Work Text:
It was storming tonight.
Heavy rainfall that obscured the moon, with fierce winds that shook the trees.
Occasionally, thunder echoed in the distance, low and rumbling.
The air was freezing cold, coupled with one being wet.
Coolkid was very wet. Soaked, actually. His hoodie did very little to stave off the cold, rain soaking right into the fabric from nearly an hour of nonstop storm.
He had found temporary shelter, at least.
Sitting in a bus stop with a barely-there roof hardly counted though.
The seats were wet as well.
He held his knees to his chest, a sad attempt at staying warm. His tail was wrapped around his ankles as well.
Lightning flashed over the buildings of the city.
Coolkid sighed, chin on his knees.
This wasn’t abnormal, really. He’d been caught in a few storms before. It happens when you’re living outside half the time.
It didn't help either that he had sensitive skin; the cold was very uncomfortable.
At least his hood kept the rain out of his face somewhat.
Staring at the few street lights he could see through the rain, he frowned. No one else outside, just him, as it always was. Distant houses with lights on and shut doors.
He missed his house.
No, not the house really.
He missed his dad.
The mere thought of him made Coolkid’s frown deepen, hugging his knees closer to his chest.
It’d been six years now. He kept track.
Seven years since Coolkid initially went missing.
Six years since Coolkid was found.
Six years since his dad was found dead.
Police had told him it was likely suicide. They didn’t give him details, but there was a gun in his hand.
His dad had no immediate family available. Coolkid knew he had a cousin, but they hadn’t talked in a very long time, making the option null.
In the end, Coolkid was sent to foster care.
He immediately found out it was terrible.
The first house gave up after a week.
The second house didn’t bother to feed him half the time on the assumption that imps didn’t eat.
The third house only took him in believing he was “the devil himself” and tried to exorcise him multiple times.
The fourth house, when he was thirteen, tried to kill him. Be it for being an imp or the son of the infamous 007n7, he didn’t know.
By house five he was a flight risk. It was the most manageable house; although they gave him up after a couple months.
By house six he’d turn fifteen. He didn’t bother learning about them. He left by the end of the week, a backpack full of as many water bottles and snacks he could fit, along with a blanket and a thick wad of cash he’d stolen.
He managed fine enough sleeping in alleys and behind buildings. The police gave up on their search for him after a couple weeks.
Stealing or doing errand work kept him fed enough.
Maybe he’d get an actual job soon. He was seventeen now, more people would hire him.
Another clap of thunder broke Coolkid out of his thoughts, and he found that the rain had calmed to a light pitter.
Standing back up, he adjusted his grip on his backpack strap, looking around to decide his best move.
The sky was still dark, so the storm could very well pick up again soon. It’d be in his best interest to move now.
He was at the edge of the city, he could even see the main river from here that went between the capital and the nearest city. Maybe he’d cross the bridge, he hasn’t visited the neighboring city in weeks, there’s likely new opportunities.
Mind made up, he made his way across the park, tail flicking in discomfort at the cold winds.
The walk was only a few blocks away, and even than Coolkid has traveled miles in a day before. Can’t ever stay in one place too long, people start to catch onto a local thief.
Ignoring the weird looks he got from the few people now outside as well, he kept his eyes on street signs.
Yes, seeing a weird red devil-like teenager in a soaking jacket and a backpack was probably odd (likely the devil part was what made people stare) but he was used to the staring.
Finally, the bridge entered his sight, however the sight of how busy it was made him grimace. He was hoping it’d be calmer from the storm. The cars whizzing past always hurt his ears, and he often got splashed.
Coolkid reminded himself that the potential in the other city made it worth the trouble.
Crossing the street when the light turned red, he made his way towards the bridge. Luckily, it had a fairly large walker and bikers path on either side.
Stepping onto the path, he saw nearly no one else walking. Good, he didn’t like walking past people, the stares were always the worst when he was right next to them.
Already cringing as cars went flying past him, he did his best to tune it out. Focus on the path ahead. Brainstorm what to do in the city. Last time he was there, a bakery was being built along the edge of the city, it’d be a good target for both stealing and getting loose end jobs, no one would be paying much attention to it.
There was also the shady jewelry store deep into the city, one that had him make deliveries of “expensive necklaces” in suspiciously heavy boxes. It wasn’t his problem to question, and they paid well.
There was a cozy library he liked too, small and quiet. He could maybe take naps there. The owner was nice to him once.
So deep in thought, staring at the ground as he walked, Coolkid didn’t notice the blaring honks in the distance, nor did he hear the skidding of tires, nor did he hear the panicked shouting.
What he did notice, however, was the feeling of metal slamming into his side, pushing him back, the bridge rails warping around the impact of a car crashing into them.
The force of the crash was enough to send Coolkid stumbling, teetering, and off the side of the bridge.
Eyes wide, he barely registered what was occurring, watching as the bridge he once stood on got further and further, the vague feeling of being weightless as air whistled in his ears.
The next time he blinked, he felt the heavy drag of water surrounding him, and the air leaving his lungs.
Faintly, in the back of his mind, a part of him registered he was drowning.
But the forefront of his mind couldn’t find a reason to struggle.
Instead, he closed his eyes, and endured the excruciating feeling of water filling his lungs.
Coolkid was dying, and he was okay with that.
-
Coolkid opened his eyes.
He shouldn’t have opened his eyes.
How in the hell is he alive???
Before he had more time to think he felt the rising of vomit, cringed, and sat up, arms shaking against the ground as he helf himself up, emptying the contents of his already empty stomach. Water made up the most of his vomit, likely from all he inhaled int he river.
Gasping and blinking rapidly, Coolkid spat out the bitter taste of acid lingering, shuddering at the feeling of still being soaked. Did he get pulled out?
He looked back, finding himself on a beach of some sort, waves just barely passing over his feet. He crawled further inland, confused.
This wasn’t the city, nor was it the river he had fallen into.
He saw a dock leading into the water, and sat on that instead, catching his breath as he observed the area.
Nearby, just a couple yards away, was three cabins.
One was massive, almost the size of a mansion, whilst the other two were much smaller. The large one had it’s lights on.
There was also a large board with multiple posters plastered on it near the dock.
Standing on shaky legs, Coolkid went over to the board, squinting at the various posters.
All were missing posters. Some said “WANTED” as well.
He saw unfamiliar faces, such as a soldier with blue hair and someone with dark skin and a green, see through torso.
He saw familiar faces, such as the admin Shedletsky and the CEO himself, Builderman.
But one poster stuck out to him the most.
One of his father, 007n7.
Why these specific people? Why were the posters here at all? Where was he???
Already feeling a coming headache, Coolkid sat back down, looking up at the posters with growing unease.
He read the names, counted the people, tried to think of why they were listed here.
There was Elliot, the pizza worker he always messed with. Coolkid remembered he visited his pizzeria, once, years after his father died. The man had given him a sympathetic look, and while they didn’t speak, he gave Coolkid a free pizza.
But Elliot hadn’t gone missing, as far as he knew, and he knew for a fact the admins were still around; he watched them on the news of a shop's TV this morning.
He knew what happened to his father.
Why were these people listed as missing, when they weren’t?
Lost in thought, Coolkid jumped at the sudden voice shouting from behind him.
“Guys! We got a newbie!” Turning, Coolkid saw someone standing on the porch of the large cabin, wearing sunglasses and an expensive looking black suit with a fur scarf. Probably a rich bastard.
Soon after, several other people came onto the porch. Coolkid recognized one as Shedletsky, and another as the soldier from the poster. Coolkid quickly pulled his hood higher up to “hide” his horns, aka make it look like his horns were just part of the hoodie, as well as shoving his tail into his hoodie.
If he was around this many people and they happened to be a bunch of discriminant assholes, best he hide any imp traits.
Was everyone on the posters here? That’d be weirdly convenient.
Wait.
Everyone on the posters might be here.
Standing quickly, Coolkid yanked one of the posters of his father from the board, and hurried towards the cabin.
He could hardly be bothered to worry if this was dangerous now; he doesn’t know where he is, how he got here, and there's a goddamn admin here, and at the very least he knew Shedletsky was also a hybrid, even if not an imp.
The group seemed surprised that he ran over, if the soldier tensing was anything to go by.
Marching up the steps, he went straight to the admin, Shedletsky, pushing past the others, ignoring the rich looking one’s protest.
Shoving the poster in Shedletsky’s face, the man blinked quickly, confused, and looked at Coolkid with a raised brow. They were similar in height, so at least he wasn’t looking down at Coolkid.
“Is he here?” The imp demanded.
Shedletsky grabbed the paper, pulling it back to see it clearly. He nodded.
“Yeah, Seven’s here, why?” He confirmed, and Coolkid could nearly faint right there.
“Where?” He pushed, looking around, then to the cabin door behind Shedletsky.
“He’s inside, but-” Coolkid didn’t let him finish, shoving the admin aside and barging into the cabin, even when the admin shouted for him to come back.
The cabin was definitely large, with a beaten down looking living room and stairs leading to an upstairs hallway, but Coolkid only observed half heartedly, he had more important matters.
There were two people on the couch, a person in a blue sweater and Dusekkar, an ancient admin, along with a person in blue robes sat in a chair near the couch. They all looked up at him with varying amounts of confusion.
All unimportant.
Heading towards another room, he found himself in a kitchen, where Elliot was, fittingly. But only Elliot, no one else in the room.
“Who the hell-” Elliot began, which was odd, he’s seen Coolkid in his hoodie before, but Coolkid had already turned and left the room before he could question.
Growing frustrated, he looked around the living room again, but Seven wasn’t there either. The group from outside had come back inside, and a disgruntled Shedletsky was looking at Coolkid.
“Kid, why are you looking for Seven of all people?” Shedletsky asked, and Coolkid resisted the urge to punch the man. He didn’t know, it was a fair question.
“Who’s looking for me?” A voice from the stairs suddenly piped up, and Coolkid looked over so fast he’s surprised he didn’t get whiplash.
Indeed, Seven stood at the bottom step, looking confused, wearing the same outfit he had when Coolkid had found him back at home. He looked tired, hunched over slightly, almost making himself smaller despite the large room.
It’d been nearly six years since Coolkid last saw him, and he looked the exact same, give or take a few years.
Coolkid, however, probably looked very different.
Hurriedly, he yanked his hood down, giving a better view of his face and now grown horns. His tail slid out from his hoodie automatically as well, whipping rapidly in a projection of his overwhelming emotions.
Seven’s eyes widened in recognition, as well as…fear? Coolkid wasn’t sure why he looked afraid, but he could think about that later.
All that mattered now was his father was here, alive.
Seven took a step forward, hesitant, hands shaking at his side.
Coolkid closed the gap, taking wide strides to hurry over and throw his arms around his dad, squeezing tight.
Seven, oddly, tensed, but relaxed soon after, returning the embrace with a shaking breath.
Coolkid did his best not to start bawling, especially knowing there were many other people around, but tears spilled down his cheeks anyway. He did his best to be quiet.
A hand went up to touch a horn, and Coolkid let it. Seven was likely surprised at how big they’d gotten, his horns were barely nubs last he was with his dad anyway.
“What…” Seven started, voice hoarse. “How are you here?”
“I dunno.” Coolkid said, cringing at how obvious it sounded that he was crying. “I woke up here after, uhm.” He debated telling Seven what happened, it was a lot already.
Before he had a chance to explain, a strong hand gripped his shoulder, pulling him back strongly.
Coolkid turned, angry at who had the audacity to pull him from his father after six goddamn years.
It was the soldier, and he looked confused, but worried, not letting go of Coolkid.
“Let go.” Coolkid nearly hissed, and many people stepped back. Geez, were they that scared of imps?
“How are you here and not with the others?” Shedletsky questioned, walking over with Dusekkar at his side.
“Others? Who are you talking about?” Coolkid said, anger blending with vague confusion.
“Yknow, John, Slasher… 1x.” Shedletsky explained, voice taking on a strange tone at the last name.
Coolkid narrowed his eyes, baffled. “Who??”
Shedletsky paused, also confused, and turned to the man holding Coolkid’s shoulder hostage. The man shrugged as well.
“I believe this is not the killer we know.” Dusekkar spoke up, in his well known rhymes. “The other one did not grow.”
“Yeah, he isn’t this tall.” The soldier agreed, although he didn’t let go of Coolkid.
“But it’s still Coolkid.” Shedletsky protested, and the imp just about had enough of this.
“What the hell are you all talking about???” Coolkid said, exasperated.
The soldier looked at Dusekkar, who nodded. He let go of Coolkid, who returned to Seven’s side, who looked conflicted.
“We’re gonna need to sit down for this.” The soldier said, gesturing to the couch.
Coolkid grumbled, turning to his father. He nodded, smiling hesitantly. Coolkid started to the couch, checking to make sure Seven was following.
Seven sat first, and Coolkid sat beside him, probably closer than needed. He got to have this, he missed him.
Shedletsky and The soldier sat in chairs, while Dusekkar sat beside the two on the couch as well. The others stood around the room, although some seemed to have left after confirmation no one would be hurt.
“Right, so who wants to explain the whole deal again? I did it for Taph when they showed up.” Shedletsky said, looking around the room.
After a moment, Seven raised a hand, which got a couple surprised looks for some reason.
“I should, he’s my son and all.” Seven explained, looking to the admins for confirmation. Shedletsky nodded.
Coolkid turned to face his father, curious as to what the explanation was to this strange place.
Seven fiddled with the end of his shirt for a moment, in thought, before speaking, “So, we don’t know exactly what this place is, but we know some things. Most of us showed up around the same time, a few days apart, and a couple others showed up weeks later.”
Coolkid nodded slowly, following best he could.
“But uhm, we are stuck on this little island with the cabins and forest, and we have to fend for ourselves to eat and survive mostly. That’s the first part, at least. The second part is a lot worse.” Seven looked up from his fiddling, now looking at Coolkid with an almost guilty expression.
“Every few hours, we get sent into these ‘rounds’. During these, we are taken to a set of areas and have to survive for around an hour. There’s about nine different killers who are randomly chosen, and the one in that round is trying to kill us all. When we die, we show back up in this cabin, with only a scar or two.”
It went quiet as the man paused, likely giving Coolkid time to absorb the information. Coolkid stared at his father, almost not believing him, but the other’s expressions seemed confirmation enough.
“And this just happens? There’s no way out?” Coolkid asked, feeling a pit forming in his stomach as Seven nodded.
“We’ve tried swimming off the island, running further into the forest, escaping during rounds, we can’t. There’s invisible barriers not even Builderman can get past.” Shedletsky suddenly spoke up.
Coolkid frowned, then quickly looked at Shedletsky. “Wait, Builderman is here?? How did the CEO of fucking Robloxia get trapped here???”
Shedletsky shrugged, smiling slightly, while Seven muttered a half hearted “language.”
“I don’t know, but it goes to show whatever brought us here is pretty strong.” Shedletsky admitted, waving a hand vaguely.
“So it just grabs whoever it wants?? Why this group in particular?” Coolkid questioned, looking around at the other people in the room. The strange rich guy looked away.
“Sooo that’s the tricky part,” Shedletsky said, “It seems to be a person, or some malicious force, as it has in some way tricked us all to end up here, or taken those already, uh, available.”
Coolkid crossed his arms, looking over at Seven. He knew his father died, and if that had correlation, then he could piece things together pretty fast.
“So you’re either dead or tricked, great.” Coolkid grumbled. Shedletsky seemed surprised.
“Wow, you figured it out fast, thought I’d have to spell it out.” Coolkid frowned at that, offended. He wasn’t dense.
“I mean, yeah, I know my dad, y'know, and now I know how I got here.” Seven looked over at that, grimacing, as several others looked over as well.
“So what got you? Tricked or…” The rich guy asked, now approaching the couch with the rest of the group and plopping down on the other side of Seven, who glared at him for the blunt question.
“Chance, he literally just got here. Too soon.” The soldier reprimanded, making Chance look at least a little guilty.
Coolkid shrugged, this place was already strange and he’d be stuck here for the foreseeable future, so might as well rip off the bandaid.
“I drowned," he admitted simply. Well, it sounded simple in his head, but his voice was wobbling.
His father reached over and grabbed his hand, offering comfort, which he appreciated. Chance made a ‘ooo’ sound.
“Eesh, hell of a way to go.” He said, “Someone going for you or like, an accident?”
“Chance.” Both the soldier and Seven said in unison, tones warning. Even Shedletsky was giving him an odd look, and the admin was quite blunt himself.
“I'm just asking, Guest!” Chance defended, hands up in surrender. “I did the same with Taph and Dusekkar y’know.”
“I do know, and that didn’t help then, why would it now?” The soldier, now deemed Guest, sighed, looking exasperated.
“It’s fine, might as well get it outta the way.” Coolkid said, “But you tell me how you went in return.”
“Fair enough.” Chance said, although he did look a little nervous now.
Seven leaned over, whispering “You don’t have to.” Coolkid shook his head, he wanted to.
He didn’t know why.
Maybe some part of him wanted the attention.
Maybe some part of him wanted pity, sympathy, after so long of having none.
“I was going from the capital to the city across the bridge, wanted to see if I could find a better job opportunity or something. The capital gets stale after a while, and they catch onto me if I stay too long. But it was storming, the bridge was wet, and some douche decided to start speeding around.”
Coolkid paused, recounting the memory best he could. He hardly remembered the specifics himself.
“I was zoned out, but, uh, the guy ended up crashing into the railings and hit me pretty hard, sent me off the side of the bridge. I had a heavy backpack, hoodie, and didn’t really know how to swim.”
He finished, not needing to explain further. He looked over, and while it was hard to see Chance’s expression with his shades, he seemed to be grimacing.
Seven, on the other hand, looked on the verge of tears, staring down at where he held Coolkid’s hand. He didn’t mean to upset him.
“Guess I'm here at least.” Coolkid assured, though it didn’t seem to help.
Another moment of silence.
“Well you’re definitely some sort of weird different universe Coolkid.” Shedletsky spoke up, earning several confused looks. Dusekkar, on the other hand, nodded in agreement.
“What do you mean?” Chance asked.
“Well, I don't know if any of you kept up with hacker related news, but uh, it was pretty much everywhere that our version of Coolkid was found dead.” Shedletsky explained, shooting Seven an apologetic look.
Coolkid frowned, thinking, as he leaned against Seven. Some weird alternate universe. Great.
"On top of that, we have a Coolkid here already.” Chance chimed in, “Ours is a killer though.”
That was even more confusing. Him, at ten, some sort of killer??
“This place makes no sense.” Coolkid grumbled.
Chance snorted. “It really doesn’t.”
Coolkid looked over to him, “Now, how did you get here? Your turn.” He pressured.
Chance looked a bit nervous, but leaned back as if perfectly relaxed. “Ah, you know how it goes, get a bit in debt to one of the wealthiest families in the world, stuff happens, y'know?"
That was vague. Coolkid stared at him, unimpressed.
Chance relented. “Okay so maybe a couple million in debt. And the family had a lot of mercenary workers. With guns.”
Coolkid nodded, satisfied enough. He could guess what happened.
Someone walked in from his peripheral, and immediately froze. He looked over, and saw Elliot standing in the doorway, looking absolutely dejected.
“There’s another one??” He said, staring at Coolkid, who shrugged.
“Uh, yup, hey, Elliot.” He greeted, trying to be casual for everyone's sake. Elliot turned and walked back into the kitchen.
Suddenly, a clock chimed loudly, and everyone looked towards it with expressions ranging from dread to pure fear.
Coolkid looked to Seven, confused. He was frowning.
“It’s time for another round.” He explained, sounding exhausted. “Hopefully you don’t get taken into it, we only have eight people at a time.”
Coolkid opened his mouth to ask further questions, but felt a sudden pull deep in his chest, and his vision got blurry.
Everything began to spin.
-
Coolkid blinked rapidly.
One moment he was sitting, the next he was standing.
As his vision cleared, he saw himself in a new area, with a couple other people scattered in the distance.
The place seemed to be a wide field with various buildings, rocks, and random wooden walls. He saw a large castle-like structure to his right, with a ramp, and headed towards it.
Coolkid also realized his jacket was gone for some reason, and he was shirtless, allowing the devilish wings on his back to be freed.
He stretched them, distracted, he didn't know the last time he was able to do that. He always had to keep them hidden.
At the top of the castle, Shedletsky stood, looking over the edge. Elliot was working on a piece of machinery with lights.
“What's going on?” Coolkid asked, causing Shedletsky to look up. Elliot didn’t even glance over.
“Oh, didn’t think you’d get dragged here. This’ll suck.” Shedletsky said, looking back over the edge. “Uhh, abilities, you have those, I can’t really explain it but you’ll know when to use them.”
That didn’t help.
Frustrated, he turned to Elliot for help, “What’re you working on?”
“Generators. Makes the timer go down.” Elliot said quickly, focused intensely on the Generator in question. Coolkid walked towards him, crouching to peer at the machinery.
A mess of tangled wires poked out of the side of the machine, and, glancing over to Elliot, the man was also messing with wires. Looking back and forth, he attempted to copy Elliot, connecting wires of the same color.
Occasionally it zapped his fingertips, which pulled hisses of pain from him, but he prevailed. Strangely, Elliot glanced over whenever Coolkid was zapped, even when Coolkid was silent about it.
Like he just knew.
Suddenly, the machine roared to life, smoke billowing from behind as the lights lit up in green.
“Finished?” Coolkid asked, causing Elliot to begin to nod, before he suddenly paused, head whipping right to look at…something.
Coolkid looked as well, confused, as Elliot seemed to just be staring into the distance, but Shedletsky had looked towards Elliot as well, expression serious.
“Who is it?” Shedletsky asked, standing from where he was leaning over the edge of the walls.
“Chance, I think. I see a hat.” Elliot explained, beginning to run down the ramp of the castle, taking off. Shedletsky followed.
Confused and curious, Coolkid followed, and the sound of voices grew louder as they approached something.
Turning a corner around some wooden walls, they found Chance, shoulder bleeding, running from someone.
Said someone had a strange, see through green chest, with their bones visible beneath. They had long white hair and a green crown, with shadowy black skin and a piercing red eye. They looked very angry.
They were vaguely familiar.
Before Coolkid could even question it, Elliot was following after Chance, shoving a pizza in his face for some reason, while Shedletsky ran right towards the stranger, who didn’t see him coming, and whipped out his sword to lash it into them.
The stranger shouted in what sounded more like anger than pain, and once they spotted Shedletsky, they somehow looked even more furious.
“Wha-” Coolkid was cut off as Shedletsky grabbed his arm, sprinting away from the stranger and behind a set of stone walls, panting.
“What in the hell is going on??” Coolkid asked, again, looking back to see if the stranger had followed.
“That,” Shedletsky started, leaning against a wall to catch his breath, “Was your first killer encounter, you got lucky, 1x is probably the worst of the bunch.”
“Lucky? They looked pissed, especially at you, for some reason.” Coolkid said incrediously, than paused. “Wait a minute. 1x as in 1x1x1x1? THE 1x??”
“Uh, yeah, you remember her? I thought you’d be too young when they attacked Robloxia.” Shedletsky said, eyes wide.
Coolkid made a “so-so” motion with his hand, “Well I don't remember the attacks, I was definitely too young for that, but I know the aftermath and the stories told over the past decade.”
“Aftermath?” Shedletsky said, now looking weirdly guilty.
“Well, I don’t know how much you know since you showed up like a year after 1x was imprisoned, but while the admins cleaned up most of the aftermath, they didn’t bother with a lot of the poorer districts.” Coolkid explained, arms crossed.
“My neighborhood stayed wrecked for years, some houses never got repaired, our sidewalks were rubble, homes abandoned after pipes weren’t fixed and they had no water, a whole lot of shit. Admins never responded to our mail, calls, or begs, instead they acted as if the neighborhood had always been like that.”
Coolkid was openly scowling now, hardly caring he was insulting the admins to another admin, who might have even had a part in this.
“They only cleaned up the high end districts with the loud rich folk so the story of 1x would get quiet. Tried wiping her existence from the public, to the point where our own neighborhood began to think my father had started hacking again and he was the one to destroy the area.”
Shedletsky seemed to look guilty, and opened his mouth to speak, but Coolkid didn’t let him, instead turning and jabbing a finger to the man's chest.
“And just when we finally started to get close to getting through, to getting the public's attention, you showed up as a new and fancy admin, with loads of meetings, public appearances, and sword showing off, and everyone forgot about us again. Do you know what you did to me and my father? The entire neighborhood hated us, no matter what we did, they just thought it was him. They’d give us dirty looks, write on our car, throw rocks at the house, and try to attack my father late at night, because of your cover up.”
Coolkid finished his rant, breathing heavy in his anger as he backed away, fists clenched at his sides, claws digging into his palms as he attempted to ground himself.
Shedletsky was quiet, avoiding eye contact with Coolkid with a conflicted expression. Coolkid waited, but still, he stayed quiet, the wings at the side of his face pressed against his head.
Scoffing, the imp turned and walked away, tail whipping angrily as he looked for someone else.
He didn’t have time to get angry at the admins, there was a killer running around.
Eventually, he was back at the weird castle, this time beneath it, where he found his father and a person in a blue sweater and green pants.
“Hey,” Coolkid said, “Everything alright?”
Seven looked over, nodding, then stared at Coolkid’s wings for a moment, surprised. “Yeah, 1x doesn’t typically come for us.”
“Any reason why?” Coolkid asked, walking over to the two.
“We’re survivalists,” Seven explained, “There's three roles here, and our role doesn’t really help the team, so we just hide and do generators really. The others are sentinels, who have weapons and ways to fight, and supports, who keep us all alive.”
Coolkid nodded, looking down at his own claws. “How do I know mine?”
The person in the sweater spoke up, “You, uhm, might have items you can use, but if, if not, you just have a weird feeling, like an urge.”
Coolkid hummed, trying to focus on…something. Urging something.
Suddenly, a grey blob warped in his hand, forming into a heavy cinderblock, which Coolkid had to hurry not to drop.
Seven looked worried at the sight, and the other person's eyes widened, quickly backing up.
“Well, guess it isn't a surprise you have abilities like the Coolkid here.” Seven mumbled, tense.
“What do I do, throw it?” Coolkid said, feeling the weight of the object. Seven nodded slowly, “Probably?”
Conveniently, at that moment, a loud rattle echoed through the air, causing Seven and the blue sweatered person to go wide eyed, moving in random directions while Coolkid watched in confusion.
“What’re you doing??” He asked, than his own eyes widened as he stumbled back as a green mass of code and odd liquid flew past the group and through a wall, just barely missing Coolkid.
Before he had time to question it, 1x came around the corner, eye narrowed and swords raised.
The person in the sweater immediately went running, while Seven did a strange movement and suddenly ran forward straight towards 1x, eyes blank. Coolkid reached forward, absolutely baffled as to why his father would run right into the killer, before something invisible grabbed his wrist and dragged him away.
Squinting down at his wrist as he ran with something, he saw the faint color of pale skin, than trailed his eyes up, barely able to make out the figure of Seven, somehow nearly invisible.
After running for a while, Seven popped back into view, as they hid behind a set of walls.
“What did you do?” Coolkid asked, peeking past the wall, seeing the glow of 1x in the distance attacking what looked like Seven, but wasn’t.
“It’s a clone, one of my uh, survivalist abilities I can use here. It’s a very limited Coolgui function.” Seven explained, pulling Coolkid back carefully to hide him from view.
Coolkid nodded, humming. “I thought you didn’t have the Coolgui anymore?” Coolkid very clearly remembers that it was destroyed, after Coolkid accidentally burnt down Builder Brother’s Pizzeria from one too many ‘pranks’.
Seven grimaced, “I did, but I have it back here for some reason. The thing controlling this place can do basically anything, and I guess he just summed me up to another hacker.”
Coolkid frowned, first civilians constantly berate Seven for being a former hacker, then the admins, and now this realm itself? It was just cruel.
“Well the thing controlling this place is an asshole.” Coolkid grumbled. Seven laughed.
“Y’know, of all things, I should’ve expected you to have such a sailors mouth. I slipped way too many swears around you when you were little.” Seven said, smiling up at the Imp.
Coolkid smiled back, shaking his head, “It’s kinda a recent thing, gets out my frustration. I only got this bad a few years ago after a really bad foster.” Seven’s smile dropped slightly, likely aware foster care isn’t the best.
They sat in slightly awkward silence for a moment, before a scream echoed nearby, causing both to quickly jump and look around the wall, watching as the person in the blue sweater fell a few feet away, dual swords impaled in their back.
They didn’t get back up.
1x appeared soon after, using one foot on the person's back as leverage to pull the swords out, looking vaguely annoyed.
Coolkid tried moving back behind the wall slowly, but it wasn’t slow enough, as 1x whipped his head up at the movement, spotting the duo.
Looking back, Coolkid realized they were cornered and cursed, thinking, before summoning the strange cinder block he had, pushing Seven behind him who protested.
Once 1x turned the corner, he lobbed the brick as hard as he could, hitting 1x square in the face, who shouted in anger, hunching over and leaning on her swords to stay up. Coolkid took the chance, grabbed his father’s hand, and booked it past the stunned killer.
“You’re a sentinel??” Seven said, stumbling slightly to keep pave with Coolkid’s sudden sprint.
“I guess?” Coolkid answered, spotting a group and running over to them, who turned out to be Shedletsky, Chance, and Builderman.
Chance waved, while the admins seemed busy in conversation. “Hey, you’re alive, that’s pretty good for a new guy.”
“Yeah, turns out i'm a sentinel, threw a brick at 1x.” Coolkid answered, earning a “Sick.” from Chance.
Shedletsky looked over at this, grinning, “Another sentinel? Finally, we need more of those. Most of us aren’t able to stun the killer, only four of us are sentinels. Well, five now.”
“What else can you do?” Chance asked, causing Coolkid to shrug.
“He doesn’t know, we all didn’t know our abilities at first. Be patient, Chance.” Builderman commented, before turning to Seven.
“Who’s left?” He asked, well, more so demanded, his voice taking a weirdly aggressive tone when speaking to Seven. Coolkid narrowed his eyes.
Seven stuttered, making a motion with his hand and causing his Coolgui to appear. “Uhm, just us. Noob and Taph is dead, and uh-”
Midway through his sentence, the distance rattle of chains and a snakes rattle, causing everyone to tense, but no mass of code came their way.
“...and Elliot just died.” Seven finished, frowning. The Coolgui disappeared.
Builderman grumbled, looking stressed. “Okay, three sentinels, a support, and a survivalist. Not bad, not great, we might make it.”
“Don’t jinx it.” Shedletsky said, nudging Builderman, who sighed.
“We’re all grouped up, they’ll probably use their eye and find us, spread out a bit.” Builderman said, walking to an open area and beginning to build some sort of turret machine.
Everyone did as told, wandering vaguely away, while still keeping line of sight. Coolkid watched Chance flip a coin, and Shedletsky lean against a wall while watching Builderman. Seven hid behind some walls, looking nervous.
Reluctantly, Coolkid stood behind a different wall, still keeping an eye on his father in the distance. He was hidden from the others' view though. His tail flicked in agitation.
It was quiet for a while, suspiciously so. They were the only ones left, so what was taking so long?
Turning to check around the other side of the wall, Coolkid grunted in confusion when he walked face first into something.
Someone.
Looking up, 1x stood waiting, and he was a lot taller in person. Scarier, too. Coolkid had always thought the blurry distant photos of him were intimidating, but in person, he was even more intimidating.
Her hair was white, but dirty, held up in a lazy looking ponytail. The Dominus crown on her head was similarly dirty, as if it hadn't been polished in months. This close up, Coolkid could see each individual rib bone in their ribcage along with each vertebrae of the spine. He couldn’t see any organs besides the faint outline of something in the right of her ribcage. Heart, maybe?
Realizing he probably shouldn't be staring and instead running, he moved to do just that, but was grabbed, so quick he didn’t even see 1x move, just felt their hand around his neck and the feeling of being lifted off the ground.
Struggling, he kicked her in the stomach multiple times, but she hardly moved, and didn't bother to react.
“Be silent and stay put, or I kill you here.” She said simply, voice deep and faintly distorted, honestly pretty accurate for their physique.
Eyes narrowed in anger, Coolkid debated kicking her more, but realized he was doing no damage. He reluctantly nodded, and 1x slowly set him back down, not without pointedly holding her sword over her shoulder though, ready to swing if he were to run.
“Why do you look like the imp child?” They asked, single eye staring at Coolkid. He’s pretty sure they don’t have pupils.
“Because I am him. Kinda, weird future bullshit.” Coolkid answered, arms crossed. No point in lying or dancing around it when he’s already told all of the other survivors, what could a killer do with this information besides know his name?
1x was quiet for a moment, stare burning a hole into Coolkid with how intense it was as they seemed to seize him up. Their tail flicked, once, twice, the rattle faintly shaking.
“What of your 007n7?” He asked suddenly. Coolkid frowned, everyone jumps into the worse questions, huh?
“Dead.” Coolkid answered. He wanted to look away, the guilt eating away at him, but he knew better than to take his eyes off a killer.
1x considered this, head tilting just a fraction, “Hm. You have five seconds.”
Coolkid sputtered, “Wha- what was that question for than?!”
1x lifted their other sword in preparation, “Affirming that the hacker is as good of a father as he seems. One.”
“Of course he’s a good father, he was the best, none of the others could compare!” Coolkid exclaimed, getting defensive.
“I did not wish to take the chance, Id rather be sure present Coolkid was in no danger. Two.”
The imp was even more confused, “Why do you care???” He asked, hands outstretched.
1x’s tail flicked, beginning to look annoyed. “Under my watch, no harm will reach him, his father was the primary concern. Three.”
“Why would you immediately assume-?” Coolkid began, but was cut off by one of 1x’s swords impaling the wall beside his head.
“I have my reasons to not trust fathers. Four.” She hissed, eye narrowed in growing anger.
Taking the hint, Coolkid scrambled to run, shouting to the group of the danger, causing them all to look over in confusion.
Behind him, Coolkid heard “five.” and the thundering of footsteps.
Running past the defensive looking Turret builderman had made and to the man in question, someone shouted “LOOK OUT-” just as Coolkid felt the rush of air of a sword being swung.
Automatically, Coolkid’s wings beat in panicked flaps, but it was unusually strong, and he found himself rushing forward, pushing Builderman with him, the two dodging 1x’s sword. Builderman looked back with wide eyes, then to Coolkid, who was equally as shocked.
“You can dash?!” Chance shouted in the distance, as 1x destroyed Builderman's turret that began pelting him with bullets.
Everyone scrambled to move out of the way, but despite everyone moving at once, 1x’s head whipped towards Shedletsky, who was arguably the farthest, the hardest target.
Nonetheless, she hissed at the sight of him, a loud, dangerous sound that echoed in the empty air.
Shedletsky backed up slowly, as if 1x were an unstable animal, and in a way, they were. After a tense moment, they rushed towards him, causing the admin to yelp and sprint in the opposite direction, the group watched the two round a corner out of sight.
Coolkid blinked, confused, and saw the other survivors didn't look particularly surprised.
“Do they have a grudge against Shedletsky or something?” Coolkid asked, causing Builderman to make a weird face before it returned to neutral.
Odd.
“Ehh, probably? We dunno what it is, but he always beelines for Shed when he gets the chance. Then he’ll chase him around for nearly the entire round.” Chance said, shrugging.
“Sounds like a grudge to me.” Coolkid muttered, reaching back to rub his sore wings. He never really uses them, always hiding the appendages, and he certainly can’t fly yet, but he did get some air when he dashed.
Grumbling, he sat down leant against a wall, finally having a chance to sit and breathe, all the pains of the day were catching up to him. Rubbing his neck, he hissed at the feeling of a growing bruise. Great.
Everyone else seemed to relax too, as Chance hopped onto a rock and sat, while Seven walked over to Coolkid, joining him.
Builderman didn’t sit, but he did lean against the wall, eyeing the group.
“Seven,” He barked suddenly, “How much time is left?”
Pulling up the Coolgui panel, the man typed something in as Coolkid leaned over to peek at the code.
“Twenty minutes.” Seven said, closing the panel again with a sigh. “Almost over.”
Builderman looked away, not even acknowledging the man's information with a nod or word. Coolkid bit his tongue to stop a snarky comment, but he side eyed the CEO in displeasure.
Waiting was tense, but also a bit boring. After all that action and meeting 1x, sitting in silence became rather dull.
Scratching at his horns, Coolkid huffed, staring into space. A hand grabbed his wrist suddenly, and he blinked, looking over to see Seven slowly bringing his hand down and away from his horns.
Right, he’s technically not meant to scratch. The base of his horns bled quite easily.
Coolkid nodded, lowering his hand, and Seven smiled in appreciation.