Chapter Text
There were multiple things of note for when 1x1x1x1 returned from lingering in the woods- 'aurafarming' as the blue child had put it. Ridiculous term, 1x doesn't understand its relevance even after the blue child explained it to them in private.
Firstly: Azure's garden was a mess. Flowers trampled, leaves scattered across the mud and beyond, and the bench Azure sometimes sits on has been smashed to pieces.
Secondly: Azure himself. Whilst they were busying themselves with restoring their prized garden, there was a certain aggression to how they trimmed and resuscitated their plants. Seething, unspoken and poorly concealed malice oozed from their form. The calm facade was breaking- had already been broken and was undergoing a poor reconstruction- and his malice, anger, and hatred was beginning to shine through the cracks.
Finally: the carnage seemed to continue up towards the cabin itself, long leaving the garden in front. From somewhere within, a banshee's wailing could be heard. Tone familiar. 1x knew who was making the irritating noise.
1x stalked closer to Azure, footsteps imperceptible without the Spectre forcing weight onto her steps. Azure certainly didn't notice him approach, not until they were right behind him, its shadow was cast over them. Azure visibly tenses for a second, but otherwise does not move to address 1x.
They observe Azure for a while, taking in their form. Clothes have a few cuts, not formed from mishandling their gardening tools. Injuries to their body, particularly their tendrils. Their biological weapons. Azure has been in a fight, is the obvious observation that 1x1x1x1 can make.
1x1x1x1 reaches forwards and snatches a notably damaged tendril in their grasp; whilst the injuries had closed up fairly quickly, they were still sore and sensitive. In an instance, Azure spins around and lashes out at her with their other tendrils, like a wild animal. 1x simply swats them away. Azure's current condition prevents them from being any real threat.
"Do you mind?" Azure says through gritted teeth. He tries to yank is appendage free from 1x's grasp, but it does little other than making the pain a bit worse.
"I don't." 1x replies, despite the question being rhetorical. It traces her thumb slowly- carefully- over the long scars now littering the tendril, like reading a book for the blind.
The cuts? Precise and with intention. A skilled (enough) fighter. The blade? Crude, dulling, still lethal to the weak, the survivors. Imperfect. Nothing like 1x's own swords, nor C00lkidd's, nor the mafia boss'.
"Someone gotta teach you personal space," Azure huffs out, resigned to waiting until 1x was done with whatever this was meant to be. "Not that you'd fucking mind it anyway."
"Why were you fighting with the masked man?" 1x asks, ignoring the whining that Azure was making. It finally lets go of the tendril that he had been holding, and Azure quickly pulls it back to their body.
"Oh, did you want me to paint a picture for you?" Azure replies sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No. Talk."
"That was- urgh." Azure's hands half-way made it to their own face, but they stopped themselves, folding them into fists in front of their face before letting them fall to his sides. "Fine. So, earlier, 7n7 was helping me in the garden, then he disappeared. Went into a round. So, C00lkidd sat on the bench waiting for him to come back. But only Slasher came back. So C00lkidd got a little mad. Attacked Slasher. Slasher attacked C00lkidd. And then they fell onto my garden. Wouldn't leave. Broke a lot of stuff. So, maybe, I get a little mad too, and attack Slasher. And maybe Slasher ends up in the lake because of it- mind the puddles when you go inside. So now C00lkidd has stopped attacking Slasher, buuuut-" Azure makes a grand sweeping gesture towards the cabin, and lets the wailing that has yet to cease fill in the silence. "-He's now upset his dad is gone."
"When will he stop the noise?"
"Dunno. Noli's been with him for a while, I think, but I think it is fair to say there has been little success there." At least, Azure's pretty sure Noli's been trying to calm C00lkidd down; when he passed by earlier he mentioned something about performing his 'uncle duties' before heading inside.
"I am to just suffer this irksome disturbance?" 1x scowls.
"Well, you're all the more welcome to try and help Noli calm C00lkidd down…" Azure stops briefly, thinks, and then smiles to himself. "You know what? I think we'll do just that."
Azure straightens themselves up. In the next second, numerous tendrils have wrapped around 1x's body, constricting her movements.
"Release me." 1x demands. It struggles in Azure's grasp and should be able to break free easily given Azure's weakened state. But she doesn't. How vexing.
"Sorry, I don't know much about personal space." Azure replies, tone mocking. A call back to their own prior statement which 1x had ignored.
"You will do as I say." 1x snarls through gritted teeth.
"I won't." Azure continues to drag 1x into the cabin, being mindful not to slip on all the puddles that Slasher had left when he came stomping through earlier. As he passes the open door of the kitchen, Azure notes that Bluudud and Pr3typriincess have already begun to suffer the effects of 007n7 not being here too. The two of them are once again struggling to make themselves food now that they don't have someone willingly making all their meals for them. He returns his attention back to the angry being wrapped up in their tendrils. "Besides, if you wanna start a relationship with 7n7, having his son like you a whole bunch would help."
"Do not presume that I intend to do so." 1x grumbles, eyes glaring into the back of Azure's head.
Azure lets out a long groan to himself, but keeps ascending the stares, bringing them closer to the source of the wailing.
"Well, if you ever decide to stop pussy-footing around and actually go for it, I'm doing future-you a solid."
"If you do not release me, I will-"
Whatever threat 1x1x1x1 was going to hurl at Azure was cut off as the last of Azure's free tendrils wraps itself tightly around 1x's mouth, silencing them.
After a little more walking, Azure stops outside of C00lkidd's room. The door may be shut, but it did little to stop the shrieking noise from escaping into the rest of the building.
Setting 1x1x1x1 down next to them, Azure doesn't even let a second pass before knocking loudly on the door, pushing it open slightly and poking their head around it. Needed to be quick so that 1x didn't have time to get another complaint in.
"Knock, knock." Azure says as he does. 1x finds that redundant, given that Azure had just physically knocked. "Just coming to see how things are going in here- oh Mafioso's here too," Azure remarks once he gets a good look at the scene before him. Noli is situated near the middle of the bed, with C00lkidd's head buried into his legs (it's a wonder how, despite being muffled by Noli's body, C00lkidd is able to create such a racket). Mafioso is sat just to the side of them. "Well," Azure claps his hands together. "I guess this is a real pity party, 'cause look! 1x is here too!"
With a sturdy yank, 1x1x1x1 comes stumbling into view. There's no escape for them now: the illogical social decorum that you have to be 'nice' to children now prevents him from leaving this situation. What a bother.
Wit the two now in the room, Azure shuts the door behind them. Not that it would do much to save the rest of the killers from having to hear C00lkidd's wailing.
Azure finds the patch of floor that is clearest of toys and sits himself down, seeing as there is already three people crowding the child-sized bed. 1x doesn't move from the spot they were pulled into, opting to stand completely rigid and motionless.
"How nice of you two to join us." Mafioso remarks, his gaze only briefly turning towards the pair who had just entered the room.
"Mhm, I suppose you've heard about-" Azure doesn't finish his sentence, but jabs a thumb in C00lkidd's direction. A silent insinuation of the problem at hand: C00lkidd has been separated from his dad once more.
"Hard to miss." Mafioso returns.
"Yes, Seven's gone back to FETCHING MILK!" Noli chimes in.
The mentioning of his dad's name (or the way Noli addresses him) only sets C00lkidd off further. His wails, by some cruel means, only get louder. Noli promptly- and somewhat aggressively- begins to pet the back of C00lkidd's head in a vain effort to soothe him.
"It's ok C00lkidd, we're all here for you." Azure attempts, though he already knows that there is one person the boy truly wants, and it is none of the people who've crowded into the small room.
"I want my dad!" C00lkidd cries out, face not lifting from Noli's legs. His arms tighten around Noli's waste though. With a grip like that, it is a wonder that Noli hasn't been snapped in two at this point, though whatever excessive amount of force C00lkidd is placing on him doesn't seem to bother Noli in the slightest.
"We all want your dad back, he will be missed." Mafioso says solemnly.
"WANT??? SPEAK FOR YOURSELF MOTHER####ER! What I want is… For my NEPHEW to be HAPPY, CLAP ALONG IF YOU FEEL-!" Noli's 'unusual quirks' would usually make C00lkidd giggle at least. Not today.
"What would it take to make you cease this dissonance?" 1x finally inserts themselves into the conversation, with most of the group almost forgetting that they were there.
"I- I- I just want my dad…" C00lkidd sniffles, eyes peering up from Noli's legs. "I f-finally got him here, and then he left me again!"
"You care too much about the abandonment of your creator." 1x states plainly.
"B-b-but he's with the evil pizza boy again!" C00lkidd cries out, head momentarily rearing into the air before slamming back down on Noli's legs.
"Is he still on that?" Azure whisper-yells over at Mafioso, who only responds with a singular, firm nod.
"If the return of your creator will silence your clamour, then I shall retrieve him for you posthaste." 1x announces.
"You- you- you mean it?" C00lkidd asks, looking up from Noli's legs and this time not collapsing back down on top of them.
"This was agreed upon prior." 1x returns.
"Oh-! Yeah!" C00lkidd had totally forgotten in his dad-deprived depression. Finally feeling a little less down, C00lkidd releases Noli's legs from the pinned-imprisonment they had been suffering for so long.
"I shall accompany ms 1x on this endeavour. Neither I nor my men enjoy seeing you so sad." Mafioso adds.
"YIPPEE! We're all gonna ONE WAY, OR ANOTHER, I'M GONNA FIND YA, I'M GONNA GET YA, GET YA, GET YA, GET YA!" Which everyone could just assume was Noli's way of saying he was going to help too.
"Uh huh… Well, I don't go out like these guys do… but maybe I can help you make a real big net." Azure remarks, half sarcastically. Besides, giving C00lkidd an activity to distract himself with might stop him from crying more, even if that activity is net-building.
"Thanks guys…" C00lkidd lets out a large sniffle, wiping snot and tears off his face with his arm. "You're the best!"
With friends such as these, it was only a matter of time before his dad was back here and safely away from that evil pizza boy's grasp!
007n7 really is gonna have to watch his back from here forwards.