*cries in a corner*
Absolutely STUNNING art by FlurryWhip
Tetra and Lumina dragged a partially-unconscious Quin behind them as the two of them were practically scrambling across the floor. Within the previous ten minutes, Blixer had not only killed Pi and left her dead body on the stairs, but he also heavily wounded Quin by smashing his body against a wall full force. He was now scrambling, half-awake, limping with a trickle of blood running down his forehead. The dark hall that the three were running down was dimly lit and very long, they've been running for what felt like hours and hours down stairs and across hallways. How many floors did this tower even have? They hoped that they were halfway through. Lumina felt like crying and Tetra was too busy sprinting to feel scared. They couldn't save Pi, and that regret seemed to weigh down on their heart like a lead weight. They felt like ripping out all their hair, her throat was slit by Blixer like she was a salmon, and what did they do? What could they do? Nothing. They just watched her die. So the most that they can do now is make sure that Quin and Lumina still had a chance.
Tetra's hands closed around Lumina and Quin's. Lumina just looked at them weirdly, and Quin didn't respond. His eyes were unfocused and tired.
"We're gonna get out of here alive." Tetra muttered with the determination of a thousand suns. They assured their terrified sister and partially unconscious brother that everything was going to be okay. But deep down, and Tetra would never admit it, they knew it was hopeless. They ran down the stairs quicker than they've ever scrambled down a flight of stairs before in their lives, hoping that they've somehow managed to shake Blixer off. They prayed that they did.
Lumina looked behind her and almost tripped when she saw a wide, toothy grin filled with razor sharp teeth smiling back at her from the top of the stairs.
"TETRA, RUN!" She screamed, pulling Quin behind her quicker and more desperately. "HE'S RIGHT BEHIND US!"
'WHAT?' Tetra whipped their head behind them and their eyes widened. A pair of angular, sharp eyes that belonged to an eagle stared down at them, like he was brainstorming different ways to kill them. A second later, he leapt from the top of the stairs like a wild cat, ready to resume the chase. Their attention immediately went back to their travel path and the two of them pulled Quin much faster. At this point, Quin was much more awake, actually managing to process that he was in danger, so the load lessened a little bit as he started to sprint alongside his two siblings. The trickle of blood that was running down his forehead didn't seem to be slowing down, though he seemed perfectly capable of functioning on his own. His lungs felt like collapsing and their legs felt like they were on fire.
Looking behind them now, Lumina realised that Blixer had disappeared. They just turned a corner, so they may have lost him. An idea popped into her frantic, panicking mind and she opened a door, threw her two siblings in and closed it.
The room seemed to be a bedroom, although who it belonged to didn't matter to them. The tense silence was filled with the three of them panting and hyperventilating, bodies exhausted and in need of a lot of oxygen. A few seconds later, they all heard running footsteps approach. Blixer. They all held their breath, but released it once the footsteps ran past the door. They were safe. For now.
Lumina laid Quin down onto the bed and checked his forehead. His eyes were unfocused as he moaned in pain. Luckily his head injury wasn't too bad, so she just looked around for something to clean his wound with. Tetra just collapsed onto the bed alongside Quin, thankful for a moment of rest. Lumina just dabbed the blood away with a bit of cloth she found, before using the water from a nearby flower vase to clean the gaping hole in his head. She ripped up another bit of cloth she found and wrapped it around his noggin.
"How're you feeling, Quin?"
'Terrible.'
"Good."
Lumina collapsed onto the bed alongside her two siblings as she stared up at the wall. Because of the panic from the past ten minutes, she didn't have time to let Pi's death sink in. But now that her adrenaline levels have decreased and she could think clearly, she finally took in all that happened. A slit throat, the panic in her eyes, everything.
Pi was dead.
As that thought sank in, so did a crushing sensation of regret and grief. She rolled over to her side and started to cry.
"Lumina? You okay?" Tetra, once they caught their breath, asked.
'No...' She sobbed. 'It's just... Pi... She... She was right there... I could've saved her, but I just... watched her die... There was nothing I could do... I feel so useless, I just watched as my own sister died before my eyes... I could've... I could've saved her...'
Tetra just rolled over and pat her shoulder. Quin, sandwiched between the two, hugged her.
"There was nothing any of us could do." Tetra said. "It's not your fault. It's all that fucking pink bastard's fault."
'Yeah... but...'
"Listen, once we get out of here, and find Trist, the seven of us... six... six of us... will find and kick his ass."
'Tetra?'
"I won't forgive that fucking son of a bitch and neither will any of us. We won't show any mercy and we will make sure that he's crying and begging for us to kill him."
'...Tetra?'
"I miss Pi, we all do, but the most we can do now is avenge her death. She'll want that, I know-"
'Tetra.'
"What?"
Everyone went silent as they started to hear the sound of hurried, running footsteps faintly echo through the walls. The three of them all stared at each other before all colour drained from their faces once they realised who- or what- it could be.
"Oh sh- You two, in the cupboard, NOW." Lumina almost leapt out of bed as she pointed to a large wardrobe in the corner of the room with a shaking finger. Now she wished this room had a lock. Tetra hurriedly pushed a stumbling Quin into the closet, and Lumina squeezed in as well before closing the door. In the dark, cramped wardrobe, they were practically breathing into each other's mouths. Nobody spoke a word. The three of them all flinched in unison when they heard a nearby door on the floor open and slam shut.
The sound of consecutive doors opening and slamming shut caused Tetra, Lumina and Quin to all lock eyes and stare at each other, panic welling up in their eyes. The loud slamming of doors started to inch closer... and... closer...
Until the door of the room right next to them opened, and nobody even dared to even breathe.
Then the door to the room they were hiding in opened...
...
And closed...
Everyone let go of their breath as they spent a moment just processing what just happened.
Then Quin broke the silence with a harsh whisper. "You think it's safe to go out now- WHAT THE F-"
Tetra almost had a heart attack when the wardrobe door flew open and a dark, blood-stained talon reached into the darkness and pulled Quin out by his neck. Lumina was screaming while Quin was desperately trying to break free. Blixer's razor sharp claws dug themselves deep into his prey's soft neck, causing a few trickles of blood to drip down them. His legs thrashed around as he hopelessly tried to gasp for air. His assailant's sharp teeth almost glowed in the dark.
Lumina's eyes were wide with terror as her knees shook. A voice deep within her soul told her that it was already too late. This was Pi's death all over again. A life was about to be taken right before her eyes and there was nothing she could do.
Until a hand snatched Lumina's bicep and dragged her out of the wardrobe.
Tetra, now feeling something click deep within them, leapt up and wrapped their arms around Blixer's neck. They pulled back, trying to make him let go. But when Blixer transformed, he grew in size. Significantly. Tetra was only up to his hips with his new height, so they were more like an annoying fly that could be easily swatted away than a threat. And that he did, because using his free arm, without even turning behind him, he grabbed Tetra's shoulder and threw them against the wall. When they landed they felt all air escaping in a painful thud. It took them a few moments to stand back up again, and when they did, they saw the mortified look on Quin's face as he cursed at the monstrosity in front of him. Blixer just smiled widely as his grip tightened, causing Quin's eyes to widen and gasp for breath.
And with a single flick of a wrist, suddenly you can hear the sound of glass breaking as Quin disappeared. The two of them could hear Quin's faint screaming, and the moment they saw that the nearby window had been broken, they realised how exactly he was going to die.
Tetra just took Lumina and ran.
Quin's body, after being thrown out the window, fell down from the tower, gale force winds like daggers digging themselves into his face and a frozen comb being forcibly brushed through his hair. The G-Force almost made him faint as it squeezed his lungs, causing a deep panic to radiate within him. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. This was (Y/N) being thrown off the roof all over again, except this time, Fresh wasn't there to catch him. Rather, he was the one who threw him off.
And finally, after managing somehow to accept his fate, his body collided with the hard ground below with a sickening crack.
Right in front of Trist, Skye and Neptune's horrified eyes.
His eyes had rolled to the back of his head as his limbs contorted painfully on the ground. He didn't feel any pain when he died, and thankfully there was no blood. But Neptune vomited, Skye bit her lip, and Trist collapsed. They had just wanted to come up to see what was taking everyone so long, cheer them on and congratulate them when they won... But not this... Anything but this...
Tetra and Lumina, still shocked beyond words from the horror that was the deaths of their siblings, just sprinted down the hallway. Lumina was crying and sobbing, while Tetra just shut down emotionally. They need to survive. She needs to survive. They need to make sure that what happened to Pi and Quin wouldn't happen to themself and Lumina.
"It's hopeless..." Lumina sobbed. "We're all gonna die..."
'Shut up Lumina.' Tetra snarled. 'We are gonna get out of here alive. We are going to get out of here, find Trist and kick Blixer's ass.'
"Tetra... just accept it..."
'NO.' Tetra yelled, running faster. 'I AM NOT DYING HERE. I AM NOT DYING IN THIS TOWER. I REFUSE TO DIE HERE IN THIS SHITHOLE AND NEITHER ARE YOU.'
Lumina just sighed.
'Lumina, I know it seems hopeless, but we are going to survive. We are gonna get out of here alive, safe and sound.'
She just looked at them, completely emotionless.
"Listen, Tetra, I know you're hyped up, I know you don't want to die, I know you want to tell Trist you love him, but-"
'Wait wait wait, when have I ever mentioned that last part?'
"But seriously, Pi and Quin both died... I don't think either of us have a chance..."
'Don't ignore me! When. Have I. Ever said. That last part. About Trist.'
"Like, you can go ahead and be as gung ho as you want, but he can be around the corner waiting for us for all we know, I don't think we're gonna make it out of here alive."
Tetra was quiet. 'I told you, that purple yam isn't invincible, nothing is, he isn't gonna be just waiting around the corner, we can totally- ah shit, speak of the devil.'
Blixer didn't even let Tetra finish their sentence when he was literally around the corner waiting for them. Tetra's fast reflexes allowed them to immediately duck when Blixer stuck his claw out to find a soft neck to puncture, but Lumina, however, immediately froze.
So, naturally, the moment Tetra realised that it was their actions that would potentially kill Lumina, their heart lurched.
Lumina shrieked and thrashed around, legs dangling as she was hoisted two feet up into the air. Tetra, knowing that she was the only thing of their "family" left, immediately leapt up and tried to force him to let go. One arm was wrapped around Blixer's neck, the other across his face as both their legs were squeezed tight around his ribcage.
"TETRA PLEASE" Lumina shrieked. "JUST RUN! YOU'RE GONNA GET KILLED AS WELL!"
Tetra just screamed in rage as everything within them just told them to save her. Lumina, Quin and Pi were the closest things they had to family, so no way they were gonna just sit and watch as Lumina was taken away from them.
Blixer didn't even flinch at Tetra's desperate full output of strength. He just simply opened his abnormally large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, and sank them deep into Tetra's forearm. A loud shriek, this time not coming from Lumina, echoed through the air as Tetra, who was trying to force Blixer to let go, was now trying to let go themselves. They could feel the razor blades digging deep into their wrist as well as all their nerve endings screaming in agony as they all severed. It felt like someone had just sprinkled lava onto their flesh. Blixer opened his mouth again, and Tetra fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, sobbing as they clutched their forearm. He almost ripped it clean off.
"YOU FUCKING PILE OF SHIT!" Tetra let out a raw scream as they tried to scramble up to their feet. Looking at their arm, a series of large, gaping holes adorned their skin, letting warm, maroon blood leak out. Lumina, now that they looked at her, was crying as several streams of blood leaked from her own neck from Blixer's sharp talons.
"Please... Tetra..." She whimpered. "Run..."
And although every fibre of Tetra's being was shaking, although all the cells in their bodies screamed at them for what they were about to do, although Tetra knew that they were going to hate themselves 'till the end of their days, they turned around and ran. When they turned the corner, they could hear a blood-curdling shriek coming from behind them, followed by a sickening wet crack. They tried to resist the temptation to cry and just ran faster. It felt like a huge hole had been cut out of their heart. Their sister, the last surviving member of the closest thing they had to family, had died. And although they wanted to claw at their flesh for thinking it, they knew that while her murderer was busy, they would have a better chance of survival. But what was living without them? The three of them had seen them through thick and through thin. They've been with them for longer than they could remember. They've seen Tetra crap their pants, literally cry over spilt milk, and had even beat up bullies with them.
Sure, Lumina put milk in first before the cereal, Quin tears toilet paper half-way through the squares, and Pi bites her ice creams, but they loved them nonetheless. Plus, Tetra didn't mind drinking orange juice after brushing their teeth, so they fit right in with the other three.
As soon as they reached what felt like the hundredth floor, they just suddenly stopped. The regret, the despair, the sorrow all weighed down on them. Not only physically, but psychologically as well. They didn't even try to save Pi. They weren't strong enough to save Quin. They ran away from Lumina while she was slaughtered.
They should've just died alongside Lumina.
"Shit..." Tetra sobbed as they punched the wall with a shaking fist. Every slight movement was overflowing with the agonising grief harboured within them. Somewhere very, very far away, a single white lilac withered. "Shit... ShitshitshitshitshitSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!" They didn't care that Blixer would find them. Rather, after what they did, Tetra was hoping that Blixer would find them. It felt like they were being imprisoned by their own regret. They would do anything to get them back. Anything to get their annoying laughs, horrible puns and loud, obnoxious voices back. But they would never admit it.
Tetra eventually started to walk slowly across the halls. They didn't care that they were probably gonna die. They didn't care. Not anymore.
Until after a while, Tetra reached a large, triangular door. The ground floor. They would be triumphant, they would thank the Tree of Life for making sure they were okay, they would be overjoyed. But not now. Instead, Tetra just sat down against the wall, chin raised at the ceiling as a few drops of salty nectar flowed down their cheeks. Their arm didn't even hurt anymore, not when it was compared to the pain inside.
"N̥̄ot ̡̕gon̡̚n͙̿a ̣̾r͋ͅun͇͊?̢̍" A spine-chilling voice broke the silence. Tetra looked up and saw an eight foot tall monster bathed in the blood of their siblings, standing at the end of the hall. The siblings who they failed to save.
Tetra shrugged.
'No. Just make it quick. Not gonna do a long as cliche villain speech about your victory and how "friendship is dead" and all that?'
Blixer let out a cold, taunting chuckle as he approached, bearing his razor sharp fangs with a psychotic bloodlust swimming in his eyes.
"Y̢̊ou'r͚̍ȅ͚ ̆ͅnot ̗̄wor̰͗th̤͝ ͉͠the͎͠ t̩̊im̜͝e."
The bottomless pit that replaced Trist's heart was gnawing at the rest of his body as he tenderly held Quin's dead body in his arms, almost as if his warmth will magically revive him. After a while of trying to nudge Quin awake, he finally came to terms with the cold hard truth, which he should've realised when he saw that all his joints bent the wrong way.
"Trist..." Skye placed a shaking but warm hand on his shoulder. "Trist... I'm so sorry..."
Trist didn't even react to her touch. The world around him was spinning as he tried to calm himself down, but horribly failing. He hyperventilated as he stared down at the corpse with shocked, wide eyes.
Neptune's head immediately perked up out of nowhere after a while trying to recover from vomiting. He stared right at the door to the tower with his eyebrows furrowed.
"We need to run."
Skye whipped her head behind her and stared at him in disbelief.
"You're not speaking like a pirate? Where's your accent gone-"
'Skye, shut up, we need to run, now.' Neptune tried to hoist himself up, but because of his lack of proper functioning legs, Skye just took him in one arm, and tried to pry Trist away from Quin's dead body with the other. Trist eventually caved in, and allowed himself to be carried away behind a bush. Not even five seconds later, a large bang against the front door to the tower startled everyone.
"...What was that?" Skye harshly whispered.
Almost as if the source heard and decided to answer her question, the door suddenly sprang open, revealing a small cyan figure tumbling down to the grass below. Trist almost stood up, but Skye held him down. Tetra was in horrible shape, bruises covered their face, their arms, their legs, and they had multiple clusters of puncture wounds all over their limbs, even some forming holes in the clothes on their torso. There was a large stream of maroon running down their neck. They should look like they're in pain. They should look like they're scrambling to live. But they just looked defeated. They just looked tired. They just looked like they just wanted it to end.
"Fuck..." They muttered. "I told you to make it quick..."
Then, a large, eight foot tall demon stepped out from behind them. Skye covered her mouth to stifle a gasp and Neptune's eye nearly popped out of his head.
Whatever the thing that came out of the tower was, it was not human. No. Normal humans don't have a mouth the size of their entire face filled with razor sharp teeth. Normal humans don't have beady, deranged eyes with pink sclera. Normal humans... don't... Normal humans don't look like that.
"I̳͑ ͚̑w̪͂anṯ͗ ̦̄to.̛͖.. ̩͋sä͍v̫̊ö̡́ur.̮͝.͍̂.̧̈́ ̘̈́t͕͌his̠̈ m̖͆o̩̾ment..." It chuckled. Skye had gotten used to seeing limbs bent the wrong way, bleeding heads, open wounds, grown men crying for their mothers, and even, in worst case scenarios, dead bodies. But such a predatory aura was given off by this... this monster caused even her calm composure to completely break. It was like looking dead in the eyes of a demonic wolf carrying a carcass in its jaws. She should get the other two and fly far, far away from this monstrosity. But she can't. It was like all of the cells in her body completely paralysed themselves in fear. It was like there was something that this demon was doing deliberately forcing her to stay immobile. The best thing she could do was whimper and cry. Neptune seemed to do the same, his skin drying up much faster. And this man faced Great White Sharks head-on and won.
In a dark pink blur, suddenly Blixer almost teleported from the doorway and onto Tetra's collapsed, vulnerable body. The weight of the monster crashing onto their back caused a grunt from Tetra as they tried to instinctively crawl away, but the monster just took one of Tetra's arms, and mischievously forced it backwards at an unnatural angle like a child playing with a toy. The sound of bones cracking and popping out of sockets coaxed a loud, anguished roar to come from the square, and Blixer smiled with satisfaction. Trist, upon hearing Tetra's agonised screaming, immediately snapped out of his terrified trance.
He stood up revealing himself, causing his two companions to look at him like he was crazy. He immediately, with no control of his body, started to desperately run towards Tetra, vision blurry from the tears in his eyes. But although he can't see properly now, his heart knew one thing. Save the blue blur from the dark pink blur. The despairing voice deep within him that was puppeteering his movements was saying the same thing over and over again. "Save Tetra. Save Tetra." Quin was dead. Pi and Lumina are also very likely dead. And Trist would never allow Tetra to be hurt like this. Not on his watch.
"TRIST WHAT'RE YOU DOING YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURSELF KILLED!" Skye screamed as she grabbed Trist from behind by his shoulders. Neptune grabbed his legs. This caused Tetra to look up to see what the commotion was, but their attacker wasn't even phased.
The amount of resistance Trist was being faced with only made him let out a raw, anguished scream as he tried to struggle. He clawed at the empty air that could've been Tetra's body if he weren't so useless. He tried to reach for the broken, mangled body pinned underneath the monster. Save Tetra.
As soon as Tetra realised who it was, their eyes widened with a horrified look.
"TRIST?" Tetra shouted with a raspy, croaky voice as they reached their good arm out to Trist as well. "TRIST, WHAT'RE YOU DOING, RUN!"
Trist didn't pay any attention to what they said. Save Tetra. He let out a shrilling, heartbroken noise which sounded like a gargled version of Tetra's name.
"TRIST, PLEASE, JUST RUN! YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURSELF-" Their voice was interrupted by Blixer ramming their head into the ground, silencing them for a couple seconds. This time, the demon actually acknowledged the presence of the screaming and crying boy. He locked eyes with Trist as he raised Tetra's head by their hair, revealing a stream of red dripping down their nose as Tetra looked like they were holding onto the string of life by just a thread. Their eyes were going in and out of focus at random intervals. They didn't have much time left. Too much blood. Too much blood lost and staining the clothes of the monster who enjoyed every second of it. It was like he was taunting Trist for being so useless.
"Ĝͅo oň͖.̐ͅ.. T͇̎hey̙͝'re ̼̾r͎͝ight̺́ ͔͐h͍̃ere̥̔..." He chuckled. "C̰͑'mọ̆n.͓͐.."
Trist tried to fight against Skye and Neptune, but then again, he could only watch as Blixer sank their claws deeper into Tetra's neck... And deeper...
"Trist... Trist please..." Tetra gasped. "Please... run..."
He did not oblige. Running away was the last thing on his mind. Save. Tetra. Save Tetra, despite the extremely low chance of their survival. Save Tetra, despite the demon taunting him that he would never save them. Save Tetra, despite Neptune and Skye forcing him back - and winning. Save Tetra, despite everything.
But soon enough, Trist felt himself being forced back a little bit by the strength of his two companions. No. He. Was not. Losing.
"Trist..." Tetra whimpered as tears leaked out of their desperate, wide eyes. They reached a shaking, bloodstained arm out to him.
"Please... I lov-"
Before they could finish their sentence, almost as if Blixer was taunting and playing with Trist, all of a sudden everything below his knuckles, including his talons, disappeared into Tetra's neck with a sickening, wet crack and a large gush of blood squirting out. Tetra desperately gasped for one last breath before falling silent.
And at that moment, everything in Trist's mind completely came to a stop. It felt like they had just swallowed a whole entire glacier, giving all of his insides a painful frostbite. And frankly, Trist would rather that than this. Trist would rather that more than watching Tetra, the person who protected him his entire life, die before his eyes while he couldn't do anything. The only chance he ever got to protect them. And he was completely and utterly useless. Time seemed to slow painfully down during this moment, as if the whole entire universe was taunting and laughing at him alongside Tetra's murderer.
Blixer retracted his claws and let Tetra's head fall to the ground like a dead weight. Their once brilliant, blue shining eyes now stared off blankly to an unknown distance. A pool of blood formed underneath their body, a sight which seemed to satisfy Blixer even further.
Trist was very well aware that an unwavering fire was scorching his throat as he screamed his lungs out in despair. Trist was very well aware that water was pouring out of his eyes like even his tears were mourning the death of his beloved Tetra. Trist was very well aware that every inch of his body was trying to resist Skye's pull, clawing and thrashing around as she carried him away, attempting to console him. Desperate to even have the chance to hold their body in his arms in a final embrace. To say the words "Farewell, Tetra, I love you too" that he hadn't managed to say when he still had the chance.
But despite that... Everything was silent. Everything was blurry. Everything felt numb.
And the only thing that Trist could focus on was the bloodstained clump of bright blue hair that fanned out across the ground.