< 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 > (Discontinued)

{Chapter 1: Lost}

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Your thoughts were cloudy. So, so cloudy.

Teleportation was never your favorite, especially when you had no idea where you were going.

As soon as the two of you had stepped out of the door, you were falling through space itself. The very world that you had been living in for the past few months melted away into darkness, leaving (Y/N) clutching your hand for dear life.

You squeezed your eyes shut. I really, really hate this. For a few minutes, all that you felt was numbness. You'd just left him behind like it was nothing. Your heart skipped a beat, stuttering over the

Another hand grabbed yours. Before you could scream, you felt yourself dissolve into light. Well, this is it. I'm dead. Finally.

Abruptly, you hit the floor with an 'oof.' (Y/N) was still screaming behind you, seemingly oblivious to the fact that you'd stopped falling. Their scarf fell adorably over their (H/C) hair. For a brief moment, they resembled a child hiding under a blanket.

You gave them a gentle kick. "Hey. We stopped falling," you said, rolling your eyes. "Which means you can stop screaming now."

They rolled over, (E/C) eyes wide and frightened. But once they came back to reality, they were back to their normal self. "Oh! Uhm. Sorry about that," they apologized, rubbing the back of their head. "Still kinda shaken after that whole... y'know. Thing with Nightmare."

But it wasn't. It never was. Trying to distract yourself, you swept your gaze around the strange landscape. "Anyways, where the hell are we?"

It was a pretty valid question, especially since you'd never seen this before in your life. It seemed to be a palace of some sort, or at least a grand base. The room that you were in right now had high ceilings and beautifully structured walls with four doors, each leading to a different colored hall. Blue, pink, green, violet. Each hall seemed to be built differently: the blue hall, for example. It's structure seemed much more lifelike than the pink hall, who, even from this distance, seemed to be shifting its walls every 2 seconds. The green one, while welcoming, repulsed you. (Y/N) would like that one.

In fact, the most subtle hall was the violet hall. When you looked down it, you could see an open hallway with light spilling through. Small flowers blossomed along the cracks in the walls, more of a decoration than show of destruction. It also reminded you of—

"C'mon," you said, already starting off towards the violet corridor. "We're going this way. Maybe we'll find a way out of this... place." It's not really a hellhole, it's actually pretty nice.

(Y/N) fidgeted a bit before hopping up and trailing after you. Stained glass windows turned into open frames, pillars serving as the liners of a moon-kissed image. It looked like this hallway was wrapping around the castle, although you could have sworn that you were just inside. Even you couldn't help but stare out of the pillared windows in astonishment; the landscape was like a colonized moon except better. Butterflies and birds swarmed around the window, seeming to be filing upwards.

"Wow," (Y/N) breathed, trailing their fingers along a silver pillar. "This is... This is amazing. You can see so much from up here. And the sky is—OH STARS!"

You jumped a little when then screamed, and saw that they were looking up and out of the pillars. You followed their gaze and paled a little. There was someone on the roof.

You couldn't clearly make out their face as the right side—the side you were looking at—was covered with a very long dark ultraviolet scarf. The ends of it were slightly tattered. You could just barely see short, wavy black hair peeking out over it. A blackish-grey trench coat hung all the way down to a couple inches below the cuffs of their boots. In their grey gloved hand was a luminescent bird.

(Y/N)'s mouth opened and closed, then opened again. They looked like they wanted to scream at them to get down, seeing that it was a long way down. They would break at least both of their arms.

Seeing as your doppelgänger didn't have it in them to shout at someone, you did it instead. "HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE!?" They just barely turned their head in your direction, the bird adjusting himself slightly in their hand. "THAT'S DANGEROUS!"

Turning their attention mostly to the bird in their hand, you had to strain your ears to hear them. "You want to go home, don't you."

The statement surprised you, seeing as it was a statement and not a question. Their voice caught you off guard too: it was soft, and slightly metallic, yet struck a near emotional nerve in your SOUL. It also took on that strange tone where it was soft and secure enough to be feminine, yet strong and deep enough to be masculine. Shaking your head a little, you shouted, "YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION."

"...I can help you go where you need to be," they whispered again, letting the bird in their hand fly away. It danced into the sky, joining its friends. (Y/N) watched with awe and mild concern as they stood, swaying. "Not necessarily where you may want to be, but where you need to."

Their foot slipped, and they fell off of the roof.

(Y/N) screamed at the same moment you rushed over to the window, arms outstretched. But they weren't there. "What in the ever-loving—"

"Hello, (N/N)"

A short cry of surprise left your lips as you whirled around to find them a foot away from where you were standing at the window. Now that you saw them from a frontal view, you could see that the scarf only covered the left side of their face and their mouth. Their skin was pale, pairing in an arcanely wonderful way with their dark violet eyes. Wavy, slightly curly black hair surrounded their head and fell adorably short, about an inch above their chin. And, like their voice, some things about their form contrasted. Their frame and eyes were feminine, yet their chest was practically flat.

"Weren't you just—"

"Come along now," they said, completely ignoring you. They then started to walk away at a quick stride, steps graceful and light. "You have places you need to be, and I do as well."

Scowling, you followed them. (Y/N) didn't say a word, gaze lingering outside before also following.

The corridors grew longer and you were starting to run out of breath. They didn't falter, long scarf trailing delicately behind them. The halls soon melted from a light violet to a dark shade of violet before disintegrating into darkness. At first you thought that this maniac was going to lead you into a hole or something in the total blackness, but the walls were suddenly alight with color. They raced past your head as if they were heading somewhere. Somewhere behind you, you heard (Y/N) gasp in awe.

Then the lines dove downwards. The thing in the scarf put out a hand to stop you. "We're here."

You dared to look into the darkness, unsurprised when you saw nothing but darkness. Even the colored lines seemed to end. They took out something from their pocket—a petal? A coin? A butterfly?—and let it drop into the hole. There was a splash before a tower of light burst forth, filling the entire hole with radiant gold.

(Y/N) walked a bit closer to it, mouth slightly slack with wonder. They put out their arm again, pushing them back a little before whispering, "This is your gateway. I suppose that this is where you'll pick back up."

"...Pick back up?" You asked, giving them a sideways glance. They looked right back, eyes dead serious. "Why are you helping us?"

They walked behind you as the light swelled. "Anything for a good story."

The light consumed you.