Overtaken - a BFB/II2 fanfic (very slow updates)

The Factor of Four

"You lying, cheating, piece of garbage!"

"Oh yeah? You're the idiot who thinks you can get away with everything you do. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD."

"I'm leaving, and I'M TAKING WOODY WITH ME!"

Sighing, Fan picked up the Monopoly board as Trophy dragged Woody away, leaving Bell fuming. "I think we're gonna stop playing now."

"Why did you think Monopoly would be a good 'team-building exercise??'"

"Hey, it wasn't my idea! Nickel suggested it to me!"

Bell gave Fan a moment to let that sink in. "...oh," he realized, suddenly feeling quite foolish. "Er. W-well, in my defense, he can be quite convincing!"

"Hmf." Bell floated away haughtily. Fan shook his head; he wouldn't be surprised if II Nickel had been hiding somewhere, watching the whole game and laughing.

Carefully putting everything back inside the box, he picked up his umbrella and walked out from underneath the gazebo — a recent addition to the plains of South Goiky. It was still raining, and had been doing so since the previous day. While the sky had been slowly continuing to darken, the rain wasn't a downpour, but it was enough to force the more water-vulnerable contestants to constantly hold an umbrella over their head. They'd complained, so Four had created a wooden gazebo, placing it nearby the patio. It was pretty popular.

Thinking of Four, where IS he? wondered Fan. I haven't seen him for over an hour, but he's usually always in the same spot...

Spotting X nearby, he changed his direction and strolled over, careful to avoid the bigger puddles. "Hey, X?" he asked. "Do you happen to know where Four is?"

X nodded. "He went to visit the Equation Playground an hour and a half ago. He told me something was wrong, but not what exactly. I hope he's ok..."

"Really? He said something was wrong? I thought he was unshakable. Any ideas on what-"

He was promptly cut off by a bright flash. Looking up, he witnessed a ball of fire break through the rain clouds and hurtle towards Earth. It touched down in the center of the field, causing the ground to shake and creating a crater half a dozen feet deep. Several contestants nearby scrambled to get away.

While Fan simply gaped, X cheered, "Yay! Four's back!" and skipped over to where the object had landed. He peered over the crater's edge. There, Four lay, tendrils of smoke floating away from his body. A small pool of water was already collecting under him. X slid down the crater's curve. "Four! Are you feeling better now?"

No response. Four was unmoving.

X's smile melted. "Four?"

Behind him, various other objects crept to the edge of the crater to watch. He gently poked his friend. The blue algebralien twitched, before slowly rising to one knee, but keeping his head hung low and face hidden. "What happened, Four?" questioned X, beginning to get concerned. "Did Seven figure out what was wrong?"

"...I... killed them," came the answer in a strained voice.

A chill went down X's spine. "...Four?"

Four looked up and met X's eyes with his own glowing red eyes. The next reply was in a voice completely unlike his. "I̴̗͐ ̷̼̀k̶̜̀i̸̬͋l̷̩̉l̶͖͊e̵̪͆d̴̥̈́ ̵̫͋ť̸̬h̸̬͗e̸͎̒ṃ̶̾ ̸͗͜a̵̱͘l̷̡̆l̴̲͊.̸͚̎"

Then, faster than anyone could react, he drew his fist back and punched X in the face so hard that the variable flew backwards through the air, slamming into Knife — who was unfortunate enough to be directly behind him on the crater edge — and sending both objects skidding through the burnt grass. Four opened his mouth to emit an awful, horrific screech that was ten times worse than his normal one, resembling a thousand fingernails grating on a thousand chalkboards. It echoed across the field, causing any objects who had hands to clap them over their ears, and any that didn't to writhe in pain.