TW// Body Horror, Uncensored Swearing, Suicide (in a game), mentions of Cannibalism

(Learning with Pibby AU)

It was cold. Very cold.

They were on ctf_doublecross, after all. It made sense it would be cold.

The server was freshly empty. The Serverblight had just run through here. It left, thank god, and it is gone now.

But that was not why Rosie was here. Nor why Gyomei was here.

They were looking for one man.

Breadolphin. He knew something they didn't. He was the only other survivor of the Serverblight besides dicksalot.

They had cornered him in the RED intelligence room, backing him into a corner, and he uncloaked once he knew there was no getting away from Rosie or Gyomei.

Breadolphin: JESUS FUCK! I'LL TALK WHAT DO YOU WANT?!

Rosie growled a little. "I want to know one thing, Breadolphin." She said, holding up an image of a screenshot.

The screenshot was of a standard TF2 kill feed. But the names featured in the kill feed were what she was interested in.

'Akaza_UP3 fell to a clumsy, painful death.

Doma_UP2 fell to a clumsy, painful death.

Kokushibo_UP1 fell to a clumsy, painful death.' The killfeed read.

"Did you tell them about the Serverblight?" Rosie snarled, flaring her wings.

Breadolphin: Yes, I told them, I've seen what the Serverblight can do! Even though they are awful people, I don't wish the Serverblight upon my worst enemy. And besides, them getting infected would be a disaster...their Blood Demon Arts in the hands of the Serverblight? Yikes.

Gyomei perked up a little. His pure white eyes shifted to look at Breadolphin.

"...Breadolphin. You speak as if you have seen the exact scenario you have described. Have you?" Gyomei said.

Famous last words.

Breadolphin: They've already had to deal with it before. It took over Hatengu. Upper Moon 4, I think he was?

A short pause.

Breadolphin: It as an absolute nightmare to put him out of his misery, without getting infected. Each of his clones, Urogi, Sekido, Karaku, Zohakuten, Urogi, and even Urami, the ones created by his Blood Demon Art, were as infected as he was. They just shoved him and all of his clones into a kill barrier eventually. It was the only way. I had to help. They wouldn't have survived without me.

Silence. A long, uncomfortable silence.

"....Hatengu," Gyomei spoke. "He was indeed Upper Moon Four. And he was infected by the Serverblight." Tears dripped from Gyomei's eyes at the thought.

"...I don't know if I should pity Hatengu for getting infected, or be glad he's dead," Rosie remarked.

Then Breadolphin spoke up again.

Breadolphin: The Serverblight is smart. It learns. It puts itself in situations where it can learn. Like how it learned by infecting JonyDany12, a poor Engineer. He was only able to ALT-F4 because it *wanted* to use him to spread to other servers. It wanted to learn if it could. And it learned that it could.

"...oh. Oh. OH." Rosie hissed. "So that's why dicksalot said you could only escape if you entered a kill barrier! He fucking knew! He knew what happened to JonyDany12!"

Gyomei, however, had a different focus on what Breadolphin just said. "...JonyDany12 was a child, was he not?"

Breadolphin: Bound to the body of an adult man by an abomination against God, but yes.

Silence again.

"...what happened to JonyDany12?" Rosie asked.

Breadolphin: It partially assimilated him by grazing his leg. And then, it used him as bait. He used JonyDany12 to bait Hatengu, who thought the poor JonyDany12, who was actively dying on the floor, crying about the cold, was an easy meal.

Rosie proceeded to vomit off the nearest ledge. Gyomei wasn't any better, his crying actively got worse when he heard what happened.

"...I...I don't know what's worse. The fact Hatengu ate a kid, or the fact that JonyDany12 was aware of his death the elite time." Rosie hissed.

"...both are equally as horrible." Gyomei spoke. "This was how Hatengu got infected, yes?"

Breadolphin made his Spy character nonod,efore he continued.

Breadolphin: Hatengu ate JonyDany12. AnAnd heontracted the Serverblight thbyngesting an infected human. I was the first one to find him. He kept shouting 'help me' over and over. He even spammed chat with it. The other Upper Moons came after, and they found me running away from Hatengu. He was twisted beyond belief. Legs, arms, fingers, hell, even his horns were stretched way past their limits, even for a demon. Arms appeared where they shouldn't be. A hand even reached out from his throat.

"JESUS!" Rosie exclaimed. "Hatengu was a horrible person, but I don't think he deserved THAT!"

Gyomei sighed, saying nothing. He had heard what the Serverblight did to people. He didn't need to see to know it was awful, an affront to everything he stood for.

Breadolphin continued, however.

Breadolphin: They even believe it was Hatengu until they heard his voice, repeating 'help me' like a damn broken record. You should've seen the looks on their faces when they realized. Pure horror is the only way I can think of describing it.

Rosie paused for a second, trying to imagine Akaza, Doma, and Kokoshibo with horrified impressions.

She found it hard to imagine. But not impossible.

Gyomei shook his head. "I do not blame them for being terrified. The Serverblight...it warps. Corrupts. I too would be horrified if I discovered one of my allies twisted and warped in such a way."

Breadolphin continued with his tale once Gyomei finished speaking.

Breadolphin: Kokoshibo tried taking his head off. Sekido and Karaku spawned from that. He was just as twisted as Hatengu. Every last clone was, too. Karaku. Aizetsu. Urogi. All twisted in the same way Hatengu was. When they fused to Zohakuten, he was somehow even more twisted than them all combined. Urami got the worst of it. He was just a pile of twisted and contorted limbs.

Rosie found herself vomiting again from the description. Gyomei was kind enough to hold her hair this time, gently patting her back as she barfed her guts out.

Breadolphin continued once Rosie was done.

Breadolphin: It even used *their* Blood Demon Arts. Sekido's Lightning, Karaku's wind blasts, Aizetsu's Spear, Urogi's wings and sound-based attacks, Zohakuten's Wooden constructs, all of them. All used to attempt to spread the Serverblight even further.

"....it can use Blood Demon Arts,Gyomei said, his tone flat. But Rosie could tell he was horrified by that realization.

"...if it ever gets any Demon higher on the list than Hatengu, we're fucked 7 ways to Sunday," Rosie said.

"Rosie. Language." Gyomei said.

"I'm 17, dude. I can say fuck." Rosie snapped a little at Gyomei.

Breadolphin cut off their argument by continuing his tale.

Breadolphin: All of the clones couldn't say anything but 'Help me'. It was either them begging for death, or the Serverblight taunting Kokoshibo, Doma, Akaza, and me, as we tried to find a way to put them out of their misery. We were only able to win because I dedecidedo switch to Pyro and airblast Hatengu and his clones off a cliff. We were lucky we were on pl_snowycoast. There's kill barriers all over that map.

Rosie knew that map. pl_snowycoast. The map where the Serverblight learned how to use voice chat. And where it had put its bait, JonyDany12, in the snow.

"I...I recall." Gyomei began. "I recall dicksalot saying that pl_snowycoast was where Hectorn0n got infected. It was where it learned how to use voices."

Breadolphin: Oh, so that's who sent you!

Breadolphin suddenly exclaimed.

Breadolphin: He was the only other survivor besides me, yeah?

Rosie nodded. "And us. And now the Upper Moons."

Breadolphin nodded.

Breadolphin: Yeah.

Gyomei sighed. "He was the one to inform us of how to survive the Serverblight. By...hurling yourself off a cliff."

Breadolphin nodded. Then, he continued his tale.

Breadolphin: I still remember the kikill feed

"Zohakuten_UP4 fell to a clumsy, painful death.

Urami_UP4 fell to a clumsy, painful death.

Hatengu_UP4 fell to a clumsy, painful death."

And I even remember Hatengu's last message in chat. "I'm sorry." I don't know if that was him or the Serverblight talking.

Rosie sighed. "....yeah, none of them deserved that. The Serverblight is awful. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy, either. I can see why you told them."

Breadolphin immediately continued.

Breadolphin: It learned two things by infecting Hatengu using JonyDany12 as bait. 1. That infecting demons should be its top priority, and that it can bait people and demons alike using weakened humans. And 2. It can use Blood Demon Arts if it infects a demon who has one. It can think, Rosie. And it knows how to get demons under its control.

Rosie nodded. "Yeah...let's just go, shall we?"

Breadolphin: Ladies first.

Rosie headed up to the bridge with Gyomei and Breadolphin. The large bridge in the center of the map had two kill barriers on either side.

And all three hurled themselves off.

'RosieJeanToulon fell to a clumsy, painful death.

Breadolphin fell to a clumsy, painful death.

Stone_Hashira fell to a clumsy, painful death.'

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rosie and Gyomei both awoke back in their base. It was a repurposed SCP Foundation facility. If it could keep SCPs in, it could keep things like the Serverblight and the Glitch out.

"Gyomei?" Rosie said. "Go get the others. All of the Hashira. Everyone. Tell them to get over here."

Gyomei stood up. "Of course."

Then, he walked away.

The others all needed to know this. They all needed to know what happened with Hatengu, Kokoshibo, Doma, Akaza, and Breadolphin.

They needed to.