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“Reminds me of Indiana Jones,” Dragon tilted his head at the build before him with a smile. Purple chuckled in return, dipping her head down for a couple seconds while doing so, hair swaying gently.
“I have nothing to put here yet,” Purple gestured to the dusty mounting in front of them. Dragon nodded with a “yeah” to show acknowledgement, briefly wondering if she would want suggestions. “Was searching for something before you joined.”
He wasn’t sure what to suggest anyways since a gem or something would be too plain. Before he could ask what she had in mind, his friend spoke again.
“Oh- this is floating.” Purple crouched down for a moment, putting a hand on the ground to support her balance, peeking under the build. “God..”
“It is?” Dragon lowered his head, staring underneath the mounting. He still couldn’t tell if it was but he trusted his friend’s word for it, watching Purple stand back up and shake off the dust on her hand. Dragon approached to run a hand across the surface of it, walking to the other side.
Purple put one hand on her hip, still staring under the build. “I have to fix so much stuff..” She huffed, a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
He would have told her she did an amazing job as always anyway, if a sudden glitchy noise hadn’t assaulted both their eardrums.
“ Jesus!-”
He flinched at the sound, whirling around in reflex. Purple had also tensed up, looking around with confusion momentarily before her gaze landed on Dragon, the concern on her face being the last thing he saw before the world got engulfed in disorienting black and white, his friend disappearing from sight.
Well shit.
“Are you kidding me.” He spoke to no one in particular, looking around the morphed world as more darkness creeped closer, blocking his vision. Not only is it in his and Ace’s games, it was in all of Purple’s games too. It was following him. Could he not just hang out with his friends without this thing ruining it for all of them anymore? It already took one friend from them, what more did it want? He was tired of this.
He briefly summoned the menu panel to test the leave option, still not doing anything when he pressed it like he expected. He swatted at the panel in the air for it to disappear. He considered pulling up the menu with more advanced controls to forcefully kick himself out of the game but his curiosity held him back, glancing around once more.
He could leave at any time, so it wouldn’t hurt to explore..
So he wandered through the template his friend built, walked across grass and passed by trees, everything taken over by the same glitchy static. This was no different. He stopped for a few seconds to glance at the sky, inspecting the inky space littered with stars. It gave him an odd feeling so he pried his gaze away from it, trying to ignore the weird urge to look back at them again. It made him uneasy. He wasn’t sure how long he walked for, he almost got bored and considered leaving right before a new familar build came into view.
Taking a breath, he stepped onto the bridge and began walking, readjusting the tightness of the hard hat atop his head while the dark dared to swallow him. He put a hand on one of the wooden railings on the side when they came into view, sliding his hand across as he walked, the wood cold to the touch and it was almost as if he could feel the texture of the world’s glitch. He didn’t take any of the turns that were offered to him and simply kept walking straight, starting to wish he had an extra hoodie on or something with the growing chill of the world.
He kept walking somewhat aimlessly. The more he looked at the void dotted with stars that felt like they were glowing brighter each passing second, the more on edge he got. What the hell was up with this? Why did this bridge appear every time? What did that thing want from him? Why did it take his friend? How did it take his friend? He had so many questions on his head and it was all so frustrating. He wished he could just see Ace again.
In the corner of his eye, a different color tone made him do a double take. He paused his walking, placing both hands onto the railing in front of him and squinting at the space below, confusion growing upon spotting a figure. “ Wh - Hey!” He yelled at the silhouette below, gripping the wooden railings tighter, registering the figure pause- only for it to walk away again.
It suddenly clicked when he thought he could make out the look of a familiar helmet, and agitation filled his stomach. He raised his hand in the air to summon the player list, nothing but a lone dragondudes3 showing up on the panel which he wasn’t surprised about, closing it with a sigh.
He’s so tired of this.
He frowned at the figure disappearing from sight, gritting his teeth.
He’s tired of constantly being left in the dark. He’s tired of only gaining more questions than answers. He’s tired of this repeating over and over again, he was literally being toyed with at this point. He’s sick of being pushed around. He just wanted his friend back.
He just wants to see him again.
He needed answers.
So he hauled himself up over the railing, and half stumbled and half hopped down, hearing the thud of wood beneath him. He almost landed weirdly which would have surely given his ankle a sprain but he felt fine, so after regaining his balance he took fast steps towards where the figure walked off to.
It almost felt like the air thickened around him trying to choke him, feeling like the stars are a billion pairs of eyes glaring daggers into their prey. His unease grew, his breaths became faster but he pushed them aside to ignore, continuing on the path. He had to get answers.
Maybe it was his imagination but it felt like it was becoming increasingly colder, the farther he pushed on. His eyes locked onto a barely visible silhouette ahead again, and with a rush of determination Dragon broke into a run.
“Get back here!” The figure seemed like it paused, as if waiting for him, becoming more clearer the closer he got while darkness still swarmed the world like fog. He barely registered it tilting its head to the side, before Dragon yelped as his foot got stuck on seemingly nothing in particular, tripping and tumbling to the floor of the wooden bridge. He grunted, not being able to recover from it for a dozen seconds, sitting up and raising his head to look up at “Ace”. His muscles froze involuntarily, his hoodie and fingerless gloves literally useless in the freezing temperature he was slowly becoming painfully aware of.
“IS IT COLD OUT?”
“C-cut it with the cold garbage,” he spat, although the answer was definitely yes. “What do you want with me? What’s your deal with my friends?” He shuffled on the floor, eventually getting up to stand so he doesn’t feel so small and vulnerable when “Ace” was looming over him ominously.
“What did you do to Ace?”
“HE HAS LONG SUCCUMBED.”
His hands clenched into fists, the anger he’s built up for the past weeks daring to blow up there and there.
“What. Did you do to Ace,” He demanded a second time, heart clenching at the answer he got. It can’t be right. He had to be here.
“LET GO.”
“ Never. He’s not dead.” His shoulders tensed up, taking one step forward in an accusing manner. “He’s not gone! He can’t be.”
He can’t.
He couldn’t be.
He’s still here.
(“Welcome to my store! We sell all the best Sonic games and lots of cereal. >:3” He remembers his friend leaning against the counter in a silly manner.
“I need to play the Sonic game sometime,” Sixty had commented, wandering around the building.
“As long as it’s not Sonic ‘06,” Dragon added, smiling at Ace who responded with an “Eww.”
“The characters and plot are cool I suppose, but the way it was handled really could have been better! ^_^;” Ace had said, nodding at Dragon.
“That boss fight with Silver especially is rigged I’m telling you.” Dragon chuckled, Ace joining in with his own giggles.
“Holding onto that one single ring for dear life! >o>”
“I guess you could say “ it’s no use?””
“Pfft- Yeah! xD”)
“Ace” remained unmoving.
He’s still here.
(“What’s your favorite emoticon?” Purple turned to Ace with a smile on her face. Ace summoned the chat keyboard momentarily, typing out a “O3O” and “o3o” on it, the bubble of the text appearing next to him. Purple also summoned the keyboard, typing out on the empty bar. “I like this one,” she said before pressing the button, the bubble appearing next to her displaying a “>_>” within. Dragon watched his friends with a warm smile, Sixty also sharing his favorite- “:D”)
“ ACCEPT IT,”
He isn’t gone.
“ AND MOVE ON.”
(“Oh, and Dragon? Thank you, really, for trying to include me on everything! I really appreciate it ^o^”)
He isn’t gone.
“G-give him back,” The distorted hum in the background of the world was progressively getting louder in his ears, Dragon felt like a headache was building up already.
He missed the warm feeling Ace left him with.
“I just want to see my friend again.”
“Ace” shifted, tipping his head to the side again while Dragon noticed how much more suffocating the space felt, and how much colder it had gotten. He only realized his hands were trembling until now, instinctively hugging his hoodie in hopes of any ounce of warmth. There was none.
“THAT IS POSSIBLE.”
He was taken aback by the response, the background beginning to slowly morph into ringing.
The darkness was getting heavier, to bury him within.
The air grew even more thick, to strangle out his life.
The cold bit away at him.
“ JOIN HIM.”
He couldn’t even comprehend what he heard before the world tipped down.
No, turned over.
He gasped, his brain unable to catch up to the sudden rotation, but his reflexes somehow managed- He found himself holding onto the railing on the side that was now above, hanging helplessly within the void after a scream escaped his throat. The turn plus the distort made him feel queasy and he almost felt like he would throw up despite not having eaten anything today. His ears were full on ringing now and he panted, suddenly realizing he was struggling to breathe. His fingers tightened around the wooden piece holding on with all of his strength, hastily freeing a hand to summon the panel that held advanced commands. He gritted his teeth trying to hold all his weight with just one arm, internally slapping himself for forgetting what command he was even going to run. It came back to him a few seconds after and he hurriedly typed it in, panicking more and more with how his arm felt like it’d give up any second.
He pressed the button to run the command that’d force him out of the game, relieved he didn’t have to withstand this crap any longer.
403
PERMISSION_DENIED
If any color was left on his face, he was certain it drained in an instant.
This had worked countless times before. Why didn’t it work now?
Why did he get himself into this again?
Desperate, he swatted at the panel for it to get out of his face and called back the menu panel once more, not bothering to test the leave button. His hand lingered on the reset option. His heartbeat sounded like it was put on speakers, thumping in his ears with speed.
Fuck. He acted on impulse. He should have thought this over, took a moment to calm down. He should have just left when he had the chance.
He couldn’t leave his friend group with not one, but two missing members.
He didn’t want this day being the last time he’d hung out with Purple.
He didn’t want to leave Sixty with the guilt of not being able to see him in recent times.
He can’t abandon them.
After a couple of seconds hovering over the reset button, he tapped it with trembling hands, then confirming the action as his arm was about to give out and let him fall down into the endless void where he didn’t want to find out what was waiting for him.
His consciousness dropped as soon as the command was confirmed, he soon found himself in more darkness accompanied with dotted stars, waiting to be taken back to spawn, to get far away from this place and just go back home and tell Purple about all the shit that went down, and maybe chat with her and watch while she built and then go record a skit with Sixty.
His mind suggested the idea of hanging out with Ace for a brief moment, the thought piercing his heart. How he wished he could.
He waited.
And waited.
His surroundings didn’t change.
An odd noise caught his attention in the distance, looking towards the endless void where he saw it- the same painfully familiar structure of one of the towers that always seemed to follow him. As if calling, for something.
“No.”
It was cold.
“N-no. No, no, no. I..” He backed away, feeling full of fright, unsure what to think of the situation. He pulled up more menus, clicked onto other buttons and tried to run other commands in a desperate search, fingers already numb yet aching at the same time, trying everything on the panels over and over frantically. His efforts were futile.
It was really, really cold.