Work Text:
The torture of a realm was quiet.
It was… quieter, in fact. It’s almost deafening. There weren’t any generators humming. No screams in the area, no violence in sight.
Elliot sat on the ground, somewhere in the corner of a room, hugging his knees. His visor hid some parts of his face, not entirely.
A pizza box laid beside him, uneaten, unopened, unneeded.
‘The Spectre’ is a menace, an utter nightmare. A being with no fixed form — just that intimidating red sky that often hover above the ‘sky’.
Was it even a sky? The realm was just a playground of torturous loops replayed over and over for the amusement of ‘The Spectre’.
Just what did he do to deserve this? Why was he forsaken? He could barely remember how he even got here.
Elliot misses his family, terribly. It had been indefinite amount of time since he’s seen them. Time wasn’t stable as a concept in this ‘world’, not when the loops occasionally felt like a blend of one another.
‘The Spectre’ was mercilessly cruel. Was it a being that got painfully (and unreasonably) bored and wanted sadistic amusement? It often liked altering different aspects of the ‘rounds’ in this sick ‘game’.
It was extremely rare for this hell of a being to grant them all mercy in a way — putting them in rounds with what they call “anomalous”, where the killers weren’t interested in murdering them all. no pain, no adrenaline pressure, no fear.
Well, for most part. There is almost never a moment where fear is absent, regardless the anomalous event.
It was also a moment where Elliot could really take a breath — a slight break.
The sound of light, but firm footsteps came close by. Elliot barely moved from his spot.
This round’s selected killer was Azure.
The killer had spotted Elliot, who was tucked in the corner. Usually, they would’ve left. Like other killers do during the event.
Except this time, Azure didn’t.
The killer approached surprisingly careful towards where Elliot was — then lowered themself against the wall, sitting down beside Elliot, not close and not far. Just enough distance but acknowledgeable.
Azure didn’t — or couldn’t, say anything. His mouth was sealed by a zipper afterall — their semi-sentient hat would make up for his voicebox.
It’s sounds were like static, it was normally hard to decipher.
Elliot’s ears would pick up several words mixed up in that static.
Something along the lines of “You look terrible”.
The healer paid no mind to it, he had gotten used to Azure muttering vile and rude things in rounds — similarly to 1x1x1x1.
Silence carried the conversation for a moment. Until Elliot hesitantly spoke.
“I’m- exhausted.” The worker sighed.
“I can hardly believe most of us could cling to bits of sanity and pull it together through all these… times.”
…
Elliot blinked more often than normal as he thinks of words to use.
“We- all of us have been working so hard to get past these helpless rounds, it almost… it feels like it is all in vain.”
“We can’t even reach the culprit of it all, the reason why we’re all here. It’s just fighting a losing battle.”
There wasn’t any additional sounds after. Elliot has so much to say, and it has been there for so long. It wouldn’t harm anyone if ‘The Spectre’ will just erase their memories following the rounds, right?
“And I can’t afford to be burnt out, not when everyone has been working hard.”
Elliot rested his head on his knees, tucking in more.
“I… really miss my family.”
He says, quiet. It carried sorrow and longing, and his voice were slightly shaky — like it was with him for a long while.
And at the moment, Azure was listening. His hat didn’t say anything either.
Elliot stared at the ground. Azure felt something twist unpleasantly in his chest, and it wasn’t the usual rage.
Elliot was also working hard, always. He was the one ‘responsible’ to taking care of everyone’s health. Always there.
“Dad is probably still working too hard. Mia is probably growing taller now.”
“I hope I didn’t make them worry too much.”
….
“I’m sorry I just dumped you with this.” Elliot spoke again, like suddenly too aware. “I know it’s a bit silly.”
“It isn’t.”
Azure replied unexpectedly. Straightforward and sure.
Elliot was a little surprised or even startled at that, but had no other reactions following up.
The silence came back through the hollow place.
Azure hated that feeling. The feeling of helplessness, the feeling of inability to fix something.
Azure could grow herbs. Treat wounds. Tend to injuries.
But the grief and loneliness — there was no remedy for them.
Elliot continued again carefully, driven by a slight comfort of being able to share it out.
“Mia was so little.”
Azure continued to listen.
“Every time I finished my shift and returned home, she’d come and we would spend a little bit of time together after.”
...
“Didn’t matter how tired I was, I always picked her up.”
Elliot’s voice increasingly shook this time, and Azure subconsciously curled his hands into fists.
They weren’t angry. It was something else — nostalgia.
The memory of a former familiar sitting beside him.
A familiar moment, a familiar warmth.
It was gone. Stolen. Destroyed.
…
Then Azure carefully moved — they weren’t entirely sure what he was doing.
But a tendril wrapped around Elliot’s shoulders. It was stiff — but it was light, careful. A complete contrast to the strength he displayed with them in regular ‘rounds’. More tentacles joined after, comfortingly.
Elliot went completely still, and hesitantly leaned into it.
Just a bit.
“You didn’t leave them, it wasn’t in your control.” Azure spoke, sharply and yet gently.
For a moment neither of the pair moved, but soon — Elliot exhaled, and rested his mind slightly in the embrace.
The silence that naturally followed up was a comfortable one, it wasn’t with tension or a complete empty void.
Azure did not tell Elliot that everything was going to be okay. But he gave solace for his loneliness, adequately.