Chapter Text
Noob was sitting on their bed, leaning against the wall and staring up at their drawing of Tac.
“Hey, Noob?” Elliot broke the long silence. Noob’s focus shifted over to him. “Would you feel up to going to the main cabin later? It’s where we all have meals together, but it’s also where we just hang out and chill most of the time.”
Noob fiddled with their fingers. “Um… maybe? I-I don’t know… I mean—”
“There’s no pressure. Come out when you feel ready. The others would be happy to see you.”
Noob brought their knees to their chest.
“Y-yeah. Maybe soon.”
“There’s actually a lot of things to do there. We could—”
Elliot didn’t get to finish his sentence. In an instant the cabin walls disappeared and gave way to trees and graves and a dark starry sky.
Noob gasped and scrambled back, their eyes darting every which way.
“W-what… what happened?!” they exclaimed.
Elliot huffed and rubbed his bleary eyes.
“We’re in another round.”
“B-but I-I thought the clock wo-would tick like last time! No! I-I didn’t— I wasn’t ready—”
“Hey, hey! It’s okay, Noob!”
They didn’t seem to hear him. They continued to frantically look around, as if expecting the killer to pop out at any moment.
“Where…” Their breathing picked up. “W-where—?!”
Elliot bit his lip. They were obviously starting to panic, and he didn’t want to make it worse.
“Noob, look at me. Focus on me.”
“I can’t—!”
“Take some deep breaths. In and out.”
Noob did as they were told. Though their breaths were shaky, they slowly inhaled and then exhaled. Their eyes landed firmly on Elliot. For a few passing seconds, neither of them uttered a word.
“I-I thought I would hear the clock tick,” Noob finally whispered.
“The clock is in the main cabin. You can only hear it from there.”
“Oh. That makes sense…”
“I’m here,” Elliot reassured. “We’re all the way in the corner here. This is the safest place we could be.”
Before Noob could respond, a cling came from behind a tree. Noob tilted their head at the sound of it.
“W-what’s that?”
“That’ll be Chance,” Elliot replied. “Chance, we can hear you flipping that coin!”
Chance appeared from behind a tree, a smirk glued to his face. He gave his coin another flip.
“H-hi,” Noob greeted shyly.
As Chance’s gaze met Noob, his smirk faltered. But just as quickly as it disappeared, it came back.
“Heya, kid. Don’t be scared, yeah? If the killer tries to get near ya', they’ll be tasting my gunpowder.”
“Or you’ll be tasting your own gunpowder.”
“Now have some faith in Lady Luck here, Elliot! She’s on my side this round. I can feel it.”
“I-is that…” Noob stared at Chance’s gun incredulously. “Is that gunpowder on the gun?”
“Yup. I always make sure I fill this baby up with enough to give it a nice kick. Knocks the killers right on their ass.”
Noob somehow looked even more nervous than before. They took a step behind Elliot.
“Now I’m gonna go hide behind that tree again. I have a lot of weakness right now. A soft breeze’ll probably take me down.”
They were in a secluded little corner. It wasn’t like Chance was out in the open. Usually if Chance and Elliot found each other during rounds, they’d stick together. At least until Elliot had to go heal someone or Chance went to shoot the killer. And it wasn’t like Chance ever cared that much about his own safety. He flipped his coin in front of the killer all the time.
They were acting weird because Noob was there. Something was up with Chance, and Elliot was going to figure out what it was.
They made their way back behind that tree. Elliot half considered following them before hearing footsteps approach him and Noob.
“Hello!” Shedletsky grinned. He clutched a bleeding shoulder, and his entire body was surrounded with red flickering 1’s and 0’s.
“Y-you’re hurt,” Noob stuttered.
“Nah, it’s just a scratch. Nothing to worry about.” Shedletsky whipped out a chicken leg and munched it down. The wound on his shoulder began to disappear, as did the corrupted code covering his body.
“John Doe?” Elliot asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“Yup. You might want to get over there. He’s chasing Taph. I managed to stun him, but it’s only a matter of time before Taph gets hurt.”
“On it. Can you stay here with Noob?”
“Of course! Kid, you’ve gotta show me what abilities you have!”
“Okay…” Noob peered up at Elliot. “Please be safe.”
“I will. I’ll be back shortly, alright?”
Noob nodded, though that look of concern didn’t leave their face.
Shedletsky said something to Noob and pointed at their bag, but Elliot was already off before he could catch any of that conversation.
It didn’t take long for Elliot to see large black spikes sticking out of the ground. He followed the trail of spikes until he found Taph being chased by John Doe. She was surrounded by a blue shield, and Dusekkar was floating not too far back, holding up his staff. Elliot couldn’t see any injuries on Taph, so he stayed away for the time being and hid behind a wall.
John Doe swung, claws just barely missing Taph’s back. She rushed across a bridge, where a subspace tripmine lay on the other side. As John Doe followed her, he ran straight into the trap. The tripmine exploded in a flash of purple light, and John Doe stumbled over his own feet.
Elliot gripped the edge of the wall, getting ready to run in whenever.
“Hello, Elliot.”
Elliot blinked over at the person next to him. Two Time stood there, smiling at him.
“Hi…? Have you been there the whole time?”
“Indeed I have.”
“Oh. I, uh, didn’t see you.”
“What did they draw?”
“Huh?”
“Noob. What did Noob draw?”
“Oh, yeah, duh. They drew a cat. Their cat, Tac.”
The usual wide grin on Two Time’s face morphed into something softer… something more genuine.
”That’s nice,” they murmured.
The shield around Taph shattered, leaving him completely exposed. John Doe swung again, missing Taph by a hair. Elliot cursed under his breath.
“Two Time, can you go—”
They were no longer beside him. Somehow in the span of a few seconds, Two Time had managed to get behind the killer—slightly off to the side to avoid his trail—without Elliot noticing. He didn’t even hear a single footstep despite how fast they had gotten over there.
Two Time crouched down, held their dagger behind their back, and tiptoed closer to John Doe. John Doe raised up his clawed hand—about to swipe at Taph again.
Two Time was quicker. They shot forward and stabbed John Doe’s back with their dagger. And if that wasn’t enough, they twisted the blade once it was deep in. John Doe roared out and fell to his knees.
In a few swift movements, Two Time yanked the dagger out and leaped back, narrowly missing a swipe from the killer. Then they retreated off into the shadows.
John Doe turned back towards Taph, who was able to gain some distance after the stun. He grumbled and stabbed his spiked arm into the ground. Elliot held his breath.
John Doe ripped the arm out, dozens of spikes coming up with it. The line of spikes followed Taph, and he was able to dodge most of them. Until the final spike. The final spike shot up and struck him across the face.
Elliot wasted no time. He rushed past John Doe and over towards Taph.
He could hear John Doe’s heavy footsteps following him. Elliot could only hope that he got to Taph first… and that John Doe didn’t decide to take a swing at him. He just kept running and refused to look back.
“Taph! Here!” Elliot shouted. Taph’s hand was against their cheek, blood pooling out between their fingers. Elliot tossed them a pizza.
John Doe’s footsteps were getting closer.
“Rahhhh!!” A green and blue blur flew past Elliot and slammed into John Doe.
Elliot knew he needed to get out of there. His pizza was on cooldown, and Guest was here now. The veteran would be able to protect Taph for a while.
Elliot quickly made his way back to Noob and Shedletsky. Shedletsky was still yapping in poor Noob’s ear. Their eyes had a faraway look to them, clearly not listening to a single word Shedletsky was saying.
“Welcome back, Elliot!” Shedletsky greeted cheerfully. Then, his smile fell into a thin line. “Is Taph okay?”
“Yes, I healed him.” Shedletsky’s gaze drifted down, not so subtly searching Elliot’s body for any injuries. Elliot held back a sigh. “And Guest is over there. Dusekkar and Two Time as well.”
“Hmm… My slash is off cooldown. I should go over there too.” Shedletsky gave Noob’s hair a ruffle—causing the kid to squeak in surprise. “You two stay here. I’ll be right back.”
With that, Shedletsky sped off. Noob pouted, fixed their hair, and then glanced up at Elliot.
“Is the killer a-actually John Doe? Like… the John Doe?
“Yes… it’s him.” Noob whimpered at the confirmation. Elliot’s focus trailed over to where Shedletsky ran off to. “What were you two talking about?”
“I was showing him my items, and he was telling me about his,” Noob replied. “Um… I actually was wondering something.”
“Yeah, what is it?” Elliot asked.
“Can you not heal yourself? Like how Shedletsky heals himself with his chicken?”
“No, I can’t.” Elliot shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to anyway. I’d rather save my pizza for others.”
“B-but… when you get hurt…”
“There’s other things that can heal me. There’s medkits around and Builderman’s dispensers.”
“But still… that’s not fair.”
“I know…” Elliot sighed. “A lot of things aren’t fair here.”
They sat in that corner for a while. At some point Elliot started to grow concerned. Shedletsky said he’d be back, right? Was he…
Elliot frowned. He should probably head over there in case someone needed his pizza, but then he’d be leaving Noob alone. Though if the killer was over there and Noob stayed here… then they should be safe. Maybe Elliot could find someone and tell them to stay with Noob. Was Chance still close by?
In the distance Elliot saw a yellow blob being chased by a red and black blob. The blobs got closer, revealing them to be Shedletsky and John Doe.
“Stay right here,” Elliot told Noob. “I’m going to get closer and see if he needs healing.”
Noob was practically gaping at the sight of John Doe. The only indication that they heard Elliot was a small dip of their head. Elliot hesitated for just a moment before bolting over to Shedletsky and the killer.
Getting closer, Elliot didn’t see any injuries on Shedletsky. He could tell that John Doe was getting increasingly frustrated, letting out a growl every time he missed the admin. Shedletsky slid to a stop, whipped around, and the moment John Doe was close enough, he swung his sword. John Doe roared as the blade struck across his face.
It didn’t take long for him to recover from the attack. But he didn’t go after Shedletsky again. Instead, John Doe looked over at Elliot. Elliot sucked in a breath, preparing himself to use his Rush Hour if need be. But then John Doe glanced past Elliot… and noticed Noob.
Elliot immediately turned around.
“Noob! Get out of that corner!” he yelled desperately. “He’s going to trap you!!”
His shouts were in vain. Noob was either too far to hear him or frozen in fear. Maybe both. They stayed completely still, pressing themself further into that corner.
John Doe jabbed his spiked arm into the ground. Elliot’s legs began moving before his brain told them to. He didn’t care what would happen. He didn’t even know what his plan was. He just needed to get to Noob.
Elliot only made it a few feet before something—no, someone—grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him back. Elliot just avoided getting a spike straight through the skull.
“Careful, kid!” Shedletsky shouted at him.
Elliot watched in fear as a row of spikes blocked him off from Noob. Just before the last few spikes shot up, someone ran past them, towards Noob.
007n7… Actually, no… His movements were too stiff, and his eyes were too blank. It was one of 007n7’s clones.
Not too far away, 007n7 was hiding behind a tree and holding his c00lgui with trembling hands. He was obviously scared shitless but kept on controlling his clone.
It was hard to see what was going on between the spikes. Elliot could just make out John Doe approaching Noob.
“John Doe, no!” Shedletsky practically roared out. “Don’t touch them!”
John Doe swung, but the clone jumped in front of Noob and took the hit. John Doe growled and tried again, and yet again the clone body blocked.
“Use the potion, kid!” Shedletsky exclaimed. “Quick!”
Noob didn’t move an inch. They could almost be mistaken for a statue with how still they were. The clone collapsed in a heap.
“Noob! Can you hear us?! Use the potion!” Elliot yelled.
He had no idea what the potion did, except that when they drank it last round, their body turned gray. If Shedletsky was urging them to use it, then it had to be useful.
Elliot’s voice must’ve snapped Noob out of their trance. With slow, almost robot-like movements, they took a potion out of their bag and drank it. Just like last time, their body turned gray.
John Doe struck Noob with his claws, but the attack seemed to have no effect on them. No cuts, no exclamations of pain. Noob flinched and curled deeper into the corner, but that was it.
The spikes fell, and Shedletsky immediately rushed in. His slash was seemingly still on cooldown, so he jumped in front of Noob and held out his arms, a challenging spark in his eyes. The gray vanished, leaving Noob back to looking like their normal self.
The sound of a gun being fired rang out. John Doe roared and fell down. Elliot, Noob, and Shedletsky wasted no time dashing out of there.
John Doe stood back up. It seemed like he was going to go after them… until Chance flipped his coin.
John Doe slowly turned towards Chance. Elliot almost facepalmed. They really couldn’t wait a few seconds to flip that damn coin? The killer bolted straight towards Chance. They cursed and flipped their coin again. And again. And again. They just kept flipping it.
Elliot went after them. His pizza had to be off cooldown at this point. He had to be ready if Chance got hit.
“C’mon… Lady Luck… Please, I need this… Just one charge, please…” As Elliot got closer, he could hear Chance talking to themself. Despite the smug expression on their face, they were sweating nervously.
“Stop flipping your coin while getting chased!” Elliot knew yelling could draw attention to himself, but he wanted Chance to get the idea.
“Elliot, don’t get so close to the killer!” Chance shouted back.
“I need to be close in case you get hurt!”
“Y-you should really go!”
“What? No!”
“I mean it, pal. I-I don’t think you can save me this time.”
“What—”
John Doe slashed at Chance—a nasty slash that struck his back. Probably hurt like hell, but it shouldn’t have been fatal.
Chance gasped out and collapsed. As soon as he hit the ground, his coin fell out of his hands… and rolled over right to Elliot’s feet.
Elliot stared at Chance’s fresh corpse. Just how much weakness did he have?!
John Doe looked back at Elliot.
“I’m so dead,” Elliot whispered.