Chapter Text
Cobalt awoke with a groan, feeling the unusually soft grass beneath them. Everything was unusually dark as well. He tried getting up but slammed his head into the bark of a tree in the process and fell back, feeling a sharp bout of pain.. somewhere.
He felt his surroundings, soon being able to make up the shape of a tail.... Tails? Behind them. He then found out he could move said tails, which felt odd for them.
Cobalt attempted to stand once more, using the tree as support. He held onto a low branch as he tried to walk, stumbling an embarrassing amount of times before getting the hang of it.
He then started hearing footsteps in his direction. The closer they got, the clearer Cobalt could hear faint static accompanying the sound of the footsteps.
Soon, the footsteps came to a halt. A sharp but low and almost glitchy voice cut through the momentary silence.
"Who are you and what are you doing here."
To that, Cobalt attempted to respond as he tried figuring out what direction the voice was coming from.
"I—"
He paused abruptly, his voice hoarse from disuse.
"I'm... Cobalt. I woke up here."
His voice lacked the venom it was usually laced with when talking to a stranger.
"Here?.."
The stranger trailed off. The two returned to silence for about a minute before the stranger spoke up again.
"Follow me."
Cobalt hesitated but complied regardless. What choice did he really have? Once the stranger received acknowledgement in the form of a nod, they started walking off.
After continuosly tripping on rocks, bumping into the stranger and slamming face-first into stray branches, the stranger finally paused and asked.
"Are you... Blind?"
Cobalt frozen in place right before he walked into another tree.
"Perhaps..?"
He answered, doubt audible in his tone. To that, the stranger let out a low, exasperated sigh. Feeling the stranger's cold hand wrap around his wrist, he tensed. Though he didn't move away, instead letting the stranger guide him as they walked.
After a couple of minutes, the two reached... Cobalt had no idea. He could hear the freak of a door as they entered what he could only assume was a building of some sort. Wherever they were now was certainly warmer than where he had woken up.
Before Cobalt could do anything else, he was tackled by a small... Child?
"H1ii1!! 4re y0u a n3w t4gg3r??"
The child spoke excitedly above him.
"Ah- uh..."
He stammered awkwardly, the stranger then promptly saved him from answering the child.
"c00lkidd. Get off him."
To which the child responded.
"4whh... ok4y!"
Cobalt could then feel the child practically jumping off him. He pushed himself up so he was now sitting on the floor.
The stranger spoke up again.
"This is Cobalt. He's the new... "Tagger" that the S̵̨̨̯̯͚̭̖̪͈̤̯̞̙̗͉͔͆͑̀̎̓͑̽͊͜p̴̹̹͇̣̞̩̪̲̺̟͍̭̻͉̭̖̎́̌͐́̉͌̇̉͘̚e̷͓͙̠̳͐͑̀̀̉̈̌̈́̄̓̐̿̕č̸̛̪̙͍̺̠͉̼̖͎̜̼̍̈́́̉͒̎͗͌̀̓͒̐̆͑̓ț̶̩̯̼̮͖̪̰̜͈̝̰̱̪͔̄̊̅͌̓̓͐̈̋͛̔̌̅̕͘͝r̷̛͔͓͎̯͕͉̼͚͇̼̯̊̂͗͊́̍̿̇̾ë̸̟́̓̃͛̀͒̓̌͑͋̒̈̉̕͘ brought in."
As the two began talking to eachother, Cobalt drifted off into his own thoughts.
'What did he mean by... Tagger? And.. that weird glitching name... Where even am I? Am I-'
His train of thought was then abruptly interrupted by the stranger speaking.
"Hey. Stop zoning out."
Cobalt shifted in place, only giving a slight nod in response.
He heard a soft, almost inaudible sigh. The stranger grabbed his wrist again, helping him up and guiding him up... Stairs? The stranger spoke as they both walked.
"There's rooms for every new killer that arrives here. I'll... Explain the title later. After you've rested up, it is late."
They soon stopped.... Eventually. Cobalt could hear the stranger open a door from his left, and turned to the sound.
The stranger started speaking up once again.
"This will be your room. You can call me if you need anything."
It was silent for a short moment as he was guided into the room, before the stranger continued.
"I'm 1x1x1x1. Just 1x for short."
Cobalt attempted to use his tails (he still did not know how many he had) to get a feel for the room, guiding himself to what he assumed was a bed.
The strang- 1x soon started to speak.... Again.
"I'll be going. Do what you wish."
1x was silent for a second. Cobalt could hear them pause by the door frame.
"... Don't break anything though."
And with that, 1x closed the door behind him and walked away.
Cobalt, with nothing more to do, made himself comfortable. The bed was soft, not something he exactly expected but it was appreciated nonetheless.
He tried falling asleep, but found himself staring at a ceiling he couldn't even see.
Only after an hour of pure silence, does Cobalt finally start feeling tired. Enough for him to finally fall into Spawn's embrace.