[Gradient]

"Hey! Seeker!"

I called into the empty void, looking around for the wolf-god. Or any of the other forgotten characters that didn't work for Crescent. Anatox said he had been helping to ambush Crescent somehow. But then they were all kidnapped.

"Seeker!" I called again.

"I don't think he's here. This is an infinite void, he might not be near," Twilight retorted.

"Oh, shut up, would you?" I snarled, "He's a god, I'm sure he'll show up. Seeker!"

The white wolf eventually appeared in front of me. I had never formally met him, so I was a bit surprised at his immense size, despite knowing that he was a god. His starry gaze observed me up and down.

"Hello, Gradient, Twilight," Seeker greeted, nodding his head to me and Twilight. "What brings you here?"

I didn't question the fact that he knew my name. "The creator's been captured, as well as a fairly large group of us. We need you guys' help to free them.

Seeker flicked his ear. "Oh, I know very well of their capture."

"Then why haven't you done anything?" I queried, puzzled.

Seeker curled his fluffy tail around his large paws. "I have my reasons."

Suddenly, an immense pain shot through my chest, spreading throughout my entire body. I screeched, the agony burning fire through me. Twilight was on the ground, thrashing and writhing, struggling to breathe despite not needing to. Like he was being crushed.

I fell to my knees, feeling like I was being stabbed repetitively, blades being driven down to my core, pain, pain...

I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time.

The feeling of helplessness.

Eventually the darkness swallowed me whole, Seeker's eyes imprinting themselves into my memory as the world faded to black.

----

[3rd]

Akik appeared in the meeting place, quickly followed by Dayan. Dayan may not like Blaza very much, but he didn't want to see Akik as anxious as he's been. They were met by the annoyed-looking Arsenal, accompanied by Siren Ally.

Which Akik found slightly strange. Usually when he called, it was Inferno that showed up, them both being the general "leading" figures in their cabins.

"Hey, Ally," Akik greeted.

"What do you want?" Ally snapped, not acknowledging his salutation.

"What's with the tense atmosphere?" Dayan retorted.

"I'll tell you what," Arsenal spoke up, "A good bunch of us have gone missing, including Creator and Inferno, so yeah. We're not in a particularly good mood right now."

"Oh," Akik exhaled, "Blaza's missing, too, that's why I called the meeting."

"You called a meeting because your husband's missing?" Ally scoffed, "Please, we have more pressing matters than one human's disappearance."

"See, I told you they'd get mad at you," Dayan said to Akik.

"Well, what if they're connected?" Akik brought up, "I mean, if a bunch of you guys are missing-"

"We don't need your help," Ally growled. Her anger sounded almost wrong in her usually soft, singsong voice. "If we can handle you guys in our own worlds, we can handle another antagonist."

"No one said that this person's an actual antagonist," Akik pointed out, "And besides, you were killed by the Socks in your universe, who you, yourself, gave the power to kill you, and Arsenal-" He pointed at the shadow demon, "Was locked in hell because of his protagonist."

"Don't you bring Avia into this," Arsenal growled.

"I'm not bringing Avia into this, I'm just saying-"

"That's enough!" Ally burst. She looked at Akik. "You'll get no help from us. You guys are on your own. And we do know that this is an antagonist. No good character would turn to these methods, even if they were turned."

As Ally stormed away, Akik muttered, "You'd be surprised."

She didn't hear him. Arsenal gave him one last, cold glare before teleporting himself and Ally away.

Dayan sighed. "That could have gone better."

"Tell me about it," Akik said, forlorn. "I really hoped we could work together, but that was when I thought Inferno was going to be here. She hates me less than the others do."

Dayan summoned his katana, twirling the long, dark purple blade in his hands. "So what now?"

A period of silence preceded the question before Akik finally sighed. He wrapped his arms around himself, as if he was cold. "I don't know. I was worried about Blaza before, but now there's a bunch of the antagonists and Addie missing, and... I just don't know what to do. Inferno warned us that something bad was happening when Addie first appeared, and I told her she was just being paranoid, but now she's gone and we could have done something about it."

Dayan walked over to his friend and put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey. We'll figure out something."

Akik sighed. "I hope so."

----

And now we have Seeker being a yhenj

FRIK U-

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