A/N: Idk how often I'm going to update this alongside my comic, but I'm hoping at least once a fortnight! Thanks for reading so far.
It was cold and dark. Kris felt the cool, icy surface beneath their form. Their dark blue hair covered their red eyes.
Wait, dark blue hair…?
Kris pushed themself off the ground, standing up. They noticed that they were wearing a different outfit; a knight-like getup. They felt a sword in their grasp. They wanted to enjoy the control of their body, but you quickly came into the picture.
"Kris?"
They turned. Melody was sitting nearby, rubbing her forehead. She looked different; her skin was dark blue, and her hair was a light pink. She wore a light blue leotard with a pink tutu, and white ballet shoes. Light blue streamers were wrapped around her arms. Star earrings dangled from her ears.
Melody stood up, looking over herself.
"Angel, this…" she muttered. "This reminds me of when I used to do ballet."
She blinked, like she had a headache.
"Where are we?" she asked, looking around. "What is this place? Where's everyone else?"
The pale floor echoed beneath her ballet shoes. The air was dark. A faint light was in the distance.
Kris walked ahead.
"Wait up!" Melody followed after them.
Kris reached out for the glimmering light.
At times, you see it flickering. The light only you can see. You reach out, and…
The game was saved. Kris' expression wasn't visible, and they didn't move a muscle.
"Kris?" Melody asked.
Kris continued walking. The floor echoed. Strange, antenna-like objects waved at them. Black ooze fell out of the walls.
"I… I don't know how to feel about this place," Melody admitted, hugging herself. "It's awfully dark. But… nostalgic as well, somehow. Am I losing it?"
Kris stopped and stared at an eye on the wall. A dark figure looked down at them, before taking off.
"What was that?" Melody asked.
Kris kept going. They walked past more eyes on the wall, and skidded down a cliff side. The dark figure ran away once more. Clouds of mysterious, white powder appeared around the two teens. Kris reached into a dark cavern and pulled out a Glowshard.
"Kris, how are you staying so calm?" Melody asked. "For all we know, we could be a thousand miles away from Hometown." She shivered. "I didn't want to leave just yet!"
Kris stopped and stared at her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Melody asked. "It… um, it doesn't matter. Come on, I'll lead."
Kris followed Melody. They walked past more antennae, which glowed red. Suddenly, the antennae launched bunches of projectiles.
"What the…!" Melody shouted.
She grabbed Kris' arm. Their body glowed a bright red, revealing a red heart in the center of their body. Melody's own body glowed blue, revealing a blue heart.
"What is this thing?!" Melody shouted, staring at her blue heart. "Don't tell me, is it…!"
The two ran away from the projectiles; the hearts disappeared.
"This place gets stranger and stranger," Melody puffed. "Is all this really inside a closet?!"
Kris kept going. They stopped in front of a wall with more eyes. It appeared to be a puzzle of some kind; a sign was next to it.
"In this land, only eyes blinded by darkness can see the way," Melody read the sign. "What does that mean…?"
Kris completed the puzzle, causing a glass bridge to appear.
"Wow, that was fast," Melody told them. "You're quite good at puzzles!"
The two continued, sliding down more cliffsides. They came across more dusty clouds. The dark figure appeared again, before taking off.
"Is anyone there?" Melody asked.
"ACHOO!"
Cody appeared out of one of the dust clouds, wiping his nose. Much like Melody and Kris, his appearance had changed as well; his skin was green, his hair was black, and he wore grey-green armour with an apron on top. The apron had a big green heart in the centre, similar to the strange hearts Melody and Kris had flying out of their bodies. He was holding a frypan as well.
"Cody!" Melody gasped. "Are you okay?"
"What do you think?" he sneered, blowing his nose into his sleeve. "It's so dusty here…"
Meanwhile, Kris approached another dust cloud; Susie popped out, holding up her arms. Her outfit had changed as well; a black vest, with her skin a brighter pink, and her hair lavender. Spiked bracelets were on her arms, with black and gold boots.
"H-hey, b…back off!" she growled. "Come any closer and I'll…!"
"Susie!" Melody headed over. "Thank goodness it's you!"
"Uh, yeah," Susie began sweating. "Don't scare me like that, losers! Unless you want to get clocked in the face, heh."
"Maybe you should," Cody grumbled, "then we'll wake up. If I have to spend another second in this shithouse of an outfit, I'm going to lose it."
"You really think this is a dream?" Susie asked.
"A dream… " Melody muttered. She coughed, looking around. "Oh! Hold on, where is Faye?"
"No clue," Susie replied.
"Then we should find her," Melody told her, "and hopefully, find out more about… whatever this place is."
"This is exactly why I said we should've avoided the closet," Cody huffed.
"So you KNEW about this?!" Susie asked.
"Of course not!" Cody snapped. "I literally just moved to Hometown!"
Melody looked thoughtful. "If this really is a dream, then surely home can't be far away."
She swallowed, weakly clenching a fist. Kris watched her with one eye.
"You insisted we all go together, Melody!" Susie turned to Melody, "so YOU get us out of this!"
"What!" Melody gasped. "How would I have known about a place like this?!"
While everyone was arguing, Kris had already started walking ahead.
"Don't you dare leave, Kris!" Susie shouted, racing after them.
"I swear, Kris is even harder to read than normal," Melody sighed.
"Fantastic, we moved into a town full of weirdos," Cody groaned.
Susie caught up to Kris. They were staring at a high cliff; on top stood none other than the mysterious figure.
"There's someone up there waving at us," Susie noticed. "Any idea what they want…?"
"Oh, it's that figure!" Melody gasped, heading over to Kris.
"You know them?" Susie asked.
Melody shook her head. "No, but-"
Suddenly, two spades appeared in the air; they launched towards the teens.
"Augh!" Melody jumped back.
"R-run, guys!" Susie yelled, taking off.
Kris stayed near Cody as they raced ahead. Once again, a red heart flew out of their chest. As for Cody, a green heart appeared out of his.
"What the f…" he trailed off. "Nevermind. No point in questioning anything."
Spades rained down from above. Kris kept to a brisk pace; however, they didn't seem to notice a spade aiming right for their head.
"Watch out!" Cody gasped. He held up his frying pan, batting the spade away like a baseball.
"Hey, not bad!" Susie shouted. "Keep moving, slowpokes!"
"Yeah, yeah," Cody snapped. "Keep your eyes open, Kris." When he stared at Kris, though, he seemed more worried than anything. He stayed near them, holding up the frying pan.
"Nearly there!" Melody shouted, offering a hand.
Kris stayed behind Cody as they joined the others. Susie was standing on top of another cliff, looking down. A spade whizzed past her.
"Hey, new boy," she called, staring at Cody. "Get over here. You can use your frying pan to block the spades."
"It's Cody," Cody snapped. "You could at least call me by my name."
"Or I could bite your face off," Susie threatened.
Kris hid behind Cody's back, eyeing the wave of spades.
"We'll all die if we don't get moving!" Melody shouted. "Cody, please, defend us with your pan!"
Kris held onto Cody's shirt. He stared down at them, and sighed.
"Fine, whatever," he said.
He held out his pan as the group skidded down the mountain; waves of spades came flying towards them. Antennae waved, almost cheerfully.
"Shit!" Susie yelled, narrowly dodging a spade. Melody was covering her head, nervously glancing from side to side.
Cody narrowed his eyes. He was staring at the dark figure, who was watching nearby.
"Cut it out already!" he shouted, hitting a spade towards the figure.
The spade crashed into the figure, sending them flying. The waves ceased, just as the group reached solid ground.
"Huh, nice work," Susie told Cody.
To her surprise, he looked awfully concerned. "I didn't kill them, did I?"
"Who cares?" Susie asked. "They were trying to kill us!"
Melody panted, wiping her brow. "What now?"
Kris suggested moving forward.
"Right," Susie said. "Come on, losers."
Faye felt dizzy. She was seeing double, and it was hard to think. She blinked, slowly.
"Hang in there," said Ralsei, putting his glowing paw on her forehead.
Other than the dizziness, Faye was having an okay time. She wasn't entirely sure where she was, but she liked it. It was a small, castle town, full of small black and blue buildings, blue candles, and a mysterious dark fountain in the centre. The sky was full of twinkling blue stars, all leading towards the great dark castle. Plus, Faye had found some pretty interesting rocks for her collection.
(Kris would probably steal them as they always did, but she was used to it.)
As beautiful as the town was, Faye and Ralsei were the only ones there. It was… awfully quiet.
Speaking of Ralsei, he was Faye's new friend; a lonely prince in a pale purple cloak. He wasn't human judging by what Faye had noticed of his paws, horns and magic. He spoke softly, slightly nervously, but friendly all the same.
"Thank you," Faye told him. She was sitting near the castle's entrance. She felt an aching pain through her legs. It was embarrassing how often she seemed to be struggling with pain; it made her feel a thousand years older than she was. Her boyfriend always told her that it was nothing to be ashamed of and he'd carry her anywhere, but as much as she tried to smile, she couldn't help but feel like a burden.
Ralsei's healing magic did make her feel a little better, though; enough to stand up, at least. She noticed the strange outfit she was wearing; a pale blue cloak, with cyan wings on her back. Her skin was completely stark white, while her hair was a dark cyan. Her red ribbon was still pulling her hair back, but had an extra tinge of cyan. A black bandaid was on her cheek. A small cyan knife was in her hand.
"Oh, don't rush yourself!" Ralsei waved his paws. "It's okay if you don't feel well enough!"
"It's okay," Faye told him. "I… I think the others may be here. They're probably lost and confused…"
"Should I try looking for them?" Ralsei asked. He shivered. "Oh, then again, I don't want to leave you alone in this empty town…"
"Don't worry about me," Faye repeated. "I'm sure they'll find their way here eventually."
Ralsei nodded; Faye could see a faint blush on his cheeks.
"I've been, um, waiting a really long time for you to arrive," he told her.
"Really?" Faye asked.
"I'll wait until your friends arrive before I explain the prophecy, but…" Ralsei paused. "I deeply believe you and your friends are the heroes that will save this land!"
"Heroes?" Faye repeated. She couldn't picture herself as a hero of any kind. Especially not the condition she was in.
Ralsei nodded, enthusiastically.
"... This is the most interesting closet I've ever been in," Faye laughed. "Maybe it's what I've been waiting for. Something special like this." She looked away, a pain in her chest. "If only…"
"Are you okay?" Ralsei asked, reaching out a paw.
"I…" Faye trailed off.
Suddenly, loud conversation interrupted their talk. Faye sat up, noticing the group. She stared at Kris, who was at the front, and got an awful feeling. The presence that surrounded them, the look in their eyes, even the way they moved… whatever it was, that wasn't Kris.
"You're here," she said.