as they fell. "Got you!" A grin was aimed at their way before you extended a hand to the other one, who was still on the other platform. "Here, I'll catch you too."

While you may not seem like it, you were surprisingly strong. All those days heaving yourself up platforms after running for miles doing parkour paid off well. The male visibly hesitated, shifting around for a bit, before taking the leap. You caught them in your other arm and heaved them both onto the safe side.

"T-Thank you!" The woman looked up at you with sparkling eyes, the male having a similar awestruck expression on their face. "I'm Jane, and this is my husband, John. It's nice to meet you." Her husband gave a small /e wave in response, smiling at you shyly. You returned the favor with your own /e wave.

"Nice to meet you too! Is this your first time on an obby?" It was always nice to be friendly towards new players. You weren't like some assholes who enjoyed shoving newbies into lasers or pushing them off platforms. In fact, you loved helping them out! It was always sweet to see them cheer whenever they completed one. At both of their nods, you leaned in a little closer. "Do you want me to help you both out?"

The two exchanged glances before nodding again. Heck yeah.

For the rest of the game, you carried the both of them around the obby. On particular jumps that they struggled with, you would hype them up even as they blushed with embarrassment whenever they fell. Jane and John were so sweet and polite, bumbling around like lost little puppies. They were adorable.

With one final /e wave, you left and hoped that one day, you'd see them again.

So!

Your best friend disappeared.

What now?

You totally weren't freaking out about it. Definitely not.

"Lulu, I'm going to go out and get some more supplies. You need anything?" Adjusting the red visor on your head, you poked your head into the cooking room, where the pink-haired girl was working on another pizza. Sausage, you think. You didn't really know, or care. Her pizzas never tasted as good as Elliot's.

You had taken on shifts at Builder Brother's Pizza in order to keep the business alive. Ever since Elliot vanished, the glue holding it all together threatened to collapse. He was the one doing all of the work; in fact, he was probably the only active worker. Until he left, and then the company was scrambling to find replacements half as good as he was. You came in to keep the business he loved so dearly afloat. It would break his heart if he saw his father's workplace fall to shambles since he was gone. It also was a good way to earn some extra cash on the side to take care of Mia.

Oh Telamon, Mia. The poor girl had become even more of a recluse. You had to drag her out of the house in order for her to get even an ounce of sunlight. Her brother's disappearance had completely devastated her, so you were taking care of her in Elliot's place. He left a lot of chores for you to do while he was... away.

(Where did he go? Where did Elli go? It felt so wrong to not have him by your side.)

"Yeah, we're running out of cheese. Can you get me some? Thank you!"

Lulu's voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

With a nod, you pulled out something special from your inventory. A rainbow magic carpet. If you'd ever played an obby, you would know what this was instantly. Whether you were the one riding it or the one getting knocked off platforms from it. A rideable inventory item that allowed you to fly to wherever you wished, leaving rainbow trails wherever you went. Your favorite thing in the whole world. Flying around just felt so freeing. Using the large pickup trucks specifically made for supplies was no fun compared to your beloved carpet.

(It... probably didn't help that it was also a present from Elliot. He had spent weeks scraping together enough funds and hiding it from you in order to gift it to you on your birthday. You remembered crying an insane amount that day.)

You hopped off the carpet once you arrived at the warehouse. Rolling up your sleeves, you began to steadily haul crates on top of the carpet and into your arms. There were only a couple Robloxians wandering around this street, so you weren't too bothered by having the entire backdoor open.

It also let you hear the conversations outside.

You weren't really paying attention to it much, focusing on your work, but there was only so much boredom you could handle before wanting to eavesdrop.

"Hey, isn't that the pizza guy's friend? What his name again?"

Oh? Were they talking about you? You listened in a little closer. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw two Robloxians pointing and whispering about you. They seemed a bit familiar. Maybe you'd seen them in the pizzeria before.

"Elliot?"

"Yeah, Elliot!" Then- "Thank Telamon that guy went missing. He was annoying as ####."

Your hands twitched.

"LOL yeah, he pissed me off so bad. Never let us in after we painted the walls." The two of them laughed together.

The rational thing to do would be to report them to a nearby moderator or admin and have them removed. The normal thing would be to keep loading these boxes, get back to the pizzeria, and work. That's what you wanted to do.

But...

Your hands clenched into fists. You hadn't even realized that you had dropped the box full of dough.

Elliot would be disappointed in you if you did this.

Elliot wasn't here to see you do this.

Hopping on to your magic carpet, you didn't even take a second longer...

...and you rammed into the two Robloxians, sending them flying. The only thing you heard was a split second of their screaming ("HEY1!!!1!!") before they were mere specks in the air. They would likely end up on the other side of the entire map with how hard you had hit them. Good.

You were lucky that there were no others around to witness you do that.

Now feeling a weight lifted off your shoulders, you let out a happy hum as you carried the last of the crates and flew back to work.

No one needed to know.

Chapter Text

Your head perked up once you heard the little jingle of the bell above the door. Manning the cashier role was so boring and tiring-- you gained a newfound respect for service workers after this. It was actually insane how much they had to put up with while being paid minimum wage.

Like, what do you mean you want a dairy-free pizza?! YOU WANTED CHEESE?!?!!11??? HOW WOULD THAT EVEN WORK!?!?1?@!!

Ahem, anyways.

"Can't believe the boss is making us take care of the princess..." One of their hushed grumblings caught your attention almost immediately. You watched as 4 people, all wearing suits, pulled up and walked in like they owned the place. Not like one of those rich snobs that owned several Domini and tried to wear them all at once. No, they were more self assured, like they knew they could own this place, but just didn't want to. The sheer confidence was astounding.

The other thing that caught your attention was the fat, fluffy white bunny perched in one of their arms. The one who was wearing sunglasses, even while inside. Strange, but you guessed that the fashion statement was iconic. Honestly, it was impressive in of itself that they were able to coordinate their outfits so well with each other. Most people only did pairs of matching outfits.

But the bunny!

So damn cute! Insanely fluffy with a glossy, polished coat and everything! You could see why she was called a princess by them, she definitely looked pampered.

The Robloxian with a ushanka hat strolled up and placed an arm onto the counter, leaning over with a confident smile. "Heeey! Can me and the boys get, uh..." Quickly, he turned to the rest of them. "What do y'all want?"

"Cheese 'n sausage!" Headphones chimed in, and the rest of them nodded. Easy and simple.

With a nod and a smile, you looked down at the buttons in front of you and moved to press them accordingly. "Alright, one cheese and sausage coming up! Feel free to take a seat-- oof!"

You felt a sudden weight on your chest, knocking the wind out of your poor lungs. Your hands flew up to grab whatever it was and you were immediately stunned by the feel of soft, fluffy fur. A quick glance down at what you were holding said it all: the bunny. "Oh, hey there, lil' guy...?"

"Ey!" The sound of the goons' exclamation made you flinch and unconsciously clutch the bunny closer to you. "Gubby, what the hell? C'mere!" The man with the top hat tried reaching out to Gubby, but she moved away, scrabbling her way up your shoulders and perching herself on your head. You had to shift around awkwardly around her weight to avoid dropping her on accident. Meanwhile, Gubby just chirped and burrowed herself further onto your head.

An awkward smile was on your face as you tried to pry her off of you. "Hey, uh, what do I do about her?"

She was NOT letting go. In fact, you thought she was digging her nails into your poor head.

The one with the sunglasses who had been silent the entire time approached. Carefully, he reached out and untangled the bunny from your hair despite her squeaking protests. Once she was secure in his arms, she looked to be pouting, turning away from him. They were not, in fact, on squeaking terms.

Customer interactions were what got you through this soul-sucking service job.

"...(Y/n)?"

You looked up from where you were cleaning the counter and froze once you saw the big man himself, Mr. Builder. Technically your boss, but you knew him better as Elliot's dad. He looked hesitant as he approached you, scratching at his beard. "I need to talk to you about somethin'."

That... didn't sound good. You nodded, placing the rag you were using away and wiping your hands. Giving him a bright smile, you trailed after him while nervously taking off your visor and fidgeting with it. "Yes? What'd you need, bossman?" The nickname you had dubbed him earned a small huff of laughter.

You were led to the manager's office, where you sat at the desk across from Mr. Builder. He quickly typed something on the computer before pausing, looking at you with exhaustion clear in his eyes. You never encountered him that often, but the darkness under his eyes mirrored your own. "What I'm going to show you is strictly confidential. The police and I have been looking over Elliot's disappearance and... I'd like for you to know this."

He then turned the monitor over towards you. Leaning forward, you looked at what he was showing you on the screen. It was a bit grainy, but it was some security camera footage.

And Elliot was on the screen.

You leaned forward even more, your eyes widening as you watched him, soaking up every second like a thirsty man starved for water in months. How long had it been since you'd seen Elliot move, talk, breathe? Too long. Your hand subconsciously gripped your visor even tighter. Elliot...

He... He looked like he was working the closing shift, wiping down the counters just like you were. Then, he moved to go clean the ovens.

Something made him look over at the backdoor of the pizzeria. His mouth opened and you could see some people come in, barely out of frame.

Then...

Then...

Elliot was grabbed. They lunged for him. Arms took him. Hands pried at him. Panic was written all over his expression, even though nothing could be heard through the footage. Someone shoved a gag into his mouth. Another tied his arms behind his back. He tried to fight back, but was quickly overpowered by them.

Distantly, you could hear Mr. Builder talking. "Elliot... He was a good employee, but he had a fair amount of complaints against him. It was probably because my boy was so dedicated to his job that people misunderstood him." You knew that already. You had witnessed it yourself. Elliot wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed in, and it got him into trouble when the two of you were younger. You hadn't known it would've ended up like this.

If you had known, you would've stayed with him during his nightshifts. Picked him up. Checked on him. Done anything, anything, to keep him here with you today.

It felt wrong to continue watching, but you did. Because you wanted to know what happened next.

They

shoved him

into the pizza ovens

and closed the door.

The video ended there.

You didn't need to watch any further. You already knew what that could entail.

"I thought you might want to know what happened to him." The words went in one ear and out the other. "We... never found his body. The footage cuts out there. We're setting up the funeral in a week or two. Mia, she... She doesn't know the full extent of what happened to him, so please, don't tell her."

"I won't." Your voice sounded detached, even to yourself. You stood up and kept your head bowed down. Looking at the floor.

"...(Y/N)? Are you alright? I know it's a lot to process, I mean, I also--"

Smile.

"It's alright, Mr. Builder!" With cheer in your voice, you looked up and gave him the brightest smile you could muster. It itched your cheeks and felt like you were clawing at your skin, tearing the flesh in order to form what could be called the semblance of a smile. It took Mr. Builder off guard, as he looked at you with shocked eyes. He was too stunned to react to your sudden switch-up. "I'll probably take work off the next couple of days."

Then, you left, ignoring whatever he had to say next. It didn't matter in the end anyways.

You already had your mind set.

You zipped up your old hoodie. The last time you wore this was in highschool, when you were going through an emo goth phase with Elliot. A small smile formed on your lips once you ran your thumbs over the small scuff marks on the cuffs of it. There was one you distinctly remembered. You were skateboarding with Elliot at a nearby skatepark and messed up, tripping and falling, but luckily, the oversized nature of your hoodie kept your palms from being too devastatingly scraped. Still, it left rips and tears.

It was helpful that it was black. Wearing all black made you feel weird, like you were peeling off your skin and replacing it with a new set that didn't fit right. Your typically colorful ensemble (meant to resemble those obbies that you loved so dearly) was stripped away. It wouldn't feel right if you committed this act while wearing clothes that you loved. You didn't want to dirty them.

May Two-by-Two forgive you-

No. There was someone who you cared about much, much more than that god, wasn't there?

May Elliot forgive you for what you were going to do.

Chapter Text

It was all too easy to clip into their homes.

You just went to a corner where there weren't any cameras and quickly turned your body, targeting the weak point and entering their house. Then, it was even easier to do what you did to them. 

You weren't too proud of what you did, but it had to be done. With a sigh, you sat down on the edge of an obby platform. It was an old obby, one that nobody visited anymore since they were off in search of newer, shinier, and harder obbies. But you still liked to come back to this one every once in a while because it was the very first one you played.

You took off the black clothes, slipping on your typical, brightly colored ones. You'd rather go out in a bang.

You closed your eyes.

Since this obby was so old, there was no spawn point.

You took in a deep breath.

A smile on your face.

Without second guessing yourself, you jumped.

You opened your eyes, like you were waking up from a sleep, eyes coming in and out of focus and your mind being hazy. You were so sure that you had died, what happened?

You were in a strange place. Dark, kind of weird location. Hell, maybe? The sky was dark and flickered with a bright red every so often.

You stood up on shaky legs, patting yourself down before deciding to wander around. It was strange. A weird carnival or circus that looked to be inspired by the fearsome beast, the Drakobloxxer. Strange that they would theme it around something that many Robloxians feared, but you didn't mind it. You actually found the creatures quite cute as long as they were a safe distance away.

Everything was rather dark and you had to squint to peer through the darkness. It was barely lit up, too. Rather bad business practice, but hey, this place seemed abandoned anyways.

Your eyes caught on to a large Ferris wheel and your feet automatically approached it. It caught your eye the most, being the tallest structure in this strange map. The low hum of a generator made you even more intrigued. Just what was this place?

"...(Y/n)?"

Someone said your username. Someone who's voice was all too familiar. You quickly whipped your head around and spotted the person who called your name.

"Elliot?"

Your feet moved before you could think twice about it.

"ELLIOT!" An overjoyed laugh tumbled out of you as you tackled him in a hug, feeling a physical body press back against you. Oh, it was real! He was really here, and wasn't just a hallucination! You could touch him, hug him, hold him again! HE WAS HERE! "Elliot! You're alive!"

Elliot was equally as ecstatic, the largest smile you'd ever seen on his face as you wrapped your arms even tighter around him. It'd been so long since he'd had a genuine hug like this. His eyes became shiny with tears as he laughed along with you, picking you up and spinning you around. "(Y/n)! You're here! ...Y... You're here..." His voice started to trail off, and ever so slowly, a look of dread creeping on his face.

You were here. You were here in this godforsaken hell with him.

He couldn't protect you. He was just a simple support, a mere healer. All he could do was throw pizzas around and pick up the pieces, only after you were injured. But he didn't want to see you injured. Not at all. All of his strength had left him the moment he ended up here. Even his speed, which he prided himself on at his job, had been completely nerfed.

"We- We have to go." Elliot quickly took your hand and dragged you behind a wall. He pushed you down low to the ground and crouched with you, whispering in a low tone. "I don't have much time to explain. (Y/n), this is hell."

"Pfft- yeah, it sure looks like that," you joked until he quickly shook his head, gripping you by the shoulders.

"No! I'm being serious! There's- There are these rounds, and we have to survive in each of them while being hunted down by a different killer each time." He panted a bit, catching his breath from how quickly he had spoken. Then, he pressed his forehead against your chest. The sound of your faint (but still there) heartbeat calmed him, and he let out a deep sigh. "Just... stay safe. Let's go fix that generator over there, and I'll explain more."

He couldn't lose you, not when he just got you back.

He ushered you to the humming generator, where he began to show you how to do the wiring. "Here. You're gonna want to connect the colored wires together. It's really simple, just like this."

You were trying your best to pay attention to what Elliot was saying, but you were distracted near the end. The sound of footsteps padding behind you. Approaching.

You couldn't lose him, not when you just got him back.

"Elliot, move! That's the killer!"

You moved swiftly, pushing Elliot down and standing up before him. You whirled around and saw the glint of a gleaming sword descending down upon you.

Elliot gasped. "Shedletsky--?!"

For some reason, you knew exactly what to do and how to move. A surge of power welled at your fingertips and you quickly spawned in the same gear that you used to remove those previous threats who took Elliot's life. There was nothing else on your mind except for protecting Elliot.

Extending out your arm, you ran towards the enemy and quickly spawned blocks underneath your feet, making a path to block the sword slash. He clearly didn't expect this as he gasped when his sword bounded off the translucent blocks. Before he could react and attack even further, you then spawned in a cart ride and rammed it into him, forcing him to sit inside of it. For a couple seconds, he was trapped there, forced to stay still and sit down. The man yelled at you but it just went through one of your ears and left through the other. "Hey! Let me go! Shoot, why can't I-!?"

You laughed in his face. "Why can't you leave? Fuck you, that's why."

Your hand slammed down on the up arrow. Over and over, spamming the button until it overloaded. Elliot stared in shock for a moment before running up to you and pulling at your arm, trying to get you to stop. "(Y/n)! Stop it! What are you doing?!"

Too late.

The middle button was pressed and the man was rocketed off, merely a speck in the distance. You could faintly hear the sound of him hitting the wall and taking massive amounts of damage but you didn't care. What you cared more about was how Elliot's grip on your arm loosened and he looked at you in horror.

A bright smile grew on your face. The same one that you used to give him whenever he left work and you were waiting for him eagerly at the door, excited to walk back home with him.

"Elliot! I did it! I protected you from the killer!"

You took a step towards him.

He took a step back.

Your smile fell a bit and you extended your hand out towards him. In return, Elliot flinched at the motion.

"...Elliot? Why are you looking at me like that?" Not moving any closer out of fear of what Elliot might react with, you extended out your arms, half-expecting a hug instead. "I protected you from the killer! That's what I was supposed to do, right?"

No response. Elliot just shakily shook his head, his shoulders trembling and quiet "no, no, no"s leaving his quivering lips. Tears began to drip down his cheeks.

That wasn't what you wanted to see. Not at all. You moved to comfort him, maybe reach out and wipe those tears away, but before you could, a fist connected to your cheek, blinding you with the pain. "Ow!"

You were stunned from the pain and has to stumble around for a couple of seconds before your vision cleared.

When it finally did, Elliot was gone and out of your sight.

Elliot couldn't breathe. No matter how hard he tried or what he did, he couldn't breathe. Even as Guest 1337 crouched down besides him and gently shook his shoulders to shake him out of it, he choked on his sobs and shook his head no.

You were a killer.

What happened to you?

The round ended before he realized it. He landed on the cabin floor, panting and heaving for breath as sweat dripped down his face. The words repeated in his head like a mantra. You were a killer. You were a killer. Why were you a killer? Why weren't you a survivor like him? You weren't like the rest of the killers. You weren't cruel, a hacker, or an exploiter. You were just... you. Kind, playful you.

He couldn't connect the two images in his head. One of you, who had held his hand and helped him throughout nearly every tough time he had, versus the one he just saw of you ruthlessly tossing Shedletsky away and killing him.

"Geez, Elliot! What the heck happened-" Shedletsky began to scold, before he opened his eyes and saw Elliot's tear streaked face "-that round..."

Dusekkar stepped up, placing a gentle warming hand on Elliot's back and rubbed soothing circles between his shoulders. "The new killer, the one full of cheer, is one that Elliot holds dear." Even though he didn't have any eyes, it was clear that they were narrowed at Shedletsky in distaste for his poorly timed comment. Shedletsky just shrugged awkwardly with a grimace.

Elliot was escorted to the dingy old couch where he was soon able to take a deep breath and calm himself down, albeit slowly. His eyes still burned with tears and his face felt especially grimy. "I... didn't know they were the killer," he croaked out.

"Hey man, it's alright," Chance reassured while patting Elliot's back on his other side. "Happens to the best of us. Do you wanna talk about it, orrrr...?"

Elliot hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. There was no way that he'd be able to speak about you before breaking down again for a while.

The rest of the day, Elliot remained silent.