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Ever since meeting Twotime and learning what they'd done in the name of the Spawn, Dusekkar took them in as a project of sorts. He worked tirelessly on deprogramming them, showing them the Spawn was a hoax. If only he realized the adverse effects their deprogramming had on them before it was too late.
When it finally worked they became a recluse, even more so than the ex-hacker, they stopped eating, becoming somehow skinnier, their face was always streaked with tears, new wounds started popping up on their arms and legs, they stopped talking completely because they would only ever talk about the Spawn back then, and worst of all (according to Shedletsky) they stopped stunning the killers.
During rounds they would either just do generators, or allow the killers to kill them without even fighting back. They thought they deserved it.
The only exception was when it came to Azure. When Azure was the killer, they would hide. Even 007n7 wasn't so much of a pussy to hide when Coolkidd was the killer, but Twotime couldn't face him anymore, not after learning the truth.
They still remember what they said to Azure the first time he was the killer, “Dearest Azure! The Spawn has brought you back to me! I knew the ritual wasn't for naught!” And then he killed them for the first time.
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
This was one of the rounds where Azure was the killer, and if he was being honest, the fact he could never find Twotime anymore was making him insane. Part of him was worried, that was the part that wanted to forgive them, but the other, angry part of him wanted to kill them again. They did this to him, afterall. It was only fair.
And during that fateful round, he found them. They looked pathetic, pitiful. They were hugging their knees and muttering something under their breath, not paying attention to the round at all.
When he got closer, and got a better look at them, his heart sank. Their eyes were red, their face streaked with tears, and their arms, poor thing, their arms. The spawn symbols on their arms were crossed out and bleeding, in fact, the majority of their arms were bleeding, their scars looked fresh. He could hear what they were saying now. They were whispering under their breath, “I'm sorry.. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Azure.. Azure.. I'm so sorry,” and various other muttered apologies with their hoarse voice. And despite their fervent apologies, they didn't seem aware of the fact Azure was looming right above them. They looked like they were in their own world, one somehow worse than this one.
It was like the hatred was sucked out of Azure. He stooped down and lifted Twotime up, bringing them up to eye level. Doing so, he snapped them out of whatever trance they were in, and they flinched back. Or at least tried to. They were hyperventilating now, fresh tears pricking their eyes.
“M y… N i g h t s h a d e…” he croaked out, talking hurt, but seeing his old love like this hurt much more than anything in the world.
“I… don't deserve to be called that, Azure… I ruined you…”
“W h a t ‘ s… W r o n g?” They didn't answer him, looking away instead.
“L o o k… A t… M e” Azure demanded, using one of his tentacles to force them to face him. The tears in Twotime's eyes threatened to roll down their face.
“I'm so sorry Azure… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I- I should've realized… we should've left… we- I shouldn't have… I'm so sorry Azure…” endless apologies flooded from their mouth, but they never once asked for forgiveness.
“N i g h t s h a d e… W h a t… H a p p e n e d…?”
“I happened… I killed you…”
“T h a t… d i d n’ t… d i s t u r b… y o u… a.. f e w… r o u n d s… a g o…”
“I… I learned the truth…”
“You weren't supposed to,” Azure's hat spoke, startling Twotime and causing Azure to roll his eyes. “And you! You're supposed to be killing them, not having some heartfelt conversation with your prey! Don't you want revenge? Kill them!” The hat went on and on scolding Azure until he finally caved.
“I’ m… s o r r y… I… m u s t… d o… m y… d u t y…” Azure sighed before stabbing Twotime with his tendrils. They died instantly, wincing when they were revived to the lobby. “It's alright, Azure… I deserve it, afterall…” They whispered into the air.
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
Ever since meeting Azure that round, Twotime has been feverish and their wounds turned purple. At first they thought that it was just an infection, nothing to fuss over, but then their blood turned purple, their body started hurting more than usual, and one day they coughed something up. A flower petal, one they instantly recognized as nightshade, Azure's favorite flower.
They tried to ignore it at first, but each day they were coughing up more and more and it was getting harder to breathe. Eventually, vines and flowers started growing on their skin, stemming from their open wounds and blooming more nightshades.
They were miserable, the pain was unbearable. A constant flow of tears fell from their eyes, the only time the pain subsided for even a millisecond was when they died in a match and were brought back to the lobby. So, they started being a body blocker, protecting the supports and survivalists, especially Elliot. Of course they didn't accept any of the pizza Elliot so desperately tried to give them as a thanks; they didn't deserve it, and even if they did, the brief respite from pain death gave them was a much better reward.
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
“Another round, another break from the pain,” was what Twotime told themself when the round started. The killer was Azure again, it's been a while since they'd seen him. Come to think of it, he hasn't been the killer since… well, since he found them crying. Seeing him again was going to hurt, but not as much as they're already hurting.
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
It's been a while since Azure was the killer, and now it was his turn again. He was somewhat fed up, to be honest, sure the killing disturbed him at first, but it was also a way to get out his frustrations, and he was oh so very frustrated.
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
The first survivor Azure came across was that hacker, the one C00LK1DD always called “dad,” Azure made quick work of him. Next was the demolitionist, their tripmines were annoying, but ultimately useless in keeping them alive. Then was the pizza guy, the healer. Azure drew out his tendrils, preparing to strike them through his heart, but something tripped him. At first he thought it was just some foliage he didn't notice, but when he got a closer look and heard a meek “sorry…” he knew exactly what it was. No, who it was.
“Twotime! I told you to stop following me around! You know you're not equipped for this anymore!”
“T w o t i m e… i s… t h a t… y o u…? W h a t… h a p p e n e d…?”
“i… -cough- i guess i'm really your -hack- your nightshade now…”
“Twotime! Don't talk to him! Get to safety!”
“N i g h t s h a d e… d i d… d i d… I… d o… t h i s… t o… y o u…?”
“What the hell do you think?! They ended up like this after your last round!” He snapped.
“he -grk- he didn't mean to… i -gh- i just know it…”
“Did the flowers you're coughing up get to your brain or something?! Of course he meant it! He's a killer! It's his job to make us suffer! It's probably some fucked up revenge to him!”
“yeah… but he looked really sad when he -gag- when he killed me last..”
“Use your brain! Not your heart! You know that-”
“S I L E N C E… L E A V E…”
“Fine by me. Come on Twotime.”
“N O T… T H E M… O N L Y… Y O U…”
“I am not leaving a person as vulnerable as them alone with a ruthless killer like you!”
“L E A V E… O R… D I E…”
“just -cough- just leave… we both know even if i survive that i don't -ghk- add much to the team…”
“No! Even if you don't add much-”
Elliot was impaled on Azure's tendrils. It only took one strike to kill him, but Azure kept stabbing him, over and over again, until Elliot's corpse was mangled and unrecognizable. He didn't stop until Twotime shook him, begging him to stop before having a coughing fit, coughing up the same nightshades that were now growing on their body. Azure sighed, and was going to comfort them, before his hat spoke.
“You know how to stop this.”
“I… d o n t… w a n t… t o… k i l l… t h e m… a n y m o r e…”
“I'm not talking to you. You aren't a part of this conversation.”
“what…?”
“You know what to do to ease your pain, little cultist.”
“i'm not -cough- i don't believe in your -hack- your lie anymore.”
“You will.”
“T w o t i m e…”
“You will provide, not the spawn, but me, sacrifices of violence or you will never know peace. And lucky you, you have a sacrifice right in front of you.”
“no- no! i- i can't! not again"
“Y o u… h a v e… t o…” Azure's tendrils reached into Twotime's back pocket, where they always kept their dagger, even if they didn't use it anymore. He grabbed the dagger and pushed the handle into Twotime's hands.
“Look, your sacrifice is even willing.”
“n-no..”
“I t s… a l r i g h t… i t s… n o… f u n… k i l l i n g… y o u… w h e n… y o u r e… l i k e… t h i s…” He guided Twotime's hand and the dagger to his heart and forced them to stab him over and over again. The round ended when Azure stopped moving and tears fell from Twotime's face, but Twotime ended up in the killer's cabin and Azure with the survivors.
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
In the middle of the survivor's cabin sat a very confused Azure, surrounded by panicking survivors. The soldier and Shedletsky were the closest to him, followed by the gambler, Builderman, the demolitionist, the hacker, the noob, Dusekkar, and the pizza boy. The group was yelling and shouting, not letting Azure think. He tried to use his tendrils to shut up the group, only to find he couldn't. His body refused to attack them, no matter how hard he tried. He was going to try again, but his hat spoke.
“Stop that, you'll wear yourself out and have no energy next round. And besides, you gotta learn how to run now.”
“... W h a t…?”
“You're useless as a killer now, so the cultist took your place.”
“Twotime's at the killer cabin?!” The pizza boy screeched out in pure horror. “They can't fight off all those killers on their own!”
“Good thing they won't have to. They're a killer now. Killers cannot harm one another, same with you survivors.”
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
It was much calmer in the killer's cabin. Well, calm ignoring Twotime's sobs. The killers mostly ignored one another, and didn't really care that Azure and Twotime traded places. The only one that addressed them was Pr3tyPriincess, and she just wanted them to stop crying so loudly; she said they were ruining her tea party with C00lkidd and Bluudud. So as not to disturb her, they left the cabin, hoping there was a forest near it, like there was with the survivor's cabin. Every. Step. Was. Agonizing. But still, they pushed on. They could scream when they were out of earshot of everyone.
They didn't find the forest they were looking for. In fact, what they found was horrible, it pierced through their heart like they did Azure's. It was a small flower garden, unassuming to an untrained eye, but it was filled with lilies of the valley, nightshades, yellow chrysanthemums, and black roses. Azure had taught Twotime the meanings of each of these. Longing for someone, betrayal, death, and mourning. It told their story. Azure must’ve put the flowerbed together, he loved gardening back when… right. When they were in the cult. They don't want to think about the cult anymore. They don't want to remember what they did. They want to take a nap. Yeah, a nap sounds nice…
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
Twotime awoke to a new round starting, and they were in unbearable pain. They just wanted it to end. They were told how to make the pain stop, but is it worth it? The more time that passed, the more they resolved that it would be. They wanted their body to stop screaming at them, so they grabbed their knife and went to look for the survivor group.
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
At the start of the round Azure was filled with a sense of dread, it was his first time as a healer afterall. But a few minutes passed and nobody encountered the killer, which gave Azure time to study what his abilities were. He had flower sachets, some that healed, some that stunned the killer, and some that gave speed. Fitting, he supposed. He was the apothecarist back… back at the cult… so it made sense that all of his abilities had to do with flowers.
A few minutes later, Azure was talking to the other survivors, trying to explain his situation, when he heard a sob. No, not a sob, someone crying, crying their heart out. Twotime. It sounded like Twotime. Twotime was crying. The group stiffened, clearly on edge, but Azure wasn't. It was his friend, his partner, his love that was crying. He'd be an ass not to comfort them. So, he snuck off, or at least he thought he did. Just when he left the group his wrist was grabbed by none other than the pizza guy, Elliot. He was starting to hate him.
“What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Newsflash: if you die you'll give the killer more time to kill the rest of us!” Elliot whisper-shouted at Azure.
“I… n e e d… t o… c o m f o r t… t h e m…”
“They are going to kill you!”
“I… s t i l l… n e e d… t o… t r y…”
Azure and Elliot were arguing with each other for a while, and neither of them noticed the fact that the sobbing got louder, that Twotime was right behind them until Elliot was stabbed.
“sorry… -sniff- whoever you are… i'm so sorry… it’s you or me… i have to be selfish… i'm sorry,”
“T w o t i m e… s t o p… y o u r e… g o i n g… t o… k i l l… h i m…”
“azure? azure is that you? i'm sorry… i'm so sorry azure… i can't stop… it hurts too much… please… run… for your sake…”
~.☆.♡ - ♡.☆.~
The round ended with the whole team dead. As did the next one with Twotime as the killer. And the next, and the next. Over time, talking became easier for Azure, he paused while talking less and even integrated into the survivor group quite easily, especially given how he was another healer. On the contrary, talking got harder for Twotime, so they stopped almost completely, the only sounds they'd make were sobbing and hoarse apologies when they hurt someone. If we were being honest, it surprised the specter how someone so slow, so frail, with such a guilty conscience is able to kill their friends time and time again. But, everyone has something that makes them tick, to betray their friends, and it seems like Twotime's trigger is pain.