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starzyd13 · 11 months

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Chapter 5: Final Heartache

The longer Jamie walked, the more the desert seemed to shift around him. The skies filled with plumes of red smoke, the ground fading into darkness. The emptiness consumed every ounce of hope he ever felt, he began to lose sight of why he even kept walking onwards. Halting himself, he stood perfectly still. Only the sounds of his quiet weeping could be heard as he stood stiff in deep thought. Suddenly feeling that Mikey's longtime paranoia wasn't so crazy after all. He couldn't imagine what the future was holding for him, what it held for the remains of his friends.

Through the smoke, he caught sight of Starzy's silhouette once more, standing proudly, they turned to him. Their face beaming with an innocent smile, he couldn't help but feel sick. He attempted to make a run for it, but his consciousness told him otherwise.

"Was this my fate?"

He wondered.

"So be it..."

As the smoke cleared, Starzy stared over to Jamie. A concerned look in their violet eyes, their face was pristine, pure once more. He couldn't believe it.

"Are you okay, Jamie?"

Starzy tilted their head, curiously. He turned his back to them. Sighing, he tried to speak. The words halted in his throat, only tears fled from his aching eyes. He prayed that Starzy was merely a character, no longer an angered soul seeking closure.

"It's okay? Right, Starzy? We're both okay here...I still care. I really......Still care."

Ignoring the creaking and tearing sounds of Starzy's body contorting in an array of twisted manners.

Jamie wept as he squeezed his eyes shut. Starzy's body opening like a cavern from Hell, long fleshy limbs stretching forth from their openings. Jamie kept his back faced to them, his vision shielded from the horrors peering through Starzy's tearing flesh. Only a moment later he took a deep breath, tears pooling in his eyes as he began to face Starzy again.

As soon as his eyes met with them, their twisted form snapped back into its original state. Innocently smiling at Jamie, they gave him a inquisitive look. Raising a brow, they questioned him with a concerned ring in their voice.

"Why so blue...?"

Jamie sniffled, turning back around to hide his quiet weeping. Wiping his eyes dry on his gloves as Starzy inched closer. Patting him on the shoulder, they reassured him in his time of need. He could only bring himself to grunt or nod in response.

"I'm here for you Jamie. Isn't that what I've always told you?"

He shudders in response. Peering up at Starzy's empathetic eyes.

"I always know what I say Jamie. And I always know what you say..."

...

Before he could even comprehend that very statement, he was shoved aside, sliding across the ground. The air swirled around him and Starzy in a high gust of wind, wiping away the scenery into a deadly mist. The sky filled with dark smog, the ground creaking and groaning as it split, releasing tall structures that shot up towards the dark skies. Starzy flying in the middle of the chaos as their face contorted into a wrathful stare.

"In here, there is no God.........only us."

They bellowed, the lifeless caverns in their face locked onto Jamie's eyes, their empty, decayed gaze holding him in a trance. As the ground became softer, fleshy and drenched in blood and other various putrid fluids, he scrambled to gain his footing once more. Starzy stood amidst the wave of change as their blackened tears flew about in the air. Jamie slipping about on the ground, made an attempt to run, failing multiple times, merely earning a chuckle from Starzy, a chuckle sourced from nothing but pity.

Jamie ceased any motion, staring deep into Starzy's hollow face. He too felt a sense of pity, but a deep understanding for their motive, their rage. The two stood still as the terrain beneath them groaned with each gnarled transformation it put itself through. Jamie reaching his gloved hand out to Starzy.

"I'm so sorry Desmond."

Their face contorted in a disgusted, angered twist. Planting their feet back onto the decaying ground, they reared up, splitting from the middle, roaring and howling in a storm of wrath.

"SORRY?! After everything, those are the only fucking words you have the balls to say?! SORRY?!!"

Their words leaving an impact on the ground below, the force knocking Jamie onto his back. They stormed towards him, their footsteps tearing the fleshy ground apart beneath their boots. As they inched closer, the ground let out a flurry of shrill screeches as it spat forth a large spine that once gave the terrain a sense of structure. As the spine rose into the air, Starzy stood upon it, gracefully keeping their balance. Jamie however, was shocked by the sudden change, keeping a tight grip on the rising bones as it carried both the weight of him and Starzy into the sky. As the spine made various twists and turns, Starzy slid down the rail of vertebrae with ease, nearing Jamie by the second.

"C'mon...don't you remember something like this?"

They chuckle dryly. Jamie gathering himself, looking for a sense of balance, he finally picks himself up. Forcing his strength and weight in the opposite direction of Starzy, he too began to slide down the massive rigid spine as if it were a handrail. The two gliding down the deathly rail in unison, Starzy inching closer to Jamie, as he desperately tries to widen the gap between them. Knowing his destiny if he fell into their hands. He was sure that he wanted to survive now, he knew he couldn't take them on by force. Perhaps there was another way.

"Why are you doing this? Can't I least know for sure?!"

He panted and wheezed, knowing fully the cause of his unfortunate situation. But it needed to heard from the monster's mouth. Not his own thoughts.

"I was always led to believe that words could never truly hurt me....If that were so, we wouldn't be here, Jamie.."

He stuttered, fumbling with his gloves, maintaining balance. Thinking of anything to reason with the beast before him.

"How did you know? We never told Stephan how we all felt about you."

The skunk's wrinkled brow furrowed, glancing at the fiery ground beneath the spine they slid upon, they turn back to face Jamie. Starzy rose their hand to the crimson clouds above, summoning pictures within the clouds.....memories. The group together, as kids, laughing and happy. Never apart, they did everything together, they always had a shining sense of joy in their eyes. As the pictures changed before them, those kids growing into the young adults they are now, smiles faded, the gaps between each friend widened. Desmond was in fewer memories as time went on. Edged out, cast away.

"I always know what you say...I think if I saw it for myself this would've happened so much sooner."

Jamie's eyes began to twitch, searing in pain as tears began to fall from his stinging eyes once more. The guilt building up inside felt like the weight of a thousand corpses upon his heart. The silence between the two only broken by the wind, rushing past their sorrowful faces.

"How....?"

"I just knew, you all acted differently. Jamie...we've known each other all our lives...I can tell when you guys wanted me dead."

Jamie nearly losing his footing, distracted by the wave of emotions.

"Not dead....just...away. We didn't change, you did-"

Starzy nearly knocking him off the rail with a frustrated growl, they gripped the vertebrae beneath the two of them, their hands shredding into bloody, flayed stubs of flesh as they slid down the spine. Their speed increasing, shooting a sharp sensation of fear and panic up Jamie's back. They began to shake the spine back and forth, whipping the entire rail from side to side, the bones clanging in their bloody grasp as their face began to split, pushing their empty eye sockets out further along the sides of their face. Morphing, twisting into something far more ghastly, they roared in a fit of rage, sobbing blackened slop as they tried to knock Jamie to his firey demise below, with no success as he kept a sturdy footing.

Screaming at an agonizing volume, their skin split further, streams of black fluid and putrid blood shooting from the caverns appearing in their flesh. Violently thrashing around as they charged at Jamie, jumping fully off the rail, heaving every ounce of their morphing body towards him.

Dragging him down with them, the two crashed from the towering height, falling into the crimson flames, screaming until the both of them could feel a burning sensation within their vocal chords. Starzy only growing in size, further tearing, showering Jamie with decaying fluids and darkened blood, raining the remains of their humanity upon his weary, tear stained face.

Crashing to the ground in a pile of unfathomable innards and gore, Jamie had no hesitation in trying to escape. Kicking his way out of Starzy's grip, they flung themselves at him, growling and wheezing. Their body splitting at the seams, chittering as their fleshy, mangled tail flipped about, creaking as it tore open.

Revealing a frightful sight upon Jamie, their tail split in two gelatinous halves, the melting corpses of Jamie's past friends dangling from both sides of the gnarled tail. The flayed flesh incasing the husks of his beloved friends, swayed back and forth. The gnarled tangle of death, groaning with each sting of movement as it loomed over Jamie. He sat in silent shock, in horror. His mind going blank from the twisted sight before him, Starzy roaring like a thousands beasts from Hell itself, as their body only lost any comprehensible form.

The two of them surrounded in crimson flames, Starzy's nightmarish body nearly engulfing the ground below them.

All goes silent, just for a moment. The silence only broken by Starzy's bubbling, creaking body. They ached for it to end, to end everything themselves. They began to morph once more, long skeletal limbs reaching from their back, reaching for Jamie with aggressive intent. Screeching as they inched closer to him, intending only to rip his body asunder.

"Desmond how does any of this help what's happened?!"

Starzy stops, thoughtfully staring down at Jamie, the name startling them.

"We lied...we kept secrets, yeah. But it's over! You know everything that happened, how you ever found out-...it doesn't matter! But this?....Does this fix it all?"

They both exchanged a sorrowful gaze. Starzy sniffling.

"Actually.....it does. Fuck you, fuck them both too. Words carry weight Jamie, if you really wanted me gone you could've said so, this is all a reward for your cowardice-"

He attempted at speaking before being shouted at.

"Wether you participated or not, you saw everything. You heard everything, and did nothing, you're an enabler, a mindless follower!....You were my best friend....."

Jamie crashing to his knees, in denial, he sat in regret.

"I can still be your best friend Desmond....I'm so sorry."

"Weren't we once best friends, Jamie? Ever?..."

"Yes. Let me fix this, Desmond."

They gaze at him sternly. Their brow twisting as their eyes scan around the area, a single, crystalline tear falling from one eye. The sigh heavily.

"Jamie....Do you remember my birthday?"

"December 13th, right?"

"Yeah....Do you remember my last birthday we spent together?...."

...

He looked away in shame with hesitation, nodding rapidly.

"Everyone stopped seeing me for my birthday after that one."

"I know-"

"You hated Stephan, I always wondered why up until that day........You said you loved me, maybe not enough to be okay with me living my life out with him. But enough to not be happy in your own relationship....Why the fuck did you ever tell me that?"

"Because I........I did love you. I DO.....Love you. For once, I was being honest..."

"Yeah. It's why Ave began to hate me, any girlfriend with a brain would feel awful knowing that shit was said to her boyfriend's best friend. However it spiraled into what's happened now......Doesn't matter. I knew everything going on because I was fucking stupid enough to let myself be vulnerable around you assholes."

Jamie rose a finger, only to let his hand sink back down, having any responses he could've come up with wiped blank.

"There's no real solution to everything we said, is there?"

Starzy shook their head, the loose flesh swinging from side to side as they grunted in response.

"Desmond, sorry just isn't enough. What can I even do?........"

.....

They slowly slink back into their original form in a gust of wind, twisting back into the innocent, violet skunk, they slowly approach Jamie, falling into his arms, sobbing against him.

"You can rest now..."

They peer up from his comforting clutches.

"Listen, Jamie...you can have one last choice, man...Will you stay or go?"

They lean back from him, wiping away their tears, smiling brightly at him.

"I think I'd like to go, Desmond. Thank you..."

They smile up at him, patting him on the back.

"Jamie....Being the last soul unharmed doesn't make you the hero. Just so ya know."

He turned in confusion, taking the statement as something sentimental, one last friendly jab for the sake of older times.

As he faced Starzy, their form instantly shifted, once again, truly revealing their core. Their skin began to peel back as if they were again paper, their innards and muscles falling to the ground beneath them. Their face splitting in two halves, a new face budding from between the outgrown flesh.

They stood, skinless, almost emotionless in a tangle of horror and mangled muscles and flesh, an indescribable face of emptiness, stretched and twisted in a heap of gore. They were drenched in fluids and blood, their limbs much longer than before, a jarring smile upon their skinned face. They waved goodbye to Jamie, he returned the wave cautiously. Taken aback by the horrific reveal, unknowing of its meaning, he kept on. Leaving the tall creature in peace. Its twitching form looming over him, bidding him a bittersweet farewell.

Walking into an illuminated path, Jamie felt a wave of hope wash over his soul, he never felt more alive than he did now, panting and weeping with joy as he walked out of this nightmare. It all felt like the conclusion of a story, a happy ending, finally. Walking into the blinding light, until he could see no more.

Free from this Hell.....

Waking up on the cold, broken floor of the building he had formerly passed out in. Jamie scrambled back onto his feet, panting, spinning around in joy. Feeling himself, he was delighted to be back in his familiar, normal and human body. Laughing and hysterically sobbing, he spun around, glancing at his friends on the ground. Kneeling down, he tapped on Stephan's shoulder, he looked so peaceful, a gentle smile upon his rested face. Stephan didn't even breathe, or stir. He was much more than asleep, but his soul seemed to be at ease. His body looked as if his life was complete, his heart met with success and a fulfilled life, ready to pass on to another realm.

The same couldn't be said for Ave and Mikey. They lay with their eyes missing, only darkened blood flooding from their empty, bruised eye sockets. They rest in a pool of congealed blood, their bodies in a poor and slightly decayed condition.

Jamie threw his back against the wall in shock, panting and weeping. Peering to the side, staring at the broken laptop on the ground next to Stephan's body, the screen sat there in pieces.

Shattered and black.

He spotted the corner of the room across from him in the reflection of each broken piece of the former laptop screen. Nearing the room opposite to him, Jamie found himself next to a large, circular container, filled with water that trickled from the broken ceiling above. The mildew and water leaking from the brim, and the cracks of the container. He peers over the edge into the dark fluids.

Gagging and nearly vomiting at the sight of what lay in the water.

Who....Lay in the water.

Desmond's decaying body, cold and pale, resting in the chilled liquids. The water darkened with their blood and brain matter. The middle of their face and head was missing, scorched and blown away, all that remained in the middle of their face was a large gunshot wound, an empty, gaping hole, bleeding their aching mind out into the bitter waters that dribbled onto the ground. Sunk at the bottom of the container was a dingy revolver, both the body and the weapon didn't rest here for only moments, it had been days.

Weeks.

Jamie could only stand and stare. What could be done? Who could be told? The bodies of all his former friends rest around him, lifeless.

There was no explanation, no fix, no proof of anything.

He just stood.

Everyone's dues paid, truths exposed, it was over.

The last one alive isn't always the hero of the tale.

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starzyd13 · 11 months

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Chapter 4: Truthful Threat

Empty. Barren and bitter, the shadowed desert only seemed to grow with each step Jamie took. Seeking the voice, seeking life. He trudged through the soft sands, rocks and various objects littered across the terrain. The ground reeked of distorted nostalgia. Shattered toys and cutlery lay about, Jamie taking care not to walk over the shards of glass and plastic. Dolls carrying uncanny expressions stared off at him in the distance, some broken, some simply unloved. All equally disheveled. He walked aimlessly among the scattered playthings, merely guessing where the voice could've come from. Stopping in his tracks, he glanced down at a nearby doll, slumped over a small chair. The chair covered in rust, its paint had been chipped away, below it lay multiple shattered teacups, five to be exact. The doll resembled Amy Rose, with a frilled red dress, matching boots and pink quills. Her emerald eyes were only buttons, sewn to her lifeless face.

Jamie inched his way towards the doll, something familiar about her drew him in. He reached out to pick her up. Only to spring back, screaming in shock as her mouth stretched wide open. Her button eyes sinking into the gaping maw, still staring directly at him, only through her fleshy decaying mouth, as faded and yellowed teeth grew from the inside. Forming an uncanny smile, the doll simply sat in place. Staring deep into Jamie's eyes, into his soul.

He felt a chill up his quills as he scampered away, leaving the doll behind as nothing more but a horrific memory. Running once again, the cold air stinging his eyes, his muscles ached with each step. He felt lost, more alone than ever before, the world around him felt as if it grew darker and darker around him. The soft sands sinking under his rapid steps, tripping every so often, Jamie continued to race across the shadowed desert. His panicked racing coming to a halt when he heard the voice again. Not words, just low breathy grunts. He quietly inched his way closer to the voice, its direction was clear. It grew closer and closer, his heart raced in an unknowing sense of anxiety with every inch he stepped over. His breath growing heavy, synchronizing with the raspy gasps coming from the distance. He neared closer to the small patch of light hitting the ground. The light cast upon the sand, illuminating only mere inches of the desert, it seemed to glow like the sun in comparison to the rest of the terrain. He walked into the light, only to see a dark figure, crouched on the ground.

The figure wheezed and hissed, its large black quills weren't hard to miss along its body. Jamie could only see the black hedgehog from the back, but he was sure it was definitely alive. Its breathing was unsteady, it attempted to gurgle out some words, choking at first.

"I always knew you were a smaller man than Mikey...."

Jamie furrowed his brow in annoyance. Slightly in confusion. The hedgehog further curled up on the ground, laying comfortably in the sand at Jamie's feet.

"What are you talking about...?"

He inched away from the creature, as peaceful as it was starting to look. It began chucking in a devilish tone.

"You never said anything, did you? Not to stop them, not even to agree with them?....both Ave and Mikey. At least....they felt a sense of fucking guilt."

The creature faced him, bearing its fangs. The fangs were the only feature upon its face, its chest was littered with a set of clenched, drooling teeth. Saliva seeping from the toothy maw that lay in the middle of its barren head, a mouth that seemed to stare directly through Jamie's panicked soul. It groaned and whined as its chest opened, hissing as blood pooled beneath the creature. Intestines and many other unthinkable innards spilled onto the ground, slithering across the sand as if its insides had come to life. Jamie scurried away from the flood of gore, pooling around him as he slipped in the slick innards. Gasping and crying as he picked himself up off the ground. The creature rose from its resting place, intestines winding through the sandy terrain. The slimy end of one of the stomach coils unfurling into a gleeful face, piercing eyes shining in the dark.

The guts staring down at Jamie, twisting around his squirimg body as he violently thrashed in the blood and sand. Writhing in the filth of a lost land and decay. The intestinal face coming level with Jamie, smiling as it laughed joyously. Ignoring his angered tears as he swatted at the two horrid faces that invaded his vicinity. Resting its cheek against Jamie's, the creature hugged itself close to him, the secondary face smiling with an eerie glow. The blackened hedgehog chattered and growled.

"Punishments have been dealt my friend....However, you didn't contribute. But you watched. Was it entertaining?"

Jamie struggled until its grasp loosened, letting him fall onto the silky sands. He hysterically spat, choking on his words, his placid nature crumbling.

"I never said a WORD! What could I have done?! How did you know?"

The creature chuckled. Quietly chittering.

"The truth is like our very essence, it always finds a way to rub off on others. Paths will be crossed. Lights, rekindled, even in the most impossible manners, justice is served, and truth is told. No secret shared is a secret, Jamie...."

Lights fading, the shadowed, toothy creature slunk back into the depths of the desert. Leaving Jamie in the dark, leaving him alone.

Drowning in the deathly silence.

He aimlessly spun around, not knowing what direction to take next. The only way was forward. And forward, he walked, his eyes burning and reddened with bitter tears. A sorrowful feeling burying its way into his heart, his guilt rising past the ebony skies as he traversed into nothingness. He knew what was coming, somehow Jamie always felt that this would happen. That the betrayal, and now the loss of Desmond would never leave the lives of those involved. And he was the unlucky last piece of the puzzle. He always felt that the secrets shared would turn around on him, on Mikey, and Ave. One day.

Today was that very day.

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starzyd13 · 1 year

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Chapter 3: Choice

Jamie woke in a rush of adrenaline, panting and coughing. Next to him lay Mikey, in a slobby slumber, mumbling like a fool. Quickly glancing from side to side, scanning the area, scanning over his new form, Jamie shook Mikey awake hastily. Choking on his own drool, mumbling and bumbling, Mikey sat way the hell up in a flurry of confusion. "The fuck is this mushroom-baked shit?" Mikey stared at Jamie, his mouth agape. "Dude….not to alarm you or anything but….you're Sonic!" Jamie shooting him an unamused glare. "Mikey….that's why I even woke you up…c'mon." The both of them picking each other up from the ground. Spinning around, taking in the very sight of their surroundings. Walking along what they assumed to be a path, the clearest way to travel. Mikey, nervously whipping his head about from side to side, glaring at the trees closing in on each side of the path.

"Ya know….Jamie I sure as shitrolls don't remember anything like this in a Sonic game!…"Jamie sighing. Stopping in his tracks to process the area they were trapped in."Well, this is all Desmond's stuff, huh? I guess we got a foot up knowing them the way we do. I hope…"Mikey didn't look pleased with Jamie's timely narration of their predicament. "I hope?! Man, there's no "I hope"!, we're a little boned as it is, not that we didn't have this all coming to us-"

Jamie shoots Mikey with a stone cold glare. A glare that shook Mikey to his very core. Jamie's eyes flashed with a violent note behind them."There's nothing coming to us dude. Just-….Just stop flipping the fuck out…" His tone was calm, his face returning to its usual placid form. The two walked along the forest path in silence, the forest growing thicker around them, feeling as if the trees themselves could consume them at any minute.

The two nearly jumping out of their skin in response to a figure pouncing out from the forest, blocking the path. It stood up with a ray of confidence, revealing the familiar face of Starzy. Sighing in relief, the boys walked up to the skunk, confident that Starzy could help them on their venture. "Heyyyy-….Starzy! Yeah! Ya think we can get outta this place?! This forest I mean!!" Mikey nervously fumbling over his words. Approaching Starzy with an anxious stance, Mikey could feel his heart weighing heavy as they smiled at him."It's just around the corner boys, no worries!" The two sighed pleasantly at the news. Beginning to walk side by side with Starzy along the path.

Suddenly, Starzy halts the two boys. "Since we're almost outta here!….Let's make an occasion of it! How about a game of tag?!" Jamie stared down at Mikey, a cautious shine in his eye, Mikey failed to understand the worry pooling in Jamie's eyes. Ignorance clouded his mind, looking back at Starzy, then to Jamie, he awkwardly shrugged, agreeing to the idea. Jamie hurled an icy look at Mikey, a look that rose the fur on the back of his neck. However, Mikey agreed, tag it is!

Starzy strutting over in front of the boys, bowing with a prideful sense of showmanship. Jamie looking back and forth at Mikey, his eyes racing from side to side, scanning over the forest looming over him. Turning back around, his eyes were drawn to Starzy, their finger pointed right at him, with an expectant look in their glossy eyes."You!! Decide who out of the two of you should be....IT!"

An excited smile stretched across their face, a glare of innocence and pure joy sparking in the skunk's eyes. Jamie stuttered at the sudden requirements. He gestured over to Mikey, receiving a disappointed sigh from him. Starzy peering over to Mikey, smiling at him gleefully, ran up to him. Placing a hand on his back.

"This will be fun!"

Jamie felt a stinging sensation of nausea deep in his core, reeling over, he stared deep into Starzy's eyes. Their eyes. Spiraling....shrinking. Fading into the fleshy caverns that seemed to decay by the second, their smile widening, twisting. Their teeth shrinking, fading into a putrid, moldy color.

Jamie gagged at the sight of their eyes shrinking deep into their cranium, their raw, bloody sockets becoming so deep and clouded, that they faded to a pitch black tone. Their smile dissolving into a pure black void, stretched across their face. Each pit in their head leaking thick, black liquids. Gasping in shock, Jamie stood back, shuddering with each step. Mikey stared up at Jamie with a sense of confusion, ignorant to his own fate.

Starzy chucking devilishly, their hand rest upon Mikey's back. Before heccould even make eye contact with Starzy's newly decayed face, a chill shot up his spine. Choking and gagging, shaking at their touch, he spat and sobbed as Starzy's empty smile only grew. Wider, deeper, their face almost splitting. Mikey wailing in agony as his eyes shrunk into his raw, seeping eye sockets. His lips splitting at each corner, his face shooting blood from every angle, coating the ground in a deep crimson. Jamie hesitated, knowing there was no helping his friend, yet his instincts yearned to pull Mikey from the clutches of the monster, to stop his pain. Bellowing and crying in a shower of burning agony, as Starzy's hand drove deeper into his back, Mikey's eyes seemed to fade from their sockets. A small glint shined from his broken, bloody maw, his eyes reappearing, between his beaten jaws. His eye sockets spurting blood and chunks of flesh as large, sharpened teeth grew from the raw holes where his eyes once lay.

Jamie took a step back, tears falling from his twitching eyes, unable to speak. Mikey stood beside Starzy, silently. Ever so slightly shivering. Blood pooling at his boots. Grunting and wheezing, he stepped forward. Starzy's hand coated in blood and strips of torn flesh and broken shell. Opening their hand, a few slimy disembodied eyeballs fell from their grip. As Mikey stepped towards Jamie, he gurgled out a few incoherent words. Starzy stepping between the two boys, proudly raising their arms. Smiling and giggling with joy, they looked back and forth at the two. Inhaling deeply, with a raspy tone, they proceeded to announce through the forest.

"Let the game.....BEGIN!"

Without hesitation, Jamie ran as fast as he possibly could. The forest seemed thicker, darker than before, more hostile as it closed in around him. He ran without looking back for even a second, he could hear Mikey's thundering footsteps behind him. Growing louder, heavier. Each breath feeling more weight, uncontrollably sobbing, Jamie ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Fearful for the fate he could meet if the body that his friend once inhabited caught up to him. He ran for what felt like hours, his lungs searing, his legs aching, each breath was agonizing. However, none of it could compare to what was done to Mikey, torture of a thousand years compressed into mere seconds.What seemed like the end of the forest inched closer and closer, the opening growing wider before his eyes. So close to success, nearer to an escape.

His hopes shot out of thin air within seconds. A sharp snap was heard behind him, the only thing that brought him to a halt. Peering over his own shoulder, he noticed Mikey writhing, caught on a sharp tree branch. Gurgling and wheezing, blood spurting from the gaping holes in his face, Mikey struggled for freedom. Bawling and growling as he tore through his own arm, batting himself around to catch up to Jamie's speed. It was pathetic, heartbreaking.

A once kind hearted friend, the life of the party, an uplifting soul, now broken and bloody. Thrashing around, screaming and spitting as his arm tore into strings of flesh, separating from the branch. There was no saving him, was there? Mikey is gone, gone somewhere. He's anywhere but here. Jamie knew his best choice was to keep going, ignore the screeching and sobbing before Mikey, what was left of him, could pull himself off the tree.

Jamie kept running, running until the forest was in the past. The farther he ran, the darker the environment grew, from a thick forest, to a dark, empty desert. Entirely pitch black, the area could be mistaken for the surface of the moon, there was no life to be seen. Only dark rocks and deep dunes of charcoal colored sand stretched across the surface. He then heard a voice, deep and guttural. Croaking in the distance.

"Seems all things come here to die..."

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starzyd13 · 1 year

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Chapter 2: My Realization

Waking up in a fit of aching, sweltering panic.

Ave sat up, in shock of the clear blue skies, emerald green grass and large twisty hills. It was...picturesque.

Unreal.

It wasn't real, was it? Gazing down at her gloved hands, much bigger than usual, Ave frantically padded her hands over her face and body. Whimpering in fear and confusion as she drug her fingers through what was no longer hair, but now....quills. Muttering to herself in disbelief, Ave crawled about in the grass, grasping onto every surface. Feeling the reality of it all.

"Is this the fucking game?!"

Turning around back and forth, like that of a scared tomcat, she picked up the large hammer next to her, cautiously holding it upwards. Picking herself up, she gingerly moved forward, scanning the area for anything potentially dangerous. In the distance she saw a figure, not much taller than herself, standing with a beaming sort of confidence. With a sigh of relief, Ave approached the figure. Turning them around, to be met with a familiar face...with velvety, deep purple fur, white hair with twists of a minty blue spiraling through it.

The person flung their large, fluffy tail about as they turned around, as evidenced by the the two thin, white stripes running down their tail, they were a skunk! Of sorts...more specifically, the childhood character of Ave's lost friend, Desmond. The character on the face of the very game the group attempted to play. Seeing their glimmering violet eyes struck a wave of nostalgia into Ave's very core. Memories of her and Desmond bickering over what the titular skunk should be wearing, what they'd be named. .......Starzy, Starzy Moon, or mostly referred to as, Starzy The Skunk. Sporting a leather biker coat and matching boots, they looked just as Ave could remember, from the hundreds, if not thousands of drawings Desmond had made of them over the years. This character wasn't just Desmond's beloved character made for a beloved franchise. This character was the very glue to the group's childhood.

Smiling at Ave, Starzy held their hand out, invitingly. Ave was hesitant. What really was this place? What was going on? What was happening back in the abandoned building? A second of silence passed as the two held eye contact. Starzy's eyes looked pleasant, sparkling in the sun, their tail swaying back and forth calmy. It was a calming sight, comforting. A sign.

Maybe Desmond was okay.

Taking their hand, Ave walked side by side with Starzy, the two smiling at each other. No need to say a word, each glance said enough. Admittedly, Ave felt flushed with guilt and humiliation. The things she'd said about Desmond over time, did she mean it? Either way, what's said is said. What's done is done, sad to say. Looking up into Starzy's eyes filled her heart with memories of a life long gone. Her and Desmond participating in sleepovers, parties, food fights and trashing their environment around them over the most inconsequential reasons.

It's all gone.

Desmond seemed to be that of a husk compared to their "former" self in Ave's eyes. Unstable and empty. She hated Desmond in recent years, would've given just about anything to avoid their mere presence. She regretted feeling so much hatred for them now. Maybe it was too late.

Her thoughts interrupted by the ground beneath her boots feeling slippery, almost losing her footing, Ave gripped onto Starzy fearfully. Starzy supported Ave's weight with no hesitation, looking down at her with a concerned glance. They held her reassuringly, helping her gather herself together. Ave's eyes scanned the ground for the sudden change in texture. Her eyes were caught by a thin crimson ribbon of liquid running across the ground, spiraling from the very tip of Starzy's tail. Gasping at the trickling blood, Ave babbled in their direction, pointing around like a fool. Starzy quickly turned around, their eyes filled with a pained shock as they picked their tail up off the ground, wiping the trail of blood off the tip.

"Damn, why's it doing this again?!"

Starzy mumbled under their breath, fiddling with damp, bloody fur at the end of their tail. Ave reaching out to assist them, Starzy took Ave up on her help. Their tail lay in Ave's open hands, they itched at the tip once again, smiling in satisfaction at their discovery.

"Okay, I think I got it!"

Jamming their fingers about in delight, the sight that would meet Ave's unsuspecting eyes next would nauseate her.

Starzy took a handful of fur on their tail, ripping it upwards, pulling layer after layer of flesh with it. Ave stood silently. How to even react? They tugged at the loose wings of skins flapping about aimlessly on their tail. Shredding it, piece by piece. The dirty work wasn't silent, Starzy huffed with effort as the putrid sounds of tearing flesh rose. Until all that was left attached to them, was a wriggling, flayed muscle, flapping back and forth. Spewing dark, vile blood about the ground. Casually glancing at Ave, as if nothing out of the ordinary had previously happened, Starzy tilted their head.

"Why.......?"

Ave snapped away from her view of Starzy's mangled tail, wriggling like an injured animal unbeknownst to them.

"Why? W-why, what? Wait, what Starzy??!"

Backing away, covering her mouth as she felt her insides churn, Ave stared up to Starzy with questioning eyes, a confused stare. They approached Ave with a melancholic glare, their eyes filling with pools of tears.

"You knew how much it hurt, how could you say that ?.....You're my friend."

Ave took a step back once more, some deep and dark sense of shame piling up inside her chest.

"Did you really think that?!"

Starzy crashing to their knees, passionately sobbing, bringing Ave to the ground with them. She starting sniffling, her emotions pooling in the corners of her heart as she saw the tears glide down Starzy's cheeks.

"Think what, Starzy?! What the fuck do you mean? Please...!"

After a chilling moment of silence. Uninterrupted eye contact. Starzy began rubbing their eye, muttering in an emotional mess. Ave watched closely. As Starzy rubbed their eyes, weeping, thin ropes of blood trickled down their cheeks. Ave gasped in horror as she pulled Starzy's hands away from their eyes. Upon opening their eyes, Starzy's eyes shrunk into the bloodied pits resting in their tear stained face. Their eyes sitting small and swiveled sideways, coated in conjealed blood and inner juices. Ave began backing away in utter shock at the sight of it. Starzy's fur began to fade, their teeth looking dark and nearly microscopic. The insides of their face looked decayed, putrid. Starzy stood, silently. Towering over Ave as she squirmed about on the ground, panting fearfully. The insides of their face began to melt into pure darkness, hollowness. The empty blackened smile stretching across their face, their eye sockets seeping black liquids down their cheeks. Lowering themself back down to Ave, sitting eye level with her. Starzy croaked and growled, a guttural purr rising from their rotting maw.

"Do you believe I'm better off dead....?"

No words came from Ave's mouth. Her quivering lips were shoved open by Starzy's scab-spotted hand. Their bloody hand diving deep into her mouth with no regard, she lay silent as her face boiled with pain. An agonizing, pulling sensation burned behind her eyes, a ripping tingle. She couldn't scream. Her jaws were already pulled out farther than what should be possible. Her eyes tearing from the sockets, being ripped down through her head into her gaping, bloody maw. She could no longer move her eyes as she lay in a puddle of her own blood. Her eyes dangled from the torn, fleshy ropes that once held them safely in place. Her tongue thrashing about just underneath her eyeballs. Stuck in place, staring at the sky, Ave lay there. Her face torn asunder.

Unrecognizable.

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starzyd13 · 1 year

Text

Chapter 1: The Curiosity

"Anything?"

Ave pants, running up to the two familiar faces. The cold breeze stinging their faces as they stood idle in the courtyard.

"Ahh. Nothing, nothing as always."

The two boys sighing as she paced back and forth.

Ave taps her fingers against her purse nervously.

"Something else going on…?"

The tallest boy in the group muttered, peering up from his drawn hood. Ave stuttered, "Jamie…what if we had something to do with Dessie's disappearance?!" Both of the boys exchanged glances. Shaking their heads sheepishly. Mikey spat, "Well, well, we- y'know actually. How could they know? HOW could they know?! We never said a word!"

Exchanging anxious glances at each other, the three stared in a fearful silence.

Not even seconds after, the three nearly jumped in surprise as they saw the other addition to the group, running towards them, joyously ignorant to their past doings. Stephan, the beloved partner of their missing friend in question, Desmond. The sounds of his chains and piercings jingling could put Christmas bells to shame as he excitedly charged towards his friends. Panting as he kneeled over, catching his breath.

"Guys! I've made a fucking breakthrough. I….I dunno how nobody has thought of it yet!"

The other three looked at one another in confusion. Has he found Desmond? Impossible. How could he sound so elated when his partner was still missing? This had to be big.

Stephan stood with his mouth hanging open, the words barely on his tongue. Jamie shifts over to him. "Well…?" Stephan grabs Ave and Mikey, drawing them closer to Jamie and himself. The three staring at him in anticipation.

"The fucking "Wactory"….!"

"Wactory". A memory long since lost from the friendgroup's childhood. A worn down, abandoned place they'd run to in the dead of the night. None of them fully knowing if it was an old warehouse, or a factory. And so it was named an amalgamation of the two. It was the children's safe haven, albeit a place ripe with various ways of catching tetanus. However, the abandoned building held many good memories, locked away for years.

Raising her hand in awe of his sharp memory, Ave gestures. "That fucking place yeah….! How didn't we get totally screwed up as kids in that shit-heap?!" Jamie perks up. "The police haven't looked there yet have they? There could be a chance…" Mikey, nervously tapping his fingers, chimes in.

"Heyyyy. So yeah, uh-….not to rain on this parade but. Ya know, like…how Desmond is? They could've. You know…."

Stephan shooting Mikey a disappointed glance for even mentioning such an idea.

"What?"

"You know what. It's not funny..."

Mikey turning to the others, hoping they'd speak up in his favor.

"I wasn't joking. Y-you know how they were-"

"Are."

Stephan narrowed his eyes, stepping away from Mikey, shooting down a peircing gaze towards him with accusatory intent.

"Are...yeah. I'm just saying! They are ummm...ya know. A little unstable at times..."

Stephan charging closer, almost violently towards Mikey, causing Ave to let out a frightened yelp.

"What they've gone through isn't a fucking joke. Or a reference. Or whatever the shit you bastardize it as!"

Ave stepped between the two, pushing them both apart anxiously.

"Just stop, okay. Before this turns into something it doesn't need to..."

Jamie shifts over next to Ave, gesturing.

"Maybe we should look there, ourselves? I mean if they've gone full ghost-mode I think a bunch of police and shit could be...overwhelming, ya know?"

Stephan backed up, scratching his chin.

"Yeah, I think we should. But let me take things on, because uh...well. They trust me-"

Ave raises a brow.

"The hell does that mean?!"

"I'm their boyfriend??! Uhhh, duh!"

"Okay....sure."

Stephan scoffs, throwing his hands up.

"All these years I've....NOT been their boyfriend? Hello?!"

"Not what I meant, fuckface-"

Jamie, putting a hand on Ave's shoulder with the intent of comfort, sighed.

"Didn't you say this shouldn't turn into something unnecessary....?"

The walk was silent. Distant.

Almost as if they were all heading to the abandoned building for completely different reasons from one another. They tread carefully through the first few rooms, calling out to Desmond. Illuminating a path before themselves with their phone lights. Nothing but silence accompanied by the stench of mold and long since passed animals.

"Seems all things come here to die..."

Jamie muttered, spinning around to catch a view of his murky surroundings.

The sudden blast of music in the distance startled the group, causing them to scream in surprise. The lot of them spinning around, scanning the area rapidly.

"The fuck was that?!"

Ave shouted, almost swinging herself around, illuminating the area. Jamie peering down the nearest corridor, lighting the way, gestures towards the others. The group now cautiously tip-toeing towards the continous music.

Stephan now taking the lead, pushes the door open. Everyone bracing themselves for all kinds of horrors. Only to find a laptop set upon a rusty workbench, the screen flickering. The music felt familiar, nostalgic. The character on screen was the epitome of nostalgia for the group. A childhood creation of their missing friend. The character shook their finger back and forth, smiling at the viewers with confidence.

Stephan could've exploded at the mere sight of what was on screen. He raced towards the laptop, kneeling until he was eye level with it.

"Holy shit....! Guys! It's Dessie's game!"

The others looked at each other in confusion, seating themselves next to Stephan.

"Remember?! They had this character? They always wanted them to be in an official game until they decided, "fuck it", and started making their own Sonic game! It....was that passion project they always talked about!"

The joy in his eyes began to pool into tears, running down his face, pulling his mounds of black eyeliner down with each tear.

Ave slowly turned away, her face shaded with guilt. Mikey sat closer next to Stephan, peering over his shoulder.

"So uh....Can we play this?"

Stephan started fumbling with the keys until the pinging noise of the game beginning finally sounded off upon the right key being hit. Thrown into a classic level right away, the boys sat up in curiosity. Stephan biting down on his lip to hide his giddy smile.

"I've seen some of this over the years, just the starting levels and shit! Desmond was always so goddamn keen on keeping it spoiler-free for us!"

Ave turned back around to face the screen.

"Yeah....No spoilers. I remember.."

Mikey excitedly pointing at the screen while peering over Stephan's shoulder. No matter how many times he swatted Mikey's hands away from his face, the both of them were fueled with a childish sort of excitement.

"Woah it's all stylized and shit?! And the characters are all different, THIS is what Desmond has been gassing up since we were kids?!"

Stephan chuckled, shaking his head.

"How do you not remember? We used to draw this crew, and play out how everything would be if it was a real game..."

Mikey's eyes lighting up as he inched closer.

"Now it fucking is.....!"

Jamie rested his head on Stephan's shoulder, taking in his lost friend's creation. Each intricate animation and detail, seeing their art again made his chest feel heavy. Cold.

"Look at how cool they made Amy, she's got cool shit with her hammer too, watch!"

Stephan demonstrating how the character functioned in-game. Clacking the keys of the laptop as the character on screen took a running jump, swinging her hammer upwards. Coming down with small shockwaves beneath her hammer.

"Ayyyy, do that shit again!"

Mikey shouted as he bounced up and down repeatedly. Ave sighing at the sight of the boy's joy. Stephan looking so peaceful, reminded of what his loved one has created. Jamie looking concerned, concentrating with deep thought. Suddenly Jamie sat back up, away from Stephan.

"Isn't this odd....?"

Everyone staring at him.

"Like...Where's Desmond? Why was this, only this left here?"

Stephan only halfway concentrating on the game now, beginning to feel worry and fear grow inside of him. Despite that, he wanted to stay hopeful, the game itself was clear hope that his partner was still alive and safe.

Unknowingly, he still was pressing the input to direct the character on screen, making her jump and slam back onto the ground with her hammer. Just before she hit the ground again, the game froze, emitting a loud whirring noise. An ear-piercing tone.

Then it all went black.

Everything.

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