DISCLAIMER, BEGINNING OF THE "NULL SPACE" INTERACTION, MEANING PYSHCOLOGICAL INSTANCES
THERE WILL BE BODY HORROR BEGINNING IN THIS CHAPTER AND IN NEXT CHAPTER
Sanctum and Steel are wonderful characters and I hope to see more of them in the future ;w;
Please look at their DA and Tumblr!
5courgesbestbuddy
With a quiet groan, rubies cracked open to the sight of lush green grass and soft intertwined loop-de-loops. Shifting his hands to either side of himself, Sanctum pushed his body upwards; curious as to why he felt so sluggish and why the sudden change of scenery.
He could've sworn he was in a jungle beside a ruined city...at night time….With at least two other people.
Wincing, he looked up spitefully to the bright sunlight, rubbing his head with a scowl as a migraine pounded loudly between his ears and behind his eyes. Didn't he-
With a sharp hiss, he clutched his face in agony. He could've sworn he felt something twitching and stabbing him yet his hands touched only his soft skin and fur.
Blinking away the irritation, Sanctum glanced around his surroundings, noting how odd everything was. It looked so fresh and real but at the same time like it was a plastic cut out of a world that was either forgotten or overstamped by time.
"...Ugh this is too bright." The armored hedgehog sighed as he carefully held a hand over his eyes before he frowned. Carefully trying his steps as he made his way down the constructed path. "This…."
Each step felt heavy as a sense of dread grew in the pity of his stomach; a faint grimace settling on his lips when a plastic looking fern brushed against his leg. Only to collapse into a glitching mess of cubes.
"What in the-"
The dark ears perked at the sound of something in the distance, a sharp shout and a laugh before it fell away to static. Oddly enough, the genetic felt himself drawn to the curious noise despite how many of his instincts demanded he didn't.
Walking down further yet cautiously, Sanctum blinked; as his eyes reopened he was startled to find the grassy and hilly environment gone and in its place were the cold metal walls of a lower lab complex. A complex he hoped he would never return to.
Where did the grass go?! Where were the loops?! Why was he here all of a sudden!?
The ebony hedgehog fought the urge to let his energy spark in defense, instead he moved near the closest wall. His ears straining to hear what made that odd noise mere moments before.
As his hand came up to rest on the wall, the hedgehog tensed when he felt something shift and tremble beneath his touch.
The crimson orbs flicked over to the wall and leapt back as it was overcome with glowing cubes of purplish red.
"What in the-" Immediately, his memory flashed of being engulfed in cubes, his teeth baring as he growled," I'm in a damn illusion aren't I?!"
"Are you?" A soft femine voice tittered in front of him, the familiar tone making the hedgehog freeze as the familiar sight of the capsule chamber he spent most of his existence trapped in formed before him.
A cold chill shuddered through him as cubes piled up into an odd humanoid shape, slowly collapsing as they formed a human girl beneath them. Long blond hair curled around her angelic features as her blue orbs locked onto his crimsons coldly. Her stark red dress steadily coming into view as the cubes fell away to mist.
"This seems more like home to me, old friend~" The girl tilted her head slowly, her gaze still cold as Sanctum took a cautious step back. His quills raising and sparking as he felt his heart rate accelerate," No...You're not real...You're not here."
"Are you sure?" The girl giggled again, her tone light and airy although empty of any true emotion.
Snarling faintly, Sanctum took a step back from the ghostly pale girl; his fur ruffling as her blue eyes seemed to darken with hidden despise before he felt his back hit something solid. The crimson orbs flashed backwards as his chest heaved from the sight of a cold gray wall made of metal.
Where did the door go-
"Sanctum~" The armored hedgehog turned his head back shakily, that pit in his gut growing when he realized the girl seemed to be much, much closer.
The long blond locks swayed and danced in an unseen wind as the young girl reached out her hand," It's time to go to bed, silly~ You've been up far too long~"
"N-no-"
"Come along~ We don't want grandfather upset do we?~ I'll even read your favorite story~"
His knees felt weak as he struggled to remain standing," No- I'm not going back in there! I don't want to be asleep like that again!"
"Sanctum...You're causing problems again...Do you really want to cause problems again?"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" A blast of cold blue energy shot free from his hand, his rubies wide as it connected to the girl. Her head snapping back roughly with her chin pointing to the ceiling.
His hand trembled as he stared at the girl, throat drying as his eyes burned from a wetness he refused to release," Mar-"
With a sickening series of pops and cracks, the girl made her head go back before twitching it forward sharply.
The left side of her face ripped away and glitching angrily in purplish red cubes before it began to twitch and spasm from several black tendrils. Her ice blues wide as she smiled sinisterly at the hedgehog.
The remaining half of her face falsely angelic as she giggled happily, the noise distorted as she tilted her head with a hum," What's wrong? You don't like it?" she caressed her face with a giddy little spin, her vivid red dress twirling as she laughed," What about this?~"
Sanctum cringed as her soft delicate fingers dug into ther ripped open half, tugging hard at the tendrils as they grew and snapped.
"S-stop- STOP IT!"
"What's wrong, little one?~" The soft angelic voice distorted further as the gaping maw split open as her body contorted and snapped, her features twisting into something more monstrous, something more alien as the genetic creation trembled.
Forgetting where he was or the fact that this was an illusion.
"Aren't you happy to see family after all this time?~"
The armor sparked sharply as Sanctum clutched his head, hyperventilating as his pupils shrunk as he felt the creature lumbering forward.
Large blackened hands reached out, the three fingers clawed as the beast chuckled softly in that horrible glitching tone," Welcome home~"
In an almost feral scream, Sanctum thrashed his arm out as a crackling energy lance of blue light appeared and attempted to bury itself into the monster.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU'RE NOT REAL! YOU'RE NOT, YOU'RE NOT, YOU'RE NOT!" Sanctum practically screamed in a chant over the demonic laughter as the beast curled and swayed itself off the lance.
With a wild look of something feral, Sanctum lunged out with a sharp scream, his eyes maddening as another lance appeared in his hold. Spittle flying from his mouth as he attempted to bury the lance's head into the creature's gut.
Yet all around him, all he could hear was that sickening dark laugh as the world faded from his fall into the traumatic false world.
Twitching awake with a startled grunt, Scourge shot up like a barrel of spasmodic energy, his ice blues wide as he looked around in pure confusion. "What the hell-" His eyes widened further as he touched his face before looking down at his body, startled to find it wasn't a familiar beastial form but rather his usual self. "...Alright, what the hell is going on?" He grumbled, immediately looking around for any signs of Steel or Sanctum. Hell, even that "Infinite" guy would be better than the cookie cut out world of bright plastic and looping hills that assaulted his vision. Though as he looked around, he tensed when he realized those cubes were nowhere to be found.
"Ugh, what weird freaky deaky shit is this?"
Putting his hands on the ground and pushing himself up, the ice blues widened as he saw the ground twitch and spasm before changing into dark concrete blocks with an ancient musk he could never forget.
"Uh…."
Carefully, the escapee looked up to the high ceiling; freezing at the sudden appearance and sight of Castle Accorn.
"...What the actual fu-"
"Scourgey~"
The emerald teen spun with wide eyes, his arms out to his sides as his cerulean irises locked on the sight of a pink hedgehog in the large doorway.
"...Nope. This is not happening. Illegal, not allowed. Get me off this ride." Scourge sputtered with a deadpan as he turned away sharply and marched away from the phantom, his arms tightly against his sides as he refused to acknowledge the hissing whine.
"Where you going Scourgey Wurgey?~ I just wanted to give you a big smashing welcome~"
"You can keep it you freakin' psychopath!" The scarred teen refused to look back though tensed and winced at the sharp glitching in front of him.
"OW WHAT THE-" it was like the entire world was trying to give him a seizure, carefully he rubbed his eyes as he looked ahead.
His fur bristling and fluffing when he realized the door moved to be in front of him instead of being behind him.
Yet instead of the pink terror with a hammer, a frowning chipmunk stood, her mullet still wild and untamed as she scoffed," You got a lot of gall showing back up here-"
"Nope. Not happening!" Scourge turned again, missing the scowl intensify as he decided to march in the opposite direction.
A part of him was mortified that this weird world knew his past hang ups and seemed to want to use it against him for some ungodly reason.
Again the room glitched and sparked, although this time Scourge was able to block his eyes as he growled under his breath. "Now wha-"
His voice caught in his throat at the sight of a sly red fox, smiling at him as her blue eyes shimmered. The bow in her red locks bouncing a bit as she walked slowly towards him," You left before we finished the job...Why did you leave me-"
"OH HELL NO," Scourge spat, the phantom genuinely pausing in a deadpan," YOU TRYING THAT WEIRD SHIT ON ME? I DO WORSE TO MYSELF ALL THE DAMN TIME, YOU AIN'T SHIT!" he spat, feeling oddly smug he could actually snap at the fox after all this time, even if it really wasn't her.
A sense of satisfaction settled in his core as he crossed his arms over his chest from watching the phantom of his ex collapse into the ground.
"That's what I thought~"
Carefully, Scourge rubbed the back of his neck as he recalled the main reason he was probably in this weird world.
The memory of trying to get those cubes off Sanctum-
"Scourge."
The ice blues flicked up, startled from the sudden and close appearance of the armored hedgehog, even if it gave a sense of relief. "Sanc!" He beamed a bit, laughing into a frustrated growl," Dude come on, this place is we-"
Scourge tensed as he felt something twitch in his very essence, casually grabbing his wrist and peaking under his sleeve cuff only to see one of the purple markings flaring aggressively. Something still wasn't right about this...But-
Taking a step back cautiously, Scourge tensed at the flare of rage on the usually stoic features on the lifeform, never really seeing him that angry nor ever being on the receiving end of his anger.
"You're useless," the striped hedgehog sneered," A pisspoor copy of a hero, always living the the shadow of someone better...You couldn't even forge your own path, you ruined it each attempt and had to have others clean up your messes...You couldn't even handle a mission before it went south."
The emerald teen tensed as he took another step away, unable to stop the flinch as the phantom shot forward in a wave of cubes, snarling fiercely at him.
"The only reason you have success is pompous circumstance!"
"...Not really. The only reason I was beat was pompous circumstance." Scourge said quietly, his quills bristling as the odd double gave a manic look and sparked a lance into existence," The only reason you haven't been tossed aside is because you have a basic purpose to us. The moment we don't need you, you'll be tossed aside with the rest of the trash."
Slowly, Scourge took in a breath as he pushed away the fact that his own damaging thoughts sounded far more horrible when coming from Sanctum of all people. He knew he wouldn't...outright say it but, the thought he could still stung and made his earlier down mood return before he narrowed his eyes stubbornly.
This wasn't Sanctum, because despite the lack of snark, it was just his own messed up projections settling onto an-
A lightbulb clicked on as his expression deadpanned before sighing into a bitter chuckle,"...So that's it huh? Those freaky cubes send you to or make you think you're someplace else, and then toys with your insecurities until you break?" He tilted his head at the phantom, noting the faint frothing as the armor broke and fell away. The quills going wild as the hedgehog jerked and snarled as cubes swarmed around him, yet all the emerald teen did was look away.
"...It's almost funny how pathetic that is...Thinking you can have that cause an effect to break someone."
He looked up at the towering phantom, smirking coldly," I face all my shit by myself and in forced isolation. Yet no matter what, the kid and Sanc always come in when they can tell something ain't right. Yeah, it pisses me off since now they gotta deal with me when I'm dealing with that nonsense. We got enough to worry about...They don't need to worry about if I'm 'bout to break or something. It's better that way.." He worked his jaw," Hell, I grew up with people like your 'wielder' or 'caster', whatever you call that jackal freak-"
Scourge chuckled at the low thunderous snarl from the manic genetic giant, barely phased as the lance rose. "What? You think I don't know how to deal with people like you? Sweetheart~" Scourge purred, his arms cockily swinging like some giddy teen as his smirk darkened," Last guy who tried this kind of stuff on me was my old man...And he ain't around anymore~"
"So, how about this?" slowly, the emerald teen cracked his knuckles one by one, his expression darkening further," Instead of trying to mess with my head, I'm gonna wreck your joker having ass, find out where the actual Sanc is, and then go beat that jackal to a pulp."
With a distorted roar and twitching expression, the giant brought down the lance, Scourge unphased as he dodged out of the way. Smirking at the familiar burst of his speed," Y'know, I wonder...Do you know how I feel about him?" he quipped, the giant pausing," I mean...Seems you know most of my memories on what makes me panic and upset, right? You got their personalities down...mostly...So I wonder.." The green blur zipped to the other side of the room as the giant lunged, the crystal claws ripping through the gloves as the striped hedgehog slammed into the concrete.
"I mean, if you really wanted to mess with my head, why not look like one of my parents?" Scourge leaned against the wall, his ice blues narrowing as he curled a cruel smirk," Unless the only reason you can figure out this illusion crap is through something meticulous." Finding himself cackling as the wall roughly pushed him forward into the large clawed hands, Scourge gave his own terrifying grin," That's probably why you knew I had a ring, right?~" he gave a coy little smirk as he hovered close to the sharp tooth maw, unphased from the hot breath and panting that made his ears ring. "You only did enough research~ Enough is never enough~ I bet that little gem of yours only filled in the gaps just barely, huh?~"
He laughed when he caught the visible confusion on the behemoth's face, wiggling his arms free to let his hand settle under his chin with a cheeky little smirk," You got game~ But we're different from the mobians in this canon~ And I can't wait to beat that into your stupid face when I break out of here and give you a painful realization of just how badly and who you messed with~"
Slipping out of the glitching hold, Scourge leapt up towards the ceiling, sneering as his ice blues locked with distorted and flickering rubies. "Oh...I guess one thing came out of this...You managed to match how much Sanc gets irritated with me.." Twisting into a whirring spindash as he shot towards the giant and slammed into his jaw.
Rolling back, Scourge flipped and landed on his feet, smirking as the giant tumbled and collapsed into a wave of cubes. The smaller form of a startled Sanctum underneath as he rushed forward in a blur of emerald green, his boot slamming down on the armored chest.
"Hmm...how about that…" Scourge clicked his teeth," You can get winded? Or is it just because I ain't falling for your scrap?" He couldn't lie when the sight of Sanctum squirming under him did...things.
"...Y'know maybe something good did come of this?" he sighed, pressing his weight down more as he leaned down, the phantom looking increasingly panicked as he reached down and cupped his cheek.
"Maybe I shouldn't lock myself up like that anymore...I mean, it's technically part of the reason we're in this mess right?" he smirked softly as he ruffled the muzzle fur with a chuckle, he even managed Sanctum's scowl pretty well.
"...Maybe I should have an actual…" he cringed, gagging visibly," Talk? Ugh, this is gonna suck...But!" Leaning down more, the pointed black nose gently booped the nose of the phantom, snickering at the clear glitch," Now if you excuse me, I gotta go find my actual...Erm, well Sanctum. I made a promise to myself that, if Sanctum was ever in a situation like he was in, he wouldn't be found by accident. It'd be on purpose."
Sighing, Scourge moved away, his foot slamming into the phantom's abdomen completely as he kicked his leg free.
The familiar form collapsing into a hazy mess of cubes before the world illusion collapsed with it. A singular metal rusted door appearing in one of the few remaining walls, the edge flickering and twitching as it attempted to remain in existence.
Casually stretching his arms over his head and to his sides, Scourge sighed and walked towards the door," Yeah...This is gonna be bad, ain't it?" He grasped the door knob, cringing from the intense wave of energy he felt through the door.
"..." Resting his forehead against the door, he let out a soft breath," You've thrown punches at him before and alongside him before...Just do that then worry about the...squishy stuff…." he muttered, his fur ruffling as he twisted the knob and pulled it open sharply.
The ice blues narrowed at the familiar sight of the underground tunnels beneath Kintober's lab complex, the sound of a distant crackle of energy mixing with panicked screaming making his ears ring.
The distorted laughter that followed was enough to send the emerald teen down the hall, his anger spiking at the idea of someone or something manifesting Sanctum's worst memories possible.
Maybe he could justify the feelings he'd been having the past few months as something more 'protective' than...something else.
Growling to himself, the green blur shot down the tunnel, deciding to ignore the conflicting feelings for once and focus on making sure no one had a mental breakdown.
He could handle everything later when they were all back home and enjoying pizza.
Right now?
Making sure Sanctum was alright first in this weird world was his top priority.