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Something had been strange in the air. ITrapped couldn’t put a finger on it. It wasn’t like a chill, but at the same time, it wasn’t like a heatwave. It wasn’t like that sticky feeling in the air when the truce had gone sour either, when it felt like they were all walking through blood that had misted into the air.
He couldn’t particularly tell if it was a bad something in the air or a good one, but no matter what, it left him humming as he stepped through the killer’s side of the lake, making his way to a certain little grotto.
It was beautiful, tended to with care, and crouched in front of a bush was the caretaker of the garden in the grotto, carefully plucking dead leaves from said bush. Trap knew to stand a bit back when calling out, something that he learned pretty early on into interacting with the gardener.
“Azure!” he called, “Do you have a minute?”
Azure raised his head and turned to face him, his scowl at being interrupted turning into a strange look of semi-hidden fondness once he realized it was Trap.
How funny it was that somehow, someway, things had changed so quickly between the two of them. It was as soon ago as the end of March that Azure would refuse to be anywhere near Trap unless he had to, and then suddenly, as if something had flipped, he was just…fine with being near Trap. Trap had his own personal theory on the matter, but that theory only made him even more confused. His only train of thought led back to Chance being the source, which left him baffled yet again by Chance’s fondness of Trap, despite the fact that at one point, Trap stabbed Darkheart hilt-to-skin right through Chance’s chest.
Ugh. Emotions were confusing. So were other people.
“Afternoon, Wolfsbane,” Azure hummed, their living hat laying dormant considering they weren’t in a round, “I actually wanted to speak to you too. What’s up?”
Trap made his way over to Azure, settling down next to him and adjusting his shirt.
“No coat today?” Azure questioned, “Surprised. That would seem to imply you intend to get your hands dirty.”
“As if you’d let me help with your garden!” Trap laughed.
Azure made a noise of thought, narrowing his eyes as he looked back and forth between the bush he was working on and Trap.
“…Maybe if you answer my question, but I’ll let you ask whatever you needed to ask first.”
Trap thought for a moment, blinking up at the sky.
“…Have you noticed something…off since that one round we were allowed to spectate?”
Usually, the killers weren’t allowed to spectate the rounds, left in the dark about how something went until whoever was in the round told them.
Just a bit ago, however, the killers were allowed to spectate a gruesome round that none of them were actually in. Trap still couldn’t believe that The Spectre made a false killer.
Azure dug his talon-fingers into the ground, tensing.
“I still can’t believe it did that,” there was a sort of snarling undertone to his voice, “Just to torment them.”
Trap made a sort of hum of sympathy, “Bet it had to be nasty for you too, even if you weren’t actually there.”
Azure grit his teeth, and Trap scooted away a bit when a tendril lashed just a bit too close for comfort.
“To answer your question,” Azure took a breath, clearly trying to calm himself, “Yes, I have noticed something strange. We had a free day, for one.”
Free days were far and few between, and usually if there was one, there was a pretty good reason. A night round the night before, a holiday that The Spectre randomly decided to celebrate, or the weather, but there was seemingly no reasoning for it.
“And it seems like today is going to be a free day too,” Trap shrugged. Rounds would have started about three hours ago at the latest if not, if he remembered correctly.
“I don’t like it,” Azure shook himself out, “Too peaceful. It makes me worried about what it’s going to do.”
Trap sat back, sighing, “It just doesn’t make sense.”
There was a string of silence between the two as Azure went back to working on his plants, leaving Trap to simply…sit and wonder how he had been granted Azure’s good graces. It still didn’t add up.
And then another thought came to mind.
Darkheart had said it had gifted him a terrifying power, simply just by enhancing what it considered his “strongest trait”: his ability to manipulate. To his horror and fascination, he realized exactly what it meant—it was no longer just his own skills, his words were practically magically enhanced.
Had he accidentally pulled that on Azure?
When Azure blinked at him with fondness next, part of him felt sick, but it was something he’d have to think about later. Azure was speaking again.
“As for what I wanted to ask you…would you find it strange if Chance were to gift you something of his?”
Trap paused, puzzled, “Pardon?”
“If Chance were to meet you at the barrier and give you something he cherished, would you be put off by it?”
Trap sat, thinking for a long minute.
“…I suppose I would be flattered. Perhaps even a bit emotional over it. Why do you ask?”
It was then that Trap realized something Azure had ‘won’ after a round that The Spectre had considered ‘good’: a simple yet fairly long black scarf with teardrop shaped tassels. Something Trap had later heard him fondly call his old scarf. Surely he wouldn’t…?
“I think…after the round we witnessed,” there was an ever so slight emotional tremble to Azure’s voice, “I should gift Two Time my scarf.”
Trap blinked in shock, though he tried his best to hide his reaction, “Maybe you should think about this just a bit more? I know you still care for them, and perhaps this is rich coming from someone like me, but would you really be alright with your murderer having something you’re so fond of?”
Azure’s bright violet gaze snapped to lock eyes with Trap’s own censored look.
“Don’t step out of line, ITrapped,” Azure warned, “At least they had the excuse of being groomed into a cult mentality.”
Trap grimaced, looking away, “Fair point.”
Azure let out a heavy sigh, getting back to working on his plants, “But…I think they’d enjoy it. Poor thing deserves it.”
Trap paused, rubbing a hand over his own face as he thought things through, “What even made you change your mind on them so fast?”
Azure stopped, like he hadn’t thought about that in a bit, and he furrowed his brow, gritting his teeth in seeming light confusion, “It was…a conversation you and I had, I think. I remember you looked so…confused when I agreed, and then I had that round where Chance yelled at me, and I…”
Trap was slotting pieces into place. Pieces he didn’t like. Pieces that all involved Darkheart’s gift.
“...I guess things just went on. I’m still angry at them, but we’re in this place, and they certainly have done ages more atonement for their actions than I could ever inflict on them. They don’t deserve to be here, none of us do,” Azure flopped backwards onto the ground, sighing.
Trap sighed right back, crossing his legs and putting his head in his hands. This was a mess. Everything was a mess. The silence from The Spectre, the realizations that had been rolling in, the possibility of even worse things approaching…
“Hey, do you know where Kidd is?” Azure questioned, and when Trap peered at him he could see Azure holding a hand over his chest, right where Trap assumed he’d been stabbed. It twisted Trap’s gut that he remembered Chance being stabbed in nearly the exact same place.
But, considering what Azure was asking, it made sense why he was holding a hand over that place. Trap raised his head, thinking.
“...Sonnellino’s watching him swim right now, I believe,” he hummed, “They left for the lake about twenty minutes before I left for here, so he’ll probably still be busy for the next hour or two.”
Azure grit his teeth again, glancing away, “Do you really think getting out of here is gonna work if most of us are…dead?”
Trap realized with a start that he hadn’t thought about that, “Well I…surely…if Noli isn’t lying to us, then Builderman said we’ll leave just fine, and be completely forgiven of anything we did in the past.”
“An exploiter trusting Admins…” Azure shook his head with a small laugh, “Never thought I’d see the day…well, beyond Kidd’s dad, of course.”
“Not like I have much of a choice, plus, when it comes to reviving us, isn’t one of them–”
“Don’t.”
Trap had realized the second he started talking that going that route was a bad idea, but…
Oh, this was going to be horrible to do, but it’d be his little secret. He gave an unspoken apology, one that wasn’t even shown. Perhaps just for his own peace of mind.
“Truly, Azure, please do take a breath” he sighed, so gentle and so kind, the kind of sigh you make when you comfort someone rather than when you’re annoyed, “Your anger is very reasonable, considering everything, but surely you see that he’s trying to help you? I’ve seen it in rounds where we’re paired up. Dusekkar could hurt you so direly, and yet he refuses to. I’ve heard tales of what you’ve done to him in your rage, and yet…never once has he raised his staff against you, has he?”
Something in Azure’s sharp gaze softened, and Trap kept up his kind look even as he realized with a pit in his stomach that the gift certainly was taking effect. He knew if Azure realized what was happening, they’d panic. He’d make it up to Azure later somehow, even if they never found out what he was making up for.
“...I…no, no he hasn’t,” the rage had been stricken from Azure’s voice, replaced with something falsely calm and vaguely monotone.
Trap wanted to run from the conversation.
That stupid pumpkin-helmed god owed him. Everyone owed him, in fact, considering that if Azure still hated Dusekkar, the whole plan could go south.
“If he truly wishes to help you, as you can assume from how gentle he is,” Trap made a noise akin to a trill, gently putting his hands together and resting them against the underside of his chin, “Then surely he will have a hand in reviving those of us who died to end up in this place like you and I have. So don’t worry, because I’m quite sure everything is under control.”
Azure made a hum of thought, adjusting his hat and staring up at the stars, “...yeah, you’re probably right. Even if I…dislike him, he is trying to help us all at the end of the day, so…I guess that counts for something. Everything’s probably as under control as it could be.”
“See? Nothing to worry about!” Gods, he shouldn’t be allowed to do this.
Wanting to get out as fast as possible, Trap gave a curt farewell and began to stand, only to find a tendril around his wrist. He paused and stared at Azure for a moment with a questioning look on his face.
“I said if you answered my question I’d maybe let you help with my garden,” Azure reminded, “And you answered my question.”
“...So you’re allowing me to help.”
Azure blinked at the tone Trap had failed to mask, releasing his tendril’s grip, “I guess if you don’t want to you don’t have to, but you sounded like you wanted to. You came out here without your coat, after all.”
He didn’t deserve this.
“Who am I to pass up an honor like that?” Trap laughed, settling back down, “Alright, show me what you were doing. I don’t want to mess anything up.”
Every second Azure explained, every second Azure rambled on about their beloved garden that they were trusting Trap to help with, Trap couldn’t help but feel sicker and sicker.
Yet again, he had resigned himself to horrible deeds to save those he cared about.
Maybe he did deserve to be here.