Work Text:
Two Time was absolutely wholeheartedly certain that last time they checked, animals in these woods had no survival instincts.
You could pluck fish from the river as they swam, you could take eggs from nests without a single peck to the hand, you could walk up to a deer to kill it and it would blink at you like it was a pet.
So why in the world was this owl so determined to not let them catch it?!
Times had come up with a brilliant, brilliant idea. They so direly wanted to gift feathers to Chance and Elliot, but they…lacked the head-wings they should have had. However, they realized that there was an alternate solution: tracking down an owl and taking its feathers.
The Admins did call them Owl, after all. Something about silent hunting. They guessed that the three of them were most likely thinking of Snowy Owls, but there were none of those around this forest. There were, however, Barn Owls, like the one they were still after.
They were aware they were approaching the barrier as fog began to settle in, but that only made them more determined. More determined to get it before it crossed the barrier and they’d have to wait until it came back to this side again to catch it.
It perched in a tree, and Times focused in, scrabbling their talon-fingers into the bark, chasing after it and perfectly catching a wing in their fingers just as it went to take off, leaving three feathers behind.
“HA!” they shouted as loud as they could muster without their voice breaking into silence, “GOT YOU, YOU STUPID BIRD!”
And then, as if the mere concept of karma was watching them, the branch they had clambered into snapped with a resounding noise that nearly immediately made them realize oh, this was gonna HURT.
Only for something soft to catch their fall.
…The last time they checked, that overgrown patch of moss wasn’t there.
“Are you alright, Two Time?”
Times looked up, blinking at the other side of the barrier.
“...Oh! Hello, Azure!” they waved, smiling, “Quite alright, thanks to you!”
And then they blinked. Quite a solid blink, staring at Azure across the barrier as they just sort of…observed him.
He looked like something was weighing on him. Times tilted their head, pulling themself up into a sitting position as they debated questioning it.
“...I’m sorry, were you hoping for Chance?” they asked, making a small nervous laugh, “I know you meet with him quite frequently. I can go get him if you so desire!”
“...No, actually,” Azure shook his head, “I was waiting on you. Do you have your dagger with you?”
“I…have not had my dagger since…the last round that occurred,” Two Time looked away, fidgeting with their bandana as they resisted the urge to hide their face in it.
Azure sighed, settling down right at the barrier, nearly leaning against it, “I saw the round, at least the end of it. Are you…”
Times stared for a moment, already knowing what he was going to ask. Azure seemed to realize the question was…a bit stupid, and he shook his head.
“Nevermind, I think I know the answer,” he waved a hand, “I know this is…strange, coming from me of all people, but can you trust me? Just for a bit. Just enough for me to do something.”
Two Time paused as they stood up from the moss patch, unsure of if they should. Truthfully, if anyone here shouldn’t trust anyone, it should be Azure not trusting them. After a moment of debate they slunk over, coming to sit down at the barrier. Azure motioned for them to spin around, and unthinkingly, they…exposed their back to him. The second they did it they silently cursed themself out, expecting the encounter to suddenly turn violent, because of course it would, what did they expect? They closed their eyes to brace for the blow, and there was a wave of dread when they felt something flung against their neck–
Only to realize it wasn’t being pulled tight, merely just…placed and gently tied.
“There we go.”
Two Time blinked open their eyes, reaching up to their neck to feel…such a specific material. Woolen, but worn down slightly. Old, old fabric.
“Your scarf?” their voice was abruptly choked with tears, “Azure, I don’t deserve this.”
“Two Time,” Azure sighed, “Nightshade. I’ve already talked about this with you. I’m still mad, sure, but I…you’ve suffered. You’ve suffered a thousand more deaths than you deserved. You’ve been through so much torture alongside everyone else here that they’re gonna have to make an entirely new psychology book to properly put a name to every new disorder that they’re gonna find while studying us like bugs.”
“But Azure, I–”
“Two Time.”
Two Time turned to face him, trying to steady their breathing, not wanting to let go of the scarf.
“...I thought about this a lot,” he sighed, “Trust me, I’ve had the scarf for a long while now. About a month and a half, I think. So know this wasn’t impulsive. I’ve wanted to give it to you for a while, I’ve just…danced around the fact that I had to meet you to give it to you. I could have just given it to Chance to gift it for me, but that just felt…wrong. I needed to give it to you personally.”
“Were you just…waiting for me to get near the barrier?” Two Time asked, “You…you could have asked me to meet you, and I would have.”
“...Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”
There was a pause as the two of them stared at each other.
And then, abruptly, they both just burst into laughter.
“Okay, okay!” Azure hid his face in the neck of his capelet, trying to regain his breath, “I was being stupid!”
“Trust me, I’ve done much stupider while here!” Times also partially hid their face, “I just fell out of a tree trying to catch a bird, for goodness sake!”
“That was pretty stupid,” Azure admitted, “But nearly endearing. You were trying to grab feathers, I assume?”
“I…” Two Time blinked at the feathers they were still holding, “Yes. I…wanted to gift feathers to Elliot and Chance, and…while I don’t have my head-wings…”
“The Admins call you Owl, don’t they?” Azure questioned, “I swear I’ve heard them call you that.”
“I’ve always been fond of names given to me by others,” Times tugged partially at their necklace, but then very quickly stopped. They didn’t want to accidentally summon Dusekkar if they thought too hard about messing with the charm–they knew if he thought they were in danger, he’d come running, which was something they did not want to have happen, “So once they gave that name to me, it just sort of…became a name I use. Sometimes I hear someone mention the bird and I think for just a second they’re talking about me!”
Azure blinked and tilted his head, “What else do the others call you?”
Two Time paused, trying to figure out exactly why Azure was asking, until they realized he seemed…genuinely interested in how they were doing and how they were being treated. They breathed out, settling down.
“Chance picked up on calling me Times, just as a quick shortening. Some others picked up on that as well, but mostly it’s just him that calls me that. Others call me Double-T! Because of the…well, the two T’s.”
They started going down the list, waving their hands as they went.
“Veeronica has called me ‘Dubs’ a few times recently–a nickname of a nickname, taken off the aforementioned Double-T. I’m not sure if it’s going to stick, but I think it’s quite cute, so I’ll leave if it sticks up to her. Guest seems to just prefer sticking to ‘kid’, which I’m not sure if I’m too particularly fond of, but he refers to the whole younger group of us as kids collectively, so I don’t think that’s particularly a knock at me.”
They blinked again. Oh. How could they forget?
“Ah! And Elliot prefers to shorten my name as Two!” they trilled.
“You seem fond of Elliot,” Azure observed, “And he certainly seems eager to protect you, even over some other teammates. Good friend, I assume?”
“Elliot’s wholeheartedly one of the best friends I could have ever made,” Times nodded, “He’s even been teaching me how to cook recently!”
“Teaching someone to cook?” Azure laughed, “That’s difficult. I know I’ve been trying to teach Trap to cook and bake, and it’s…I don’t think he has gotten a single pie out of the oven unburnt yet. None of them have been inedibly burnt, but they’re all…” he seemed to struggle to find the right words, “at least a bit burnt, you know?”
“...You’re…” Two Time fidgeted with the scarf, “You’re friends with Trap?”
“...It’s just as much of a surprise to you as it is to me,” Azure sighed, “I hated the guy, because of you know, but he’s…strangely easy to get along with?”
“Chance did say he has a natural charm to him,” Times nodded, “that’s why they originally fell for him.”
“Charming to an almost annoying degree!” Azure laughed, “Part of me does want to still hate the guy, but he’s so determined to be redeemed that it’s almost…pathetic? Not in a bad way, more like the way a dog is pathetic when it’s staring at you for scraps from the table. Pathetically endearing.”
“Well I…” Two Time paused, and then firmly nodded with a smile, “it’s good that you have a friend you speak so highly of.”
“I’m happy you found friends too, I’m just…sorry it had to be in a place like this.”
Azure’s smile turned sad, the air turning somber.
They’ve both made friends here. Friends they only could have made because of everything that happened to them. Friends they only made because they died in horrific ways.
“The way we grew up was messed up,” Azure sighed, his thoughts having clearly gone in the same direction as Two Time’s, “and I’m sorry I helped drag you into it.”
“...Azure, we met when we were twelve,” Two Time began to assure him, “You had grown up in that village, in that…”
“...in that cult.”
“...Yes. In that cult. How were you to know any better than to drag me into it? You simply saw a sickly child and comforted them in the only way you knew how.”
“But you also made it bearable,” Times breathed out, “I had no friends other than you, and by the time I was fourteen my actual parents had stopped paying attention to me–I can only hope out of desperation to protect me from whatever sacrifice they would have to make now that they were trapped. Amarah wasn’t much of a good parent or…whatever he was trying to be to me. You were all I had.”
Times blinked.
“That…sounds like I’m trying to drag you on a guilt trip, that’s not the point–”
“Don’t worry,” Azure assured with a soft smile, “I get what you’re picking at. We had each other, it just sucks that we were seemingly…doomed from the start. You were dragged in too deep, and my plans for escape came too late.”
Came too late, clearly attempted on the night that Two Time sank their dagger hilt to skin in Azure’s chest.
“There’s something I heard Chance mumble once upon a time,” Two Time adjusted one of their sleeves, glancing back in the direction of the survivor’s cabin, “The love was there, the love was real, the love didn’t change the ending.”
“Kinda poetic and cliche,” Azure observed.
“But true”
“But unfortunately true.”
Two Time closed their eyes with a heavy breath.
“I regret what I did that night. I’ll regret it for the rest of my existence. However, I don’t regret the rest of it. I don’t regret letting you pull me into the deep end, because it was you. It was you, who didn’t know any better, and me, who just wanted someone there.”
“If I could go back,” Azure hummed, “and knew I couldn’t change your mind, knew that if I stayed there with you instead of running, I’d…I’d do it all over again. I’d hold your hands as I died every time. I…”
Times stared back at Azure as he paused before he began to speak again.
“I forgi–”
“You shouldn’t,” Two Time interrupted him, frantically shaking their head, “You shouldn’t forgive me. It was Amarah’s orders but my hands that carried out that same vile order.”
“You don’t get to tell me that I shouldn’t forgive you,” Azure’s voice was low, in nearly a threatening tone but not quite there, “I’ve thought it over. I forgive you. I still have to do what I have to do in rounds, but I forgive you.”
Two Time couldn’t look him in the eyes. The words that they originally wanted to hear more than anything were now clawing at their heart, at their very being.
“Take it back. You can’t. Just as soon as back in April you said you couldn’t forgive me unless something drastic happened, what happened?”
“A month of time to think and talk it over happened, Nightshade,” Azure’s voice was…soft. Comforting. Gentle. A gentleness they did not deserve.
“I…”
They stared at the three owl feathers they had managed to snag. One would go to Chance, another to Elliot…but that still left the third.
“I want…” they took a breath, “I want you to hold on to this. When we get out of here, then you decide what to do with it. If you throw it away before then, then so be it. If you keep it, then equally so be it.”
Carefully, they held the feather out through the barrier. Equally carefully, Azure took it from them.
And then, as if they both understood the conversation was finished, they both stood up at the same time.
“...This is a strange request,” Times waved a hand, “But can you tell Trap I say hello? And…that I thank him for being your friend.”
“Only if you tell Chance the same for me.”
They nodded, and he nodded back.
“...Have a good day,” and then, deciding to test a nickname they hadn’t used in years, “Take care, Zuzu.”
Azure blinked, and then smiled, “You too, Nightshade. Take care.”
And with that, they went their separate ways.