Published: September 12, 2023
Words: 1454
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{Tbh PoV}

The voices seemed at least a but familiar, but not enough to trust. Especially in a place that not any of us were familiar with at all. Even if someone like Muffin was familiar with this place, he's not with us.

I grabbed Meme and pulled him down to a small corner, listening carefully for footsteps or more calling out. It was strange how these voices knew our names; as far as I knew, group 1 had made it to The Airship and were doing their investigations.

After a few seconds of searching my pockets, by some miracle, I found a pistol in one of them. It had some ammunition in it, but even if it didn't I had some in my bag.

"No, no.. NO. DON'T EVEN THINK OF THAT WOOLF." Someone said, raising their voice to the point it echoed down the hallway. But.. Woolf? Why was he here.. does that mean everybody else from group 1 was here? I could feel shifting from beside me, Meme taking my hand off of him and standing up.

"H-Hey.. Woolf? Is anyone else with you? It's Meme!" He said, looking down the hallway nervously.

No respone, but soon a rush of footsteps coming from down the hallway. I stood up and held up the pistol to the end of the hallway where the noise was coming from. Meme shot me a glance, he looked anxious as the sound drew closer, backing up a bit to grab a gun laying on the ground.

Suddenly, a flash of colour appeared at the end of the hallway. Seeing the movement almost made me pull the trigger, but after a second, I realized it was Ally. But.. she looked different. From what I could see, she had her hair completely down, and had cuts and bandages all over her body, most of her clothes ripped in several places.

Woolf and Dino followed soon, having the same state of appearance as Ally. Was The Airship's crash site really that bad? The three ran towards us, Ally hugging me tightly when she got to us, shoving my head into her chest.

"A-Ally.. what happened...?"

Woolf looked around nervously, waiting for Ally to explain while Meme and Dino brought their attention to our conversation.

"Well.. okay. It's a long story... so, about a week after we arrived.. we noticed Laff starting to act all weird. Y'know how he's kinda the glue between us? Yeah, he stopped playing that part suddenly. He wouldn't even say hello or wave if you passed him. And I've known him for 5 years, he never passes up an opportunity like that—"

Woolf cut in, clearly not interested in "a long story." "Anyways, what's important. So, at a meeting on what files we found, Joocie said something, and Laff just snapped, he started yelling and saying things completely out of character. He was actually angry. Joocie didn't even say anything offensive. And well... that lead to... Joocie took him to another room and well, we haven't seen either of them since."

Meme looked completely shocked, I knew he pissed off Laff once, and he still won't tell anyone about it and he completely breaks down when you mention it to him. So I couldn't imagine what he is like when he's actually angry.

"What about Joocie? Anything on him?" Meme said, shaking a bit.

Woolf and Ally looked at eachother, a sad air circling them. "He.. we don't know what happened. But we found his sweater covered in his "blood" and all ripped.."

"Oh god.. oh no..." Meme mumbled, gently holding the ripped sweater Dino had passed him, I could see tears starting to form at his eyes, quietly rolling down his face as he stared in shock.

"H-How will we tell Nadwe..." He whispered, finally closing his eyes and accepting it.

{??? PoV}

"Bright idea, genius."

"I'm going to pretend that wasn't sarcasm. Thank you!"

"You piss me off. Now what's this master plan of yours? You're pretty much just an SD card now, so what can you really do?"

"Haha! Funny joke! Also, I am not just an SD card, I'm a technological mutation. I think that with this new state, and new mind, I can actually find the answers locked behind walls."

"Hm.. so you're saying you can go into the Polus database? I guess now without having to keep up with your physical needs.. we can actually put a stop to this..."

"Yes, but thing is.. Socks. I can't find his records anywhere. It's almost like he vanished out of reality. The only thing I found was an interview memo considering him for hire at Polus. I couldn't even find his birth record."

"Hm.. any clue where he is?"

"Nope. Nothing. I looked everywhere, every centimetre of the earth.. and nothing."

"Quite the case we've got on our hands, then. Have you checked the physical reality of Polus?"

"The cameras are absolutely broken, almost intentionally smashed to bits. Considering I no longer have physical form—"

"Hold that thought. I think I can make you a body... this place is all just scrap metal either way."

{Nobody's Pov}

As Nadwe and Muffin rounded a corner, they were met with bright blue lights, both of them covering their eyes at the brightness. Until they heard crashing close to them, then the light didn't matter.

"N-Nadwe! I told you to stay outside!" Blaza said, Nadwe immediately rushing over to him, blood in a splatter on the wall behind where Blaza was now sitting.

"Oooohh... didn't think Laff was so cruel to send a child into this wreck. I guess everyone has their own way of doing things." Someone said from behind Nadwe, causing him to spin around.

"C-Come out! Show your face!" Nadwe raised his voice, not that it was intimidating.

The person walked out of the shadows, blood all over their clothes, making the colours and patterns almost indistinguishable. They were smiling, as if Nadwe's pistols weren't so obviously pointed directly at their head.

"Aw. You've gotten taller since the last I saw you. How cute. Shame you ended up here." They said, getting closer to Nadwe as his hands grew tighter around the triggers.

"D-Don't get closer..." Nadwe mumbled, his voice trembling as Blaza tried to stand up. The injury to his head only making every other wound worse.

"Oh, but I think I have business to deal with, okay? I'm trying to... help.. Blaza here. Put him out of his misery, if you will."

"NO! I'M NOT LETTING YOU KILL HIM!" Nadwe yelled, sounding slightly threatening this time.

"Shit.. I didn't think you knew what that meant." They said, crouching down to Nadwe's eye level and using the back of their hand to push the pistols away. Muffin pulled out his knife, which was laced with high traces of cyanide (considering how little a stab wound the size of his tiny knife would affect a person, the poison was needed.)

"Don't you remember me? Think a few days ago? Sanitization room?"

"...No.. y-you aren't..."

"Mhm! You can say it."

"..Socks..?"

"Nice to see you again, buddy."

Nadwe's breathing started to shake, and he almost dropped his pistols. Blaza, from behind him finally regained most of his vision and dug a pocket knife into the person's chest, taking Nadwe behind him.

"Ah... didn't see that one coming.." Socks smiled, a familiar black liquid starting to drip from the stab wound. Despite having just been stabbed at least 15 centimetres into the chest, he fully stood up, not being over a foot taller than Nadwe, but at the same time not too much shorter than Blaza.

Blaza took a step back, not letting the gap between the two get any smaller than it already was. Nadwe slipped out from behind him, and stood with his pistols heavily gripped in his hands.

"Really, Blaza?" Socks lost the fake smile, clearly giving up on trying to not scare Nadwe.

"I thought you were smarter than this. You realize that this is a hopeless battle right—"

"HEY! BLAZA IS PLENTY SMART! AND I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU." Nadwe shouted, before finally pulling back the triggers, causing the room to ring with the gunshot sounds. Both guns smoking after being fired.

Socks caught both bullets in his hand, somehow. He just laughed and threw them aside, reaching into on of his pockets and pulling out a knife, along with two needles filled with an unidentified substance.

"This has gone on for far too long."
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YAAAAY!! WRITING MOTIVATION IS BACK!!

Also, lil announcement,
I am speculating a Radiant Blaze sequel.
NOTHING IS CONFIRMED BUT WATCH OUT >:D