"OH FUCK OFF."
'C'mooooon Tetra, tell us~ You were muttering his name in your sleep, what were you dreaming about?'
"LUMINA I SWEAR TO THE TREE OF LIFE THAT I WILL FUCKING SHOVE YOUR HEADPHONES UP YOUR ASS."
'Tetra, you know you can tell us~'
"OH QUIN NOT YOU TOO"
Pi just laughed. Skye rolled her eyes and smirked.
The flying woman was surprisingly strong, being able to lift three of them by her arms only. Lumina and Pi were each grabbing onto one of Skye's hands, while using their leftover hand to both clutch onto the hands of Tetra. Quin, the biggest, was riding Skye's back, just like riding a gigantic bird. Tetra attempted to kick and punch the only shape they could reach - Lumina, but being short does have its downfalls.
The five of them were now traversing through the industry, exploring any places that they have not previously been. It was only now that they realise how huge this place was.
Every shout triggered the exact same sound echoing back at them, like a game of Marco Polo. The sound of gears turning and hydraulic presses filled the air, sending shivers up their spines. Cool friends left an impact on them.
"So uh... Skye, what do you do for a living?" Lumina broke the silence.
'Me? Oh, well, I'm a search and rescue officer, on sick leave now, however.'
"Search and Rescue? That's awesome! You look for missing people, right?"
'I have wings, so obviously mountain rescues and saving stranded people is my type of thing. I get paid pretty well.'
"That's awesome! So if I were to guess, you were here in this place looking for people, right?"
'Also the case. Plus you'll have to try very hard to Corrupt me, so I was the perfect person for the job.'
"They... They could just tie your wings down, and you'll have to inch-worm your way out, right?"
'...True.'
'Pfft. Inch-worm.'
"Anyways," Skye smiled, not taking her eyes off the place they were flying in. "So, this 'Trist' is Tetra's boyfriend, right-"
"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT YOU *******ING **** ******* ***** *** SON OF A *******ING **** **** **********************, I HAVE HAD ****ING ENOUGH OF THIS **** ********** *** *** * ***** ******** ************ I ********** *** *** ******ING HATE YOU ALL YOU *** ** ******** * * *********** ****************** * ***********." Tetra's face turned crimson red, a look of exasperation and ire written all over their face. Their arm muscles were more tense than usual as they tried to thrash around. Everyone just blinked.
'...Jesus...' Quin muttered.
'Watch your language, kid.' Skye ordered, taking her eyes off of her trajectory and shooting a dirty look at Tetra.
"I'M NOT A FUCKING KID, I'M SEVENTEEN!!!"
'And I'm Twenty-three, have I sworn in front of you yet?'
"YOU'RE NOT MY FUCKING MOM!"
That comment coaxed a nervous laughter from their other three siblings.
'Now why are you guys laughing?'
"We were all abandoned at the Orphanage as babies." Quin sighed.
Silence.
'Oh. I'm sorry to hear that.'
"It's fine, it's fine, really, we coped well. Had each other."
'Me and my mother aren't really on good terms, I practically had to raise myself when I was in my mid-teens.'
The air seemed even more tense after Luna's statement about her mother. Now would be a good time to change the subject.
"ANYWAY!" Lumina broke the awkward silence. "You didn't deny it! You didn't deny that he was your Sweetheart, Tetra~"
"OH FUCK OFF"
'We love you too.'
Tetra yet again started thrashing about, attempting to hit his sibling in the face. Lumina just laughed.
Shortly after, Luna scowled as she scanned her surroundings.
"Hold on. It's gonna get rough." She muttered, and with a mighty swish of her wings, accelerated.
Before any of them could fully register what was going on, suddenly they felt a sharp breeze and a CLANG from behind them.
They looked behind them to see a hydraulic press that appeared out of almost nowhere, barely brushing against Skye's deformed feet. She flinched.
Now that Tetra's not trying to kill Lumina and Quin and Pi not observing the fight going on, they could finally focus on their trajectory.
"Crap, PULL ME UP!" Tetra screamed, spotting a sudden obstacle that would otherwise break their legs. Lumina and Pi both nodded and hoisted their sibling up, who also in turn lifted their legs up to avoid the wall. Quin had to duck a few times, and instinctively tried to steer Skye by tugging at her shoulders. She just yelled at him to keep his hands to himself, and that "She was the pilot here."
The wind flapped loose hair and clothing in the wind, as the sensation of freedom blew through their bodies.
And despite the completely inappropriate time to be thinking about this - they realised how truly lucky Skye was.
Riding on the back of Neptune through the seas was like riding a powerboat, but Skye was as free as a bird.
A shout started to build up in Lumina's throat, and soon enough she let out a "WOOHOO!" A labyrinth of hydraulic presses and turning gears surrounded the five as sometimes even Skye had trouble fitting through the smaller crevices. It was like they were navigating a circuit breaker. All the cogs and gears formed a shrill yet rhythmic metallic song that will glue itself into their souls for the rest of their lives. They even heard yelling from the other side of a wall.
But eventually, they found the source of the corruption.
Turning a corner into a dark hallway, they saw a light on the other side, creeping around the corner like a stalker made of white light. They wondered what it was. Skye carried the four of them down there, and when they came up their eyes widened.
The Tree of Life was the centre of everyone's lives. Legends say that it was created to protect us from an vengeful, malicious demon that will threaten to tear our souls apart.
So obviously, it came as a shock to see the very thing that held them together be tainted an angry pink as opposed to its peaceful white.
One third of the Tree of Life, one single triangle was dancing from the ceiling just like another piece of trash. Below it, was a conveyor belt that contained dazed, drugged innocent humans. On a seperate ledge not too far away from the conveyor belt, contained a pile of drugged humans that were dropped down from a tube, one every ten seconds. The look in their eyes was dazed and unfocused. Clamps took hold of them by their shoulders and transferred them onto the belt. There were clamps that squeezed the Triangle, and a juicy liquid started to be secreted from it. What the liquid did, once it landed onto the unsuspecting person's head, just like a dollop of honey, you could see their faces twist in anguish for a split second before turning emotionless. Once they did, a darkness will surround their vision as black ink bled from their eyes, and slowly their colourful features all turned pink. Greens, Blues, Purples - the Corruption is not picky. They were moved along onto solid ground before walking free. Not as happily, full of energy and character like they were before. Stoic.
Until all of a sudden, a figure appeared down the tube that drained all colour out of Tetra's face.
An all too familiar face appeared down the tube.
Oversized pale blue sweater. Messy, unkempt light blue hair. A pale blue square with two triangles as his headphone design.
"TRIST!" Tetra screamed with strokes of anguish brushed through their voice like a comb through hair. A look of horror was swimming in their eyes. Skye took one look at them, put two and two together and immediately prepared to set off to retrieve not only Trist, but as many drugged innocent humans as she can.
The other three looked at Tetra with their skin moist and eyes focused. They all silently cheered Skye on.
But she was too late.
Trist seemed a bit more "alive" than the rest of the victims, because when the clamp closed around his shoulders, his eyes opened themselves wide. He wasn't fully conscious, but he had a vague idea that he was in danger, telling from the look in his black, deep eyes.
Silence.
But then the clamp started to snatch him away, just like a talon of doom.
Skye's eyes widened as her muscles stiffened in reflex, preparing to lift her two mighty wings. And with a great push, summoning up all the energy in her body despite the invisible chains of fatigue plaguing her muscles, flapped them relentlessly while trying to attempt to free Trist. No use.
Trist, being the submissive, quiet boy he was, just simply cowered in fear, covering his eyes. He was visibly afraid but showed no visible restraint.
Suddenly, a shrill scream echoed through the tense air. And the four of them could only watch as the power of the mechanical arm overpowered the poor flying girl, and she was sent flying through the air. She used her wings to soften her landing a little bit, but it was already too late.
And Tetra could only watch.
Only watch in despair.
Only watch in horror.
Only watch in silence.
As a dollop of thick, pink, syrupy blood leaked from the corrupted pink triangle
And landed on him.
Right on his perfect, adorable, innocent face.
The smile that was once so bright, so pure, like a daisy facing towards the sun
Suddenly was but a faraway dream.
As the corruption slowly tainted his pure, light blue skin, dying it a screaming, angry pink. It destroyed every trace of that wholesome, angelic innocence. The tired look in his eyes that was typical of Trist was replaced with a cold fear under a layer of acceptance that was heartbreaking.
Every feature of his angelic body was stained pink.
Pink.
His eyes started to morph into gaping black holes and black ink started gushing out.
But surprisingly enough, everything stopped to a halt. The mechanical arm stopped midway, the conveyor belt stopped turning...
And Trist started to hover above the ground, neck bowed, motionless. There was nothing supporting him.
But then, in a loud RIP sound, everyone's eyes widened in horror.
Trist absolutely despised wearing short sleeves, even in the summer, because that way all of his scars would be exposed to the world. And now, his beloved sweater was ripped. The scars on his neck, the scars on his wrist, even the ones on his lower torso were exposed, free for all the world to see. And worst of all, they seemed to become fresh. They used to be just pale white lines, but then they turned pink and blood started to gush out of them. You could hear Skye gasping and Tetra collapsing to their knees.
And if you listened really closely, you could even hear the faint "pitter patter" of Tetra's tears dropping onto the metal floor
But one extra addition caused Lumina to gasp, Pi's fist to clench, Quin's eyes to widen and Tetra's heart to wrench.
A noose.
A single necklace of pink rope appeared around Trist's neck. It wasn't attached to anything, it just started to fade away a few dozen centimetres above his neck. Like someone took an eraser and rubbed part of it from people's vision.
He seemed alive, his chest was rising and falling, but his body was just floating there, limp and unmoving. His eyes had turned into the signature black holes of nothingness that was typical of the corrupted, but every now and then, they'd change shape. Sometimes it was shaped like a couple of cogs. Sometimes they were normal.
And then a level formed underneath him. It wasn't in the shape of a pentagon like the others, but rather a circle.
Tetra's eyes were wide as a flood of pure dread and horror drowned any other trace of emotion on their face.
A level, a corrupted ally, a corrupted piece of the tree of life right beside it... This was Lycanthropy all over again.
Moments passed where the four of them all had the same thoughts on their mind. They somehow managed to save Prochorus by beating him in a level, they just hoped they could do the same for Trist. And soon, they all started walking towards the void. Tetra actually had to be dragged there, since the image before them was a blurring, watery mess.
Silence filled the air as they entered the void. Tetra's hands started to sweat. The last time they saw a necklace around Trist's neck was that night where he tried to kill himself. And they would rather die than relive those memories. The despair in their soul... The fear...
"Tetra?" Their trance was broke by a sudden voice. Pi's head was tilted in confusion and concern. "You good?"
"I-I'm good..." Tetra lied. Their voice gave everything away.
But then they saw a figure in the centre that they knew all too well.
Trist. With his Blue hair, blue sweater, tired expression, Tetra almost immediately bolted for them.
Then, Trist started crying.
Pink drops of acidic lava started to drip down his cheeks, and then they flew off, straight into the way of the four teenagers. The look on the poor Trist's face was nothing but a sad acceptance. It broke their heart.
And with every drop, Trist's hair would slowly turn pinker. Sweater would slowly start tearing itself apart. Eyes would slowly open and bleed ink. Scars would start to refresh themselves, like a backwards healing process. Every second, Trist would look less like Trist and more like... A Corrupted...
"Oh please... Please fight it..." Tetra muttered as their heart shook. They were never really religious, but at this point they were praying like mad to the Tree of Life, even though it's corrupted. "Please Trist, please fight the Corruption, Please fight it, Please fight it... Please fight it..."
And almost as if Tetra's prayer worked, Suddenly, the tips of Trist's hair started turning blue again. Parts of his ragged sweater started repairing itself, like a sewing machine.
Tetra's eyes brightened at the sight that their friend was actually fighting the corruption. Just like they had prayed.
But then, the corruption stopped retreating.
One of Trist's eyes started crying pink tears, the other normal. Trist's lips trembled. His scarred wrists bought themselves up to his head.
"Fight it... Please fight it..." Tetra prayed once again.
Well, be careful what you wish for.
Because nothing, NOTHING would've ever prepared any of them.
For the mental torture that was Trist's agonising, excruciating screams of pain.