Chapter Text
The rounds with Slasher are always too silent for 007n7. It brings thoughts that he’d rather avoid to the forefront of his mind, and then everything seems to spiral from there. He knows making noise in the oppressive, almost absorbing silence is a death sentence, but during the especially horrible rounds where everything seems to bounce around and echo endlessly, he’ll indulge himself by humming wordless songs he used to sing for c00lkidd in the corner of the map while doing generators. Every once and a while, he’ll hear a slight noise and immediately stop, freezing in place and holding his breath. The noise will eventually fade, probably a chase that passed too close, and 007n7 will resume his humming and fiddling with the generator’s wires.
That’s how it usually goes anyway.
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Slasher has been chasing the robot for almost three minutes and is starting to get frustrated. He tries cutting a corner and striking out in hopes of nicking her legs and making her fall, or maybe catch a piece of graffiti and prevent her from getting any more distance, but she suddenly hops on her skateboard and skates away. Slasher whips his head around this way and that, looking for the briefly highlighted tag. At the corner of his vision, something flashes. He runs at what looks to be a rubber ducky sprayed onto a stone and drags his blade across its surface. The graffiti fades, and Slasher turns around to start the chase again-
The sound of humming drifts through the air, soft and quiet. Slasher stills and tilts his head. It doesn’t necessarily sound familiar, but it brings back a sort of nostalgia, a reminder of his early years before the war. He stalks forward, carefully muting any sounds he may make, and makes his way to the source of the melody. The culprit isn’t too far away. The father of c00lkidd, seven something? He sneaks across the soft grass and simply stands behind the man, observing.
‘Kill him, Jason. Don’t let him get away. He's vulnerable.’ The voice of his mother directs, whispering in what feels like directly next to his ear.
He shakes his head slightly and apologizes mentally. Surely mom would understand; she always encouraged him to pursue whatever piqued his curiosity. The song is.. soothing somehow, and he has time to spare. He’d already killed the pizza man and the trapper, and done significant damage to most of the others.
Slasher finds cover behind one of the walls, peeking his head out and staring at the back of the ex-hacker as he fiddles with the wires. Every once and a while, the humming will briefly stop, interrupted by a quiet catching of the man's breath as he jerks his hand back from the open panel, but the sound always returns.
The killer can feel himself relaxing, just like he used to do with his- oh. That’s why it felt so nostalgic. The tragic, tired looking father is reminding him of his mother. His loving mother who used to sing to him as she tucked him into bed and gave him a kiss goodnight. Who always seemed to know when he would want the nightlight on, and made sure to say a final goodnight as she gently shut the door to his room.
He misses the warmth of her hugs. He knows that she’s still with him. She directs him every round, assisting and encouraging him. He loves her dearly and soaks in every word she says, but he’s found that it’s not the same as it was before. She’s more sharp with her words, and although he loves her very much, it unsettles him.
The buzzing of a now completed generator snaps him out of his thoughts, and he quickly hides behind the wall, hoping he wasn’t spotted. From the sound of footsteps moving slowly away, he thinks that the father hasn’t noticed him yet. He waits a moment more before walking out from behind the wall and starting to move after the man.
Time slowly ticks down and Slasher continues to follow the ex-hacker around like a lost kitten. There’s almost less than ten minutes left when Slasher realizes that he needs to go and finish the other survivors. The nagging whisper of his mother scolds him and he bows his head slightly, running off to try and at least finish the pumpkin and the hat woman. Maybe if he kills them, he can sneak back and listen to the fathers humming? No, he needs to find the annoying TV girl as well.
He starts sprinting, frustrated at the nagging responsibilities, and activates Raging pace. The silhouette of the pumpkin glows brightly, and Slasher abruptly changes directions and follows the glow. The admin’s back is turned, and he’s talking to the metal girl while he walks alongside her. Perfect.
‘Jason, they’re unaware. Strike them both. Behead them. Sever their limbs. Get them. Chase them. Chase them. Chase them.’
He doesn’t need to be told anything further. Before the two survivors ahead of him can sense anything wrong, he ambushes them, catching the slightly damaged metal girl in a Gashing Wound. The pumpkin staggers back, a gaping wound stretching across his right arm, and the robot girl goes limp, little sparks flying from the brutalized areas of her metal framework. Slasher watches in apathetic silence as the pumpkin's eyes widen and he runs away.
He didn’t make it far. Slasher catches up and beheads the admin, watching in satisfaction as the head falls and rolls across the ground. Another Raging Pace reveals the outline of the hat lady, and he gives chase.
A crystal jar to the face and an ax buried in his side do nothing to stop the inevitable, although they do slow it from happening quite significantly. She manages her stamina well, but a few cuts and a Gashing Wound finish her off after a few minutes of looping. Slasher flicks his blade and droplets of blood are scattered across the grass. He gives a quick glance at his machete and scowls. He’ll have to clean it again after this round..
The sky bleeds into red and an ominous toll rings out, signaling Last Man Standing. The clock increases to five minutes. Slasher is slightly hesitant to go after the remaining survivor, recalling the soothing humming, but starts running after the outline anyway when his mother whispers words of scolding and encouragement into his ears.
‘You've already indulged yourself Jason. It’s time that you finish the job. I know you can do it. Now go.’
About halfway to the last place he saw the outline, a blip noise sounds from behind him. Suddenly the ex-hacker is there, staring wide eyed at him as the residual pixels from the teleport fade. He slowly backs away, almost like a wild animal, before turning around and bolting. Slasher pursues him, getting in a couple of hits during the chase. One along his side when he made the mistake of slowing and entered the range of his blade, and another scored across his back when Slasher gained on him using Raging Pace. As the time ticks down, Slasher manages to chase the man into a corner on the edge of the map, right where he had first heard the father humming. He’s about to bring his blade down on his skull when he hesitates, only for a moment, and that’s the end of the match.
The clock runs out, and Slasher is transported back to the killer's cabin with a nausea-inducing tug in his stomach. His mothers voice is once again quiet and he stifles the urge to gag. While he stands there and composes himself, a bright, loud voice starts screeching.
“Uncle Jason! Uncle Jason! You’re back!” c00lkidd cheers. The energetic child rushes him, throwing himself into Slasher’s side and starting to ramble about how Pr3tty and Bluu aren’t sharing the couch, and how he wanted to watch more of his match.
Slasher blinks and slowly peels himself away from the hyper kid, instead offering his hand for holding, and directing the both of them back inside the cabin. C00lkidd skips all the way inside, and thankfully loses interest in him in favor of yelling at Noli to stop eating all of the snacks. He watches the kid try to chew out Noli for a while, but eventually, the loud noise starts to get to be too much.
He sighs and makes his way up to the room The Spectre had materialized for him. Separate, but right next to the abandoned shrine belonging to his predecessor. He can already feel one of his headaches coming on, and knows that the rest of the night isn't going to be fun if he doesn’t faint in the right place. Stumbling into his room, he manages to make it to his bed and lie down before everything goes black.