Chapter Text
Running for your life is never fun, no matter how much like tag the person pursuing you tries to make it seem.
Cashe was currently weaving through the walls of Glass Houses, trying her absolute hardest to not die to the oversized red demon that was hot on her tail.
The round had been an interesting one. They started out with almost every single sentinel, each one primed and ready to protect the few supports and even fewer survivalists behind them. Protect they did, as by the time any of them had been knocked down, the killer himself seemed incredibly frustrated, borderline upset even.
Once Guest and Shedletsky were out of the way, Chance and Two Time unfortunately tried too hard to compensate, resulting in their more noticeably personal deaths soon after. By the time the sentinels were all gone, the rest of the team had to deal with a very upset killer trying to take out his frustrations on the rest of them.
Cashe wasn't sure where everyone else was. Maybe they were all dead by now. Maybe she had wound up the last man standing without even noticing. They hadn't seen 007n7 or Noob in a while, but they knew for a fact that Taph and Elliot were dead at the very least. It's not like she had been any help, there was simply no opportunity to even try to heal anyone.
Stop thinking. They scolded themself. Keep running. Duck and weave. Manage your stamina.
She narrowly avoided a brick that was sent flying past her, feigning a turn just before darting behind another wall. They could tell the killer was getting more and more frustrated, his claws swiping at her power cord as she stayed just out of reach.
"There you are!"
They feigned again, sidestepping just in time for the flaming sword to completely miss them, sending the killer crashing right into a wall. Cashe took the opportunity to hide, conserving her energy before another chase could start. Before she could get any distance, however… she heard something. Something strange.
Sniffling?
She didn't think any other survivors were around, and the crying certainly didn't sound like Noob.
No… this wasn't a survivor…
It was the killer.
Cashe's antenna twitched as she listened to the sniffles steadily growing louder, until she was definitely sure that this killer was crying right in front of them.
He hadn't moved from the wall he hit. He was just curled up in a ball with his hands covering his head as he cried. Somehow, this made him look small, even though he was rather tall even by killer standards.
He really reminded her of a scared kid.
"Hey– uh…" she started, making what might just be the stupidest decision she's made since waking up in this Roblox forsaken world, "are you okay?"
"S'not fair!" he shouted, pout evident in his echoey distorted voice. "No fair, no fair, no fair! Why are you adults being such a bunch of meanies!"
They didn't… really know how to react. He didn't jump up and kill them immediately, he didn't summon those creepy pizza clone things, he just… threw a fit.
"I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a meanie… I'd bet it hurt pretty bad when you hit the wall, huh?"
He nodded, finally pulling his hands from his head. He looked up at her, beady black eyes brimming with tears.
"You're… you're the new one…"
She stiffened slightly. He had said something similar the very first time she had encountered him in a round. The first round she had ever died in.
"Yeah, I am. I– uh– I never got your name…"
"I'm… c00lkidd."
C00lkidd? That can't mean…
"…How old are you, buddy?"
"…I'm– I'm ten…"
Oh sweet Roblox this is an actual child.
Before they could find anything to say, c00lkidd spoke again. "What's your name?"
He had stopped sniffling. Now he was just… staring at her, almost curious.
"…Cashe," they said, only slightly hesitant. They figured that nothing worse could happen if they told him. It's not like knowing her name would change anything in this eternal hellhole. "My name is Cashe."
"That's a nice name…" c00lkidd sat up, uncurling from his little ball on the ground. "Why are you… not… running?"
She didn't really know the answer herself.
"You were crying. I didn't want to just leave you here if you were hurt…"
C00lkidd pouted, huffing a little as he crossed his arms. "The other adults don't care if I get hurt…"
Ow. They'd be lying if they said that statement didn't send a pang of guilt through them, even if only second hand.
"I want my dad…" he mumbled, teary eyed once again.
"Your dad?" She remembered that first round, the confusion she felt when he had called 007n7 his dad. Nobody had ever explained that to her.
"I haven't been able to find him yet, just clones." He shifted, sitting crisscross. "He always hides from me whenever we play… I just want my dad."
"I'm sorry, kid. I don't really know where he is right now…"
"That's okay... I wasn't going to win this time anyway."
Something in her heart tugged at the sight of him pouting there. He's just a kid… it didn't really take a genius to realize he didn't know what he was doing. They all knew this realm messed with their minds, and literally everything this kid said implied that he genuinely thought it was all just a game.
"There's still a little bit of time left… would you like to play something else?"
"…not more tag, right?"
"Not tag."
"Good. I'm sick of tag! Nobody knows how to play it right."
She didn't tell him why they all "played" like this. She couldn't break it to him.
"Oh! But, first… would you like me to do something about those scrapes?"
He glanced at his knees, as if shocked to see the tiny cuts littering his skin.
"You can… do that?"
"I mean, I haven't tried… but I don't see why not. It's worth a shot, right?" She pulled out the little bottle of rubbing alcohol that she always had in her pocket. "This might sting a little bit, but it'll make you feel better."
C00lkidd nodded, bracing himself as Cashe spritzed his knees. Somehow, despite them being a survivor and him being a killer, the little cuts mended themselves before their eyes.
"Woah… that feels funny."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" They didn't know, they never used the stuff on herself. They tried to save it for the others, like how Elliot never ate his own pizza unless they were back at the cabin. "Anyways– how do you feel about I-spy? We can even walk around a bit so we don't just have the same three boring walls to use."
"Oooh, I love that game! Me and my dad would play it in the park all the time!" C00lkidd stood up, once again towering over Cashe as he excitedly grabbed her hand and dragged her out into the open. They had evidently succeeded in cheering him up. "I'll go first! I'll go first! I spy somethiiiiiiing… tall!"
"Something tall… hm… is it the big ole pillar in the middle of the map?"
"It IS!" c00lkidd gasped dramatically. "You're really good at this!! Your turn! What do you spy?!"
They couldn't help but chuckle at how energetic he was over something that wasn't murder. It must have been a while since he played anything else…
"Okay, okay… I spy with my little eye… something metal."
"Metal, metal… hmmmm…" he hummed as he thought, spinning around in little circles as he tried to figure it out. "Ooh– OOH– is it one of those machine thingies?! The ones you guys are always messing with?"
"You got it! Good job, c00lkidd!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, really," she reached up, stretching her arm to pat his head.
C00lkidd went quiet, leaning down slightly. His smile seemed to soften into something less strained and manic.
They played a few more rounds of I-spy, going back and forth between the two of them right there in the open. As time drew closer to the end, though, c00lkidd grabbed at Cashe sleeve.
"Miss Cashe?"
"Hm? Yeah, c00lkidd?"
"Could you… uh…" he seemed hesitant to ask whatever it was he wanted to ask. It was kinda cute. This big scary killer, gently holding her sleeve with the same massive hands that had broken her neck before, was too nervous to ask a little question. "Can you tell my dad that I'm okay? …and, um, that I miss him?"
Her heart nearly broke right then and there.
"…Sure thing, little buddy."
Only two people survived. Cashe and 007n7.
She noticed — as the others congratulated her on somehow getting out of there alive — that 007n7 simply slipped away from the crowd, leaving the cabin while everyone else was distracted. She'd give him some space for now, they all knew how he felt after rounds with c00lkidd (especially now that she knew he's actually his dad), but she was definitely going to have to go find him later.
True to her word, when the other survivors had all gone off to do their own things, Cashe set off outside to find the resident recluse.
While she wasn't entirely sure where he went most of the time between rounds, they had a pretty good idea of where they could find him. The dock was always a nice place to sit and reflect. It wasn't really a surprise when she found him there, sitting at the edge and staring out at the water.
"007n7?" they called out as they approached.
He flinched slightly as he looked up at her, evidently not expecting anyone to be outside, much less looking for him.
"Uhm– yes?"
"I just, uh, wanted to talk with you about something." She came to a stop beside him, leaning slightly against the post. Their cord swayed behind them in the nonexistent breeze.
"Well, you're– um– certainly welcome to. About what?"
They took a deep breath before they continued. As much as she didn't want to bring up a clearly sensitive subject, she had promised. "It's about c00lkidd."
007n7 tensed up immediately, and she quickly followed up with a panicked— "nothing bad! I just– oh Telemon how do I say this… last round, something happened, and I ended up sorta… talking with him? I didn't– I dunno he just seemed really sad and I couldn't– I couldn't just leave him there!"
She caught her breath, locking eyes with 007n7. "I, uh… I promised him I'd tell you that he misses you."
007n7 stared blankly at her, that same hollow look that he always had still set firmly on his face. They immediately felt bad for even bringing it up in the first place. Her cord lashed behind her as the silence dragged on.
"Sorry, I– I didn't mean to overstep or anything. That's probably a touchy subject, I'm so sorry–"
"No, it's… it's fine." 007n7 sighed, his shoulders slumping as he sat forward, leaning out towards the water. "I just wish I could be there for him, is all. He doesn't deserve any of this…"
"It's not your fault, 007n7. As… as hopeless as it sounds, I'm sure there wasn't anything you could do to stop this." Cashe finally moved, sitting beside the older man. "He still loves you. That has to count for something, right?"
"You don't get it, kid. Everything he can do here… he can only do it because he found my old GUI. If I had just paid better attention, been at home more often, hid it better–"
His voice trailed off, like there was something else he wanted to say but couldn't bring himself to say it. He buried his face in his hands instead. Cashe had never in her time here heard 007n7 talk this much. Granted, they didn't usually have a reason to talk to him, and nobody else really went out of their way to include him. She'd always wondered why that was, but the pieces were starting to click together.
"I'm sorry…" they muttered, cord curling up against their side. "For what it's worth… he's a good kid still, under it all."
It took a couple rounds for Cashe to be in another match with c00lkidd. The map was Planet Voss. They weren't sure what to expect this time around. Part of them dared to hope that he'd be calm again, but a stronger part of her was fully expecting him to be right back to his hyper energetic self. They had to prepare for the worst, so they treated this round just like any other.
They hadn't seen anyone else, they hadn't even seen c00lkidd yet. The brick that flew right past them was only reason they knew who the killer was. Small group this time? Or are they just missing everyone?
It was unsettlingly quiet until the rapid sound of heavy footsteps approached her from behind.
"Miss Cashe! Miss Cashe! There you are!"
Cashe reflexively tensed up hearing his voice, quickly turning to face him. They were fully expecting to see a flaming sword coming at them, but was beyond relieved when she only saw c00lkidd excitedly hopping from foot to foot.
"Didja tell my dad what I said? Cuz I got to talk to him earlier! I actually got to talk to him! Then the meanie with the blue hair hit me and dragged him away… but I still talked with my dad!!"
"Aw, that's great, c00lkidd!" Their power cord curled behind them, swaying happily. "How'd it go?"
"I told him what you did the other day! Then I got tell him myself that I miss him, and that I want to play something else with him sometime! I wish I could have hugged him before he got dragged away, it's been such a long long time…"
"Hey, I'm sure you'll have another chance to hug your dad. If not today, then some other time."
"Yeah… oh well! Do you wanna play another game again? How about hide and seek! You can be the seeker, it's been so so long since I've hidden but I know I can do a good job!"
C00lkidd's enthusiasm was infectious, and suddenly Cashe didn't care if any of the other survivors might see and have questions for her, she just wanted to help this child feel like a kid as best they could in this hell. Some deep seated memories of babysitting as a teenager must have been kicking in.
"Sure thing, I'll count to ten and then come find you, you think you can hide fast enough?"
"I can! I can!! I'll hide so good you'll never find me!"
"We'll see about that, kid."
They turned to the nearest wall, hiding their face and loudly counting as c00lkidd scurried off. She pretended to not hear his giggling.
From then on, what was usually a three to four minute long match was more of a two minute search for a large, giggly, red child. To his credit, he did hide very very well. Cashe didn't find him until nearly the last second, when they rounded one of the spaceships and he jumped right out of his spot.
"You did it! You found me!"
He then scooped her up into a bone crushing hug. Literally. It hurt a lot, but Cashe found that they didn't really mind the pain this time. They were just going to be back at the cabin, fully healed up, in a matter of seconds anyway. Why not let the kid be a little stronger than he realized?
Cashe hugged back as best she could, her arms easily wrapping around his scrawny frame. They dimly hoped that it wasn't as bad as it looked, that whatever force that was keeping them here at least had the decency to feed the literal child it had dragged into the mix. They ignored the protective feeling that bubbled up and calmly rubbed a circle on c00lkidd's back as the timer in their head counted down.