Chapter Text
It felt like everyone froze in their places, the golden glow of the fire in the fireplace, and the one in Dusekkar’s head, were the only things moving. Builderman let out a tired sigh, before he leaned on the back of the couch.
“I don’t think anyone should go outside and fix that just yet.” He commanded, looking around the room.
“Wait, why not?” Elliot asked, confused as he dropped all of his cards on the small side table they had been using.
“I also must conquer, why? It is very strange you do not want us to fix the current problem.” Two Time questioned as they stood near Builderman.
“Well, the lightning seems to be very… targeting tonight. I’d prefer no one get shocked, and possibly not make it out of here.” He explained as he took off his hardhat and brushed through his hair.
“Just send some people out that usually fix generators quickly during rounds then.” Shedletsky replied, looking down at his cards.
“Oh, what are you, dumb? That’s like sending a lamb to the slaughter.” Builderman grumbled, folding his arms. 007n7 glanced at Guest, with every boom of thunder and crack of lightning, it looked like there was a weight of fear slowly adding up on his shoulders. He looked over at Taph, who seemed to be a little fearful himself.
“Look, as much as you two might want to argue right now, is there not a time when you can do it later somehow? Everyone is here to witness, and I don’t think they all want to see the total and utter mess.” Dusekkar cut in, making sure to look at the other two, hoping that his request would work. Afterall, there was worse to deal with.
“I mean I’m just saying, ya know? Someone could finally be useful.” Shedletsky mumbled to himself.
“🌧️🟰❌❓(Is the rain still bad?)” Taph asked, yearning to go back to his cabin.
“Oh, I pray to the divine Spawn it is getting better already! I would prefer not to stay here all night.” Two Time replied as they walked to the door. They opened the door, and were met with a harsh rain still pouring. They peeked their head outside, and looked around. The rain was awful. Due to the river rising so close to the surface, the small area around it had flooded. There was no way to walk to the other cabins without their knees getting swallowed by the shallow water, but muggy mud.
“How… fun.” They mumbled.
“Wow, has it ever been this bad out?” Builderman asked as he caught a glimpse outside, surprised to see the amount of rain collected all in one spot in a short amount of time. Lightning struck right in the middle of the map, and Two Time slammed the door in fear.
“I must have to agree with Builderman, the climate in the surrounding area seems to be… different.” Two Time vocalized, terror in their eyes, but that grin was still on their face.
“😾 💣🚫🏡😞 (Great… I can’t leave now…)” Taph grumbled, folding his arms, his robes still damp.
“I’m sure there are spare clothes around somewhere, there’s gotta be” 007n7 said, folding his hands in his lap.
“Where would those be? Has anyone even looked through the entire building?” Elliot asked, curious.
“Maybe the closet where the towels seem to appear from time to time? That’s the only place I can think of.” 007n7 responded, hoping that no one was rolling their eyes as he spoke. He wouldn’t be surprised if some did, afterall, he deserved it. He knows what he’s done to some of the people here, and he would take the blame. But only for what he caused.
“We could go look and see. If we find something useful, we find something useful. If we don’t, we can sit by the fire for a bit.” Guest said as he stood up, still stiff.
“✅❗️ (Yes, lets do it!)” Taph replied, eager to get out of his now uncomfortable robes. Guest and Taph started to walk towards the stairs, and 007n7 was following them until he felt somebody’s hand on his shoulder.
“Hold on, you can help look in a moment. First, can we have a talk about what happened earlier?” Builderman asked, his tired gaze softening a little. 007n7 turned to look at the other man, and nodded, shuddering from Shedletsky’s talk earlier.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.” Builderman mumbled, making sure no one else heard. 007n7 felt some relief, but he wouldn’t let his guard down.
“🎃🍗🔎🔵💣❓(Dusekkar and Shedletsky, do you want to help look with us?)” Taph asked from the top of the stairs.
“I would be eager to help, I prefer not to smell like kelp.” Dusekkar replied calmly as he rose up from the couch.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a moment, I’m just gonna wrap up this round real quickly.” Shedletsky vocalized, laying down a card on the small table.
“Want to go to the kitchen?” Builderman asked.
“Yeah, sure.” 007n7 answered, voice shaking a little.
The kitchen was clean and quiet, the only thing being heard were the steps upstairs, and some of the laughter in the living room. All subsided with the rain pounding on the manor walls, like it was trying to seep through, trying to reach something.
“You want anything from the fridge?” Builderman asked as he opened the door to the recently powered off appliance, and grabbed a bloxy cola for himself.
“No, thank you though.” 007n7 replied, he could feel himself start to sweat, his nerves were freaking out. The fridge door was closed, and Builderman placed the can on the counter.
“Sorry if this seems weird, but can ya tell me about the… cabin with Shed’ from earlier? I saw you get shoved out of it earlier from the porch.” Builderman asked, opening the can.
“Oh, that! Uh… well it wasn’t anything too important, just a… uh… a talk.” 007n7 sputtered out, trying to keep his composer. Builderman stared at the taller man, confused.
“Right… What was the talk about?” He questioned before he took a sip from the can, still cold.
“It started out with how I was doing in the rounds. I only thought Shedletsky meant the two that had already happened because I was sick with something, but he meant in general.” 007n7 answered, holding his tongue about the rest.
“Did it stay on that topic necessarily?” The shorter man asked.
“Uh…”
“Look, I understand what it's like having someone that you used to be close with against you, but that's not an excuse for your past–”
“I didn’t say anything about my past.”
007n7’s eyes widened, the words slipped out of his mouth, he didn’t even think of them. He tensed up, and looked at Shedletsky. It was like they were in a staring contest, and it was dragged out for as long as the admin could make it. Oh, what had he just caused?! He wanted to get out of this situation, there had to be a way out.
“Sorry, but I should really–”
“No, you don’t get to.” Shedletsky said, cutting off 007n7 as the arm that held his shoulder was holding his wrist now. 007n7 raised his eyebrows in confusion, Shedletsky was always easy going with everyone, why couldn’t he take that he's changed for the better? Everyone else can see it, why can't he? 007n7 tried to pull his wrist from his grip, but that only made him hold on tighter. He heard Shedletsky start to talk, probably berating him, but the ringing in his ears worsened, his vision was starting to blur together again, his head throbbed. 007n7 tried to pull away, but Shedletsky pulled him closer.
“No, you don’t get to leave when all you do is bring everything down! You can barely make it through a round, let alone all by yourself!” Shedletsky shouted.
“Well, I'm sorry that I don’t have everything I had back before I died!” 007n7 yelled back, still trying to pull away from the admins grip.
“Oh yeah, blame it on your death, the world is probably way better off without you!” Shedletsky rolled his eyes, scoffing at the thought.
“What else CAN I blame it on?! What makes you think I want to be here at all, surrounded by people that HATE me?” 007n7 argued back, holding his tongue on the first part of Shedletsky's sentence, the way the words were threaded together stung, tears formed in his eyes, thinking about the fear he felt when he aimed the gun, hoping he could see his baby boy again. That’s when he noticed a mark on the back of Shedletsky's right hand, one that looked like a burn mark of the spawn symbol, the one Two Time was so loyal to.
“…What makes you think I died out of the blue?” 007n7 asked, looking back up at Shedletsky, feeling one of many tears trickle down his face.
“Oh what, was it planned?” Shedletsky remarked rhetorically, he didn’t really want to know.
“What do you think?” 007n7 mumbled, noting that the spawn emblem was brighter than the moment before.
“Did you do it yourself? I would have to guess, you seem like the kind of pathetic guy to do so.” Shedletsky mumbled the second part to himself, but 007n7 heard. His eyes went wide, and his chest tight, remembering the feeling of losing everything around him one at a time.
“Are you fucking dense?! Why have you been nothing but such a bitch towards me? You seem to get along with everyone else just fine, and everyone else has seen me change, and you can’t spare a moment to notice?! Yeah, you can still hate me, but you don’t have to treat me like someone that hasn’t learned from my past!” 007n7 shouted, still trying to pull away.
“Oh, and wait for you to turn your back against us?! All you ever do is bring everyone down, and mess up everything you do! No wonder why you lost that handful of a child..” Shedletsky replied, just as loud, not hiding his comments anymore. 007n7 paused for a moment, stunned, gobsmacked, anything else to describe surprise and disgust in the same word.
“Why would I betray any of you at all?! I’ve lost everything, and my son went missing during the night! Gone, vanished! The doors were still locked, and nothing else was missing except him! I’m sorry that I haven’t had enough time to grieve in HELL!” 007n7 cried out, he couldn’t ignore every other thing Shedletsky brought up, after bringing up C00lkidd there was no way to ignore any of it.
“Wasn’t he one of the many reasons you almost ended up in the banlands though?” Shedletsky vocalized, his grip not faltering around the other man’s wrist.
“What, no?! Where did you even–”
“I know he almost did. Lesson at the end of the day is that I should’ve sent you there myself after the fourth time he destroyed that pizza place.”
He tried to pull away again, but Shedletsky kept pulling him back, away from the door.
“GOD JUST LET ME GO ALREADY!” 007n7 demanded as he summoned his c00l.gui, and hit Shedletsky’s face with it. Shedletsky let his wrist go, and 007n7 ran to the door, trying to open it.
“Fuck, let me do it…” Shedletsky hissed as he pulled 007n7 away from the door by the collar of his shirt. For some reason the door had to be pushed a little while holding the handle, then pulled open. Then, Shedletsky shoved 007n7 out of his cabin, and slammed the door shut. 007n7 himself didn’t even realize he was sobbing, his head continued to throb, and he felt like he was getting warmer, and in that moment, he decided to rush to the fishing docks.
Maybe Shedletsky was right.
Maybe he should try again later.
007n7 finished speaking, fear pumping through his veins. Builderman stood there, wide eyed. He was growing suspicious, maybe Dusekkar wasn’t wrong.
“Really? He did all of that with no remorse?” Builderman asked, swirling his empty can, making sure there wasn’t enough to leak out if placed on its side. 007n7 nodded, he could feel his throat start to clench up.
“Is there… How’d ya die? Was it…”
“Yeah. A month after C00lkidd was pronounced dead.”
“...I’m sorry.”