Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You love your job.

In any person's mind, that would rule you out as a crazed person. Who wants to work in a world like this willingly?

On the surface, Robloxia was all rainbows; a cheery, colorful world that thrived on the creativity of its inhabitants. Everyone could do whatever they wanted, to create something ingenious, following a simple, cartoonistic building and coding system- and even make some good ol' Robux off of it.

It doesn't even have to be limited to only one concept; you can make accessories for others, you can create music- creativity is the base of Robloxia's earth, the sole reason 2x2 created this world to flourish.

However, as you dig deeper into the mechanisms of living in this world, it begins to show how much competition matters.

Robloxia is governed and overseen by a big, corporate-like group, blessed to set order upon Robloxians and keep the populace safe. They called themselves "Administrators", and if of lower order, "Moderators". As technology advanced, of course, a lot of them got replaced by... robots; even the leader of the whole group, "Roblox", was a robot...

Ever since Builderman, the first Administrator and second-in-command, had gone missing a few months back, things spiralled out of control; Robux was decreasing in value, and the method to receive a good amount of it became difficult; you had to make something outstanding, something that had people crawling back for more.

You could live in Robloxia without Robux, of course. A lot of Robloxians who don't have a whole lot of Robux are handed envelopes of it by the Headquarters so they can live comfortably, along with keeping "places" standing, but the Robux is obtained by visits from citizens to those places.

When you're a Robloxian who makes "places" or helps with the making of them constantly, aiming to entertain others and make Robux off of your creations, you are denominated as a "Developer".

The advantages of Robux to the average Robloxian are many. Nearly everything you want to buy by yourself costs Robux, and if you want to be independent of the Headquarters, the best course of action is to start stacking up on Robux.

The devaluation of the currency made Headquarters take more and more from Developers, causing outrage that has been going on for a few years now. Not to mention, due to a lot of Administrators and Moderators being robots now, the color from Robloxia is starting to dwindle. More outrage; it seems like Builderman's disappearance was the last straw.

You remembered there being another sort of currency called "Tix", which was gained by each individual visit to a place and was not taken away by the higher-ups, but apparently, some guys found out how to make tons of it using a loophole and ruined the fun for everyone. Cowabummer.

Nonetheless, you loved your job.

You were what is considered a mailperson, though you liked to call yourself a messenger.

You worked under the Roblox Headquarters for over 10 years. You do not remember what your life was like before you were a messenger.

What this job consisted of was delivering messages to a Robloxian's "profile" (you know, their home) or, at times, limited accessories to complete trading transactions.

Because you worked for the Roblox Headquarters, especially since you're a long-time employee, you had a lot of benefits! A pretty lavish home, more gains than the average Robloxian, and... well, not much else.

You still like your job nonetheless; someone opening their door up when you had a limited item in hand and their face lighting up was a mood-lifter. Or seeing people eagerly walk up to their mailbox to check the newest message they got, most likely from a loved one.

Yeah, maybe you got jumped on the street when you were trying to deliver limited items, and yeah, maybe you end up delivering to the weirdest locations that end up super far away- but it was just part of your work.

This delivery you were doing today fell under the category of "far away and strange". You had long since wandered off from the initial postal office and your city altogether. This would be the last delivery for today, the sun setting down on the horizon...

Really, you were oblivious to the dangers of wandering off so far from your hometown, even ignoring the creepiness of your surroundings as you bounced your step to the beat of the song in your headphones.

You were walking along a road, the only thing you were able to see in your surroundings being a dense forest.

You stopped walking as your watch vibrated against your wrist, signaling that you had walked off the location you were going to.

Backtracking a few steps, you looked around until you spotted a pebbled path splitting up a part of the forest up to a... house; run down one that screams "do not go in there". You don't know how you missed that.

You got a few shivers down your spine, your own body telling you not to go to the creepy as hell house, but you shrugged it off. A delivery is a delivery.

It was a long walk up there, for sure. Maybe it was because it felt like the trees were starting to suffocate you, looming over like judging angels, or maybe the fact that you couldn't see any woodland creatures.

Pausing your step, you tucked the box you were delivering under your arm and turned your music off to listen in for any noise- nothing. No leaves rustling from wind, there was no wind in the slightest, even... Not even a little chirp from a bird.

You frowned, turning your music back on; you didn't like silence, especially since it felt so quiet, like you were frozen into a picture.

By this point, you were growing increasingly nervous, picking up your step and hoping to get it over with. The closer you got to the house, the more your gut twisted into itself.

Your hands trembled as you stepped onto the porch. There was no ringbell, which meant that you had to knock... so, with three pounds against the door (you didn't even mean for them to be that loud, but you were so nervous your strength slipped), you waited, fidgeting with the pen hanging on the front pocket of your uniform's vest.

Nothing for two solid minutes. There wasn't a single noise behind the door; no signs of life. You pound on the door again. No response. You shout a "Hello!?" at the door. No response. "Delivery!", No response.

You didn't notice how the sky, your surroundings, had become increasingly warped with red and black, something heavy pressing down on your chest, foreboding.

...Well. You're certainly not staying in this oppressive silence any longer... Leaving the box by the door, you turn around and get ready to bolt-

The door bursts open, and the wind that was supposed to be bellowing out in the forest decompresses from inside the house. It whips at your clothes, and it makes you jump out of your skin.

You didn't even get to scream before hands- a multitude of them -gripped you. Your sides, your legs, your face.

You flail, you try to swat at these hands, but you feel nothing as you make contact with them, as if you were cutting through mist.

You try to open your mouth, but you get a handful of something like dust going down your throat, making you choke and weaken. It seemed to have a sort of lulling effect, the fight in you diminishing. You were barely standing, and you were surely going to fall onto the floor soon.

The hands dragged you into the "house", revealing that there was nothing in there but a void. You couldn't face whatever was holding you so tightly, only being able to watch as the doorway and the outside went further and further away from you; however, the hands covered your eyes, messing up your slowly blurring vision further.

Then the door shut, and you were enveloped in darkness.

Chapter Text

C00lkidd played around with sticks, as usual.

He found that he couldn't fall asleep, filled with unusual energy... But he knows that if he tried to bother the others at the castle, he would either get shooed away or scolded. Even when he tried to play during the day with them, he would not get entertained, except by Slasher. He likes The Slasher.

So, the kid decided to go on his self-acclaimed "daily adventure" that consisted of collecting rocks or dead flowers, making his famous "potions" with water and dirt, or hitting every tree in sight with a cool big stick he found. After all, this forest was an infinite playground!

Infinite playground, but not infinite fun.

...

C00lkidd stared down at the drawing he made in the dirt with his cool, sharp stick, before flopping to the ground and groaning due to boredom. He's not getting enough brain stimulation right now. This sucks!

 

He lay down on his side, staring absently before he saw an unusual color in the middle of the dark, brooding forest out of the corner of his eye. Beige? The little monster blinked owlishly, and realizing he wasn't making stuff up, he scrambled to get up with joyful curiosity. Something new!

Picking up his trusty stick, he slowly approached; maybe it was like... a trap, or something! But upon a closer look, he realized it was just a cardboard box. Awh...

...And a passed-out person a few feet away from it! Wowie! They were face down, limbs twisted in a way that looked very uncomfortable.

Taking more interest in you, he walks over with a bounce in his step. C00lkidd starts to poke at you with the stick, thinking you're just taking a little nap, but you don't wake up. 'Must be a pretty deep sleeper...!' he thought to himself, mischievously giggling.

The kid turns you over with ease, this realm blessing him with more strength than a 9-year-old should have, and starts poking at your face. You aren't even making a twitch! He raises an eyebrow.

Then C00lkidd gets a good look at you, his eyes lighting up when he realizes what exactly you were wearing. You looked like a mailperson; he remembers seeing people wearing your uniform hovering over the mailbox in front of his house. For some reason, his papa used to get a lot of mail.

He eyed the pen in the front pocket of your vest. Lifting his head and glancing around left to right, he pocketed it... He doesn't have many drawing tools at the castle, okay!?

The kid also noticed your messenger bag resting on the ground near you, and being the nosey critter he is (plus paper!), he emptied the bag and took the remaining letters, not having the heart to take much more; your bag.

...Because he couldn't take the cool-looking watch off your wrist! Seriously, it felt like something was physically preventing him from doing so...

However, C00lkidd's snooping rampage was not over yet! No, no! He needed to open that box; he was curious. Plus, it didn't look like it was yours, sooo... What's the harm?

After bringing the cardboard box closer to himself, he ripped at the tape with his claws with uncharacteristic precision. Opening it up, he quietly gasped.

There lay a bedazzled, black fedora glinting in the moonlight, and C00lkidd had stars in his eyes as he picked it up and gently turned it around in his hands. It was so pretty that he was scared of ruining something, for once. It was so shiny, too...

He glanced around again, making sure no one was watching... then he stuffed the things he very politely borrowed from you in the box along with the expensive-looking hat. He knows someone who would like that fedora a bunch!

Then C00lkidd turned towards you, passed out, and left alone in the cold, windy night, in the middle of a forest. He made a concentrated hum, realizing he was stuck in a predicament.

He didn't want to leave a possible new friend and playmate alone in the cold! He imagined how you would look, confused and probably lost after you woke up from your nap... but he couldn't take you to the castle. No, no, some of the others were mean and a bit rough!

...Well, the kid knows someone who could take good care of you!

 

007n7 was awake, even though he should be sleeping, running on 4 hours of rest. Why wouldn't he be? Most people who are stuck in a hellish loop of life and death get stuck with insomnia, too. It's not like he didn't deal with it before getting stuck here, but it got worse.

Because the day never came in this weird world, the group of survivors calculated when they should all be sleeping; at least 18 hours after they woke up, usually. However, some of them struggled with sleeping, the paranoia of the killers being able to break into their house affecting them, along with some of their other personal issues.

Their little group of insomniacs consisted of him, Guest 1337, Elliot and Noob. The rest were, most of the time, zonked out already. 007n7 wished he had that ability...

007n7 was idly sitting by the fireplace in the living room, liking the warmth that it gave him on such a cold night, and toying around with his small copy of the c00lgui.

Guest 1337 was pacing around the living room, alert. Ever since that one incident with 1x1x1x1, where they broke into the cabin and killed a few survivors, he has to do this for at least one hour until his anxiety wears down.

Noob and Elliot were in the kitchen. Elliot couldn't fall asleep because he was making extra pizzas, scared that he would run out of them in the upcoming rounds. Noob, not doing anything productive but fiddling with their sleeves and dazing off into space, offered to help him.

Shouts of a very familiar, childish voice that sent alarms blaring through all of their minds disrupted the atmosphere. It was coming from outside the cabin.

007n7 and Guest 1337 stared at each other in the living room for a hot moment, waiting for another shout. Elliot and Noob stopped their quiet chatter in the kitchen.

"Hellooo...!? The lights are on!" It was C00lkidd. What the hell was he doing here?

Guest 1337 got close to the window that gave him a clear view of the porch, peeking in through the curtains to make sure... yeah, that's C00lkidd, and he had a fainted person beside him, on the ground. The soldier felt more tension build in his body.

"Hey! I see you...!" C00lkidd whined, noticing Guest 1337 staring at him through the window and flailing his arms; he was losing his very short patience!

The kid watched the blue-haired man back up and disappear behind the window's curtains, making him childishly fume in silence. He doesn't like being ignored very much.

C00lkidd didn't know that the survivors were panicking inside of the house, Elliot and Noob even leaving the kitchen to see if their assumptions were right. The two of them, along with 007n7 and Guest 1337, were in the middle of the living room, grouped together as they spoke in low voices.

"Yes, he's outside." The soldier confirmed, and the rest of the group either furrowed their eyebrows or frowned. "He... bought a person along. They seem to be knocked out, however."

C00lkidd kept shouting from outside, probably waking up the rest of the survivors. 007n7 glanced at the door, but he decided to listen to his fellow survivors before his paternal instincts kicked in.

"Like, a normal person?" Elliot asked, tilting his head. Guest 1337 nodded; you certainly didn't look like a killer, from what he saw... but he could be wrong.

"...Someone should go ask him what he wants...?" Noob quietly suggested, eyebrows furrowed. "I mean, if he wanted, he would've barreled the door down already..." They pointed out.

Elliot and Guest 1337's heads turned towards 007n7 immediately, making the latter blink owlishly. Really, the ex-hacker should've expected to be chosen; he was C00lkidd's dad.

Guest 1337 fixed him with his gaze, seeming a bit hesitant- but Elliot? Oh, he seemed to like the decision wholeheartedly; what's wrong with a little family reunion? The little family that made his work harder for no reason... Yeah!

With the brightest smile, he ushered 007n7 over to the front door. "Yeah, you should go talk to your son, eh?" 007n7 glanced back towards Guest 1337 and Noob helplessly. Guest 1337 crossed his arms with obvious concern in his eyes, and Noob gave him a nervous, pity-filled smile and a shrug. Agh, damn it.

He got pushed outside with surprising gentleness coming from Elliot, who slammed the door shut behind him. 007n7 was now exposed to the full coldness from outside, making him shiver despite having a fluffy jacket on (courtesy of The Spectre; couldn't have their dolls dying repeatedly from their realm's climate).

C00lkidd perked up, seeming to get excited after realizing who it was. "Pa!" It looked like he was going to pounce on his dad, but remembered what he was here for, so he kept his joy suppressed... for now.

"Hey, kid..." Even though there was clear tension on his body, prepared for a surprise "tag", 007n7's eyes softened at the sight of his little monster as he approached. "What are you doing out here?" He had the urge to crouch down, but he remembered that C00lkidd was much taller now, having to lift his head to properly look at him in the eye.

The impish child's beady black eyes shone with restrained energy, even his little imp tail showing how excited he was to see his dad (not even running away this time!) by wagging wildly, taking a deep breath through that perpetual smile of his, and beginning to explain-

"SoIwasplayingintheforest-" C00lkidd's shaky hand mannerisms and rapid-fire words made 007n7 laugh under his breath; yes, he remembers him getting excited like this when he came back from pre-school when he was younger, usually because... he had no one else to talk to. The ex-hacker frowned to himself.

His son tried to explain it in the best manner possible, but when he, for obvious reasons, started running out of breath, 007n7 reminded him to take breaths. C00lkidd got a bit embarrassed and shortened the story.

Found a person taking a nap in the middle of the forest. Realized they were new. Couldn't take them to the killers' hideout, so he took them here. Of course, he left the small detail that he politely borrowed a bunch of your stuff, knowing that his dad would scold him for it.

Unceremoniously, he picked up your fainted body by the back of your vest, like holding a kitten by the scruff. 007n7 tensed at the way C00lkidd held you up, scared that he would drop you and harm you.

C00lkidd lightly shook you as he held you out towards 007n7, as if telling the ex-hacker to pick you up; the way you'd shake a bag of treats at someone, telling them you'd share.

"...Kid, leave them on the ground." 007n7 instructed him, which made C00lkidd lit up and drop you on the ground, nearly hitting your head on one of the stairs in the front of the cabin. The ex-hacker had to hold back letting out a sigh and facepalming.

"That's all I wanted to tell you!" The younger chirped, swaying side-to-side on his spot.

The other nodded, relaxed; with the casualness of this interaction, he forgot that C00lkidd had snapped his neck a few hours ago, his brain seeming to shape at what he missed: the normal life he wanted to lead before all of this happened.

However, when his son got close, it seemed that reality hit him like a damn brick; although, it was more of a reflex. Waiting for that hand, roughened up by his condition, clawed and uncared for, to wrap around his neck and make his vision blur- but thankfully, that did not come.

C00lkidd wrapped his arms around 007n7. An innocent, warm embrace, even swaying him a bit; it was so casual that it reminded him his son had no idea what even goes on in this twisted limbo. He was waiting for him to hug him back, making a confused noise when he froze.

The ex-hacker shakily raised his arms up, wrapping them around the younger. With his cold hands against C00lkid's back, he could feel how much his skin condition had worsened, even the jagged shape of his spine, how skinny he felt. 007n7 forced himself to stay composed.

Satisfied, C00lkidd pulled away. "Okay, I gotta go before the others get suspicious!" He energetically waved goodbye to 007n7, as if he were going off to school.

"Bye-bye, Papa!" The little monster scampered off, skipping and excited to go back to his treasure: that cardboard box. He marked the path to it with rocks, so it should be fine!

Meanwhile, his dad wore a haunted look on his face as he waved back slowly, watching him go. It wasn't until C00lkidd was far away enough that he let a small tear roll off his cheek. For the love of 2x2, he preferred his kid snapping his neck; his chest hurts.

007n7 stood there for a good 30 seconds, staring off into space and not fully processing everything going on in his mind after that, but he snapped out of it when he glanced towards the ground, remembering your limp body.

With sudden urgency, he went over to pick you up in a bridal carry, checking on your pulse before making sure he wasn't putting any stress on any parts of your body- he held back a gasp when he saw injuries on your wrists, ankles, and neck- mainly bruises, but there were a few cuts here and there. There was a struggle before your death...

The ex-hacker paused, however. You were... really warm, it surprised him. 007n7 had to hold back from just nuzzling straight into the temperature of your body, finding you to be quite the comfortable, if not a bit heavy, heater. It's almost as if you didn't even die.

He needs to stop stalling. The others need to check up on you, and his arms were getting tired.

007n7 stepped up the stairs, trying to knock on the locked front door while holding you; obviously, they locked the door, it's a basic security measure considering one of the people who hunt them down daily was outside their house.

Guest 1337 opens the door for him, and upon seeing you limp in 007n7's arms, he lets him in immediately, not even minding how the ex-hacker accidentally pushed against him in his hurry.

He ignored the new presences in the living room- Builderman, Shedletsky, and Dusekkar, looking like they recently woke up; most likely due to C00lkidd's shouting -and beelined for the couch, setting you down on the cushions and even trying to position you so you could rest comfortably.

Everyone awake surrounded the couch, looking down and inspecting you, well, except Elliot, who, upon seeing the injuries on your body, immediately rushed over to the kitchen to get a spare medkit.

After a bit, most of them backed off; Dusekkar and Builderman stayed by, still inspecting. 007n7 sat on the floor by the couch, Guest 1337 leaned against a wall, arms crossed, near the fireplace, and Noob and Shedletsky took their spots on the smaller couches.

"One of your mailpeople," Shedletsky stated the obvious, lying lazily on the couch; the big, bold "R" on your vest, similar to the one on Builderman's zip-up hoodie, couldn't say anything else. "Do you recognize them?"

Builderman raised his eyebrows at Shedletsky. "There are thousands of 'em, of course I don't." He shook his head.

Dusekkar, meanwhile, trailed his fingers along your injuries. He could feel something pulse up his arm as he did, an energy that he had witnessed in this realm and this realm only; it confirmed suspicions. "This did hurt hath not been caused by a human handeth, but by a dark call."

"The sky?" Noob questioned in their usually quiet voice, watching your body closely. Dusekkar nodded.

"The hell is... whatever it is, punishing a random mailperson for? They look normal." Shedletsky asked a question none of them had the answer to. Nearly everyone here had at least some sort of bad blood or misdeeds crawling on their backs.

Elliot finally came back with the medkit, hearing the question in passing, and voicing his own speculation as he kneeled in front of the couch. "Well, they can be normal and still get dragged in here, right?" He was a good example of that case.

"I just hope they're nice to get along with." 007n7 voiced, quiet, an inner thought that wasn't meant to escape his mind, but the rest seemed to share the same sentiment, some like Shedletsky and Guest 1337 even nodding. They were already a colorful, odd bunch; they didn't need any more infighting.

"..." Comfortable silence fell upon them as Elliot checked up on your wounds, getting a few items from inside the first-aid kit: antiseptic, bandages, and such. His main worries were your cuts, but hopefully they would heal fast.

The rest went to do their things; 007n7, Guest 1337, and Noob going to their rooms to at least get some sleep before the "day" truly begun, Shedletsky and Builderman going off for a small, starting patrol since they weren't falling asleep any time sooner, and Dusekkar went to the kitchen to prepare ingredients for breakfast.

When Elliot finished patching you up, he noticed how his eyelids fell, even his own body slouching; if he didn't pat his cheeks, he would've fallen asleep onto you.

He was wandering to the kitchen again, but Dusekkar stopped him at the doorway, reassuring him that breakfast could be on his hands today, along with watching over you.

The pizza deliveryman felt relieved, smiling thankfully at the hovering pumpkin man. "Thank you, Dusek..." A yawn threatened to escape his lips.

Saying good"night" to the only remaining person awake in the cabin, Elliot went to his room.

It was only a matter of time until you woke up now.

Chapter Text

Two Time woke up in their usual manner: cheery. Happy, because they were blessed by The Spawn every waking moment, its gaze roving over them and their actions. They need to be worthy at all times, which means there is no place for displeasure.

Rising and shining with a joy that shouldn't be there due to their situation, they did their morning routine... kneeling by their bed and praying, showering, brushing out their perpetually messy hair, putting on their clothes, cleaning their dagger...

The cultist hovered over their roommate, 007n7, as he slept soundly, looming over him. It seemed like the ex-hacker felt their piercing stare through his sleep, because he rolled over and covered himself up with his blanket further. It made them smile to themselves.

Two Time left their room, seeing nobody in the hallways. They're used to waking up earlier than the rest, so they decided to go on and head towards the living room. There, a good smell wafted in through the kitchen.

Peeking in through the doorway curiously, they were expecting the usual sight of the pizza guy slouched over the kitchen counter, making breakfast with practiced ease—but instead, it was Dusekkar today. Unusual, the cultist observed. It seemed like the old wizard was making pancakes; despite their bits of bad blood, Two Time had to admit that whatever the other was making smelled good.

Well, they guessed they had to wait for breakfast. Passing by the couch, Two Time felt a sudden, warm feeling go through their body, something in them telling them to look to the side and down at the cushions, almost forcing them to.

They did what their urges told them to do, probably had to do with The Spawn's blessing that ran through their veins, but nothing could have prepared them for their own reaction.

...A new face. Your face. But the sight of it made their mouth go dry.

You were lying there, facing towards the ceiling and sleeping innocently, a blanket draped over you. You seemed injured, at least from the bandages on your neck, they could deduce that.

Two Time didn't know what it was, but there was a feeling in their body that told them to go closer to you, and they obliged. It was like their head was full of fluff all of a sudden, getting on their knees in front of the couch and their hands going to rest on your cheeks, like they were magnets to iron.

The cultist shuddered as their fingers twitched against your skin; they could feel it. A vague pureness beneath your skin, one that swam through your blood like it was natural. Not the pureness of one of The Spawn's angels, no, no... it felt humane. Light.

They breathed heavily, one of their hands leaving your cheeks so they could place it up against your nose and mouth. They left your steady breaths against their skin and shuddered once again. Warm and alive.

Two Time hadn't felt this nice, soothing feeling coursing through their body since Az...

They got bonked on the head.

Hissing, the cultist's hands immediately got on top of their head; the spot that they had very rudely gotten hit on.

"Follish cultist, what art thee doing?" Dusekkar. He had abandoned his cooking to hit them on the head with his staff. "They art healing and don't necessity thy creeping while they rest." He sounded mad; rightfully so, Two Time went and immediately started touching the newcomer as they slept.

They huffed as they stood up, shooting a death glare at the other when they fully composed themselves. "Is it any of your business?" They retorted, tone sharp.

The air was tense; it was obvious that it was building up to an argument. However, Dusekkar decided to keep his silence, not wanting the rest of the resting survivors to wake up. Two Time seemed satisfied with this, opening their mouth for one last retort-

You shifted.

Dusekkar and Two Time froze, watching you groan and curl up into yourself on the couch. Seriously? Out of all the times, you were waking up now?

They both shared a glance that said "this is not over yet", before straightening themselves up like they were lining up in the military. At least they both shared the sentiment of not knowing how to make a proper first impression.

You opened your eyes for a split second, but immediately groaned as you felt your eyes get burned by the ceiling's light, drowsily putting your hands on your face and shielding your eyes. Your head pounded.

You had been fully expecting to wake up in your bedroom, believing that what happened with the misty hands was a nightmare. So when you let your eyes get adjusted between the gaps of your fingers, you were confused as to why you were on a couch.

Then you turned your head towards the ceiling, hands off your face, and saw two... faces? hovering over your lying form. You didn't know if you could count the pumpkin head. Either way, you drew in a sharp breath, startled, and they both took it as a sign to back off.

Finally, you sat up. Your body was screaming at you not to, sharp pain going through your body, but you felt the need to. Maybe these people were dangerous, and these surroundings didn't look familiar in the slightest.

The walls were made out of wood, just like the floor and generally the rest of the cabin. There was a fireplace behind the two people who had been hovering over you moments prior, and overall, just a cozy cabin. You couldn't see outside because of the curtains, though, so you didn't know any escape routes other than flying out of a window or breaking the front door down.

Two Time and Dusekkar waited for you to finish with your early fretting; the wizard had even let his wooden staff on the table, showing that he didn't mean harm.

After giving them a good look, you finally recognized them- in your postal office, you had a board with missing people posters pinned on it... not to mention, you had seen that pumpkin head floating around Headquarters in the past: an ex-administrator.

The realization made you relax for a few seconds, before tensing up again: if you were here with missing people, then really, where were you? Not to mention, you could feel bandages wrapped around your waist, your neck, your wrists, your ankles and such; places where those damned hands had gripped you. It confirmed the reality of that altercation.

"We're... fain to seeth thee awaken." Dusekkar began, hesitatingly, in an attempt to break your fitful train of thought. He and Two Time could see your expression morphing with each word in your head, seemingly getting more and more worried.

The wizard's gaze was concerned, but the cultist's... they were watching your every move with a smile on their face and no soul behind those eyes. It unsettled you just a bit.

"Where am I?" Your voice croaked, demanding answers.

"I'll get you a glass of water." Two Time beelined to the kitchen, which made Dusekkar raise an eyebrow. They were never so... cordial? Never offered to do things for the other survivors, or give them things; when they did, it was never fully genuine, mainly an aid that benefited the other person and themselves. He'd have to keep a closer eye on them.

The floating figure took a deep breath, "...Well-"

Shedletsky burst the door open, "Rise and Shine, campers!" he shouted, loud enough to wake up the rest of the survivors. Builderman slapped his shoulder, shushing him. They were back from their early patrol.

Dusekkar flinched, while you fell off the couch with a scream.

 

"So... basically..." You started, voice freshened up after the glass of water Two Time gave you, trying to process anything you were told in the past 5 minutes, "I am stuck in a loop of life and death. I can get killed, but I'll get revived either way." A nod from Shedletsky, who was sitting to your right.

"At any time of the day, a part of the group of survivors gets picked to get hunted down by creepy killers, and they have to do a certain number of objectives so these 'hunts' stop for the remaining time of the day...?" You continued.

A light interjection by Builderman, sitting at your left. "There ain't day 'n this world. It's an eternal night outside."

You furrowed your eyebrows, but didn't think about it much. "Okay. And, uh, there's no way out?"

"Believeth us at which hour we sayeth yond we has't hadst many tries, but none of those has't been successful," Dusekkar spoke solemnly, sitting on one of the smaller couches.

"..." You wordlessly put your face in your hands.

"You'll get used to it eventually." Shedletsky tried to comfort, patting your back from where he was leaning against the back of the couch. He knew his words were a sweet lie, though; nobody has gotten used to this cruel reality, and it's been a year.

Chapter Text

Dusekkar went back to making breakfast, knowing the others were going to wake up soon. Shedletsky and Builderman busied themselves in their own private conversation, a bit away from you. Two Time stayed near you, but didn't bother with conversation... yet. You were still mourning the life you lost.

Honestly, a part of you wanted to believe it was a joke; it just couldn't be, it had to be some sort of cruel prank. However... it didn't seem like Builderman, your highest of your higher-ups, would do something like that. Maybe Shedletsky; you've heard of his past... jokes. Like wandering around Headquarters with a chicken onesie on.

Two Time inched closer to you, bit by bit. Usually, they had words, but the radiance they had found just by touching you had intimidated them a bit.

Descending steps sounded from the stairs, meaning that someone else had woken up. When Two Time saw who it was, they sighed.

That fedora on their head and the way they dressed, more prim and formal than the rest, with their crisp suit, immediately gave them their outstanding look. They had salt-and-pepper colored hair, a bit of stubble, and they wore headphones and sunglasses... inside the cabin. Not to mention the way they greeted everyone with a flourish: "Good morning!"

Chance. Someone got his beauty sleep.

Shedletsky and Builderman greeted them in return: a "good morning" from the former and a nod from the latter. Two Time did a slack wave.

You turned to face Chance, and upon seeing you, he did a double-take. A newbie? At this time? It's been months since a new survivor arrived!

"Well, hello there!" The gambler immediately approached you with a smile, which made Two Time back off with a frown on their face. Damn it. They were always so talkative. "New one, I assume? Unless you've been hiding somewhere this entire time."

Your mind had a bit of whiplash; you were left to sulk, and now this person was approaching you, smiling brightly like nothing was wrong.

"Ah, no- I'm new." Your words stumbled out, still having a headache as well. All of this was making you hurt.

"Name?" Chance asked as he leaned forward against the back of the couch, his coin already in his hand, flicking through his fingers like a cool trick. You got distracted with it until he stopped the coin, letting it rest in his palm and waiting.

"Oh, sorry." You apologized, telling him your name right after. They echoed it, testing it out before nodding.

"So... have you been shown around?" Chance grinned, wrapping his arm around your shoulder too comfortably. However, you didn't know how much you needed the friendliness until now.

"No, I haven't." You shook your head, but smiled back at them tiredly. Getting to know your surroundings better would be best, wouldn't it?

"Let's go, then." He rounded the couch, getting in front of it and holding his gloved hand out for you to take. You grabbed it and stood up; your legs hurt, especially your ankles, so you stumbled a bit as you stood up.

You could feel Builderman's worried gaze being directed at the back of your head, but you did a flippant gesture with your hand as you glanced back at him, telling him not to worry about it.

Chance dragged you off to the kitchen first. "Obviously, this is the kitchen- oh, hi Dusekkar!" They waved at Dusekkar, who looked exhausted from making so many pancakes. Either way, he waved back.

"Most of the time, you'll find Elliot here- have you met Elliot yet?" The gambler asked you, and you simply shook your head. "Well, he's this guy- blond hair with orange highlights, looks straight outta an advertisement, always wearing this worker's uniform... He looks like he's named Elliot?" He liked to talk, but you didn't mind it; it was an accepted distraction.

"We don't have rules for the kitchen, just don't go wasting our resources. We're only so lucky," You'll keep that in mind for certain; from the sounds of it, they don't have much.

Chance kept showing you stuff and dragging you along, definitely having more energy than you. The small stage, the section of the cabin that looked like a diner of sorts, the paintings... and also mentioned their favorite part of the entire place, the gambling machines that were set upstairs.

They showed you the zone where the survivors came back to if they survived a round, presenting to you the blackboard that was nearby and telling you that you can leave a message any time, even though everyone can just... talk to each other like normal people. Now they're in the middle of showing you the big hallway with each of the survivors' rooms.

"This room is Builderman and Shedletsky's." He pointed to the first door closest to the staircase. "They made the sleeping arrangements, so if you have a complaint, go to them." Yeah, that made sense.

"Do they make the rules around here?" It was obvious to you, but you still asked.

"Yep. Bossy-bots." Chance snickered, nudging you. "Anyways, the next room is Dusekkar and Guest's- wait, who have you met so far?"

"I got here like... I don't know. A few hours ago, probably? I only saw Shedletsky, Builderman, Dusekkar, and Two Time." You answered quietly, leaning a bit towards Chance. They didn't mind; you were oddly warm, actually, so it was comforting.

"Have fun with all the introductions." He poked fun at you a little, and the realization made you sweatdrop; you don't know how many people are here, but with the amount of doors down the hallway... You hoped you could remember all of their names.

The gambler pointed out each door one by one. Their room, which they shared with Noob and Elliot. 007n7, a name that made you widen your eyes, and Two Time's room, and the one the furthest down the hall, was Taph's.

"Pretty sure Taph's gonna be your roomie." Chance pointed out, walking up to the last door, "The only reason they let him sleep by himself is because he was very adamant about it. Surely, with someone new around here, they're gonna fill that gap."

You were about to say something as Chance was about to knock on the door, but it opened by itself.

A figure stood in the doorway, face obscured by a hood, along with the fact that they were wearing a bandana around the lower half of their face. Said hood was part of a black, golden trimmed robe, the trimmings outlining the opening of the robe having moon runes written on them. They also had a black belt with a yellow buckle on, and a yellow pouch with an 'A' written on it.

You tilted your head at them, and they tilted their head as well.

"Good morning, Taph." Chance greeted him, wrapping their arm around your shoulder and pulling you close. "This is a newbie, their name is... Uh." You told them your name again. "Yeah!"

"👋! 🤔💭🧠🛑💬? (Hello! Do you know sign language?)" Taph signed to you; you didn't understand anything but the wave, so you waved back with a sheepish smile. No, you didn't know sign language.

The other slumped, turning towards Chance and signing to him instead. "❓➡️👥(Is this theirs?)" He stepped to the side, letting both you and the gambler have a look at the room.

The left side of the room was obviously Taph's due to the black and yellow color scheme on the blankets and the carpet, not to mention they had a bunch of traps lying around their bed like they just... belonged there. You recognize one of them to be a Subspace Tripmine, a gear commonly used in places. Their closet was open, which was full of robes, different colors, but theirs.

The right side of the room... was pretty plain; it had a bookshelf near the closet, full of books you liked, and a lot of papers on the bedside table. Its color scheme was your favorite colors. That side of the room was very much yours, but it did unsettle you just a bit; how much did the entity behind this know about you?

"Hmmm. Seems like it." Chance tapped his chin, turning towards you, who was looking pretty disturbed. "Does that look like your room?"

You gulped some saliva down. "Yeah, it... does."

"Don't worry! All of our rooms were decorated to our liking like this when we first came here. We don't know why." You blinked, deadpanning. Thank you, Chance. That was really reassuring!

"Anyways, Taffy, breakfast should be done in a bit. Let's go wait downstairs?" The gambler beckoned them over as they dragged you off to the living room, and Taph followed. Chance had just been leading you around like a lost puppy, but honestly, you kind of were at the moment.

As you got to the living room, the three of you noticed that nobody was there. Instead, Shedletsky and Builderman were sitting on the dining room table, and Two Time was leaving the kitchen, most likely going to wake up the others. Dusekkar must've told them that breakfast was nearly ready.

So, you guys went inside and sat there as well; Chance made you sit next to them, and Taph took your unoccupied side. Builderman and Shedletsky were still off in their little world... seriously, you wondered why the hell they were so attached to the hip; yeah, probably friends for a long time, but seriously.

To pass the time, the gambler asked you whatever question came to mind to get to know you better, still flipping that coin in his hand. You wondered if he had an emotional attachment to it or if it was there to cure his boredom. Taph, on your other side, kept listening to your answers attentively, mentally jotting down your answers; favorite music, favorite color, favorite food...

Two Time came back with two people behind them. One of them fit the description of 'Elliot' that Chance had given you perfectly, and the other looked like an average noob; you didn't mean that in a mean way, it was genuinely a type of person back in Robloxia. Just like bacons, acorns... guests. In fact, you were sure this one was the "Noob" person Chance mentioned.

Well, this noob had a bit more flair though. Faded scene-like hair, definitely hasn't been re-dyed in a while, a snake bite piercing, and generally just scene clothing, though it was covered by a pretty big jacket. You wondered why.

Chance was not lying about the "straight out of an advertisement" part about Elliot's appearance, though, and that wasn't only because he looked pretty. You could definitely recognize him as Builder Brothers' Pizza's poster boy; who couldn't? That pizza place has been relevant for the past 15 years- not to mention, his sudden disappearance had to be one of the more impactful ones.

Elliot, upon seeing you awake, brightened up instantly. He went over to you, the noob following behind. "Oh, you're awake! I'm so glad!" He... sounded as cheery as he would in the advertisements, as well.

"Hello. You're Elliot, correct?" You greeted politely, "Chance has told me about you." You're using that as a cover-up; it would be quite awkward to mention the past advertisements, the ones they had to replace.

"Yup! I was the one who patched you up, actually. Are you feeling alright?" He leaned against the back of Chance's chair, looking at you as he asked. "Those bruises looked nasty."

You weren't going to mention the dull ache you've been trying to ignore this whole time; you didn't want to bother Elliot further. "Mhm! I've been able to walk around, at least."

"That's great," The pizza guy's smile was radiant, it kind of made you want to shield your eyes. Elliot's smile was gone momentarily when he turned back towards Noob since they had tapped his shoulder. His mouth did an "O" shape before moving to the side and letting you take a good look at the person behind him. "Oops, sorry."

"Hello." Noob smiled in the best, non-awkward way they could, a tooth gap present, greeting you with their quiet voice. "I'm Noob. What's your name?" They felt a bit silly saying their name outloud; they very much looked like a noob.

Elliot facepalmed mentally when he realized he didn't ask for your name as you told it to Noob.

Noob repeated your name, continuing: "Welcome to hell, I guess." They shrugged as they said that, and it made you laugh a little, both of you trying to find a bit of humor in the situation.

"Thank you for the warm welcome." Seeming satisfied with the interaction, Noob and Elliot went to go sit on Chance's side, in a way where Noob stayed between Elliot and Chance.

You caught Two Time's ever-so-piercing gaze from a corner of the dining table, furrowing your eyebrows at the fact that they sat all by themselves, separated from both Shedletsky and Builderman, and the little group forming at your side. They averted their eyes, choosing to stare at the table instead.

You should go talk to them later; yes, you were told their name, but you would like it if you could introduce yourself properly. Even if they were a bit... creepy? Two Time's gaze seemed to always be piercing through you, but you didn't know why.

You stopped thinking about the subject when another figure went through the doorway, making your eyebrows rise at their appearance: is that... a guest? You could tell from their paper-white skin, their purely black pupils, and their blue hair.

Chance had mentioned a "Guest", but you expected it to be someone with an unusual name, just like the rest here. You haven't seen a guest in years, not ever since... they were kicked out of Robloxia.

They were wearing a fur-lined jacket over a military uniform, a dog tag hanging from their neck. You couldn't see what it said due to the distance. Their hands were clad in fingerless gloves, but you could see the bandages under them. They had their hair pulled back into a small ponytail, and... a big burn scar on the right side of their face.

You snapped out of it when the guest just stood there, arms crossed, as they let you stare at them head to toe. Blood rushed to your face out of embarrassment, which made them huff a laugh and nod at you, going to sit beside Builderman at the other side of the table. Seemed like they were going to introduce themselves properly later.

Shedletsky had been staring at you "check out" the person, which made you want to deflate into your seat and die. What good impressions you were giving today, huh...?

The chatter in the room lifted, with 9 people present. "Guest" had joined Builderman and Shedletsky's conversations, and Taph had stood up to go talk to Dusekkar as he finished up breakfast, while Chance, Noob and Elliot chatted in their little trio. Two Time was fiddling with something under the table.

Only one person was left; you could tell from the count of names you did while Chance was dragging you around. If you recalled it right, it was "007n7". You knew that name. You would be surprised if you didn't remember it.

007n7 was a very popular hacker back in the day. You remember the headlines on the news clearly, mainly attacking Builder Brothers' Pizza, but also some other places as well. He only left people injured physically, thankfully, never dead, but you've heard the mental effects those attacks have had on some victims.

The memories make you gulp some saliva, your mouth feeling dry. Exploiters have always been a big deal, some being worse than others, and actually killing people. They were an upsetting topic for most, mainly because attacks were so frequent back then, so big, that there is an 8 in 10 chance that one of your loved ones was affected by them. They still happen today, but thankfully, the administration has gotten sharper.

So when said man comes into the kitchen, your growing fear stops.

007n7 met your gaze and saw the recognition in them, then shrank in on himself, something like immediate guilt flooding into his features. He broke off the eye contact, speedwalked to one of the dining table's corners, and sat there, much like Two Time. Huh?

From what you could see, the exploiter didn't really live up to the pictures. Not in a bad way, you mean it in the way that he didn't live up to the intimidating photos that had been taken of him. You remember 007n7 looking more... villain-y, wrapped in code like he wasn't even human.

And from where you could see him, he looked like a sad puppy; the average Robloxian that you'd see out in the street. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, not realizing how your constant piercing stare was making 007n7 even more uncomfortable. He was as quiet as a mouse.

...You might interrogate him later, just a bit. After introducing yourself.

You didn't get to dwell on the hacker's presence for much longer, since a plate with a stack of two pancakes was placed in front of you by Dusekkar. Finally.

Thanking the exhausted-looking wizard, you dug into your breakfast like the rest did.

Chapter Text

Breakfast went by easily, much to your relief. You expected everything to be tense, considering the history some people had in the very room, but they had already spent a bunch of time together for them to be neutral.

You had observed everyone while they ate, sneaking stares at them. Yeah, maybe you had a bit of a staring problem, but you liked to get to know people by watching. You always had that sort of gift. People stood, spoke, presented, stared, and walked in a way that it was hard for you not to get curious to dissect; you did this in your job a lot.

Some of the more obvious things: Shedletsky and Builderman as a duo both seem to be the iron fist among them, and you can't say you find that surprising, especially for Builderman. You guessed he knew best about dire situations and planning, being the second-in-command for Robloxia.

Two Time and 007n7 were not really included, and they didn't seem to be talking to themselves either. You could get why someone wouldn't want to get along with 007n7, but you sure did wonder what Two Time did to get pushed to the side like that.

Though the rest got along rather well. You expected some of them to be a bit more closed off, especially "Guest" with how serious they looked, but you heard the latter having a pleasant conversation with Elliot between bites. Maybe they're nicer than you initially thought...

The reason why guests had been banished from Robloxia is because of their lack of identity; of course, they had their own appearances and numbers to identify them, but when they were guilty of a crime like exploiting, they couldn't be arrested, either because of their lack of an actual name, or because they could blend in with other guests.

So, you were glad that after helping Dusekkar and Elliot with washing the dishes (you felt like you needed to), "Guest" was waiting outside the kitchen in the living room. He was sitting on the couch, coexisting with Chance, who was flipping that coin again. You wondered what attachment they had with it...

They felt your gaze on them, looking in your direction. "Guest" seemed pleased, standing up and walking towards you, holding their hand out for a handshake as they approached. You didn't really know what to do in a handshake, so you held their hand. Not minding it at all, they shook your weak-willed hand in their own, firm one.

"Greetings." You found their voice pleasing; it was deep, but just the right amount; it's the kind that would lull anyone to sleep. You felt your hand drop to your side when "Guest" let it go, forgetting that you were supposed to return your hand after a handshake. You were just... really fond of this guy's appearance, that's all.

They said your name, and you snapped out of it. Right. "That's how you're called, correct?"

With a nod, you finally decided to speak. "You're a Guest," you said it matter-of-factly, it was clear as a window to you.

"My denomination is 1337." They answered your unspoken question. Guest 1337... sounded like a bit of a mouthful. Hopefully, if you guys bond, you can give him a nickname.

"I have a few questions... Do you mind coming with?" Guest 1337 spoke politely, nodding towards the front door; he wanted to go outside.

"Not at all." You replied, soon after trailing behind the man as you both went outside.

It looked intimidating. There were a few other cabins in front of the bigger one you just exited from, but they seemed unused. Maybe the other survivors used them to store things, or something...

What took your attention the most, though, were the tall, dark trees. They were very similar to the ones you saw before you were taken here. The forest surrounding the zone looked never-ending, like you would get lost if you dared to walk in there for five minutes.

The last little detail was the dock near the cabin, a bit broken off and made out of seemingly withering wood. It led out to a body of water that also looked never-ending, just like the forest, with a few rocky structures sticking out of it.

Guest 1337 sat down on nearby wooden steps, patting the spot beside him since he could see how tense you were; not in exactly the way that you were scared, but simply awkward and not knowing how to navigate the unknown space around you or what you were allowed to do and not do.

You sat down wordlessly, staring at the side of his head with curiosity.

"I only bought you out here because people like to butt into conversations in the cabin. What I have to ask you is pretty important." The veteran reassured, continuing after he saw you nod and paying attention intently.

"So, as you know, we have to fight to survive here. It's not exactly a choice; some of us have tried to give up completely in retaliation, just to get a way worse punishment in the end. I do not suggest doing that." His voice dipped into a warning tone at the last part.

You hummed, tilting your head. Shedletsky and Builderman have told you about things in very general terms, like an overhead summary; you had an idea of what to do when the rounds began, but it wasn't exactly the most formulated one.

"Do you have any idea of what you could do to help us?" Guest 1337 asked. "We can classify you with your abilities, and we can give you tasks to do in the middle of the round like that. For example, since I can throw a nasty punch and fight back just enough, I'm tasked with holding off the enemy."

You shivered at the thought of being given an objective like that. Guest 1337 didn't look phased at all with it, though, as if it was just normal for him. Well, it's been a long time since they've been in here, so it must be.

"Ah, well..." You pondered it. "I'm pretty quick on my feet, if that works?" At your job, you would always find packages and letters that were supposed to be delivered a long time ago. Since nobody else wanted to make the delivery, you would put yourself up for it, but it meant that you were always in a hurry to get it over with. The further away the location was, the worse it became.

The soldier nodded, taking a note of that in his head. "You could maybe pose as a threat if you're quicker than the killers. A distraction?" He noticed how you frowned at the hypothetical job you were given, and quickly tried to make up for it. "Or, maybe..." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hm. Do you know how to wield a weapon?" Guest 1337 changed the topic with another question.

"...Nooo... but I could learn?" You were starting to feel a bit sheepish; you seriously didn't know how you could contribute, outside of doing generators, but you didn't want to feel like dead weight. It was a need of yours, that feeling of usefulness.

You felt a hand on your shoulder, startling you quite a bit; you forgot how friendly contact was, but you had to admit, as you saw Guest 1337's reassuring smile, you felt yourself melt like butter.

"Don't worry about it too much. We'll figure it out as we go, we have... forever, I suppose, to adjust you in." His tone had softened, and that serious face he always seems to have on by default was nowhere present in his expression.

"...Thanks." You spoke lowly, not used to vulnerability at all. You really need to work on your expressions, they're always giving your thoughts away.

With a pat on your shoulder, Guest 1337 stood up. "Well, that's all I wanted to ask you."

"You can explore, take some fresh air. I'm sure you need some time for yourself." He isn't wrong in the slightest. Just thinking about the people inside the cabin, the number of them, how much talking you'll have to expose yourself to daily... it makes you a bit nervous. You were more of a "drown yourself in work like it brings you life" kind of person.

"Alright. Thank you, again..." You expressed your gratitude once again, standing up and dusting yourself off. The veteran wordlessly goes back inside the cabin, and you can already hear what you recognized as Chance's voice talking to him.

What you wanted to explore first were the smaller cabins. They were a few meters away, so it wasn't like walking up to the front door of one of them was difficult or long. The sad thing was, after checking all of their doors, they were all locked. So, either the others locked them, or they were always locked. You tried peeping through the windows, but to no avail.

You did find a bunch of bricks at the back of one of them. A pile of them, as if something was being constructed... but as you looked around, all of the buildings were finished up. Curious. Maybe they were leftovers.

...You played with the straps of the messenger bag; you didn't take it off since you woke up, even if it was empty. You knew it could handle a lot of weight, since it had to store way too many letters to keep up with daily.

Well, you had more messenger bags in your room, so a little test couldn't hurt, right?

You took it off but held onto it, then reached for a brick on the pile. You put the brick in the bag, then held it up by the straps; not a single sound of snapping fabrics or the sort. You swung it back and forth like a pendulum, rose it up and brought it down, slung it against a wall- your bag wasn't breaking at all.

Then you grinned, nodding at yourself and mentally praising yourself for your ingenuity. You could definitely use this as a sort of weapon; you can't bother to be too soft around here, from what you've been told. Even better, this brick felt especially blunt and hard. It's perfect...

The celebration didn't last long, though, since you suddenly heard a ticking clock in your head. Huh?

You looked around, but there were no clocks. Just the forest and the back of the cabins... so then, what was that?

You got close to the cabin, thinking maybe the absurdly loud, ticking clock was in there, just to hear chaos from behind the walls; hurried footsteps going upstairs or downstairs, and quiet chatter in the living room.

You entered, and the one closest to the door, Elliot, immediately took notice. He grabbed at your wrist to drag you in closer, hurriedly, and spoke in a rush. "You hear the ticking, right?"

You were insanely confused, but nodded. "Yeah, I heard it all the way from outside-"

He grabbed your shoulders, lowering his tone. "Alright, don't freak out, but you were chosen for a round, and in... 15 seconds or so? You're going to get teleported."

You blinked, struggling a bit to process what Elliot was spitting at you in rapid fire. "Oh." You said dumbly, but the other took it as a sign to start speaking again.

"Everyone in the living room is going to be in this round, so make sure to remember that, and- oh! Stick by me and Builderman! And, um, if you have any medkits, I would appreciate it if you gave them to me, and, if you hear music getting louder, it's your cue to run-" He was really nervous, you could tell.

"Calm down. I know most of that." You tried your best to reassure as you cut in. "I'm sure we'll do okay, don't worry about me too much. I have ideas, okay?"

Elliot paused for a good three seconds, but then nodded. "Yeah-"

Your vision suddenly went black, like you got shot in the back of the head, blurring around the edges and making you dizzy. Jeez, is this what teleporting felt like here? You felt like you were on an amusement park ride.

...Yeah, Elliot forgot to tell you to close your eyes.

 

Difficulty: ★★★★☆

Health: 80

Regular Speed: 15

Sprinting Speed: 27

Stamina: 100

Stamina Loss per Second: 10

Stamina Gain per Second: 20

PASSIVE - All In A Good Day's Work.
"You love your job a bit too much." - ???
For each objective completed, their Stamina Loss per Second decreases and Stamina Gain per Second increases by 0.8. It caps at 6 and 24 for their respective stats.

PASSIVE - Hurry!
"What do you mean this package was supposed to be delivered a month ago, John?!" - MC
Both of their speed stats are higher than those of their fellow survivors.

ACTIVE - Heavy Cargo.
"All aboard!" - MC
Lunging at their teammate, they will carry them if successful for 10 seconds; due to the added weight, they will get Slowness I. If a killer hits them in this state, all the damage supposed to go to their teammate will go to them.
When this ability is over, they will drop their teammate and get Tiredness II, their stamina decreasing more rapidly for a short period of time.
If the active is failed, they will scrabble against the floor and get Slowness II.

ACTIVE - Surprise!
"Are you sure carrying that doesn't make your back hurt?" - Elliot
Using their messenger bag with a trusty brick in it like a flail, they will swing at the killer's head with it. If hit upfront, the killer will gain Confused II, but if hit on the back of their head, the effect will increase to Confused III with Helpless I on the side.

Chapter Text

You had fallen onto your knees, feeling so dizzy you couldn't keep yourself standing, almost throwing up on the grass; you clutched at the ground, keeping your mouth shut just in case your body betrayed you, your eyes closed at a bare attempt to stop the nausea.

You were so preoccupied with not releasing all your breakfast that you didn't notice hesitant footsteps stopping right beside your head, a gaze burning through the back of your head with pity. You didn't even have the strength to jolt when you felt someone dragging you... somewhere. You opened your eyes at the touch, but couldn't see anything.

You were set down and propped against a wall. You would've tried to stare at whoever was holding you, but you feared that if you even tried to shift your blurred vision to anything but what was ahead of you, you would grow even dizzier.

The ache in your head faded away in the next 20 seconds, and you could finally stand up. There was a tall wall made out of dirt right in front of you, extending out to the sides and not allowing for more space. So you chose to peek behind the wall, observing from that side instead.

You could see one of the beginnings of a big, grey arch, extending to somewhere you couldn't see. It was too foggy for you to see where, and not to mention the trees and walls that were all around. You could see some sorts of grey buildings that looked like bases, but they either seemed too small or had too many entrances.

Then you caught sight of a burger out of the corner of your eye, the little yellow head on it had turned around to stare at you with its black beady eyes. You blinked down at it.

Ah, that was 007n7's hat. He was crouching down on the floor, completely focused on a screen that was attached to what looked like an electric generator. The screen displayed a flow puzzle; various dots of different colors were meant to be connected. Every time he did a puzzle correctly, a congratulating "ding!" rang out, the bar attached to the front of the generator filling up.

You didn't say anything, just watched as he did his work, his tongue poking out of his lip. You assumed those were the generators that had been mentioned to you by Builderman... they didn't look that hard, but maybe because you haven't tried them yet.

You also noticed that the generator had three screens attached to it, meaning that you could do a generator with up to three people... You would help 007n7, but it looks like he got it.

Halfway through the third puzzle, 007n7 finally glanced to his side, noticing you standing by him and watching silently. He sucked in a sharp breath, forgetting momentarily he had left you behind the nearby wall so you wouldn't be seen in plain sight.

"Oh, hello." He muttered quietly, turning his head back towards the screen. You greeted him back, not even moving from your spot, and still watching him do the generator; he expected you to have wandered off by now.

It took him a bit longer to finish the fourth puzzle; the knowledge that your stare was being directed at him had made him a bit nervous. When he finished it, both of you stood there for a quiet moment.

...

Yes, you decided to drag 007n7 along with you. First of all, you didn't admit it yet, but you were a bit scared of the thought of someone lurking in the shadows, waiting for the best moment to strike. Second of all, he experienced this already, countless times; he knew his way around a killer and your surroundings better than you did.

Every once in a while, you would hear noises: mainly distant rattling, laughing, or ringing. You brushed it off, thinking it was some sort of ambience put in by the entity behind all of this torture, to scare the survivors and keep them on their toes. The other didn't tell you anything about it, so there wasn't anything wrong, right?

007n7 seemed a bit confused at first, not used to someone constantly wanting him by their side, but after a minute of wandering around and searching for generators and items, he accepted. You didn't talk much, didn't prod, just stood by him. He did notice you had to forcefully slow down your speedwalking, though, being much faster than him.

However, there was an elephant in the room he wanted to address.

"So, uh..." The ex-hacker began, a bit hesitant, as you both did a generator. You seemed to have gotten a pretty good hang of them, relaxed and in your element. He kind of felt bad for bringing the possibility of making the air between you tense.

You affirmatively hummed, letting him know you were listening, so he took it as a cue to continue: "You know who I am."

"Yes." You nodded, casually. It made him furrow his eyebrows; you looked a bit too calm. I mean, he remembers the recognition in your eyes when he first walked into the kitchen a few hours ago; it haunted him a bit.

Initially, everyone at the cabin had treated him a bit harshly due to his violent past, and he totally could get it. It's taken him months to make up for everything he's done, especially to Elliot, who had gotten night terrors after not only his hacks, but also his son's hacks done to his workplace. Repeating horrifying hallucinations in front of someone's eyes and even making it seem like people were dying in the pizza place was horrible; he was well aware of that.

So... for you to act about it so casually? It was a matter for him to stare at.

You felt his confused gaze on you, and answered his questions without a pause: "Ah, well... Considering the situation we're in... It wouldn't be wise for you to do something like that. I also doubt you can hack that well here, either way." It was logical for you; 007n7 got nothing out of that.

"Also, you look..." You gestured at his face with a hand. 'You look like a puppy, left on the side of the road, in a cardboard box, and in the middle of the rain.'...? You decided to put it into better terms. "...Sad. Like you've got a heavy burden on your shoulders."

"...Really?" The past exploiter didn't think his face was that predictable, but he was wrong. The dark eye bags under his eyes, that constant frown on his face, his constant unkempt state in general...

"Yep. I don't know why you're surprised, I wouldn't look happy to be here either." You didn't know why he looked so worn out; what you said was one of the reasons, but he had a pile of those.

007n7 made an unreadable face, not knowing what to think of your resolutions and "obvious" answers. He didn't have much of that time to think, though, because the air drastically changed, a faint, distant amber alert followed with heavy footsteps.

You thought it was a weird ambience thing, again, but the ex-hacker immediately grabbed at your wrist and dragged you behind a wall; the generator was nearby it, you both were inside a building with four entrances, so it was a swift change.

You looked rightfully confused, and 007n7 looked even more confused at the fact you didn't move from your spot when hearing footsteps, heavy as lead, going in your general direction.

General direction, thankfully. The killer hadn't gone your way, seemingly focusing on someone else, the heavy footsteps and loud alarms fading in another direction. Good, 007n7 thought to himself; he didn't need to get involved.

"...That was the killer." 007n7 pointed it out like it should've been obvious to you.

"Wait, all the noises I've heard are from the killer?" You tilted your head at him; that didn't sound like music, and you were only told to watch out for that. "I thought they were auditory hallucinations."

"Oh, don't worry about that. As far as we know, nothing like that happens here." He waved a hand dismissively, going over to the generator again. You didn't try to finish it, knowing there was one puzzle left. "Sounded like someone else was getting chased, though."

Now that made you perk up in alarm. "...Shouldn't we be helping them, then?" You've been told a lot of different things; try to not go and step directly into the killer's sight, but also help people somehow, and also stick to the supports' side since they're usually chased around the most; how are you supposed to do all of that at the same time?

"There isn't much I can do with my abilities, so I stick to the sidelines." 007n7 wished he could do more; running around, doing generators, and maybe giving out a cola or a medkit to someone who needed it was all he did. He felt a bit useless.

"Ah." You stood there for a moment, thinking... well, you can't evade the killers forever, you're gonna get chased eventually if everyone else slowly falls, right? And not to mention, you don't even know who else is in the round! It's the best course of action to wander off and find the others.

"Well, I'm gonna try to find the others." You decided, watching as 007n7 finished the generator. "It's never wrong to have backup, right? Plus, if someone is in trouble..." ...You didn't have a plan for that, but you'll figure it out.

"Wait." The exploiter stopped you for a reason he didn't fully know. Sure, you made him feel conflicted, but he was enjoying the company; you were a nice change of pace. He was usually by himself, slinking around in the shadows and looking for the best spot to hide or a good moment to deploy his clone.

You faced him, and he froze for a moment. He didn't know what he was going to say; he just... wanted to keep you by his side. So, he covered up his intentions: getting so attached to someone who was simply being decent to you, so fast; it was a bit pathetic.

"Wouldn't it be a better idea to wait a bit...? The killers are no joke, with one simple slash, they can have you limping and hurt. It's your first round..." 007n7 scratched the back of his neck, a bit sheepish. He wanted you to wait with him, safe and sound.

"Well, that also gives me more reason to go find the rest... maybe they need help! And either way, it's good to group up..." You explained your reasoning further, but then stared at the ex-hacker a bit longer. He was a bit obvious.

"Don't worry. If you want, you can stay near here, and I'll find my way to you again." You reassured; it was obvious 007n7 wasn't well welcomed in the group, by the way he sat by himself, did things by himself, and didn't bother to go search for the others...

He couldn't stop your decisions, but at least the promise of seeing you alright again reassured him. It did fluster him a bit that you could read his intentions, but he guessed he had been a bit too obvious.

"Alright. Just be careful."

You and 007n7 parted ways; you went in the direction the heavy footsteps had gone, and he backtracked from where you both had come from, checking if he had missed a generator or an item.

You checked every single detail from your surroundings; went inside the small buildings that looked like space bases, took note of the accents of blue or red some of them had, and traced your hands along the walls with boredom.

You had also found a medkit, which you picked up without hesitation, tucking it under your arm. Maybe someone else needed this, you thought to yourself as you continued to wander around.

Getting close to another one of those grey, square-shaped buildings with way too many entrances, you hear whirring, spraying, and harsh breathing. The blaring alarms weren't present, so it must mean that it was a fellow survivor.

Well, fellow survivors, since you got in there and saw both Builderman and Elliot. Builderman was checking something on Elliot's back, with the other slumping over a strange device: a tall, big health potion that sprayed its contents due to some metal scraps attached to it.

Builderman lit up at the sight of you, especially since you had a medkit. He said your name with relief, beckoning you closer. "Thank 2x2, yer fine." Elliot didn't bother to say anything, seeming shaken.

You approached curiously, giving the medkit to the older man's waiting grasp. "...Is he okay?" Elliot looked like he had a thousand-yard stare, gazing at something far ahead in the distance.

"He'll be fine. He's jus'... a bit fragile." Builderman answered for the pizza deliveryman, giving him a few pats on the shoulder. "Nearly died."

You stared at the wound on Elliot's back. It was visceral; it was a slash that tore the fabric of the back of his shirt apart, flesh seeming to have boiled right open with some hot venom, the skin around the laceration tinted green.

However, the gentle spray of the healing device seemed to... close up the injury? bit by bit. You know that Robloxians usually had the ability to regenerate their health, but this was slower than usual, and it looked a bit painful; you could tell from Elliot's low grunts.

"Nasty, right?" Builderman had been watching you take in the sight, following your gaze. "And those were a few hacks... the killers here have more deadly tricks up their sleeves."

"..." That surely did settle more fear in your mind.

"You've seen the killer?" Builderman asked, curious since he hadn't seen you all round.

"...No. I've been hearing them all around, but I mainly stuck by 007n7." You answered, and the mention of the other survivor made Builderman nod. Good to know that 007n7 was doing his usual non-interfering strategy.

"It's 1x1x1x1." He mentioned casually, knowing you would certainly recognize the name.

It made you stare at him as if he had told you a big joke. 1x1x1x1? Feared hacker? The one that was so much of a threat, the Administrators turned them into a statue and put them in the center of Banlands as a warning to the rest? That 1x1x1x1?

"... I'm sorry?" You blinked at him owlishly. "You said 1x1x1x1?" I mean, it's not like it wouldn't make full sense, and it lined up with the disappearance of their stone body a year ago... but it was still jarring. Did the entity behind this have that much power?

Elliot didn't feel like letting you both converse for much longer, intercepting with a grim announcement: "I don't think Shedletsky can keep it up much longer."

Builderman turned to him sharply. "He already used his Slash?"

"I... couldn't see that, but from the few hits he took and all the waltzing he's doing in that specific area... I'm pretty sure he did." Elliot's head was turned in a specific direction, waiting for Shedletsky to get hit again so his silhouette would show. "And from the last hit, he was limping."

You were missing a lot of context, but from Builderman's rising alarmed expression and what Elliot was saying, it sounded like Shedletsky was in a pickle.

"I hope that dumbnut remembers where Taph set up their traps." Builderman sounded exasperated, putting the heel of his palm against his temple; he didn't have any faith that Shedletsky remembered that.

You, 007n7, Builderman, Elliot, Shedletsky, Taph, and two other people were in this round. That's good to know.

"Well, he was pretty far away from Taph the last time he got hit." Elliot sounded defeated; with a sentinel less, this round would become a lot harder. It's been 8 minutes since the round started, and they were already going to be at a major disadvantage...

"Where are Taph's traps?" You had a pretty bad idea, but it was worth a shot. At least you would get hit instead of Shedletsky dying, if everything goes wrong; if it goes extra wrong, you die, but you didn't wanna think about that right now.

"You aren't going to go up at 1x1x1x1's face, right...?" Elliot read your intentions immediately, frowning disapprovingly.

"It's worth a shot...? Maybe I can get them distracted!" You fiddled with your fingers, sheepish. Again, you need to work on your expressions, not giving away everything you're thinking about.

Elliot, a lot more healed now, looked like he wasn't going to let you go out there at all, and you could kinda see his point since you were new, but staying away from the killer forever wasn't going to help you learn anything about this place.

Builderman did seem to agree with your idea, though. There were only two sentinels this round, and if they lost the most reliable one... It's a major setback. Sure, you were a newborn fawn when it came to this whole thing, but he had hope for you.

So, he pointed at the general direction of the small trap-filled room Taph had made. "Traps over there." Then, turning his hand more to the far left, "Shedletsky over there." Builderman pushed you out of the small building in a hurry. "Go get 'em, soldier. Don't wait another moment. I'll set up a sentry near the trap room."

You realized he was right; Shedletsky could be dead at any moment now, and you were hesitating here. With a last push as a boost, you ran off in the direction Shedletsky was.

...Elliot gave Builderman a nasty side-eye. "Okay, okay- If the newbie dies, I get dish duty." Builderman nudged at the younger, already dragging him along in the other direction; the traps.

"For a week," Elliot added.

"Yes, for a week." Builderman sweatdropped.

 

This place was stupidly easy to get lost in, you realized as you ran. There are too many trees, and this world looks like it mirrors itself, from the walls to the buildings.

In the middle of the way, you found Chance aggressively flipping a coin over and over again, all by himself, at a corner. He didn't look all that pleased, so you decided to drag him along to where Shedletsky and 1x1x1x1 were. He literally had a flintlock, so you were surprised at his hesitation to come with.

And by dragging, you meant it literally. You noticed just now how you were faster than the rest, especially with Chance telling you to "Slow down a little".

Either way, the alarms from earlier were finally popping back up, so you dived straight in that direction. The aforementioned sounds from the killer were there, the rattling much closer, but you could also hear sounds of... energy? Coming from somewhere else.

You were so close to the killer you could see their back, that prominent, tall figure with black jagged bones popping through that jelly-like green torso, that long, curly, white hair cascading down their back... That was 1x1x1x1, alright. They seemed to be covered by a sort of... fog, in this realm, though.

Amidst your thinking while stalking behind the killer, Chance had dragged you off to a safer place: behind a wall, near both the center and where Shedletsky and 1x1x1x1 were looping around.

"Don't stay out in the open for too long. 1x1x1x1 can shoot at you if they see you." Chance whispered to you, trying to keep their coin flipping as quiet as possible, whispering to themselves about what they got. That would've been good to know earlier...

You peeked out from behind the wall, watching how Shedletsky and 1x1x1x1 were focused on each other and each other alone. The hacker kept on laughing and taunting the former administrator as her slashes kept barely missing, the latter looking uncharacteristically serious and even rabid.

You were initially looking for an opening where you could play the hero, but this encounter looked personal. Apparently, 1x1x1x1 has been on Shedletsky's tail for a while, and he still hasn't let up.

You also notice how Shedletsky gets a shield surrounding him for a few seconds before it disappears completely. Then, you realized where those other "strange sounds" were coming from; Dusekkar was behind another wall, not far away from you and Chance. That antler peeking out from the wall couldn't have been anyone else's; he was looking over the chase.

If he kept giving the other former admin the shield, then it made sense as to how Shedletsky was still alive... but not forever.

The killers were stronger, more resistant, and even faster than the survivors themselves. The Great Champion of the Heights, in any other case, would've been at an advantage against 1x1x1x1, but he had been weakened.

You shook Chance's shoulder, and he hummed curiously, still keeping his eyes on how many times his coin landed on tails already. Lady Luck was out for his throat today, but if he got only one more heads...

"Okay, listen..." You whispered, leaning close towards the gambler.

Shedletsky sank to his knees in front of the entity wrapped in fog and chains after his slash missed the other by a hair; a reluctant defeat. Dusekkar was not as powerful as before, he couldn't keep his back safe without resting. He coughed, sputtering out breaths, his body giving up on itself due to the poison in his body, along with the various slashes.

The hacker looked elated at the other's acceptance. Finally, after being on Shedletsky's tail for over 5 minutes, he decided to let up.

As usual, 1x1x1x1 wins. Like he should always have won. One of his clawed hands guided the sword he was holding into one of his sheathes on his hip, then gripped Shedletsky's hair by the root and made him "stand up"; it was more like holding his limp body up.

They have done this countless times before, and they will do it again, and again, and again. This won't be over until that soul leaves the former admin's body; let him know how it felt to be stuck in a frozen body for years, watch what should've been their glory be tainted by his face.

Meanwhile, with you and Chance, you watched as the gambler let out a relieved, but strained breath- finally, the last heads he needed. However, they had so much Weakness, their limbs felt heavy and shaky. They couldn't wait it out, though, you both had a plan, and they had to do their part fast.

He quickly got off the wall, getting in 1x1x1x1's line of sight if he looked; however, Chance knew damn well with Shedletsky at the verge of death in his grasp, he would only focus on the former Administrator. On your part, you got ready to run.

Shedletsky groaned in pain, his head already pounding and his body aching. He felt the familiar sting of one of the poison-laden Daemonshanks pressed up against his neck, making him hiss weakly- all he could see was blurred, except for the glaring red light that was 1x1x1x1's sole eye. He swore he could see a glint of that zipped-up grin through the fog, too, which made him fume mentally.

1x1x1x1 was about to say something, probably a taunt, a snarling reminder of the power she held in this world before making Shedletsky's vision go black and watching the life leave his body-

But she got very rudely interrupted by a bullet going through her forehead, point-blank. The hacker screamed, startled and stunned, and dropped her arch-nemesis down onto the floor to cradle her head. Just because it would regenerate in seconds doesn't mean it didn't hurt.

Shedletsky's poor, battered body screamed with numbness from his wounds all over, but he didn't have time to lie still on the ground at all. 1x1x1x1 would recover and actually kill him this time, so, with all of his strength, he tried to stand up and take this moment to its fullest advantage to run.

Thankfully, he didn't have to run by himself, because he looked up and saw you quite literally barreling towards him. You quickly crouched a bit, digging your heels into the ground so you didn't go straight at him and topple you both over, and swept him up into your arms like he was your bride.

You didn't have time to register how oddly light he felt in your arms despite his body mass, nor his winces of pain- you just turned towards a random direction and ran, trying your best not to tussle or move Shedletsky too much due to his wounds.

The killer recovered and let out an aggravated sigh as they saw nobody in sight. They had him right there, yet somehow, he limped away with fast ease. With their joy winding down, 1x1x1x1 frowned deeply behind the fog enveloping their body, reaching a hand up to their eye to rip at its socket.

They glanced around, taking in all of the silhouettes that appeared. Some survivors, the ones that were furthest away, grouped up. One of the silhouettes, one of a floating person, was running off in that direction. There were two silhouettes which melded together; a survivor carrying another... It must be Shedletsky and someone else, which was strange, because they never saw someone get carried like that in the middle of a round.

However, all of her analysis stopped as her gaze zeroed in on a silhouette hiding behind a wall foolishly, right in front of her. It's like the survivor noticed her death-piercing stare, because they began to run off... That stupid gambler, she seethed to herself, stepping in on her victory. They were going to pay.

 

After a bit of running, you found your arms getting tired, the adrenaline seeming to wear off, and your body finally noticing just how heavy Shedletsky was; you nearly dropped him just from that. However, with all the strength you had left in your arms, you set him down gently on the ground. Then you slumped against a tree, right next to him, heaving out breaths.

Your arm felt like noodles now, and you had no idea where you were because you ran off like a headless chicken, but even you can't blame yourself for that. 1x1x1x1's mere presence felt oppressive, like it was going to knock you down and take you under. Never in your life had you thought you would get so close to what is considered one of the most threatening hackers in Robloxia's history.

While you retook your balance and let yourself rest for a moment, you didn't notice Shedletsky sitting up and staring at you until he began to rip at a fried chicken leg with his teeth. Where the hell did he get that?

He blinked under your confused, narrowed gaze, tilting his head. "What?" He asked through a mouthful, as if you were the weird one for not knowing why he got a piece of chicken out of nowhere.

You sighed and hugged your knees close to your chest, resting your head on your knees and laughing with no humor. You're never going to get used to this.

"Don't be like that." He nudged you, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. After eating some of the greasy food, most of Shedletsky's wounds seemed to... slowly close up? The Champion of the Heights, an ex-Administrator, just had a magic healing chicken leg on him at all times?

Your curiosity and hunger betrayed you. "Can I have a bite?"

"..." Shedletsky seemed reluctant at first; it's his food, his favorite one nonetheless! But then he remembered that you just saved him from death. "Okay, I owe you that. Don't be greedy and take a huge bite outta it, though." He was acting like he didn't eat it every day during rounds.

He handed you the chicken leg, and as you chewed on it, he stood up and stretched, glad that he was at least less injured now. "Alright, we can't take too long. We gotta get moving and find the others." He held out a hand towards you. It took you a bit, since you were processing the utter explosion of flavors in your mouth, but when you did take his hand, he hauled you up easily.

"Do you know where the others are?" Shedletsky asked, looking around to see if he caught a glimpse of a sentry or the sort nearby.

"Uhm..." You glanced around as well, looking a bit more hopeless. You did not know much about your surroundings, only that you seemed to be at the center of the whole place. "...No. Do you remember where Taph set up his traps?"

Shedletsky stared at you for a long moment before scratching the back of his neck nervously. You didn't need any more of an answer.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure we'll find them soon! I know this place like the back of my palm." The ex-Administrator proclaimed, going in the direction you guys just ran away from.

"Mr. Shedletsky, we were just that way."

"...Yeah, I totally meant to do that. Just doing a joke on you, haha."

Chapter Text

You and Shedletsky had begun to walk, feeling no need to run; after all, neither of you could hear the killer anymore. Shedletsky wasn't too fond of silence, though, so he began a casual conversation, trying to get you less tense and formal around him.

"You lifted me like a bag of feathers back there. You work out a lot?" That certainly caught his attention first and foremost about the whole thing; he has not been carried in a long, long time, mainly because of his physique.

"Not really..? I mean, carrying heavy packages for extended amounts of time has to give you a bit of muscle." You pondered out loud; it had caught your attention, too. "When I picked you up, it was like I could feel your weight, but at the same time not? It's weird. My arms ache a lot now, as well."

Shedletsky rolled his eyes to himself. The Spectre, of course, limiting all of their abilities and strengths- it still pissed him off that after all of those years of training and swordfighting, this thing had reduced his prowess down to a meager little swing.

"Yeah, you'll have to wait a bit to carry someone again. The entity behind this has limitations for all of us." He did not sound pleased about the fact at all.

You hummed, not knowing what to say to that. It made you think, just what did this... person? want from you all, from you, of all people. In the grand scheme of things, back home, you were just a grain of salt. You didn't have any close connections, you were simply a paper letting itself be blown with the wind.

I mean, you weren't a pure angel of a person, but you knew that nobody deserved to be stuck in this hopeless, violent limbo; could it even be called that? It's hell. From what you've seen of your fellow survivors, even as cheerful as they are, most of them look... dull, like they had given up a long time ago. You were scared of becoming just like them, too.

And the killers... You wondered if 1x1x1x1 was here out of their own volition, or if they had been forced into this realm as well. Though, in contrast to you guys, they looked to be more joyful, and you'd imagine. The attacks they had done on Robloxia had been violent.

You nearly ran into a wall as you thought, Shedletsky stopping you by grabbing the back of your vest. "Don't get too distracted, buddy." He sounded amused.

Sheepish apologies left your mouth after that, and you felt greatly embarrassed. Ever since you woke up, you've been in this sort of daze, and it was getting to you.

You couldn't stop thinking about everything, and that was especially bad in this situation where you had to be concentrated. In your defense, you woke up, finished up introductions, and got 25 minutes maximum to yourself. Not enough time to process the fact that you're "dead".

"I get it. First game and all," The former administrator patted your shoulder, pushing you with his other hand so you could keep moving. "Keep your head up, though-"

Something caused an impact against a wall you were both walking by interrupted Shedletsky and made you freeze. The sounds it made were a loud squelch and bones rending apart, crushing under the weight of this object thrown- no, not object. Body.

Since the wall was closer to you, the body had splattered with blood, and some of it got on your face and clothes. Even if it wasn't a good idea to face the grotesque view, your body had already moved instinctively, your head turning to whatever caused such a mess.

Clearly, the body was Chance's- even if his face was unrecognizable from the slashes done to it, his suit was... torn up, but still able to be seen. His blood was both a river of red, dark green, and brown; the red coming out of wounds made from the brutal impact his corpse had experienced, and the green dripping down from various, poisoned cuts, the skin around them already beginning to rot.

Because their body was thrown with violent force, some of their bones, instead of simply shattering, twisted out of their skin; the one that caught your attention the most was the one that jutted out of their torso and exposed their-

Your vision blurred. There was no wetness in your eyes, it was more like your own mind's reaction trying to block out the gory mess you were looking at.

You froze in place. You could hear Shedletsky say some sort of lighthearted, flippant remark, but you couldn't even hear him; your mind was blocking everything out, except for the sinking feeling in your chest and the migraine that was starting to seep deep into your brain from the sudden freight train of emotions crashing into you.

Shedletsky started to shake you by the shoulders in a panic, glancing at your frozen, vacant gaze and someone that was behind you; the sound of amber alerts intruding your ears again, heavy footsteps bulleting towards both of you.

When you didn't move, he grabbed your wrist and started to run, dragging you with him. You stumbled, but your legs still moved even if you didn't know where they were taking you.

1x1x1x1 stopped in her tracks, watching you both run away. Courtesy of this world's stupid mechanics, she didn't have any more Stamina left, her body feeling tired and being forced to walk instead. She took this fact like a champ, though, since her initial plan worked.

He had followed you and Shedletsky silently, dragging Chance's body along; the gambler had been an easy kill with his stacks of Weakness. Of course, after taking note of the fact you had been carrying one of your fellow survivors, something that The Spectre surely wouldn't allow normally, along with your attire and appearance after watching you a bit, he had deduced you were new.

The hacker didn't usually throw dead bodies within the vicinity of the survivors in such a manner, but... the brutal sight had definitely thrown you off-balance, as they had guessed, and that meant your performance was going to be affected—another easy one to pick off. Their luck was amazing today; there were only 13 minutes left, and 1x1x1x1 already had a good plan going on.

Not to mention, your reaction was absolutely delicious. The way you had stood there, shaken to your very core, had made saliva gather in her zipped-up mouth. You were going to be a fun one to break in.

 

It was about damn time Shedletsky saw one of Builderman's turrets, relief immediately flooding through him. You were clutching at him subconsciously as he led you towards one of those small grey buildings, your eyes still glazed over and wide; you hadn't even blinked.

Inside, there were two tripwires you would've tripped over if you weren't holding onto Shedletsky's shirt like he was your lifeline, and finally, you had both found the rest of the survivors.

007n7 was sitting down in one of the corners, glancing around nervously every once in a while as he messed around with the c00lgui; he had to be doing something with his hands or he would grow increasingly paranoid. Builderman and Dusekkar seemed to be planning, speaking to each other in hushed voices, nearest to the sentry outside of the trap room.

...Talking about traps, there was a silent, annoyed-looking Elliot, who had half of his body painted pink, arms crossed, and was leaning against a wall. Taph was near him, giving him a few nervous glances as he set up his Subspace Tripmine again in a corner. Builderman and Dusekkar also had a bit of pink on their clothes, but nothing compared to Elliot's mess.

His annoyance stopped when he met your wide eyes, though. Shedletsky noticed this, as well, and he basically pleaded with Elliot to take over with his gaze- he was not good at calming people down at all, and he has seen the way the deliveryman always seemed to know how to get Noob to their senses when they were in a similar state.

Elliot furrowed his eyebrows as he approached, nudging at your tight hands, grappling at Shedletsky's shirt. "What happened?" His tone was as soft as a feather.

You let him grab your hands and take you away to one of the more secluded corners, and the former admin's shoulders sagged with relief. He went towards Builderman and Dusekkar, who had also been watching you and your rigid posture.

Elliot grabbed onto your shoulders, frowning as he furrowed his eyebrows. He had an idea of what happened. "Did... you see something? What happened? No pressure." He slipped that in at the end.

You didn't respond immediately, just made eye contact for a few pregnant seconds before meekly speaking up. "...Chance..." Your voice sounded monotone at the surface, but there was something deeper that was fighting to break out. You wouldn't let it. You had to stay strong, not cry like a baby.

"His dead body?" Elliot interjected, voicing his assumption. Due to the weird aura vision thing he has, he certainly knew the gambler was already dead; he saw the flash of yellow and the way his body crumpled to the floor a few minutes ago. Two stacks of Weakness, probably.

"..." You pursed your lips. You didn't like the fact that they always sounded so casual about death around here.

"Are the killers usually so... violent during executions?" You questioned, your voice going quieter than before. Elliot was really curious as to what you even saw to get you so shaken up.

"Yeah, sometimes." Elliot matched your volume, shivering as he remembered things- at this point, so far into the game, he was used to ignoring the bodies of his fallen teammates, so reminiscing about them...

"I don't wanna end up like that." You gave words to your fear. "And, I don't want anyone else ending up like that either."

Elliot thinned his lips. 'But we have no choice', 'But a mistake is bound to happen eventually', 'But it's part of the cycle'- yet he didn't voice his thoughts to your obviously impacted self. That's not what you needed now; that much was obvious.

He sucked in a breath before wrapping his arm around your shoulders, pushing you into a bit of an awkward side-hug. "Let's just try our best." That's the best he could muster. It wasn't comforting, but it wasn't defeatist either.

You tensed in his hold. You weren't able to remember the last time someone hugged you like that, and you could feel your skin prickle where it made contact with Elliot's. Despite your rigidity, you tried to relax to make the exchange less awkward for both of you.

You both stayed silent, the only sound around being Shedletsky quietly cursing out 1x1x1x1 as he explained what happened to the rest of the group.

Because you calmed down, your senses finally regulated again, and... you could smell a bubblegum scent coming off of Elliot, could feel the stickiness of his clothes, and it fully fell on you that he was half-pink.

You took a good look at him, holding down a smile that threatened to break out on your lips. Half of his hair was standing straight up. "Why are you pink?"

"Taph." Elliot sounded exasperated, shaking his head. "His tripmines. They tend to blow up after some time, so I stayed by it without knowing where it was, and... yeah..."

"Do they hurt?" You asked curiously, eyeing Taph, who was standing by one of the aforementioned pink bombs, pulling out some wooden pegs and sharp wire to set up their last tripwire.

"Not really. They make you dizzy, instead of the usual destruction it causes, and... pink." Elliot ran his hands through his hair, watching it stand back up again with a huff. "It's a pain to get out of your hair, too..."

"Noted." You would not like to look as ridiculous as Elliot looked right now in the future. "And the tripwires?"

"Slow you down. We have to be pretty careful around all of it, really, since if we walk through them instead of the killers, it's a waste of resources..." Elliot cannot recount the times it happened, and how sometimes it led to his death- thankfully, Taph had learned how to be sneakier with his placements, and everyone else learned how to pay attention... most of the time.

You hummed. Knowing what your fellow teammates can do is crucial, and with your growing curiosity, you began to ask more questions. "What abilities do you have, Elliot?"

You knew Builderman could, well, build, Shedletsky had a magic chicken leg and a sword on him, Taph could place down traps, Chance had a gun, and that Dusekkar could summon a shield. That's all you knew.

Elliot pulled a pizza from the back pocket of his black baggy pants, holding it up for you to see. "Unsurprising, but I have pizza."

You inspected the triangular cardboard box, recognizing its design on top as the same one that the delivery boxes from Builder Brothers' have. Did the entity in charge just really like food or something...? It could not fit in the back of his pocket unless there were some sort of Euclidean law for the pockets everyone had.

As you mentally amused yourself with the thought of infinite pockets, Elliot continued: "It heals if it's eaten. Not much more to say about it, but you might see me throwing it at others if they're in a pickle- they learned how to catch it with their mouth... most of the time."

You don't know why, but your head imagined Guest 1337, someone who seems composed and pretty serious, catching pizza in his mouth like a dog catching a frisbee. It made you laugh. "You make them fetch it?"

Elliot perked up upon hearing you laugh; it was... nice, making him feel light. He didn't know if it was relief from getting you up off your killer mood, or the sound itself, but it urged him to continue talking with a smile on his face. "Well, yeah! How will I give it to them while they're getting chased?"

"Yeah, fair." You still couldn't wipe the stupid smile off your face, though. "Well, does the pizza taste good?"

"I mean, I can't eat it myself, but from what others have told me, it's pretty good? I made it." Elliot opened the small box to show you the pizza slice. It did look yummy! "It stays warm, for some reason-"

A yellow hand shot out, startling both of you out of your pleasant, light-hearted conversation, and it took the pizza from the box. Shedletsky stuffed the food in his mouth unceremoniously, cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk's and staring at Elliot. You quietly wondered how he could chew it like that.

Elliot's face fell into an annoyed look, voice tinged with sarcasm: "Wow, thank you, Shed. I'm glad you're asking for things like a normal person."

Shedletsky furrowed his eyebrows, raising his hand to his mouth as he spoke through a mouthful of pizza, "I'm hurt, and you both are taking too long with your conversation," He defended himself.

The pizza deliveryman's eye twitched. "Don't talk while you're eating-"

You watched as Elliot and Shedletsky started to bicker, but not for long, since you got a tap on your shoulder. You turned around to look at Builderman, who was looking at you with a simple smile.

"Hey. You doin' alright?" You let yourself be guided away from Elliot and Shedletsky's noise. Builderman's presence, and his hand on your shoulder, gave you a sense of safe clarity. "'m sorry for sending you off on your own earlier."

"Oh, Mr. Builderman, don't worry about it. I'm alive in the end." You waved a hand dismissively, shaking your head.

"Non-sense, I should've told you what 1x1x1x1 could do. Sent you in blind as a bat." Builderman frowned, sounding disappointed in himself. "Also, you can drop the 'Mr' stuff, we're mates here." He patted your shoulder.

...Mates... With the Builderman himself. Wow. What the hell has your life come to? You know a good handful of people back at home would kill to be in your place right now.

"Alright, Builderman." You tried not to use any formalities, but it still sounded wrong to you. It was gonna get a bit hard to get used to, especially since this is like... the boss of the boss of your boss' boss. That's pretty weird; vice-president of Robloxia would've been better.

"Shedletsky told me everythin'. Good job." Builderman nodded at you approvingly, making you beam at him. Hell yeah! You loved doing your job! "You have a lot of bravery for your first round, y'know that? If 1x1x1x1 recovered faster, you and Shedletsky could've died."

You soaked the praise in like a sponge, feeling quite giddy that you were getting compliments from the Builderman himself. "Thank you!" Your smile was so bright, Builderman felt the urge to shield his eyes with his hand.

Your mood immediately plummeted by the sounds of heavy footsteps creeping by, the light air of the small building you and your teammates were in getting stomped out and choked.

You were getting tired of the constant tonal whiplash this place gave you; first, you were on the verge of having a mental breakdown, then you were having a good time and smiling, and now you're feeling fear grip your heart again.

Everyone stopped everything they were doing to stand up straight, some looking around to see where 1x1x1x1 was going to shoot or burst in from. The air was still, feeling like a simple movement, a simple sound, was ready to snap the taut string of tension.

You saw Shedletsky grip the handle of the linked sword resting on his hip, his previous light-hearted expression dropping to a more serious one, anger seeping into his features. His reaction, out of everyone else's who were more frightful, was the one that intrigued you the most.

Watching him do that made you remember the weight that rested on your hip, the weapon that you haven't used... yet. You shrugged the straps of your messenger bag off your shoulder, holding them in a fist. You hoped you wouldn't accidentally hurt yourself. Your arms weren't tired anymore, so if you were okay, you could carry someone out.

1x1x1x1 was outside, rounding the building like a shark, a staticky tune being hummed through their zipped-up lips, mocking the gravity of the situation. They did one, two, three, four circles around you all, as if they were playing Eeny Meeny Miny Moe.

Then, the air whizzed sharply, and something barely missed your head, a sharp black dagger phasing through the wall behind you; however, what it didn't miss was Taph. Upon hitting them on the chest, their body froze in place, skeletal hands bursting out from the ground to hold them in place.

Upon the movement, you noticed how the rest of your team immediately bolted in different directions as 1x1x1x1 barrelled in with a burst of speed. Shedletsky tried to stay, but Builderman was already dragging him off the moment the attack landed on Taph, knowing him too well and that he would try to pick a fight again.

You stayed right where you were, though, mainly because you just didn't know what the hell just happened. They were all so used to this, their reactions were too fast for you. But it wasn't too bad, since you noticed something...

1x1x1x1 had her back to you, her sole focus being on Taph's paralyzed form. She struck at him once with her sword, paused, then twice. The demolitionist didn't even flinch, simply letting out a sharp breath through his nose each slash that made contact with his skin- what the hell were you doing? You had to react fast, react now-

You didn't even notice how close you had gotten, sneaking up on 1x1x1x1 before you gripped the straps of your messenger bag with both of your hands harder, swinging horizontally at the back of the killer's head.

Thwack. You didn't miss the swing.

1x1x1x1 gripped the back of his head with a groan, the hit hurting quite a lot but not enough to completely stun him. His vision began to swim and blur, though, and he couldn't land the last slash he had hovering over Taph, a Helpless effect taking over him for 3 seconds.

With a snarl, they tried to attack whoever was behind them with a swing that went sideways, meant to decapitate, and they missed your neck by a sheer centimeter. However, because of the direction of the movement, their Daemonshank got stuck in a wall.

1x1x1x1 cursed, trying to lodge it out, feeling a warmth crawling up to her face and making her face flush green underneath all of the fog covering it.

Embarrassing. This has happened to him before, but it rubbed salt in the wound that he was caught off-guard, especially by a newbie. He would've left his sword on the wall, but without both of his Daemonshanks, he couldn't do Mass Infection or Entanglement.

With the killer momentarily distracted and dizzy, you ripped Taph out of the hands' grasp, watching the bones wither and fall apart in an instant, then slung them over your shoulder, carrying them and quickly making your departure. Taph flailed their arms, squirming since they didn't expect to be carried.

Regaining their composure and Daemonshank, 1x1x1x1 turned around to the sight of you hauling ass off of their vicinity. They narrowed their eyes: they were not letting you get away with their victim. Again.

Seeing you turn a sharp left going towards the center of Planet Voss, she predicted where you would run off to, quickly summoning a Mass Infection and watching it closely, the green arc going through all the surfaces in its way.

Taph heard the rattling and glanced the way he heard it from, starting to beat his fist against your back when he realized the poisonous attack was going straight for you. You gave a bunch of ows before setting him down.

You both were near the center and behind a wall, and you were about to question your teammate since your back hurt now, but Taph didn't have to explain anything- the liquid-like, green semi-circle phased through the wall and grazed your back.

You and Taph straightened up, staring at each other. Panic quickly took over both of you as 1x1x1x1 began to close the distance, evident by the music that followed them getting closer and more defined. You pushed the injured demolitionist the opposite way that the killer was coming from: "Go find Elliot!"

Taph did a quick gesture, putting the tips of their fingers against where their mouth should be, and then gesturing at you, like blowing a kiss, before half-running, half-limping away. You didn't know what that meant, but you didn't think much about it at the moment, running straight forward.

1x1x1x1 nearly screamed in frustration upon realizing just how fast you were. Seriously, how was that even fair?! The Spectre is gonna be hearing his complaints later, for sure... Either way, he had to try to catch you- your abilities were horrendously disruptive.

They remembered that you didn't know how to predict their attacks because you were a brand-new survivor and mischievously snickered to themselves; you were going in a straight line, so they did a spin before pointing their swords forward and parallel to each other, shooting out the black blade from earlier.

Entanglement. It hit you, and she heard you squawk loudly as those bony hands burst from the ground and held onto you with an iron grip, two of them holding your wrists together and two other ones grabbing onto your legs. You accidentally inhaled some dirt, courtesy of the hands making a mess beneath you, making you cough and sputter.

1x1x1x1 mentally cheered, feeling his legs get lighter with the effects of Speed I as he charged towards your frozen figure.

Meanwhile, you looked confused. Program pop-ups disrupted your vision all over, with phrases like "I see you", "I'm coming for you", and other threats. However, looking at them made them close, and you quickly noticed how the grip of the limbs pawing at you seemed to go slacker and more relaxed with each pop-up you got rid of. So, you began to do just that.

Of course, as you came to that realization, it was enough time for 1x1x1x1 to be breathing down your neck, and with just a few pop-ups left, they dug one of their Daemonshanks into your shoulder. They relished in the howl of pain you let out; the rest of the survivors didn't scream like that anymore, so the sound made a grin twist on their zipped-up lips, filled with satisfaction.

She also noticed how weak you already looked; a slash and an Entanglement, and you were already limping... so you were one of the squishy ones! The hacker nearly let out a sigh of relief out loud at the realization- so, you weren't that much of a problem after all.

He reacted a bit too late because of how much he was strategizing, taking a second to realize that you got rid of the effects of his Entanglement. 1x1x1x1's hand shot out as you barely slipped out of his vicinity, claws grazing the back of your uniform's vest.

In a surge of impulsivity, they traced an arc with their poisoned swords and the force of their body, watching as the Mass Infection formed with its liquid-like form, and whizzed straight for you, hoping that it hit you; in any case, they would've tried to close distance, but you could make distance so easily...

As fast as you were, seeming composed outside, you were panicking inside- your skin was tingling with an awful sense of poison, seeming to light a fire and ache in your veins and flesh, and not to mention the glaring gash on your shoulder; if it had been any deeper, your arm would be hanging off.

In this state, you could've never been able to see the green arch going straight for you, and when it did contact... You immediately collapsed onto your knees, trying to hold back your screams as the poison burned and itched your insides.

You dug your nails into the dirt below as you started to inhale and exhale through your mouth, your nose beginning to clog up with blood; just what type of poison was in this attack? You felt infected all over; sick. Even better question, how could the rest take on something like this?

You could see 1x1x1x1's shadow loom over your defeated self, and you tried to make an effort to crawl away, but the killer didn't let you. She put her heel against your lower back, stomping down and making sure you stayed below her. "Stop squirming." A firm demand, her tone lined with a grudging annoyance.

A loud wheeze left your mouth as he pinned you down with a simple step, your air being completely squeezed out of your lungs under his brutality, your body fully lying down under the force.

The hacker couldn't help the smugness that they exuded; it doesn't matter how fast the mice got, they could exterminate them. In fact, they felt a really familiar feeling of odd "happiness" at the sight of you on the verge of death at their hands... very similar to the one they got when they defeated Shedletsky. Hm.

1x1x1x1 snapped out of it, realizing she was wasting time she could be adding to the counter. Lifting one of her Daemonshanks high, she aimed it straight at your head, which was defeatedly poised on the ground. "Goodnight." She said it with a mocking lull, not being able to control the bubbly laughs that escaped her.

You closed your eyes with a sense of finality, not wanting anyone to see your dead body with tears brimming them; you were scared shitless, but you hoped it wouldn't hurt too much- who were you lying to? You knew it was going to hurt. You just wish you lasted a bit longer.

...

...

...

Your eyes burst back open at the sound of 1x1x1x1 grunting, a disguise for a shriek, and flesh being pierced. You felt something splatter the back of your head, and the Daemonshank that the killer was holding high on your head had pierced the ground right in front of you.

They got their heel off of you momentarily, stepping back just a little, and that's the chance you needed to get out from under them. You scrambled to your feet even if your body screamed with aches, stumbling but still running just to get away from 1x1x1x1.

Some sort of energy went through you as you stood, a beam hitting your back and giving you a push forward, alleviating the pain in your legs for just a few seconds and making you feel swifter on them.

You didn't bother to look back, knowing she would follow you the moment she recovered. Your lungs heaved as you tested the limits of your stamina, the blood that spewed out of your nose still not letting you breathe how you would want to, but you didn't care. You didn't care that if you died, you would come back, either- you wanted to live, this one time.

An Entanglement went right by your head, the hacker just barely missing- if that had hit you, in this state, you would've dropped dead. You did a sharp turn to the left, hopefully, the walls being able to make 1x1x1x1 lose sight of you.

You didn't realize the hacker had already turned towards the person who stunned him. Who else? The only sentinel left alive, Shedletsky. Funny how both of your positions changed, huh? He was the one to save you from death this time. In the midst of his rage, 1x1x1x1 pursued the swordfighter instead, wanting him dead right at that moment because of his interruption.

And you, on the other hand, nearly ran right into 007n7 from your haphazard running. However, when you saw his concerned face, you immediately collapsed on him, legs going wobbly and barely holding you up as you clutched at his shoulders. The ex-hacker started to freak out over how much blood was over you- Chance's from earlier, yours, and 1x1x1x1's. You looked like you went through hell.

Elliot and Builderman peeked out of the moonbase they were hiding in when they heard 007n7 shout something in a panic, the pizzeria employee scrambling down the grey steps that led to the entrance, seeing the state you were in.

Both he and 007n7 dragged you inside the moonbase, letting you lie back and stare up at the moonbase's ceiling through your blurry vision. You felt really strange, like something was keeping you barely held together... quite literally the edge of death, a whisper of hurt away from your life slipping between your fingers.

You could see how Builderman loomed over you, seeming not sure on how to heal you; a pizza, the dispenser he built in here, or a medkit? Elliot didn't have to think about it whatsoever; he reached for a slice of pizza in his back pocket and shoved it into your mouth.

It felt like heaven, cheese melting against your mouth, the salt from the dough and pepperoni blending together to wake up your tastebuds- and not to mention, it felt like you were brought back to life. You let out a loud noise of satisfaction, sitting up in relief. All of your wounds weren't gone in an instant; some were still there, but you felt immensely better.

"...So? Does the pizza taste good?" Elliot sounded a bit smug from where he sat as he looked at your contented expression.

"Yup!" You grinned at him; not only did you feel a good chunk of healed up, but also not as hungry anymore. The pizza tasted like home, and that fact alone had made you forget that you were on the verge of death a few seconds ago.

"Still a bit hurt, though..." Even if the attacks phased through you, you could feel the slashes dealt on your body; some on your stomach, but primarily on your chest. 1x1x1x1 didn't go for any of your limbs, except for your shoulder. Even so, that big, glaring wound had closed up for the most part.

"Here." 007n7 suddenly spoke up, taking a medkit from the inside of his fluffy jacket (Infinite pockets...) and sliding it towards you. Both Elliot and Builderman raised an eyebrow at that; the ex-hacker hadn't told them he had a medkit, so that would mean he had hoarded it without telling anyone.

Elliot wanted to say something, but seeing you cheerfully accept the medkit, along with Builderman giving him a warning look, he didn't. He did give 007n7 a looong stare, which made the other sweatdrop quietly.

"Elliot, you should go check on Shedletsky." Builderman diffused the tension by "kicking out" Elliot, and the latter visibly deflated. He was having a nice time, not having to be a walking ambulance, running around.

"You're right." He stood up from where he was sitting, stretching and getting ready for a good sprinting session that would surely leave him exhausted. Elliot still had the air of a kicked puppy, though.

"Stay safe." He said, looking back at you and Builderman. He wanted to hover near you for some reason, stay a little bit longer, but Builderman shooed him away; Elliot was acting like he was never going to see you again.

So, you were left there in the moonbase, your only company being Builderman and 007n7. The latter sat by you as you faced a wall and got busy with the wounds marring your torso, pulsing like they were alive. You were not taking your shirt off in front of Builderman and 007n7, so you lifted it by the hem as you got busy, vest discarded on the ground.

"How much time do we have left?" You asked as you put on some antiseptic on your wounds, hissing to yourself at the pain.

"Uhhh..." 007n7 looked down at his watch, not bothering to go outside, and looked at the floating numbers in the sky. "Six minutes." You huffed with annoyance at the answer: honestly, you didn't know if you could take any more, you felt exhausted even if you truly weren't.

Builderman sensed your annoyance and spoke out: "Ya' better rest here, at least for the remainder of the round." It was a pretty foolish idea, but seeing how you seemed pretty upset overall, along with you being new, he gave you a privilege.

You were against that immediately, pausing your bandaging momentarily and turning your upper body towards him. "What? No! I can't just... sit by! What if someone else gets hurt? They'll need the extra hands, won't they?"

The older Robloxian shushed you. "You can rest this one time- and trust me, if yer' picked for the next round, you'll be thankin' me." He could tell that you were about to start protesting again, so he proposed something: "I'll go check on the rest and take your place... sort of, 'kay?"

You pursed your lips, contemplating it for a moment, before nodding begrudgingly. Fine by you, you suppose. Builderman brushed himself off as he stood up from where he was resting, heading out of the building. "Stay here with Seven."

You and 007n7 shared a glance before you went back to tending your wounds. You were... surprisingly swift with it. You had vague knowledge of first aid and taking care of injuries, mainly because of how many people have tried to rob you in the middle of deliveries, but while doing this, it was like you weren't doing it.

You finished up your work, then looked around for the open medkit you left beside you, wanting to store the roll of bandages... but it was gone. You turned towards 007n7 to see if he took it, but he was... staring at you? His cheeks flushed pink, and he looked away from you with embarrassment.

"Did you take the medkit?" You didn't pay any mind to his flustered state or the implication that he was staring at you while you weren't looking.

"Oh-" 007n7 cleared his throat, trying to compose himself back together. "No, they tend to do that. Disappearing, I mean, they just vanish when you finish using them."

Your eyebrows knit together. "That's so weird. This whole place is so weird." You sounded exasperatedly confused.

007n7 chuckled, shrugging as he mindlessly opened his c00lgui with a few flicks of his fingers, clicking on some buttons. "Tell me about it."

The sight of the exploit panel, colored red and black, the text in it white, caught your attention. Without thinking much about it, you shimmied up beside him with curiosity. His flicking fingers froze for a moment at your proximity, but he forced himself to relax.

"Sooo, what can you do?" You were still on your gathering information quest, and your next target was 007n7. You haven't seen him do anything interesting yet, so you were truthfully curious.

"Ah, not much." The ex-hacker grew sheepish. "With what I have left of the c00lgui, it allows me to create clones, control where they go, and teleport away." He pointed at the buttons, the only ones that weren't crossed out, that allowed him to do so.

You hummed, taking note of how many buttons were crossed out and what they said: "Clear terrain", "Kill all", "Decal spam", and many others. You didn't make a comment on them, but 007n7 saw you eyeing them and felt shame go down his spine.

"Sounds pretty cool." You complimented, still observing the interface of c00lgui; you've never seen something like this, a weapon of mass destruction laid so closely before your eyes. "I saw you clicking a lot of buttons earlier, so I was left curious."

"Oh, no, no... I click the unavailable buttons. They bring me a sense of..." 007n7 hesitated; he felt a bit evil, admitting that the powertrips he used to have wreaking havoc were memories he wished he could relive; as bad of a person as he was, he couldn't deny the thrill of doing such things, of slipping away from Administrators time and time again-

"Of?" You repeated, noticing how he seemed to reminisce for a few good seconds.

"...Familiarity, I suppose." He settled on that word, knowing it held truth in some form. "It keeps me grounded, as well. The clicking sounds." It reminds him of his coding ex-passion.

"Makes sense." You nodded; you weren't much of a talker, your charm had never lain in your words, but in how you listened closely to what people told you.

There was a pause before the other made a question: "...What can you do?" He had parroted your inquiry, realizing he had no idea what role you filled. He also wasn't able to see you do much.

"Oh! I can carry people pretty easily, though it does make me a little bit slower." You scratched the back of your neck; you didn't know if that was an ability, but you guessed it should be. You've done it twice. "And I have a brick in my messenger bag that I can hit people with."

007n7 blinked owlishly at your eccentric methods, especially the bludgeoning killers with brick one. He exhaled a laugh through his nose; at least you were being more useful than him. "Glad you can defend yourself."

After that conversation, you spent the next few minutes sitting beside 007n7, watching him tap on buttons absentmindedly as he thought, the only sounds being his clicking and the whirring of Builderman's dispenser. You didn't know what else to do, but the stillness was bringing you a sense of peace; these past minutes had been so hectic, you felt like you had lost half of your brain in the middle of it.

...

You felt a sudden dizziness wash over you, the floor, walls, and ceiling disappearing; everything disappeared, the only exception being 007n7, and this time you knew to close your eyes as the round finished up. You didn't open them back up until you felt your surroundings finish changing.

Light filtered in through your eyes, making you clench your eyelids closed for a moment; the moonbase, and overall the entire place you were in before, was darker than the cabin. When you got used to the brightness, you looked around and recognized it as the small room Chance had shown you. A wooden table, with eight wooden chairs, and in those chairs should be the people who survived.

You made eye contact with your fellow survivors, counting; there was only one chair that was empty, and it was the one that Chance was supposed to be in. It was a shame, but you were glad nobody else seemed too hurt.

You and 007n7 seemed to be in way more shape than everyone else. Shedletsky was leaning back on his seat, putting an arm over his eyes as he panted out breaths, Elliot was in a similar position but instead hugging himself and still pink, Builderman had laid his head between his arms on the table, Dusekkar's whole body was trembling from the amount of magic he had to cast throughout the round, and Taph slumped onto the table, in a very similar position to Builderman's.

"Wateeerrrr..." Shedletsky groaned, his body overheating from exertion, his throat dry. The rest nodded in agreement.

 

1x1x1x1 spawned back in the killer's territory, of course, where they usually would when they came back, behind the couch that faced the TV in what everyone agreed to call "the spectating room". Sometimes, The Spectre used the TV to communicate with the killers, but that was rare.

Everyone was huddled up in the room: yes, everyone. From Guest 666's big, towering, and fluffy form, to even Mafioso's underlings. C00lkidd was probably watching, as he usually does when his dad is in the round, and started shouting about the new survivor. Some were on the couch, while others were lingering near corners or walls, but everyone was staring at the TV screen.

1x1x1x1 tried to play off the embarrassment she got when they all turned to look at her once the screen turned black; not only has she been bested by a new survivor that very clearly didn't know much about the game, but got her ass tossed around between supports at the last stretch like ping-pong.

Noli slithered to stand beside him like a shadow, holding a hand up to his mouth as if he was holding a laugh in: "D-Did YOU- have Fun?" his voice did nothing but get on the hacker's nerves, the words all stitched together and from origins that weren't from his own vocal cords.

They crossed their arms in front of their chest, grumbling: "I don't wanna talk about it."

Chapter Text

Most of the cabin's inhabitants had concentrated in the living room; the people who had returned from the latest round were drinking water and fanning themselves, slung over couches or lying on the ground. 1x1x1x1, as usual, had been harsh... it was a miracle they only got out with one death.

Elliot, Noob and Chance were conversing between them; that group was the one you had the most pleasant interactions with beside 007n7, but the image of Chance's brutalized corpse was still fresh in your mind, and you didn't want to think about it too much.

007n7 had stalked off to his room, and you would've followed him, but you were afraid that you were coming on as too much on him. He seemed to enjoy his space, as far as you could tell, so you would leave him be for now.

You were given many pats on the back or the shoulder after the round, most likely because you came out already looking a bit duller than you were when you woke up earlier. Guest 1337 had made a stop by you to make a small conversation, especially curious about that brick you had, but then left you be when Builderman called him over for... whatever reason, along with Dusekkar and Taph.

If someone didn't notice how closed-off Builderman and Shedletsky seemed in particular, they would be blind. You wondered why, considering they were the heads of this place, wouldn't it be better to be open about what you told those you were leading? Instead of whispering between the two of them, at least. You even felt as if they didn't tell you the full truth about everything.

You were left in the living room, standing awkwardly by a tall lamp. Elliot, Noob and Chance were sitting on the couches, and you didn't want to seem like you were listening in to their conversation, but you also didn't want to go sit by a corner like a total loner.

Noob made eye contact with you, since they were letting their eyes wander around the room as Elliot and Chance debated if a new color could be discovered. They tilted their head, confused as to why you were so far away, and looked like they were gonna beckon you over, but they looked behind you and shut their mouth with a grimace.

You furrowed your eyebrows at the way their expression changed, looking behind you-

Two Time had somehow sneaked their way up to you, standing behind you silently, like they were your shadow. The split second you turned around, you could see their expression set in a very neutral manner, black irises boring through you; when you made eye contact with them, though, they grinned widely, sharp canines gleaming at you like they were telling you to run.

Of course, when you first saw them after turning around, you nearly jumped out of your skin- Two Time was so close to your face, you were surprised you didn't feel them breathing against the nape of your neck.

"...Oh, hi!" You tried to make it seem like you hadn't gotten spooked at all, greeting Two Time in a friendly manner, but they already saw the little flinch you did, and it filled them with amusement.

"Greetings. I believe we haven't spoken much." They took one of your hands between their own, clad in fingerless gloves, and shook it a little bit too excitedly, opposed to their serene but contented smile. Their voice was low, whispery, and a bit raw, as if they weren't used to talking a lot. "I'm referred to as Two Time."

Being honest with themselves, Two Time was pretending not to know your name, they had already heard it floating around. They just wanted to hold your hand between theirs, the warmth of it seeping into their skin and making them feel... nice.

"I already knew that, Builderman told me your name." You giggled at the speed of their handshaking, trying to mimic it back. "But you're right, I didn't properly introduce myself to you!"

You told Two Time your name, and they repeated it, as if they hadn't been doing that earlier in their room. A beautiful name for someone so pure, they thought. "It's a nice name."

"Thank you! Your own is... curious. Why are you called that?" You questioned them, looking interested in knowing more. Two Time felt flattered, mayhaps because they didn't often have such pleasant conversations and attentions in the cabin.

"Well, it's a long story. We should get comfortable somewhere..." They scratched the back of their neck, pretending to be bashful as they glanced at the couches occupied by their teammates.

In truth, they wanted to get you somewhere secluded, since the rest of the cabin didn't approve of their... feverish passion for The Spawn. If they could get you somewhere secluded, they would be able to get you to hear them out.

"We can go to my room?" You suggested, mainly because you didn't see much of it, and another part was because you couldn't think of anywhere else. "I've been meaning to investigate it a bit more."

"Sure thing." Two Time beamed, glad the interaction was going through what they had imagined it to be; they will be frank, they were a bit nervous before finally approaching you like this, even if they didn't know why. But the cultist wasn't going to deny that it didn't feel nice to finally feel less dull than usual, even if it was anxiety.

You let them grab onto your wrist, their grip loose just as if you didn't want the contact and pulled away, but you didn't. You let Two Time lead you up the stairs to your room, knocking on the door just in case. Maybe Taph is in there.

But upon the knock, the door opened, being unlocked. Ah. Taph didn't get back from... whatever Builderman had called him for. 'Good,' Two Time mused to themselves.

They went ahead and sat down on the edge of your bed after turning the lights on, patting the spot beside them; you moved stiffly, the fact that this room looked so similar to the one you had back home still making you feel uneasy.

Two Time watched you make your spot beside them, and they grinned, setting their hands on their lap, intertwined. "Have you heard of The Spawn?" they began, a giddiness overtaking their tone.

"The Spawn? As in the symbol for respawning, right? Used for places?" You pointed at the emblem on their sleeveless turtleneck, underneath their cloak. It did look like the Spawn symbol, but it had its flair; the one you were used to seeing was more... angular? The one Two Time showcased so proudly had rounder, swirlier ends. In fact, the more closely you looked, you realized that they... liked the spawn. They had earrings and pins holding their cloak together in the shape of the spawn.

Places were required to have a Spawn in them, hidden or not; if a casualty happened in a place that resulted in death, the Robloxian would be able to come back. The only way to truly die in Robloxia is if something happens to your profile outside a place.

"That is what most think, yes." Two Time nodded, but continued in a more fervent tone: "What about our deity, The Spawn?" This made you perk up with intrigue. Religion was something that you didn't hear about often back at home. It was barely talked about; only about 2x2, for sure, but then you never heard much about other religions.

"No, not at all." The curiosity and interest in your voice had Two Time feeling like they were going to explode with excitement; it's been such a long time since someone heard them out!

Taking it as an invitation, they began to talk about their religion with passion: "The Spawn is what brings us life, did you know? They bless our blood and veins to carry on their message and their sayings, they allow us to come back from the lowest pits of death with the grace of an angel, they are a reason, a motivation, an affectionate caress to any wounded souls-"

You listened to their ramblings with rapt attention, interested as to how someone could make the Spawn symbol have such an importance to the point of religious worship. You were oblivious to the fact that Two Time inched closer and closer to you with each sentence they spewed out, to the point they had you backed up against the headboard of your bed.

They paused for breath, face a bit too close for your comfort, grabbing your warm hands into their cold ones again, but this time their grip was rough, squeezing; they couldn't tell what they were doing, too caught up in their slowly mounting, manic outburst. "...Do you have any loved ones? What is the motivation for your every breath? The reason for your passions? The Spawn can give it all to you, I promise-"

You put a hand on the cultist's shoulder. Electrifying, for they have not felt any meaningful touch in months, but grounding. "...You didn't tell me why your name is Two Time yet." Your eyebrows had knitted together in concern, your breath hitting their face...

Two Time stared at you, eyes wide with something you could not quite read in them, not sure if such a thing was directed at you or not- they looked... like a different person from before. You pushed them back, gently, and that seemed to bring them back to where they were.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," They apologized sheepishly, grinning nervously. "I didn't mean to be so pushy, I just get excited sometimes." In their head, the cultist scolded themselves; 'You're supposed to ease them into the knowledge of their purity, not be so brazen!'

"It's okay, you had me hooked for a little." You admitted, waving a hand at Two Time as if their invasion of your personal space wasn't a big deal.

The cultist breathed out in relief, clearing their throat. "Right, my name... Well, everything I said about The Spawn wasn't purely out of context; it does have something to do with it."

Two Time reached down towards their belt, grabbing a dagger you hadn't seen or known they had on them. Its blade was split down the middle, one end of it longer than the other, and it had a black handle.

"With this, I've satisfied The Spawn, with them granting me a blessing." They showed it to you, watching you take in the details of it. "The blessing of respawning... at the price of blood of others, and pain."

You suddenly felt worried upon hearing the last part, furrowing your eyebrows- the cultist saw your look and started to backpedal: "Blood of sinners, yes, not innocents. I'm not going to take your blood."

"What I mean is... during rounds, if I stab a killer a certain number of times, spilling their blood for the sake of The Spawn, my deity will give me the ability to come back to life again if I am to die in the middle of a chase." Two Time explained themselves, watching the understanding flood your expression as you nodded with an 'Ooohhh!'.

"Makes sense! That's good to know, Time." You chirped with relief, not realizing you made a nickname on the spot for Two Time until you noticed how they were looking at you, giving you a stare. "...I didn't mean to call you that, sorry. I tend to shorten names unconsciously," You grew a bit nervous, scratching the back of your neck.

"No, it's fine." Their expression was unreadable as they said it, and it was not lowering your embarrassment in the slightest.

...

To escape the awkwardness, you started to look around the side of your room, not seeing anything of interest on the surface. You stood up from the bed, going towards your closet. Two Time followed you with their gaze, looking curious. "What are you doing?"

"I told you I didn't look around here that much," You reminded them, opening the doors of the closet and feeling a shiver go down your spine, seeing a copy of your exact wardrobe on the surface. Your favorite clothes, your jackets and coats on the hangers, your back-up uniform...

You sifted through articles of clothing, making sure they were real and certainly yours, before reaching far into the back and pulling out something you hadn't worn in your entire life. You furrowed your eyebrows; if anything, it looked more like a costume. You investigated further, finding more clothing that was alike-

"The rest were given extra clothing as well." Two Time had been watching your actions and expressions, answering your mental question, lying on your bed like they belonged there; you didn't comment about it. "We're given it randomly; a few weeks ago, my wardrobe overflowed with them."

"...Huh." You deadpanned at the clown costume you held in your hands. "Strange fashion choices."

"There's a point where you don't question the person behind this." Two Time shrugged, watching their dagger catch the light.

You shook your head, sighing. "It's gonna be a few, long months getting used to it all." The cultist chuckled at that.

You checked your bedside table next, crouching in front of it and searching through its drawers. In the top one, you could see familiar items: bracelets and necklaces bought by your own volition or given to you by people you haven't spoken to in years, some coins, hairties, ribbons, and pins; nothing interesting.

The bottom drawer was nearly the same, except that instead of accessories or money, it held documents, papers, stuff that you knew you would either forget about or that you would rather cherish. You went through letters you've heard before, stared at a drawing made by one of your younger loved ones, done a long time ago for you, but then stopped at a specific item.

Among the things you kept for memories, you had pictures. Most of them were from when you were younger, with your family or old friends. There was this one picture, though...

It looked recent. From how you were dressed and the background, you could guess this was taken in Roblox HQ, and you looked happy as you had an arm wrapped around someone's shoulder in a half-hug, your other unoccupied hand doing an awkward thumbs-up.

The thing was, whoever you were hugging in the picture had their face completely blacked out. It wasn't done by you, no, it didn't look like a work done by a marker, and you were sure that if you hated someone enough to remove them from a picture, you'd remember it. It was a black square, looking like it was the void itself.

The person wore something very different from you in the picture: a yellow sweater vest with a red and white "R" on the top right of it, and underneath it, they had a white blouse. They had light blue pants, held up by a black belt with a square, yellow buckle. They were doing a thumbs-up with you in the picture, showing that they had pale, yellow skin.

There was some text on the picture blacked out, too. "Thank you ▇▇▇▇ !" It seemed to be a name.

You stared at the picture for a hot minute. The more you did, the more a nagging in the back of your head strengthened, until it became a full throb- you were forgetting something really important, but you couldn't tell what. You couldn't recognize who this blacked-out person was.

You hovered a finger over the blacked-out square on the unknown person's head, trying to touch it and see if you could at least feel something, but... your finger phased through it. You could still touch the picture, but the square was blocking your vision. You blinked, moved the picture, and the black squares followed where it went, staying in the spots.

...This was not done by a marker. This was something happening in your vision, straight up like a censor from TV, except it was a real thing, unedited. How is this possible? Why can't you see their face, their name?

"Two Time?" You called out to the cultist still lounging on your bed. You needed to know if you were seeing things or not. "Can you tell me what you see?"

They perked up, sitting on the bed criss-cross-applesauce, holding out a hand for you to give them the picture. After handing it to them, they stared at it for a good minute.

'Daaaw, they look so cute with that awkward smile on their face!' They mused in their head, not being able to stop the small smile forming on their lips. Upon further inspection, though, they saw a familiar person.

"...You know ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇?" Two Time looked confused and wary; how could someone as pure as you also hold connections to such a beast? But upon seeing your distressed face at their words, they got concerned.

In your point of view, you had not heard a name, but an amalgamation of words, melded and stitched together to the point it seemed like they had spoken gibberish. The cultist's lips had blurred out as they said it, not allowing you to lip-read.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Your voice sounded quiet, opposed to the onslaught of emotion rising in your eyes.

"▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, do you know ▇▇▇▇?" This time, when they spoke, the noises had gotten louder, as if something was telling you to stop looking into this, a pain digging deep into your brain.

You held a hand up to your forehead, slumping into yourself as you got a bit overwhelmed by the noise, a headache taking place. "I-I'm sorry, I can't..." Why couldn't you hear that person's name? Why was something in your head not letting you?

Two Time felt waves of anguish rolling off of you; they could tell from the way your hands trembled. They internally panicked; they weren't going to leave you like that, of course not. They wanted you to glow with happiness.

"By the love of The Spawn, I'm famished!" They began dramatically, putting a hand to their stomach and leaning a bit back, as if they were tired. "Light, don't you want to go get something to eat? It'll help you if you're picked for the next round." They knew they weren't allowed in the kitchen after... some incidents, but they had to try.

"...Light?" You quietly wondered out loud, but Two Time didn't give you time to question their nickname further as they stood up from your bed, lending a hand out to you.

"Let's go to the kitchen." It didn't sound like an option, but more of an order; the cultist's intentions to keep you happy were clear. Your eyes flickered from their outstretched palm to their eyes, and with a bit of hesitation, you accepted it.

They hauled you up, dragging you towards your room's door to leave with an air of determination. They opened the door for you like total gentlefolk, and you glanced back at the photo left on your bed.

Two Time started to usher you away, trying to take your focus off of it, but as they closed the door behind you, you knew you wouldn't forget about it any sooner.

Chapter Text

Two Time tried to sneak into the kitchen, past the trio on the couches, with their cloak's hood up. However, you didn't know that they were permanently banned from entering the kitchen except for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so you gave your position away.

...As in, you were behind a crouched, slithering Two Time, walking normally, looking confused as to why they were doing that.

"Two Time," Elliot called from the couch, tone deadpan. Chance and Noob were beside him, watching. "We can see you."

...Two Time still entered the kitchen, the other's calling did not deter them from their goal. Elliot went into the kitchen after them, tone scolding, and at that point, you stopped following them, just by the entryway.

"Why are they doing that?" You asked to yourself, not noticing Chance and Noob standing beside you until the former spoke up.

"Two Time is not allowed in the kitchen." Chance spoke, rifling through their pockets for something to busy their hands with, making your heart nearly stop. What's up with people sneaking up on you today?!

"Y-Yeah, they've had a few... incidents, regarding knives." Noob continued from what the gambler said, shivering as they remembered that one time they had to make dinner with Two Time, before they were banned from cooking. They had stabbed into that chicken like it owed them a life's fortune, even twisting the knife.

"And they're also not that good at cooking, at all." Chance snickered to himself, remembering all of the meals made by Two Time that nearly made Elliot faint just from the sight, or Dusekkar having to use spells to extinguish fires they made in the kitchen...

"Oh." You said, dumbly. "Well, they were only going in so we could get some snacks..."

"Nooby has a bunch." Chance nudged their head at Noob's direction, a dice shifting through their fingers, even though you couldn't see because you refused to make eye contact with them.

Noob took out a crumpled bag of chips labeled "Chips for Noobs" from their hoodie's front pocket, handing it to you. It was a little bit more than halfway eaten.

"Thanks!" You beamed at them, making them let out a little 'Eek!'- Be careful with who you're aiming that smile at, you could blind them.

Elliot and Two Time came out of the kitchen, the latter looking like a cat that got the cream. You blinked. How... how many granola bars were they holding? One, two, three, four-

"Here you go." The cultist gave you one of them, ignoring the fact that you had food in your hands already. Better yet, since you started to notice how hungry you were just now.

"I still don't think you should be taking so many, Two Time..." Elliot sweatdropped, eyeing the granola bars they had on hand. He swore he saw them stuff some beneath their cloak... He could get the need for hoarding snacks since they weren't allowed freedom in the kitchen, but they could've taken some other stuff, too. It's all granola bars.

"I like granola bars." They side-glanced at Elliot, the tone of their voice flat. The pizza deliveryman sighed; there was no need to argue over granola bars, even if he wanted some too.

"Yeah, let them have their granola bars, Elliot." Chance butted in to defend Two Time, amused by the situation and obviously to annoy Elliot.

Elliot took in a sharp breath, "Shut up, Chance, you're always hoarding the cheese-" The gambler laughed as his friend began to argue; it was so easy to rile him up!

With the two's starting argument, Two Time slipped away with their granola bars, waving goodbye to you as they went to their room: they had to store these! You and Noob were left there to watch, with you chewing on the potato chips you were given. You didn't usually let yourself eat snacks like this back at home, always strictly sticking to meals, so this was nice.

Meanwhile, Noob was fidgeting with their sleeves, not knowing what to do. They wanted to do something with you, since you seemed nice, but they didn't know if they would come off as too much.

"...I... Um..." You turned to them as they began to speak, watching them squirm in their spot out of nervousness. "We aren't doing much, so, um... do you wanna come to our room? We were going to go there anyway."

You pondered for a moment; it would be a good insight into your teammates' character, right? Plus, Noob did not seem like bad company at all. You just hoped Chance and Elliot wouldn't cause too much ruckus.

"Yeah, alright." You agreed, sending them a soft smile that was meant to reassure them and not make them oh-so nervous; you could see the way Noob's shoulders slacked slightly, communicating that they relaxed.

"Okay..." Their voice had gone softer, and you felt them wrap their arm around yours- it was very different from everyone else dragging you around, something you had gotten subconsciously used to in the past hours.

You and Noob began to walk away from the other two's bickering, Chance and Elliot too absorbed in each other to notice your retreat.

 

At this point, you're sure a lot of things in this place are Euclidean.

Despite looking like it's the same size as other rooms in the cabin, when you entered it, it was slightly bigger, enough to be noticeable, but only if you had a keen eye. You felt as if it was because three people slept in here, instead of the usual two.

Noob led you to sit on their bed at the side of their room, letting you look around.

The side you were on was colorful, with band posters on the wall that the bed was up against, a small fridge by the headboard of the bed on the floor, and a... good amount of plushies and blankets on said bed. It felt like you were sitting on a fluffy cloud.

Noob's bedside table had bracelets and earrings of all sorts on it, along with a wide open makeup pallete and eyeliner. You wondered how much they had.

Across to the other side of the room, you saw decorations that definitely caught your eye- limiteds in glass cases hung up on the wall. Not the gear sort, like swords and such, but a lot of accessories, like the Dominus series.

The bed, compared to the other two in the room, looked fancy and a bit bigger, but propped up against the wall like the rest. It looked like whoever slept there napped like a monarch. The bedside table had a stack of cards.

And, in a faraway corner, there was another bed. This side didn't look as eye-catching as the others were, instead being more minimalistic and withdrawn. There was a framed photo from which you could see, but you couldn't see what was in it.

You quickly deduced that the side with the limited accessories was Chance's and the simpler side was Elliot's. You were sure you weren't off the mark; Chance seemed prideful enough to showcase their wealth, and Elliot was a pretty normal guy.

"Do you want a drink?" Noob's voice snapped you out of your thoughts, and you turned towards them. They were looking through the mini-fridge, taking out a bloxy cola and leaving it on their bed.

"Well, what do you have?" You shimmied closer to them, trying to see what the mini-fridge had: Bloxy Cola, of course, Bloxiade, Water, Bug Juice... Witches' Brew?

Noob turned to you and saw you eye the cans of Witches Brew curiously, making them a bit nervous. "Oh- I don't drink that, Chance does." They scrambled to explain, not wanting to give the impression they liked alcohol that much. It's not like they never drank it; every once in a while, they did, but... they felt the need to give a good impression.

"Ah." You nodded at their response, shrugging right after. "I mean, I wouldn't judge you for having Witches' Brew. This whole ordeal would make anyone want to drink until they get alcohol poisoning."

You snapped your fingers, remembering their initial question. "Can I have a Bloxy?" Some sugar in your system was needed.

Noob handed you the drink, gulping down some saliva nervously when your fingers brushed against their own, quickly grabbing their own Bloxy Cola can and cracking it open to dissimulate.

Both of you awkwardly sipped your soda cans for a few minutes, Noob glancing at you every once in a while, liking your concentrated face as you zone out into space.

In your case, you were still thinking about that strange picture you found in your room. It was a feeling so foreign, your brain blocking out something in such an... abrasive way.

It didn't feel like something your head did on its own, especially the noises that escaped Two Time's mouth when they spoke. Those noises... You have never heard anything like that before, ever.

The person in that picture felt so familiar yet so unknown, it was driving you crazy, giving you a headache. You knew someone who used to dress like that; you have the memory at the back of your mind, but trying to pull it out was hard and painful.

Thinking of them made phantom tastes of coffee and pastries bleed into your mouth, something that you were sure was supposed to be familiar, comforting flavors, but in this context, you felt haunted.

You take a big swig of your Bloxy Cola, trying to wash that taste and all the overthinking away, trying to pull yourself down from the clouds.

Noticing Noob's expression growing a bit concerned but curious out of the corner of your eye, you knew you had to start some random conversation before they started to question you and drag the issue further unconsciously.

Your eyes landed on the makeup on their bedside table. "Sooo, you like makeup?" Dingbat, they surely did, you could see the eyeshadow on their eyelids and the flawless eyeliner work on their face, so why would you ask that?!

Even if you beat yourself up about the very obvious observation, Noob seemed happy that you wanted to know more about them. "Well, yeah..." Even if their answer was a bit lame.

"Chance is pretty good at doing my eyeliner." They commented, biting their cheek subconsciously. That made your eyebrows perk up.

"Chance?" Every single time you've seen him, his Clockwork sunglasses weren't off, so you were a bit surprised; he didn't seem keen on showing his eyes, so why would he know how to do eyeliner?

"Yeah. They have a pretty good pulse and a nice sense of style. We do each other's eyeliners, and even though most don't see their eyes, I'm sure my eyeliner work is a bit weird-looking compared to theirs, haha." Noob got comfortable, going on a bit of a ramble fest; they liked talking about the people they surrounded themselves with.

"It can't be that bad!" You nudged their side, giving them an encouraging smile. "I would love to see what you can do."

Noob swatted your shoulder gently, feeling flustered at your interest. "Maybe, maybe..." They sipped on their Bloxy Cola to hide their smile, not realizing it was empty.

"And Elliot? He doesn't seem like the kind of guy..." You were interested in the dynamics these three had with each other; they looked like they all had some contrast from each other's personalities, especially Elliot and Chance.

"El doesn't like makeup much, no. He gets all embarrassed." Noob giggled, trying to cover their mouth. "It looks nice on him, though. It's just that, you tell him that, and he gets all red and runs off to the bathroom to take it off."

"His style isn't the best, either. Sometimes he makes good outfits, yes, but Elliot has the strangest clothes out of all of us..." They remembered that one bandana that was literally made out of pizza, dough, and all. "And doesn't care about what he wears outside of his uniform. In his casual clothes, El looks like he closed his eyes while picking them."

Speak of the devil, Elliot opened the door, surprised that you both were sitting there all casual. "Oh, this is where you both went..." He stepped inside, and Chance slithered in from behind him.

"You didn't hear anything I was saying?" Noob remarked, curiously. Elliot tilted his head at them, looking confused, and they waved their hand at him in a dismissive gesture.

"I did," Chance spoke up, shooting Noob a wink as he walked towards his bed. "I'll shut up if you give me a Brew, though."

Elliot, ever the voice of reason: "You aren't going to actually drink before a round, right? You're going to miss all of your shots." A pause as he closed the door behind him, catching Chance's uncaring expression. "You're a moron."

"Does wanting some adrenaline make me a moron? Plus, it's just one can." Chance caught the Witches' Brew can that Noob threw at them, shooting them a sweet smile. "Thanks Nooby."

"One can and one lightweight." Elliot sneered at Chance, going towards Noob's bed to sit with you two as well, uninvited but welcome. He plopped down by your unoccupied side, making a pause in his grumpy mood to smile at you. Everyone seemed to like you so far.

"Why do you room with Chance if he seems to get on your nerves so much?" You questioned him quietly, watching as the mentioned gambler opened the Witches' Brew and downed it in a swig. Jeez.

"It's complicated, but I don't hate them. They just... worry me quite a bit." Elliot lowered his tone to match your volume, deadpanning at how Chance gulped the alcohol down. Show-off. Noob snickered at his reaction.

"You're talking about meeeee?" Chance turned towards the three of you, cooing. After throwing the can away, they settled down on the floor, back against Elliot's legs. They tilted their head back to look up at the pizza deliveryman, laying it on his lap.

Elliot's upset expression had dwindled to a concerned look directed at Chance, and the latter faltered for just a moment before reaching up with his hands to squish Elliot's cheeks, much to the other's protest. "Heeeyyy, I'll be finnneee... Trust me!"

You and Noob shared a look as the other two were in their little world. Your eyebrows cocked, you asked, "How do you live with these two?" They answered with a shrug and an amused smile.

"-Plus, if I need someone to save me, there's the newbie." Chance suddenly thrusts you into the conversation, making you perk up. "Yeah, you!" They poked your knee. "Saw you lift Shedletsky like he weighed absolutely nothing- and that guy? Oh, boy, he's definitely not the lightest." Chance snickered, "You should try lifting Guest 1337 next. He's also pretty heavy."

"...How do you know that?" You asked, since he seemed to know a stupid amount about the subject of the survivor's weights. "You sound sure."

Elliot answered for you, "Chance tried to see who they could lift and who they couldn't lift since they were bored." He shook his head, pinching his nose dramatically even if he was smiling.

"You were the lightest with Taph and Two Time." Chance poked Elliot's forehead, then poked Noob's side. "Noob was one of the heavier ones, though. Not surprisingly, they keep themselves well-fed."

The gambler got on his knees, kneeling before you, before starting to poke your arms. "You don't even look that strong- no offense, but you're so soft!"

You backed away a little, and they stopped poking, giving you an apologetic look. "I've carried a lot of heavy things for my job. I remember carrying like, five boxes of those." You pointed at one of the big, Federation series crowns that Chance had on their side of the room, hung up on the wall.

"Five??? Those are stupidly heavy!" The gambler seemed to think it was incredulous, but you simply shrugged. "It sounds like they were torturing you in your workplace."

"How long have you been working as a mail carrier?" Noob cut through the conversation with curiosity. Honestly, they were trying to gauge your age because they seriously couldn't tell how old you were. Elliot and Chance also looked interested in your answer.

"Over ten years." You blurted out without even thinking about it. While Elliot seemed to think of your answer as pretty normal, Chance and Noob gawked. "Ten?!" Their voices overlapped as they began to speak:

"Did you seriously never get bored with delivering stuff?" Noob sounded genuinely confused, grabbing your shoulder with concern as if you were insane. "I mean, I don't think it could have been that fun? Customer service just... can't be that fun! How much did they even pay you-?!"

"A mailperson, for ten years? Ten?! You don't even look that old!- you're such eye candy, I'm surprised you aren't a model!" Chance didn't sound flirtatious; he sounded genuinely appalled, leaning a bit too close for comfort to stare at your face. "Your potential can't be wasted on running around delivering letters and packages like that?! Look at you!"

Elliot saw your alarmed expression, certainly not expecting those reactions, and shushed them. "Calm down, it's not unheard of!" He sounded offended despite not being the target of the surprise. "I also worked in customer service for ten years, it's not that bad." He crossed his arms, shaking his head. "Sure, it's a bit of an annoying job, but if they like it, they like it."

"And my job doesn't have bad pay, either." You added in, answering one of Noob's questions; it was one of the few things you heard, anyway, you didn't hear much of Chance's remarks. "It's a bit too much, just enough so I can buy things for the hell of it, really, but not just anything. Stupid stuff."

You crossed your arms, cocking your eyebrows at both of them. "If my job doesn't sound that pleasing, then what did you two work as?"

Chance was the one who answered first, smug. "I owned a casino. Fair, clean casino by the way, luxurious one, like, good seats and beautiful lights and statues and-"

You tilted your head. "Do you like gambling?" Noob and Elliot shared a look.

"...Do I like gambling...?" Chance gave a slow chuckle, grinning, making you notice a golden canine in the upper row of their teeth. They leaned too close again, resting their elbows on your thighs, not thinking about it much. "Oh, baby, you don't even know..." Their breath smelled like Witches' Brew.

Noob put a hand on Chance's mouth, making him shut up. They tugged his head closer to themselves. "Yes, Chance, we know how much you like gambling." They patted the gambler's head as he protested muffledly, trying to escape their hold. "Anyways, I... didn't have a job before this, I used to, but some things happened. I was gonna start a band with my friends, but..."

They paused, frowning. Elliot nudged their side, trying to bring them back to the topic at hand, and you attempted to as well with words: "Which instrument were you gonna play?" You were genuinely intrigued; looking around, you didn't see anything that might indicate that, except for the band posters, but it still didn't point out that they could play an instrument.

"I was gonna be the drummer," Noob answered, their tone a bit lighter; those band practices done in their friend's garage were a bit too fun, certainly one of their favorite types of memories. "For a death metal band."

"Don't death metal songs usually have the drummers melt their arms and legs off?" You tilted your head at them, imagining Noob behind a drummer's set, arms blurring as they hit their drumsticks against the instrument. You had to hide your smile.

"Yeah, sometimes. It's so much fun, though!" Noob beamed, excited to talk about their favorite hobby. "When you know what you're doing, it sounds beautiful. At least in my opinion- it's definitely worth the numbness in your limbs after!"

"I'm sure you were amazing at it. Probably still are." Noob seemed passionate about it, eyes sparkling in such an endearing way, you couldn't help but compliment them, trying to see if they light up even more.

They blushed brightly, holding their cheek with a hand to check how hot it is, but still grinning nonetheless, feeling a bit bashful. "You're too nice to me!"

Elliot was stopping a tipsy Chance from getting another Witches' Brew in the background, dragging them away from Noob's infinite mini-fridge; the gambler was fighting him on it, though.

It was really nice being with these three. Chance and Elliot were a bit rowdy at times, sure, but the conversations with them and Noob were mainly pleasant; it's like when you click with a friend group. Friend... the word made something stir in your chest.

Good things never last, however, especially in this place. A clock began to loudly tick in your head, telling you that a round was going to begin in under a minute; it made you stand up abruptly, and Noob looked confused, if not a bit hurt, by you suddenly leaving. When everyone else in the cabin began to get in motion, evident by their footsteps, their expression softened as they watched you rush off to the living room with a quick "Bye!"

"Oh... I didn't get chosen." Noob spoke outloud, not gotten picked twice in a row. They wished they were, for once, mainly to continue the nice conversation you both shared.

"Me neither." Elliot was pinning Chance down by straddling his back, both of them on the ground; the latter writhing underneath him and trying to drag himself towards the Witches Brew. "Did you get chosen?" The pizza deliveryman poked the back of the gambler's head.

"No..." They grumbled, giving up and going limp. They lit up soon after, a mischievous smirk on their face as they rubbed their palms together. "It's just the three of us in the cabin for twenty minutes, do you know what that means?"

Elliot rolled his eyes, flicking the back of Chance's head while Noob laughed at the remark.

Chapter Text

You were transported into the round with a lighter feeling in your chest, feeling more sure of yourself than before. First-time experience already over with, you knew what to do, at least; you didn't know who the killer was, but you assumed it must be someone new.

The first thing you did was look around the room you were placed in. It had bright red walls with white accents and a white floor. You turned around and flinched as you saw the huge figure of a Drakobloxxer looming over you.

It didn't move, so you began to poke at it curiously; you barely saw Drakobloxxers nowadays, the only ones you'd see were cloned ones back at home. This one was taxidermy. The scaly texture of its outer skin interested you quite a bit, and you were about to read the showcased information in front of it, displayed in small text...

But you got a poke on your shoulder, which made you stand up straighter. So, you spawned here with someone else... Turning around, you were face to face with a hooded figure.

Taph waved at you cheerfully, signing something to you that you still didn't understand. You scratched the back of your neck, feeling a bit ashamed. "Hi Taph." You waved back with your unoccupied hand. They limped their wrist and gestured dismissively at your embarrassment, soon after patting your shoulder, telling you not to worry about it with their lax body language and friendly gestures.

"You should teach me a bit of sign language sometime. I'd love to communicate with you better," You spoke earnestly, nothing but well-meaning as you added in: "No pressure, of course!" Not only would it be nice to understand Taph, but you felt as if it was needed, especially since you were his roommate. What if he wanted to tell you something important, and you kept on tilting your head at him like a confused dog?

The demolitionist seemed cheered by the idea, nodding deeply. They tried to tell you something with vague gestures, kind of like a mime, but you couldn't understand, making you slouch in yourself with disappointment. They shrugged, moving on from the topic and gesturing at a nearby generator- you didn't even notice that!

You crouched by it, watching as the screen in front of you flickered to life, a flow puzzle displayed to you. You connected the dots swiftly, glancing up briefly to see Taph crouching by the opposite side of the generator, doing the puzzle even faster than you. You raised an eyebrow. Well, he didn't need the help, so...

Standing up, you wandered to another room, seeing that the building you were in wasn't even that big; it had two big entrances, shelves by one of them behind something that looked like a cashier's countertop, and the other entrance had stairs in front of it, showing an elevated area.

On the aforementioned countertop, there was a Bloxy Cola. You picked it up, not knowing what it would do, but it seemed important. You tried reading the labels, but they were blurry. Oh, this Bloxy Cola was totally sketchy...

You curiously put it in one of your pockets, and your eyes widened as it disappeared completely. When you reached your hand into your pocket, trying to see if it was completely gone, you were able to pull it out normally. Oh hell yeah, you had infinite pockets too!

Taph slithered beside you, tilting their head when you started giggling to yourself as you pulled out a Bloxy Cola. When you noticed them, you cleared your throat. "I'm sorry, I got distracted. Let's go?" You offered your arm to link with theirs.

He brightened up, wrapping his arm around yours, tucked safely by your side. The demolitionist was a bit too eager, as he began to drag you off, but soon after, the positions switched as you speedily walked.

You spent your time together doing generators mostly, with Taph stopping at certain moments to place down traps or a Subspace Tripmine. Getting out of that building made you able to see what the entire place was: an amusement park! Or maybe a carnival? An amusement park seemed to fit it better, though...

As you let Taph do the hard work on a generator you two found in a wide-open van with swift ease, you checked the perimeter, observing the entire place. You had already eyed the height indicator in one of the entrances of the building you spawned in; three little red guys stacked on top of each other. Cute.

There was something familiar about those drawings, especially with the text across their chests, but you didn't think too much about it.

There was a small building near the white van, it had three entrances, and inside there was a table with a cake on top of it, said cake had ten lit candles on it, a banner behind it that said "Happy birthday!" with the text seeming to drip like blood, and a bunch of balloons in the corners of the room.

Taph had followed you inside and stabbed a wooden peg into the floor in front of the entrance you had entered, crouched down, wrapped some barbed wire around it, and started walking backwards towards the central entrance; they were in the middle of setting down another tripwire.

As he did that, you approached the table with the cake on it, observing it with curiosity. However, the closer you got, the louder the birthday music played. It made you stop at some point and glance around, trying to see if there were hidden speakers or something. Nothing, it was all in your head. You shivered.

You were so close to the cake, you weren't able to hear two people coming in, nor one of them calling your name, until a hand landed on your shoulder, squeezing. Someone called your name.

"Are you hungry? You're staring at that cake really hard." The deep, weathered voice could instantly be identified as Guest 1337. It was soothing and outstanding enough to snap you out of your cake-induced hypnosis, turning around to face him. You should ask him to sing you a lullaby sometime.

"Do you hear it?" You blurted out, not thinking about how ominous your question sounded. Guest 1337 furrowed his thick eyebrows at you in concern, so you added on: "The birthday music."

"...No?" You felt embarrassed at how confused the veteran sounded, it made you feel like you were a crazy person; didn't help that the music disappeared the moment Guest 1337 started talking to you; maybe this place was doing a number on you...!

"Well..." You fumbled with your words, scratching your neck as you attempted to divert the attention from the fact that you might be hallucinating. "...I am a little bit hungry, I suppose!" Blatant lie. You ate so many snacks and drinks before coming here, you were full and satisfied.

"Don't worry, it's just 20 minutes." Guest 1337 rubbed your back reassuringly, and the mention of the timer made you groan, the veteran pulling you to his side and giving you a playful nudge in response. "It's not gonna be that long."

Dusekkar, the other person who had entered the small room, approached you and Guest, cutting his chat with Taph short. The demolitionist had scampered away, clear by their absence; probably going to place down more traps.

"Thou beest famished?" The magician had been overhearing the conversation, and he let his staff float in the air as he searched through the inside pockets of his robe. You were about to start telling him not to worry, that you'll be fine, but the sight of wrapped candies in his hand made you tilt your head.

Feeling your questioning, Dusekkar shook his head with amusement. "Taph keeps fabricating sour candies and providing them to me, and I don't has't the core to bid that gent yond I don't feed candy." He took your hand, and you opened it so he could place the wrapped sweets in it. Jeez, you were getting fed like a pigeon today.

You felt them in your palm, taking note of their differing shapes: cylinders, squares, balls... You could've never guessed Taph liked to indulge in confectionery. "Thank you Mis- Dusekkar." You caught yourself being professional: you could already tell it was going to be hard to get acquainted with your ex-superiors in a normal manner. You heard Dusekkar huff a crackly chuckle.

It would've been sweet for the conversation to keep going, but you were in the middle of a round. Truly impressive how the sound of... Ambience? was going on, it was like the air had its sound, humming through the suddenly cold room you three were in. You didn't know if you were making it up, but you could also hear the sounds of snapping fingers.

As calming as the humming was, it settled over you, Guest 1337 and Dusekkar like a heavy, unsettling fog. The soldier beside you took a deep breath and tensed, and the magician stood perfectly still, the light in his pumpkin head dimming.

A sword brandishing itself, then a pained, heaved scream, the melody that followed the killer completing itself- and it all sounded like it was behind the small building you were in. Guest 1337 had already sprung into action, boots thundering against the ground as he ran straight towards the source of the ruckus.

You and Dusekkar hesitated for a second, sharing a side-glance, but the wizard hurriedly tugged you along as well. You can't complain; if Guest 1337 didn't have any backup, then he might get in some big trouble himself.

The trouble sounded like it came from the building you had first appeared in, but you didn't even get to round a corner and enter it, since the victim of the thunderous attack stumbled out; Builderman. He was clutching his stomach, trying to straighten himself by holding onto nearby walls, his sleeves and the ends of his pants having some fire flickering on them, though it did not spread, strangely.

You rushed to his side mindlessly, while Dusekkar stayed frozen in place, looking behind you, and even backing up a bit. He called your name in a warning tone, voice low, but you couldn't care less at the moment- Builderman looked like he was on the brink of death, a slash crossing his torso and making him bleed profusely.

Your hands hovered at Builderman's sides, trying to find a way that you could haul him up into your arms without hurting him too much, with the latter looking a bit awkward. Dusekkar called your name again, a bit louder, and he was pointing at something frantically, but you were still focused on your wounded teammate.

What was Dusekkar looking at behind you, you might be asking? Well, a bit further away from you, inside the building, a bit of an altercation between Guest 1337 and the killer had gone on, leaving the latter stunned. However, the killer had followed Builderman with their gaze, intent on finishing him off.

You settled on a bridal carry, tucking your arms underneath the ex-president's upper torso and the back of his knees, then lifting him up against your chest. Builderman could barely mutter out a "Thank you", trying his best to wrap his arms around your shoulders.

The magician watching you finally shouted in a hurry. "Duck!"

Your eyes widened, and even though you didn't know what Dusekkar saw, you followed the command without a single thought, crouching and putting your trust in him fully —and thank 2x2 you did!

An object harshly flew past the top of your head, taking your hat off with it. It had been thrown with great strength, surely would have shaken your brain around if it had hit. This object, which, after landing on the floor, could be identified as a black briefcase, nearly hit Dusekkar as well.

You didn't get time to think about what just happened, as thundering, heavy footsteps that didn't sound like Guest 1337's rushing out towards you, the melody that followed the killer hitting its jazzy climax, and you started to sprint with Builderman fading in and out of consciousness in your arms.

Despite Dusekkar standing just a few feet away from you, still and not moving yet, the killer still went towards their desired target- Builderman. If they could kill you as well, then it'd be killing two birds with one stone.

However, they realized how bad a choice it was to leave Dusekkar by himself, seeing a well-aimed plasma beam shooting out of their chest and also going through you, meaning the magician had slowed them and sped you up.

With an aggravated sigh, the killer turned around to go deal with the easier target that the magician was, since he could not fend for himself without slowing himself down... but they forgot something. A blue-haired something. Thankfully, they were able to remember that small detail when he felt that blue-haired something's skull colliding with their nose.

They staggered, gloved hand instinctively going up to feel their nose; in any other case, the soldier's strength would've done more damage, but since they're in The Spectre's graces, it was only momentary bleeding and a short duration of disorientation.

Guest 1337 backed up a bit after delivering the headbutt, knowing that he can't block at the moment. Even if he is clearly on the disadvantaged side of the encounter, he still taunted. "Problem's with me, big guy. You're gonna chicken out?" He's learned that some killers are more emotional than logical, or that the latter sometimes act out when having a pretty bad round, so it gets them on him instead of his teammates.

The killer clad in black stared at him for a second before shaking their head with amusement. They are not that easy to fool, and they know that they only have so much time before their two other more important targets heal up. So, they reach inside their coat's pocket, taking out a walkie-talkie.

The veteran backed up further at the sight of the object, which made the other smile. Bringing it up to their lips, they called out for their goons: "Contractee, Caporeigme. Stat." It was a pretty dry order, but after getting stuck in this purgatory, they knew that their men knew what to do. It's all they did.

The killer could hear them spawn into existence, seemingly ripped straight from a card game, from the startled look on their faces, with cards in their hands. "Aw, damn it, I was about to win..." Contractee whined, his boss giving a sharp nudge to his side.

Guest 1337 had already run off when Contracte and Caporeigme finished getting summoned, all of his abilities either locked or on cooldown. "You know what to do." Their leader lazily gestured in the direction the veteran went as he spoke, then turned around towards the direction you and Builderman had gone. "If possible, go for the pumpkin guy."

"You've got it, Don." Caporeigme nodded, baton stern in his hands.

 

After a few twists and turns, you decided that you had lost the killer, stopping at one of the corners of the map. It was a popcorn stand, with, weirdly enough, a wooden board? On the counter? You could climb over it; it was a strange decision.

"Why can everything they throw go through walls? That's hardly fair!" You complained, still wheezing for air after that encounter, your arms feeling numb and heavy. Builderman was sitting down on the floor and leaning back against his recently built dispenser, up against the corner that hid his build and him perfectly beside the entrance, looking just a smidge better than earlier from the healing spray's work.

"Ehhhh... When ya' stop questioning things like "fairness", it's easier to process. Especially if ya' consider we're on the side that's supposed to be losin'." Builderman sighed, wishing things weren't the way they were, but what else could be done? "Though, ta' be fair, yer' first few matchups have been the worst to begin off with; this bastard is difficult to counter."

"I didn't get a look at the killer, but knocking my hat clean off is already a horrible first impression. I miss it already." You tried to inject a bit of humor into your tone, meaning to cheer up your injured teammate. The amused huff you got made the corners of your lips quirk up.

You sat down beside him, forgetting where you were and deciding to relax for a moment. You had questions, anyway... "What can they do?"

"Oh yeah... this guy... his name is like..." Builderman seemed to have forgotten for a moment. "Don... Somethin'. The rest of his title is in another language, pretty sure Italian. We just nickname him as Mafioso, though."

"So we went from well-known danger to society to a mafia boss?" You tilted your head. You had no idea who this guy was, and knowing that 1x1x1x1 was on the same side as a random mafia guy? Well, you didn't know who you might face next.

"Eh, believe it or not, they're here for a reason, just like us-" The ex-president paused, correcting himself. "Most of us. The killers share a history with some of the survivors here, for example, Chance knows Mafioso."

Now you were curious. "Ohhhh?" These aren't the answers you were looking for, but since you're a newbie, you're willing to learn about anything. "That's pretty surprising." And that's for you to say, since you're someone who has never interacted with the mafia up until 5 minutes ago, and also, you already saw Chance as an angel who has done no wrong in his life.

"Yeah, I should show ya what we've been documentin'... I don't know why I didn't before." Builderman, feeling a bit more recovered, could move, and he put the heel of his palm on his forehead, shaking his head in disapproval of himself. "Could've saved ya lots of trouble already."

"It's the second time you said that! Don't worry about it too much," Your ex-boss should actually be quite worried about getting you hurt because nobody tells you anything, but you still attempted to reassure. "Just make sure you show me the documents during intermission! Easy peasy. I'll remind you!"

Builderman looked ready to refute, to double down on being a bad co-leader, but you shook your head at him and closed your eyes; a stubborn expression. He sighed and shook his head back, a smile tugging at his lips. "Alright. I guess I've gotten so old my noggin doesn't work right sometimes, huh? I appreciate the patience."

You shrugged, offering a grin back. "You're talking as if you've been training me for years. I've been here for..." Your expression shifted, happiness slipping off your face. "...6 hours, maybe?" And you've already seen so much and gone through so much. You were still hoping this was a nightmare, but the chances are at 1% now.

Builderman didn't speak, not even knowing what to say at your haunted expression.

...

A rustle of fabric, and a figure materialized on your unattended side, even leaning towards you a bit as they sat on the ground with you, legs crisscross applesauce. "6 hours, yet you're learning so fast!" They praised. You snapped your head towards their direction, being met face-to-face with pupilless eyes and a sharp, fanged grin- Two Time.

You jumped and leaned against Builderman a bit more, a strangled gasp escaping your lips. "Holy-!" You could've screamed in that moment and most likely given you, Builderman, and Two Time's positions away.

The ex-president seemed unamused and undeterred. The cultist is going to be spending your entire starting week scaring you, aren't they? "Two Time..." Builderman sounded like he was going to scold them.

"My apologies. I forget my presence can be... startling." They had bruises along their arms and face, and the soothing spray of Builderman's dispenser washed over them. Two Time sounded genuine in their apology, realizing a bit too late that it's not the time to sneak on people, even if accidental.

"It's okay, just... jeez." You laughed, trying to quiet down after the ex-president shot you a look and put his index finger up to his lips. "You really like to do that, Two Time. That's the second time you've done that to me!"

"Admittedly, it wasn't my intention. I'm too used to sneaking around that I forget I'm not that noticeable when I crouch." They giggled with you, but the cultist's laughter sounded more whispery and weak.

After you both calmed down, Builderman piped up. "Aight, Times, what's happenin'? Is he using his goons already?" He questioned, trying to assess how the round has been so far; they know that Mafioso liked getting his proper kills instead, only calling for his minions when he knew the round was getting tough.

"I'm sure I saw two of them chasing Dusekkar." Two Time went back to their neutral expression, confirming a few things for their co-leader: "Taph got hurt badly, and Shedletsky intercepted. I might've... missed my stab, getting a bit hurt myself. Taph got away with a medkit, so I think he's fine. I don't know where Guest is, hopefully with Shedletsky-"

You leaned back against the dispenser, letting Two Time and Builderman talk and strategize while you were sandwiched between them. Relaxed and content, you let yourself zone out for just a moment, letting this odd sense of belonging flow down on you. You wanted to take a rest, detox just for a second.

You shouldn't be getting attached so fast, but... wow, you wondered how these people ended up in here. Everyone has treated you great so far; maybe it's recency bias? But they're all still so... welcoming. You haven't felt like this in a long time.

The sound of other people's voices scared you, usually. They had you at the edge of your seat, waiting for them to say something demeaning about you, waiting for their tones to be tainted with pity, like you're someone who is lost, someone who should be ashamed. And somehow, 90% of the time, your gut was right.

But these past few hours have been... the most bittersweet thing ever. You've faced horrors that nobody should face just 30 minutes ago, and you're gonna face them forever and get hurt over, and over, and over again, but also... everyone here is so nice, it's odd to you. You haven't gotten any pity yet, which is already pretty crazy because that tends to happen 10 minutes after initially meeting you.

They aren't co-workers who pass by with a shallow hello, or maybe an "Are you okay?" when you pull a face, or a "How are you?" when they are bored. They aren't naggy bosses who only look down upon you like an exploitable pawn in the grand scheme of things. They're people. And they treat you like... a person?

Somehow, despite being in what is considered a purgatory, you've never felt more alive.

...You didn't know how to feel about that.