Chapter Text
Hardwood floors creaked beneath 007n7’s steps, darkness surrounds him in a cold yet comforting stillness, whispers scraping the makeshift walls, faint red glow and scratches that etched in its surface as he walked past with slow yet heavy steps. Every breath, a small puff of frost would escape his lips, reminding him of the temperature whenever he felt as though he forgot.
He kept moving forward, feeling the frostbite creeping up his fingertips, instinctively tucking them deep in the pockets of his black and red jacket. In the flicker of the moment, at the corner of his eyes, he saw what seemed to be the void space shifting, ever so slightly. Slowly he turns his head to face the black walls again, as if his body knew how to act, he raises his hand to press it on the ‘wall’ in front of him, phasing through with ease.
The whispers grew louder, it felt suffocating, they whispered for him to go through and it is as if his surroundings slowly closed in on him in a claustrophobic state. The temperature seemed to drop even further, forcing him to reluctantly phase through the once blocked off entrance.
He stumbled forward to his chest, his arm barely keeping his head from hitting the floor. He slowly stood up from the floor with a pained groan, his arms trembling slightly.
Finally he looked up, his gaze meeting a hallway, painted— no, live pictures of his memories decorated on the walls, framed like paintings, yet they were his real memories. He walked through, back hunching forward slightly as if in shame when he walked past a specific bunch of memories, ones where it depicted the times he was still the notorious hacker that terrorized the citizens and the famous pizzeria.
He dared not even take a glimpse of those days, he already had enough guilt that piled up in his chest from those days. His eyes softened when he saw the memories of his days as a father, pausing at a specific frame titled “Little Red's First Steps”. His eyes welled up in tears but he did not let it slip down his cheeks, wiping them quickly, staring back at the live photo in awe and adoration.
The whispers came back again, as if telling him to keep moving, sounding impatient and irritated, but he did as his gut said, he kept moving forward. The pressure of the hallways slowly got heavier. The memories that decorated the walls slowly got darker and blurred, and no matter how much 007n7 tried to remember those times, he simply just couldn't.
Yet he kept moving forward, he just had to, he didn't know why but he just had to, his arms wrapped around his chest as the pressure got heavier. The whispers grew louder, clearer, finally stopping on his tracks as he was face to face with… The Spectre.
Now he remembers, his palms clutching onto his own flesh as he finally remembers, he wasn't home anymore, he wasn't in Robloxia anymore. He wasn't with his son— or well, he wasn't with his small boy. He was in Forsaken, a limbo of endless cycles of death and twisted life, it wasn't home anymore, it never will be.
The Spectre in its small mercy, let 007n7 recollect and process his memories more thoroughly, watching intently with its corrupted code and makeshift figure glitching and corrupting.
“What did you do.” The Spectre uttered, the words echoing in the realm, more a demand than a question.
“I tried.” 007n7 answered in honesty, admittedly, the Entity already knew, but nonetheless, it asked and 007n7 will answer.
“You did.” It ‘spoke’, it didn't ‘sound’ like the usual condescending tone that the entity bore, after all, this wasn't the first time 007n7 had done this, this would just be one of many past and future attempts he'd try. This was just another unhealthy coping tactic in his head, he knew he'd respawn either way but this is the first time The Spectre had done this to him after he'd tried.
“You failed.” The Spectre clarified in a still and firm tone, making 007n7 instinctively shut his eyes and brace himself for something the higher entity might do, but a few moments passed and it never came.
“You will go back. Continue existence as you always did, with penalties.” The Spectre continued, makeshift fingers fiddling with the codes that surrounded it and 007n7.
The single father tilted his head in confusion, not expecting this reaction from the higher entity, this time, the Spectre didn't seem as irritated nor angry at him. There was something else he couldn't quite catch but before he could question the Entity, even if reluctantly, he woke up in ‘his’ cabin.
His eyes wide and breaths rough and ragged, he got up fast, eyes darting around and realizing he was back in the realm. Admittedly, he should've seen this coming, he'd done this too many times to act as shocked as he did but no matter how many times he was resurrected after another session of that, he still couldn't shake the shock of being alive again after what he did.
He stood up slowly from the bed, the floors creaked lightly beneath him just as always, getting a cup of water from his near empty—
That's not a near empty fridge, now that he noticed it, his cabin seemed to have been repaired into better shape, the windows have been replaced with something nicer, this time, it could actually be closed and opened without difficulty. He looked around, bumping into the table absent-mindedly, making him groan out in pain as it hit him right in his torso.
His eyes caught a glimpse of a note pressed under a vase that he didn't recall having before, hesitantly, he took the note and read it.
“Eat, Live, Do not be an idiot.” Was all it said, in the Spectre's familiar sophisticated writing, unlike the Entity's many other former notes, this one was more upfront and firm. 007n7 took a sip from his cup, still staring at the note that felt and seemed more like an order than a request.
He feared that if he didn't abide by the Entity's requests, he would be even more in trouble, why did it matter anyways-? He was in an endless limbo with people who hated him to their core. None of it mattered, yet despite those thoughts, he still felt inclined to follow those orders without much thought. Completely brushing off the questions of why the Higher Entity even cared for him, enough so that it would repair the cabin that he'd been cast out to, near the ‘ocean’ decks where he would do what he did.
He opened the fridge again, taking a glimpse of what the Spectre had filled it with, and to his surprise, it was filled with actual edible food. His fingers hovered over the options, eventually taking out something simple, a few pieces of brownie bites that actually tasted delicious, more than he expected.
The HUD flickered above his vision, counting down to when the round would start, “30 minutes…” He muttered to himself, pressing his lips into a thin line as he closed the fridge door and headed for a quick shower before the round started. He might as well clean off and look somewhat presentable in front of the others and not look like the total mess he currently was, with his messy hair and ragged expression from the massive mental breakdown he had the night before.
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007n7 dressed up in his usual attire, a blue polo shirt, black pants and a watch on his wrist, one of the ‘skins’ the Spectre would make them wear at some rounds. The HUD flickered above his vision once again, ‘1:00’ in its timer, counting down the seconds before the new round started.
007n7 braced for the start of the round, but in a split second he heard a subtle whisper echo in his ear, his eyes widened in the sudden voice but before he could react he was teleported to one of the maps.
Planet Voss.
007n7’s eye twitched, eyes darting around carefully, one hand settled on his other arm, walking forward warily. His ears perked up as he heard the audio cue of 1x’s mass infection from across the map, his instinct made him run up the ramp to one of the rocket-like structures, grabbing a soda he spotted at the corner of his vision.
007n7 ran down the ramp and up one of the other ramps that leads up, spotting a generator to work with, kneeling down to its level as he figured out at a rapid pace, fixing the wires and colors without much problem. He'd learned to fix these generators as fast as possible, as sometimes they would spawn at a very open space in the map where the killer could easily head to them without much disturbance on their way.
Despite the risks and adrenaline of it all, the man can't help but feel like all of this was repetitive, it was so… boring.
He finishes the generator with that thought, jumping down the higher structure to reach another generator that was nearest but still far from the killer. His mind drifted off to more thoughts as his hands worked on fixing the generator, questions ran through his mind like a hurricane of confusion, especially about the Higher Entity's mercy.
He hadn't even seen nor felt the ‘punishment’ that the Spectre had brought unto him, neither did he really want to experience, but all actions come with consequences he supposed.
Lost in thought, 007n7 didn't notice the audio cue of the killer's mass infection, when he finally did, the ranged mass attack was already inches away from him. He braced for the pain, screwing his eyes shut, yet it never came.
He opened his eyes slowly, just a glimpse, to realize that the mass infection had- disappeared-?? His eyes darted around in confusion and panic, he knew that wasn't supposed to happen, it was meant to hit him, because it was right in front of him just a few moments ago yet it never came through.
007n7 quickly finished up the generator despite his confusion, running off to find more generators to fix out of the 5 that spawned, he doesn't have the time nor the mental capacity to think of what happened just a few moments before.
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Noob's heart was pounding against their chest, they hid behind one of the walls near the giant arch of Planet Voss, they hadn't just seen that, right?? Truly- really- that wasn't right at all.
Just a few moments ago they'd been walking up to 007n7’s generator, wanting to help with fixing it when they heard the mass infection cue and backed away. They noticed that 007n7 hadn't heard the cue, about to warn them of the massive attack, but what he saw made his body shiver.
Their thoughts rambled on in question again, hands shivering against their chest as they tried to take deep breaths to properly process all of everything they just witnessed. “That couldn't be right… no- I was just seeing wrong, maybe??” They muttered the question to themselves, but that was too far-fetched. They knew too well that what they saw wasn't fake, especially since it happened right before their very eyes.
“Oh My Telamon- The Spectre just protected 007n7!” They gasped in shock, they just said that aloud, at the very least they were hiding in one of the rocket-like structures for the time being, but nonetheless they looked around in caution hoping that nobody heard what they just spoke out into the open.
Quickly, they fixed their jacket and sat upright, taking more deep breaths as they processed it even more, surely he can tell someone of this right… Surely…
Elliot? No— he heard that 007n7 and the Pizzaman had a complicated relationship- and he didn't wanna bother Elliot with the topic of something that might upset him…
Chance? NO— he'll spread it around like wildfire and Noob really doesn't want to cross the father's boundaries like that.
Shedletsky-? NO- he's an admin, he'll get suspicious and then he MIGHT try to interrogate 7n7 and that will raise even more suspicion and break boundaries!l
Builderman? Maybe— but he might do the same as Shedletsky MIGHT do.
Dusekkar?.... Maybe—? Maybe not-
Noob curled up on himself, tugging lightly at their hair with a groan of frustration, just what do they do?? WHO DO THEY TELL?? Lost in their frustration, they didn't hear the light footsteps coming closer, only then did they look up when they heard the sound of a subspace tripmine being set up.
Noon lit up at the sight of the support, ‘THAT'S IT!!’ they yelled in their mind, as if they just cracked the code to their problems, shooting up to their feet suddenly and making the mute fellow flinch in surprise. “Oh-! I'm S-sorry-” Noob quickly apologized, stuttering nervously.
They finally knew who they could tell, who else to tell but Taph, Taph who doesn't gossip (“maybe-?”) and they're mute!! Noob stepped forward, clasping the fellow's hands in their palms, “Taph, I-i need to tell you something.” Noob spoke, almost calm.
Noob just hopes they don't tell anyone about this…
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After the round ended, a bit too peacefully for anyone's liking but they really couldn't complain too much, Taph was sneakily heading to Dusekkar's chambers.
Their footsteps are light and almost non-existent, yet even with their obviously non biologically human body, they were visibly pleased with the information they'd acquired from a fellow survivor.
They were to tell Dusekkar everything, leaving no detail behind.