Chapter Text
You have suffered, but you haven't suffered enough. That is what you believe when you are suddenly warped into the next game. The next match. You're almost given whiplash with how you jolt from your starting position, stumbling a bit against grass. You're panting, taking deep breaths, holding your neck that slightly throbbed with phantom pain.
That...was not an experience you want to relive. A pair of legs appears in your vision, and you look up. Two Time is there with that same detached smile as always.
"Hey...Two Time." You try to sound cheerful but it's way more exhausting than happy.
"Hello~! Would you like to guess who the killer is this round?" They ask almost too giddily for comfort. Had they not forgotten that you all just died? "I don't mind this, I can use the Spawn's blessing over and over if that's what it takes." Creepy, it's almost like they read your mind.
"Okay...okay, let's just...go find a generator, yeah?" Your suggestion is logical, and they agree almost immediately. You look over to the courtyard wall, where you remembered a generator was the last time you had a match here, but there was nothing, so Two Time led you into the kitchen.
You do see a generator, but you also see two survivors working on it already. Elliot and Seven.
Yikes. You thought. At least they knew when and where to set aside differences and work together but the tense silence could be cut with a knife. You decide to break said silence.
"Hey, you two." You get their attention by talking and not walking up on them so suddenly. "Have you seen the killer at all?" At first neither respond, looking at you and then glancing to one another as if thinking the other would.
"No," Seven finally answers softly before clearing his throat and adjusting his glasses, "no, not yet..." This implication of 'yet' was disturbing but not wrong. Two Time skips forward, you see their tail almost wag as they spin around, right in front of you with a gleaming grin.
"Oh! I know where the killer starts, over here!" You aren't fast enough to even stop them. Your sigh of frustration reaches the others ears as you start to follow Two Time out of the kitchen and into the arcade room. You are pretty sure Two Time knows this from experience. Maybe finding the killer or being found first?
That's actually pretty smart... Tracking where the killer comes from at the start of a round, from where you start... Hmm, not bad Two Time, you had to give credit where credit was due, but this excited look they had before running off wasn't the greatest reaction with what went on last round. If you didn't go with them, they might as well get themselves killed.
You see the familiar ball pit in the distance, with the yellow walls, but something else is way more interesting than that. You hear shouting. You see Two Time's back, they are staring at something, causing you to push yourself a bit more until you slow down at their side. The shouting gets louder with each step closer.
White hair, green and black color scheme with red, hateful eyes. A purple and black being with a crown and a white star. Betrayed 1x1x1x1 and Noli. What a wonderful duo. Betrayed is the one yelling at Noli, clearly confused and frustrated by the prospect of another killer, someone they don't know, being in the same round as them.
Noli is just standing there, taking it. If he hadn't responded before you got here, then he most likely hadn't talked back at all, but knowing Noli, you doubted that he would have nothing to say. You watch how his head turns to the two of you, and his eyes almost crease with signs of happiness.
"Wonder--wonderful, a sensible so--ul!" He raises his hands up almost in praise. Betrayed whips their head around, red eyes trained on Two Time and then...you.
"YOU!"
Me...
"If you'll final--finally listen, I was--" Noli stopped talking when Betrayed rushed towards you. Two Time side-stepped to dodge her attack.
"You did this!" He shouted, and you raised your arms up to take the hit, but a warm feeling was cast over your body. A shimmering blue light deflecting most of the damage, though you still felt a sting of pain. Noli grunted, stepping forward while tilting his head.
"Preferably, I would like to not have viol--VIOLENCE while we're discussing important--t matters..." Betrayed is still hitting the barrier over and over again. You know Dusekkar's power won't last forever, luckily, Noli, placing a hand on their shoulde,r makes them just briefly pause, enough for you to back pedal away.
"If they die, we'll get more powerful!" She snaps at Noli, roughly pushing off his hand, almost disgusted by the action. Noli scratches at his chin while a hum rings in the air.
"Inter--esting...but I still see this as an...opportun--tunity!" Noli was still on track to convince Betrayed 1x, but this was one of those killers who you feared wouldn't agree with you, at least not by simply talking it out.
"No. No! I need to kill them. I need to kill Shedletsky--to kill T--"
"Oh my--" Your mutter cuts them off almost too suddenly. The attention is on you for how you had interrupted. "Shedletsky isn't here, okay?!" It kind of got too quiet after that. Even Betrayed was quiet, simmering just below the threshold of their anger meter...before it all went to shit and you started bickering with them nonstop.
Noli stood off to the side, just watching you two dodge and weave while the audience grew. His eyes flicker to a familiar figure that stands off to the side and they flinch when his eyes met Noli's.
"O-oh--ohhh, and you... We didn't get to properly ta--lk. It's funny--FUNNY seeing you like this, where did your spark g--go-gO? You know I can help with that?" He raises the Void Star in his hand. He's suppressing some sort of bubbling anger down deep inside, but this is more like an intimidation tactic.
Seven's eyes waver as heat crawls up his skin, backing away from everyone, this person. Noli. He couldn't face him like this. His lip quivered slightly as he turned away, but he wasn't going to cry.
He was just going to run away, like he did in the past.
Meanwhile, you just dodged another Daemonshank as your argument with Betrayed 1x continued.
"I know your whole deal is to sever the connection with Shedletsky or whoever the hell, but you aren't going to fucking find him here!" Your exasperation was clear. You'd had enough of her shit. "You need to think bigger, see things for what they are!" You rounded a small, deep blue wall as she lunged. "This is obviously...obviously strange! We're being pulled into matches left and right, you're being completely unreasonable!"
"I don't need to listen to you! I just need to kill and keep moving! I don't give a shit about you or anyone else or what's happening!" They counter. It was such a quick, dull counter to your reasonable explanation, but you, of course, knew that wasn't going to work...they were so frustrating...so mindless!
"Ugh, I hate you!" You cry out in frustration, almost slowing down from exhaustion. Betrayed 1x's head flies back, and he grins with malice etched within.
"Good!" She cackles. You feel absolutely burnt out from arguing with a killer, who knew? It was like arguing with a child. There's no point because they won't understand. Well, if she didn't want to be reasonable, then you wouldn't be either.
"You're going to be stuck in here for all of eternity? Having to keep seeing Shedletsky round after round, and you're fine with that? I thought you hated him." You shrug. You see how they just go rigid.
"Huh?!" He exclaims, baffled by your sudden change in words. "I do hate him! What are you talking about?!"
"I don't know, dude. Sounds like you want to stay here in this purgatory with him." You swear Betrayed 1x is going through different shades of green in anger. Before you could do anything about it, a Daemonshank lashes out and sinks into your arm. A poisonous venom sinks into your core as Betrayed 1x grabs you by the collar of your shirt and twists the blade.
Luckily, someone in the audience was watching. A strong arm takes yours, and suddenly the blade is yanked free. You're pulled into a firm chest. Guest was here. He raises one arm to defend his head and another arm around your back to shield you from another attack. He twists himself so you're slightly twirled and placed behind him, and he punches Betrayed right in the gut.
"Th...think on it, we'll talk later!" You call out before gritting through the pain and run away with Guest leading the charge. It turns out Guest was the one who was keeping watch over you, and the rest were mostly in the kitchen with Noli. Apparently when there's a killer who is pretty chill and a killer who is out for blood, people would be more inclined to hang out with the former.
"...I had quite a follow--following..." You hear Noli reminiscing about something when the two of you approach. Two Time was listening intently, nodding along. What were they talking about, more cults? Sounds like something they'd have in common.
Elliot is standing off to the side, on the opposite side of the table with Dusekkar and Taph. The three see you, injured, and Elliot is the first one to start heading over. Noli sees the commotion almost immediately and you swear you heard him snicker. Was your pain funny to him?
"Didn't go--oo-ooo well?" He presumes with a hint of amusement. You're about to respond when his expression changes, and suddenly he's right there, almost in front of you. Elliot staggers back, luckily not too caught up in it quite yet. You turn to find that Betrayed 1x had already recovered and was enraged. They were running straight for you and Guest.
Guest was halfway ready to take another hit, but this time without blocking but Noli's hand grabs your shoulder and veers you off to the side. It's a strange feeling. A disgusting, cold, and lifeless feeling. His Void Star clangs against the Daemonshank, an odd sound for what the Void Star was.
The white-haired killer looks bewildered at Noli intervening.
"You...! You will be punished for helping them!" She almost seems happy while saying that. One of Noli's eyes went wide; if he had eyebrows to represent more emotion, it would be him raising a brow. He raises his hands, gesturing wildly.
"Then let it punish--punish me-eee!" There's a pause. Too much silence, almost awkwardly waiting. You can almost hear the heavy breathing and your heartbeat pounding in your ears. Noli cocks his head to the side while Betrayed sputters for an answer.
Then he turns to you. "You did something, you bitch."
WHY DOES EVERYONE BLAME ME??
Well, they aren't wrong. "Okay, just hear me out. I think we should all look around, try to find something different, you know? Maybe in groups?" Your suggestion was flimsy at best, what could be different? What did you define as 'different' here?
Betrayed 1x scratched at their head with the side of their arm, seemingly disgruntled, muttering something before stomping away, alone. No one wanted to follow them anyway; if anyone did, you would half expect to find them dead in a ditch somewhere.
"I---will goo--o with you." Noli's voice is close, you turn, surprised; pleasantly or not, you don't know yet, but slowly nod, an agreement. Your acceptance didn't go unnoticed by others. You see how everyone shared anxious or hesitant looks with you or others. They didn't want to go with a killer, but some didn't want you to go with a killer. Maybe Two Time, who was mildly enthralled by Noli, but you don't want to enable that behavior.
But you do notice that Seven isn't with the group. That was strange, you swore you had seen him before...
Hopefully Betrayed won't get to him...
You and Noli begin in the courtyard, where you started. You quickly dismiss the area and head into the hallway without the hands. Noli follows along with no complaint.
"In here." You beckon into the strange, vibrant pink room. This is...a lot of pink. You aren't sure what you're looking for to be honest, you haven't been in this room all that much.
"I assu--ume this is related to the U--USB dr-drive." Noli's voice cuts through your focus. "Found--found it-t-t! On the grass, very clumsy..." You whirled around, meeting his eyes.
"You almost ruined everything by babbling about it to Builderman! If this were a game, my trust value decreased!" He puts his hands up in mock defense, but one of his hands moved to open and close when you spoke, causing your face to flush with slight humiliation.
"Re-re e elax...they were bound to know anyway," He waves a hand as if he's dismissing your concerns, "those a-a--admins are too uptight."
He's the first one to walk out of the room, and you follow along. You don't enjoy how he talks about the admins but you aren't going to fight him on that. You worked with them before, but he didn't need to know that information. Noli has stopped down the hall. You come to his side and stop too. It's a dead end--but it's not a dead end to a wall but...what even is this? Some sort of...abstract art or something?
You two just stare in silence, your confusion mingling together until there's a soft sound of footsteps to your right. You turn immediately on guard. There's Seven, cautiously walking by. His eyes are on the two of you with the same worried gaze you've seen before.
He quickly looks away and hastens his pace. You turn to look at Noli, who is also staring at Seven, eyes creased.
"I'm assuming...the two of you have some sort of...erm...history?" The moment you ask that question, you can feel how the blank white and black of his eyes move onto you; even when nothing moves at all.
"H-hi-istory?" He bursts out laughing at the word and literally slings an arm around your shoulder, almost like you're supposed to hold him up while he leans down to your height. You almost cringe at the feeling, but manage to ground yourself. He says your name slowly; it almost feels too eerie hearing the Noli say it. "Have you e-ever been betra-yed? Have you ever had some--one go behind your ba-aaack, vanish and leave you to figure out what to--o-o d--o on your ow-wn?" He's still talking while you think, like a villain in an endless monologue.
You remember what you and Seven talked about, how he had a companion who he'd ultimately led on to steal something. The pieces were slowly set into place.
This must be horrible for Seven... First, his son, and now, a friend whom he'd left behind.
"You're the other exploiter Seven hung out with..." You whisper while ducking out from under his arm. He was still hunched a bit, staring at you with a complicated look before straightening himself. There was a hum in the air.
"S--Se-ven was never one to tal--k about his life story. Y-o-you are quite different." He says this in a way that makes it difficult to discern if this is good or bad. But you did notice something. He had used the nickname Seven.
That's why Seven reacted the way he did...when I called him that.
Noli starts moving long before you make the decision. "I-if Seven didn't suggest I ta--ake the Vo--id Star, then I'd still be a power--powerless looo-oser." He laughs, hunching forward for a brief moment while he shakes his head. "I can almost thank Se-ven for letting me have it...all to myse--self." The Void Star almost twirled in his grasp.
Isn't that kind of...putting things lightly? You kind of wondered what Noli was like before the Void Star. He probably was the same in terms of personality, but only Seven knew; you just didn't want to push on it.
"He's changed...s-o much, acting like a reform--ed person...hiding away his horns like tha -aat..." You heard Noli mutter.
What? Horns? Was that why you saw horns on Seven those few times? Those were real?
While you hurried to catch up with Noli, feet against the red carpet, heading down the long hallway, three survivors rounded the corner. Elliot reels back a bit, still not used to seeing Noli hanging out so casually with you. Taph and Dusekkar are there too. Elliot looks from Noli with an awkward, uneasy expression before focusing on you and speaking.
"We..we think we found something. It's in the ball pit area--near it, actually. But we need to find everyone first." He's not giving much to go with on what they found, which...is fine, but the hardest part was explained to you plainly. Noli snaps his fingers, the attention now on him.
"Le-lea-leave it to me." He takes the Void Star, hovering in front of him in two hands, while he turns to face away from where the three survivors came from. He looks out in the distance, and within the blink of an eye, he is gone. It wasn't that he teleported per se...it was more like he moved too fast for the normal eye.
A pizza hit the floor beside you; it wasn't thrown by Elliot.
Yeah...I guess that's how hallucinations start. Awesome.
Together, you all head over to the ball pit. Taph points to the corner of the room, right behind the ball pit. You walk in a large arc, afraid to get too close in case of triggering something. In the distance, to the right, you see Guest and Seven coming over.
"I will never be used to killers not being after us..but as long as no one is hurt." Guest shifts uncomfortably. Seven is the same way; he looks a bit disheveled or guilty. The two must have been approached by Noli, and he'd been antagonized again.
"Don't fucking tell me what to do!" You hear a shout in the distance. You see when Betrayed 1x slaps Noli's hand away, he's grinning.
"Then wh-y why are you going this wa--ay?"
"I was going this way in the first place, screw off! I had this pest following me the whole time. I don't need another one!" As the two killers got closer, you see Two Time is following distantly, curiously watching this interaction with their dagger clasped within their two hands.
You mouth the word 'no' to them, which only makes their shoulders bounce in a quiet chuckle, raising a hand up to their lips to hide the grin that appeared.
Once everyone had gathered, Elliot shows the extent of what you're working with, leading to the far back corner that Taph had pointed to. This is...something you don't understand. You've never seen this before.
There's a crack in the wall. A rift, if you could call it that. Shades of red, black, gray, and white. It looks like some form of cloth that had been torn just slightly, as if you could reach out and could peel away at layers.
No one got closer.
Well, no one got closer until you were pushed forward. You turned, seeing survivors and Noli looking at Betrayed who didn't look guilty in the slightest.
"You're the one who got us into this mess, you're the one who is going to do something about it." They state matter-of-factly. You opened your mouth to retaliate but...you couldn't and your mouth just hung open.
But you didn't want her to have the last word.
"That's the first sensible thing you've said this entire round." That certainly wiped the smirk off his face, but you turned around to face the tear instead of relishing in the glory. You stepped closer.
The air around you felt suffocating, and the more and more you got closer, the harder it was to breathe, even though nothing was hindering you from doing so.
There was a part of you that just wanted to turn back, to leave this thing be. That was the reasonable and logical part of you that said this was a bad idea.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained! This entire ordeal was never logical in the first place. You reached forward before you could have any more second thoughts, and your hand almost went through, though you retracted it slightly to grab onto the side. It was an indescribable feeling...but...maybe like the murky waters of a swamp, or mud? You finally felt your hand plant on something and pulled. Your goal was to make the tear even larger, to open this up further.
But then something brushed against your fingers almost tentatively. Something inside the rift.
"Uh oh." That's all that left your mouth before your arm was drawn forward.
There were varied shouts from people behind you as your head was pulled in. One pair...two--okay, now three or four pairs of arms grabbed at your torso, stopping you from being pulled in further. Your head was in the tear now and...
This incredibly familiar feeling overwhelmed your senses.
This dreaded feeling. You remember it. Something is searching, searching frantically.
Trying to build something up from this terrible problem.
Then this feeling suddenly stops.
It stops on you. It sees you. You can feel the anger boiling around you, wildly.
Y O U U U
Y O U AA A AA RE T H E RE AS ON
W H Y E VERY T HING WE N T W R O N G
YO U A RE N T S UP PO S ED T O
B E H E RE
Then you're suddenly being pulled, pulled back into the match. This thing doesn't want you to go. Not for a good reason. It wants you to pay.
I H A VE SO M U C H M O R E
There are creatures and people here.
A big red hammer, purple flowers, pink familiar hair, a beast, a crown of ice and feathers from wings.
And then you see nothing, you're torn out of the rift, and as you fall onto the floor, slightly onto those who helped you, who also fell. You see that the rift suddenly cracks and bursts, various cracks forming along the hotel. You and the other survivors pale and you are quickly helped up by Taph.
"S..sorry!" Your voice is slightly slurred, still reeling from what you just witnessed.
"A-are you okay?!" Elliot almost screeches, checking you over. You nod once again and try to think.
"I...feel fine." You say despite your shaking. Your hands, your legs, your whole body--it can't stop trembling from fear.
There's silence.
But then Noli gives an exasperated sigh. "Fu--u-uck! Okay, I'll say it. What di--id you see-e?" The question everyone wanted to ask, but of course, the killer had the bravery to do so.
You knew it. It was so obvious.
That familiar feeling, the same one from before you came here.
"I saw...the entity that brought us all here."
And so much more.
The Spectre.