He walked through the black space, fear in his heart and tears in his eyes as he looked upon the doors in the area.
He was here last night. His dream began peacefully with him waking up in a house, a lovely place it was.
It had flowers that lined the wall and a warm fireplace. His peace was disturbed when he suddenly gained company from his old friends. It had been a while since he had seen any of them.
However, nothing good lasts forever. He found this out the hard way when he was transported here after trying to tell them the truth.
Where was he exactly? He didn’t know what to call it other than his own personal Hell.
It would make sense if that is where he was sent. After all, who could forgive a filthy sinner like him. No matter how much he says he is okay...he truly isn’t. Who could be after what he had done?
At first, he was scared. His head felt itchy as if someone poured lice into it and so he tried to remove the flower crown. The flower crown refused to come off though, no matter how much he tried. Vines appeared around his neck as he tried to pull it off, refusing to grant him freedom from the crown as it made his scalp itch more and more.
Eventually, the flower crown did come off… with his head still attached to it.
That is when he awoke in the room where he is now. A room with a black blanket, only being able to see it with the white outlines surrounding it. There was also a picnic basket and a blank sketchbook. The book reminded him of Sunny and how much he used to draw. Sadly there were no pencils to draw anything on it...
He went through a few doors around the area only to manage to find new ways to die brutally and painfully. He has lost track of the times he lost his limbs to some beast in the shadows or to his friends with distorted faces. His flower crown still itched but he knew better than to tug at it.
He deserves all of it though. He deserves to be ripped to shreds by his friends. Torn into little pieces of paper and eaten alive by monsters with sharpened teeth. He deserves it for the sin he committed a long time ago. Despite feeling fear in his heart and despite the tears burning his eyes, it truly is what he deserves.
I wonder where this next door leads...let us explore some more s̷̡̢̧̤̥̤͈͙̜̥͈͈̜̽̿̒̀̋̊̈́̽̚ͅi̷̢̯̘̿̽͛̓̋̀̈́̇̀̏͘͘͘̕͝͝͝ͅn̶̲̻̲̙̝̰̯̒̈́͐̍͘͘ͅn̴̖̻̪̺̫̓̂͒͐̂̐̓e̷̛̙̻̩̟̲͈̱̐̈͊̔̽̂̿̈̅̚͜͜ͅr̷̢̝̫͈̬̬̞̤̙̝͍̲̟͎̖͋̌̾̔̓͠.
~~~~~~
There was a hole in the ground, just north of King Crawlers' body. It had a ladder sticking out of the ground which allowed the group to enter the underground.
When they finally reached the bottom they were greeted with Mari, sitting down on her picnic setup as always. Hero wondered why Mari was able to make it around so fast and why she was always on a picnic blanket but decided against asking about it. He could just get answers from Sunny when he goes to Faraway.
“Hey, guys! How did everything go?” Mari asked the group.
“Eh, if you minus the centipede monster then we are good!” Kel grinned.
“I might have a new insect to fear…” Hero shivered at remembering the creature. Without adrenaline fueling him he can now focus on how horrifying the monster was.
“Oh, well that sounds bad...would you like a tomato?” She offered Hero.
Hero sighed and with a nod began to chow down. This reminded him of the time where he saw a big spider and to take his mind off it Mari invited him to bake cookies with her. Kel and Sunny hung out in the living room watching Spider-Man cartoons and-
Damn it, Hero, stop making yourself sad by remembering the past.
“Why is there so much Sweetheart merch here?” Aubrey suddenly spoke up, looking at the table to their left filled to the brim with accessories all Sweetheart themed.
Hero silently recalled the fact of SpaceBoy who was dating Sweetheart, that is if he remembered correctly.
Wasn’t Sweetheart that anime that came on in the morning? He and the others would go to Sunny’s place and watch it with the others. Mari sort of liked the show and she would hum the theme song mindlessly while cooking.
The thing is that Sunny absolutely despised the show. He never saw that much disgust on his face until they watched it for the first time and Sweetheart showed up on the screen. It was honestly quite funny to watch his neutral face morph into fear whenever he heard the theme song play in the living room.
He wonders if in the four years he watched it to remember her.
There was a sign nearby the merch that read, “Sweetheart Presents, Sweetheart’s Quest For Hearts!”
“Wow, this looks absolutely boring…” Kel muttered.
“Imagine if Basil was in there.” Aubrey jokes.
“Knowing our luck, I have a feeling that he would be.” Hero sighed.
“You know what? My legs are tired, we can take a break and watch the show.” Kel decided.
“Where would we- oh! We got tickets from that sprout mole, remember?” Aubrey pointed out.
“Yeah! We can get in with them no problem-o!” Kel nodded.
“Alright, alright...Omori.” Hero turned to look at the boy in question, “Do you wanna watch the show?”
Omori had a look of shock across his face before it quickly turned back to normal. He looked down and nodded slowly as if he was embarrassed.
“Sweet! Showtime!” Kel laughed.
Hero walked over to the ticket booth and greeted the sprout mole running the stand.
“Ah! Hello, strange-looking sprout moles! Are you here to see the wonderful show Sweethearts Quests for Hearts?” The sprout mole asked, “Cause if so you came to the right place! This sold-out show will start very soon!”
“Yep, that is what we are here for.” Hero went and pulled the four tickets from his pockets, “Here ya go.”
“Oh? Oh, my! I can’t believe it! These are for the front row!” The sprout mole admired, “You must have made some great sacrifices to be alive today!”
“Tell me about it…” Kel grumbled.
“Forgive me for calling you strange-looking! At another glance, you all look like the most normal and fancy sprout moles I have ever seen!” The sprout mole complimented, “Please, enjoy the show!”
Hero nodded to the sprout mole and the group proceeded ahead, climbing up another ladder leading them to a castle-like door.
Inside was the brightest and pinkish room Hero was ever forced to walk into. Sprout moles filled up most of the seats, loudly blabbering about what the show might feature today. Sadly there was no sign of Basil in any of the seats.
The show stage was huge, almost as large as the one in schools that plays and concerts take place on. The first row on the left was empty so Hero and the others quickly settled down in their spots.
A few moments after the group had sat down the lights had dimmed. Two spotlights turned on and danced across the curtain on the stage before finally disappearing. A sprout mole with green hair came from the left side and moved their way forward to a microphone placed down, almost exactly their height.
“Ladies and gentlemoles! Welcome to a special episode of, SWEETHEART’S QUEST OF HEARTS!”
The crowd began to cheer a bit before settling back down.
“Before the show, however, he would like to introduce to you YE OLD SPROUT!” The mole shouted.
Everyone erupted into cheers as the giant sprout mole opened the curtains to reveal himself.
“Greetings my children,” he began, “I hope you all have been doing well. Please remember to take good care of yourselves and eat a healthy amount of tofu.”
The crowd began to loudly bang their feet on the ground to mimic clapping noises. Though Omori and friends preferred to clap like normal people.
The curtain shut and the sprout mole smiled, “With that out of the way, let us enjoy the show!”
A giant sign lowered from the ceiling, dashed in bright lights and hearts. Sweetheart’s face of course was right in front of it, also in bright lights.
“Last time on the show our darling Sweetheart had failed to fall in love with one of our charming bachelors! This time we have gained three new contestants!” The sprout mole flashed a grin, “Will any of them be able to catch her heart? Let us reveal them now!”
Another sprout mole walked onto the stage with a dumb grin on its face, “THIS IS CONTESTANT NUMBER ONE! He is a local of Sprout Mole Village and he comes in at three feet tall!”
“Who would want to date someone the size of a baby?” Aubrey whispered under her breath. Hero had to hold back a chuckle at that.
“His favorite food is Tofu and he owns a collection of plastic flamingos! He enjoys walking through narrow tunnels. Clap for contestant number one!” The green-haired sprout mole shouted.
Everyone began to aggressively stomp their feet again and Hero is surprised they didn’t fall through the floor.
Another sprout mole hopped on stage and did a mini twirl around, “Contestant two is also a local from Sprout Mole Village! He is three feet and one inch! His hobbies include walking, running, and crawling! His favorite color combination is brown and green and he likes to roll in the dirty laundry!”
“Ew…” Kel muttered.
“For once you are right Kel. Ew.” Aubrey nodded.
“Guys please be quiet…” Hero groaned.
“Give it up for number two!” The green hair mole yelled into the crowd.
The crowd began to cheer loudly and aggressively.
“And now, it is time for a switch up!” The green sprout mole announced.
“A switch up?” Aubrey wondered aloud. The next contestant walked on stage. If Hero had to describe them it would be toilet paper with two legs and a face.
“Contestant number 3 comes from Otherworld! It is like he fell from the sky, quite literally! According to him and us, that means he might be a catch!” The green-haired sprout mole laughed.
A small cheer was shouted out for contestant three but not that many people joined in. Hero could smell the bias in the room for number three. He almost feels bad for the guy.
“And now it is the moment you have all been waiting for! Dim the lights!” The mole shouted. The lights began to dim and a drum roll began to play in the background.
“She emits beauty, she exudes grace, and she truly has the most pulchritudinous face! Yes, you know who we are talking about!” The mole built up, “She is all that amazing and wonderful and she is about to set foot on this stage! Give a big warm welcome to-”
The sprout mole didn’t get to finish as a sudden strike of thunder hit the stage causing everyone to let out a scream of surprise (minus Omori of course.)
The lights were now off but somehow everyone could still see. The third contestant disintegrated into dust as for he was the one struck by lightning. Ouch. Hero felt bad for him.
“Well, that was anticlimactic…” Aubrey muttered.
“I am just glad we weren’t struck by the lightning.” Hero sighed.
“Yeah, when do you think the moles will turn on the power again? I bet five minutes!” Kel looked over to Aubrey.
“Another bet? Really Kel? Hm...I bet we are going to need to fix this.” Aubrey grinned devilishly.
“Come on, that isn’t going to happen. They know how to fix their own-”
“HELP! WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!”
“HELP! WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO EITHER!” two sprout moles yelled loudly across the stage. They both continued to yell for help repetitively and it doesn’t look like they are going to stop soon.
“...” Kel was dead silent.
“Make my ten a twenty,” Aubrey laughed.
“Hero please lend me some money, I beg you.” Kel pleaded with his brother.
“Stop putting yourself in debt. I will lend you some tomorrow.” Hero groaned.
“Yes! Thank you, Hero!” Kel made a mini fistbump.
Hero turned to look at Omori who was strangely looking away. Omori faced him however once he realized he was being stared at and nodded, slowly getting up from his seat. The others followed him, getting up as well.
It seems it was time to explore Sprout Mole Village, hopefully, nothing bad happens...