Chapter Text
Azure had a headache. They’d ended up here, in some run down cabin, after the sky had turned red and glitchy, and some… entity had grabbed them. And the explanation the others here had given them unfortunately, did not help with the headache that the transportation - and the eldritch whispers that had included, because of course it had to include eldritch whispers - have given him.
“So.” Azure rubbed their temples, glancing around with a sigh, trying to understand exactly what was going on. “Let me get this straight. I’m the 6th, and final arrival for now. Apparently we’re going to do death rounds, and be chased by a killer. And for some reason there’s a kid included in this.”
“...Pretty much.” The man in a heavy black coat replied, sitting on a couch. “We haven’t had one of the rounds yet, but that’s what the note said.” He was the one person who’d bothered trying to explain anything. At that, Azure glanced around, seeing the others.
The other ‘survivors’, as they were called, were scattered around the main room, minding their own business.
A red-skinned, demonic kid was poking at an exploit menu - who had given the kid that- and was frowning as it kept glitching out, error messages popping up around them.
Some sort of black and green being with a skeletal torso had pulled out two dual swords and was attacking away at two training dummies in the corner - dummies that were basically shreds, glitching away at the edges. However, the being never made contact with it… Azure, however, realized that they kept half of an eye on the child despite their battle training.
A white-skinned person with a baseball cap was reading some sort of unmarked book, lounged across the arms of an armchair, lying on it perpendicular to the backing of the chair.
Finally, the sound of sizzling meat came from another room, and Azure assumed someone was cooking, in what seemed to be a kitchen.
“Right. So… could I maybe know your names?” Azure tended to pride himself in being a patient person, but he could feel it was running quite thin, with the lack of introductions and the small scraps of information he’d been given.
“Ah. Right. Call me Mafioso.” The intimidating man dipped his head, before glancing over his shoulder, calling out. “HEY, ALL OF YOU- INTRODUCE YOURSELF FOR THE NEWBIE.”
Azure sighed, as everyone glanced up. The one training shot a venomous glare at Mafioso, and went back to training without a word. The child leapt up, no longer absorbed in whatever they were doing, rushing over.
“Hello! I’m C00lkidd!” They exclaimed, grinning up at Azure. Azure smiled down at the little one, taking a knee to be closer to his head height. “C00lest kid around!” His enthusiasm faltered slightly, as he softly asked. “...Have you seen my dad? His name is 007n7… He wears a burger hat-”
“...Sorry c00lkidd, I haven’t…” Azure sighed, glancing at Mafioso. Mafioso just gave a small sigh as well. “I’m Azure. It’s a pleasure.”
“Oh… Thank you Uncle Azure.” C00lkidd murmured. “I’ve been trying to use my c00lgui to locate my dad, but it’s been locked down a lot.” He frowned, opening that transparent red panel again.
“I’m sure we’ll find him soon?” Azure offered. Gosh, he had so little experience with young children… But that white lie was sure to help, right?
And it did, as c00lkidd perked up, smiling. “Okay..! I’ll keep looking for him on my c00lgui though!”
“...I’m Guest 666, or just Six.” Guest 666, the white skinned person, called out from his corner when c00lkidd had finished his introduction, still lounging across the chair sideways, snapping the book closed and hiding it before Azure could see the title. “And the assho-”
Six glanced at the kid, and slowly back to Azure, who shot them a glare as they swore, before eyes flicking 1x, who had a matching, although a far more venomous, glare. “...Person.” They corrected themself with a mildly nervous sigh. “The person over there is 1x1x1x1. Don’t mind them- they can be a bit… Standoffish?”
“I’m the embodiment of hatred, what, do you want me to be sunshine and rainbows?” 1x spat venomously, before going back to hacking at the training dummy.
“...Ya see what I mean And yes, they are the guy on all those wanted posters. But they claim we’re all in the same boat, so they ain’t gonna kill you. Up to you if you believe it.” Six gestured over in 1x’s direction with a huff. “John’s over in the kitchen, making burgers- he’s great at grilling stuff, so he’s our current cook.”
“Last time Six tried to even make toast our kitchen almost burned down-” 1x called over from where they were training. “He wanted ‘extra crispy’ toa-”
“LOOK, you willingly ate what was basically gruel yesterday you cannot be fucking talking-” Six yelled back, glaring.
“Don’t swear in front of the kid-.” “Watch your damn tongue, Six.” Both 1x and Azure called out at the same time, before glancing at each other.
Six meanwhile looked terrified, mumbling softly with wide eyes. “Oh Telamon. They multiplied.”
A moment later, a sword was flying at Six’s head from a certain hatred-filled being.
Azure, with a heavy sigh, turned over to Mafioso. “Are they always like this?” He asked, trying to tune out the screeching from two damn adults that were acting less mature then the fucking child, who was currently minding his own business and tapping away at his C00lgui again.
“Yes.” Mafioso muttered, sighing heavily. “Yes they are.”
“Foods ready!” A new voice called out, and Azure turned to see a yellow-skinned and haired man, dressed fairly plainly in a bright yellow shirt, jeans and a blue hat, tipped in such a way it was covering his face. However, in contrast with his current outfit, he walked out with a white and pink frilly apron on.
They had 5 burgers, all made in different ways, on a tray. Finally, his eyes locked with Azure. “Oh, Hello!” He set down the tray on the living room table, waving. Azure’s eyes locked onto a simple rose-gold ring on his ring finger as the new person introduced themself. “I’m John- John Doe. And you are?”
“Azure.” They paused, dipping their head, eyes locked on where that ring was.
…if he hadn’t… would the two of them… have…
…No, Azure, it was pointless to linger. It was for the spawn, after all… And both of you knew it…
John noticed Azure’s gaze, and he gave a small, sad smile. “Ah- Yes, this is my engagement ring... I have- had a wife, her name’s Jane Doe. Took her last name in the marriage, hah. Spitfire, she was, but I loved her for it.”
The past tense stung, as Azure could… guess the reason. Azure gave a small nod, trying to convince both John Doe and himself that that was the reason their eyes had been locked onto the ring…
“So- I can run back and make you a burger if you’d like, or you could have mine- How would ya like your burgers though, in the future.”
“Ah.” Azure dipped his head, realizing that in the shock, he’d begun to be disrespectful. That would not do. There was no reason to fall into bad habits, even if the elders were not here to reprimand. The Spawn would know after all, and it would disapprove of such insolence from one of its prophets… “I am fine with whatever you grace me with.” He murmured softly, eyes locked onto the ground.
Azure suddenly felt someone’s gaze burrowing into the back of his head… He did not turn around to check who it was.
John gave a smile. “Ah- No need for any of that, honestly. I like grilling, and I’m just glad to help.” “Ah… If you insist.” Azure rubbed the back of his head, straightening his back as he looked respectfully just below John’s eyes, head still slightly dipped, giving John how he preferred his burgers.
“Ah! Simple enough!” John smiled, looking incredibly pleased with himself. “I’ll make you one real quick then- Sit tight, Azure!”
“The heck was that.” 1x spat, and Azure finally turned to see who was glaring at him. Lo and behold, it was 1x, for some strange reason, with an odd look in their eyes. “Why’d you get all- weird all of a sudden-“
“I merely realized that in the shock, I… forgot my manners.” He dipped in a slow bow. “Please forgive me.”
1x froze in response, and then just- rolled their eyes, huffing. “Whatever.” His swords were unsheathed again, as they went back to training.
Azure noticed, oddly enough however, still, not once did 1x hit the dummy. They pulled back just before the blade made contact.
Mafioso sighed, rubbing his temples. “Insane, all of ya. C00lkidd, I think us adults need to have… a chat. Come on, let’s getcha to your room.” The tall, imposing man walked over to the young kid, and scooped him up gently. Glancing over at Azure, he explained. “We all have rooms upstairs in the cabin. Appears when we do. Don’t ask how the physics behind it works, I don’t know. They’re plain at the start, but you can decorate it to your liking. It’ll have your name next to the door.”
“Uncle Mafiosoo, I’m not tired-“ C00lkidd whined, glancing up at him. “I only just finished my burger-“
“Come on kid, us adults gotta talk about boring things. Wouldn’t you rather be able to have some time with your big plushies?”
“…” C00lkidd considered this, and finally nodded smiling. “Alright, Uncle Mafioso!”
1x stopped swinging their swords as soon as c00lkidd left the room. “Right. We’re finally having this conversation, now that the last straggler is here?” He reached down and grabbed his burger from the tray, which consisted of simply a bun and beef, no cheese or vegetables.
John Doe walked out holding the tray, and gave a nod. “Azure, here ya go. And yes, 1x, I do believe it’s time. We’ll wait for Mafioso to return and then-”
Guest 666 finally got out of the chair, pushing themself up with a hop, before walking up next to Azure. “Azure, we’re been planning on waiting for you to get here so that we could have a serious discussion about how we’re gonna handle the rounds, as a group.”
Mafioso walked back in, adjusting his fedora. “Right. So let’s talk about how we don’t all die instantly in these… so called ‘rounds’.”