Memories

Chapter 26: Fall from the Light and into the Dark

Mercy, now back at the school, sighed and glanced at a nearby clock. The search had not taken longer than fifteen minutes, shorter than what he had calculated but it wouldn't interfere with his schedule. He let out a sigh.

"Mr. Mercy!" A familiar voice called frantically. Mercy turned around to see Dust, who looked as though he had run a marathon.

"DuSt. WhAt iS wRoNg?"

"It's the students! There's something wrong and it's chaos! The teachers are missing, I've looked through the entire school!"

Mercy narrowed his eyes and scowled, "whErE aRe alL tHe stUdentS?"

"They're all in the cafeteria!"

"TAkE mE tHerE."

Dust nodded and quickly started to run towards a big pair of doors. Mercy quickly followed him but paused. He looked around before entering the doors. No one was there, no one could be watching him at that time.

The moment he entered, screams and shouts entered his non-existent ears and he had to force himself from pulling his vibrant blue strings from his eye sockets.

"QuIet!" He yelled over the children, catching all of their attention.

"SoMeoNe exPlaIn whAt iS gOIng oN."

There were a couple of quiet sobs as multiple different people tried to talk over each other. A teenager that looked eerily like Blue if he played too many video games stepped forward.

"Some of us can't remember each other all of a sudden, and others can't remember where they live." He said, voice barely calm. "I...I can't remember, but I know that I was talking to someone earlier. But...they disappeared. I think."

"Red! You were talking to Red, but he disappeared!" Edge, the brother of Red shouted. Once again, the room erupted into shouts and cries as even more students started talking about disappearing classmates.

Mercy opened his mouth to once again tell the children to calm down but was distracted by the child he had promised to protect.

"Mr. Mercy!" Gradient yelped when someone accidentally pushed him. "L-look outside!"

The ex-destroyer tilted his head and looked out the nearest window. The town outside seemed to be folding into itself, some crumbling into what Mercy could identify as destroyed code. Red threads could be seen everywhere, slicing and cutting into the foundations that held the multiverse together. Both monsters and humans could be seen falling through cracks and holes that were not truly there. Their screams were shrill and they tore at his mangled soul with jagged frozen claws in ways that no normal scream could ever do. Houses flicked in and out of existence, bending in ways that were meant to be impossible both physically and mentally.

Mercy felt his throat clog up, almost as though someone was choking him while wearing a sinister smile. He could almost hear her voice, whispering in the wind like an alluring siren singing about the promises of death and consequences.

"Your arrival caused this." The voice whispered, speaking no lies.

He took a step back, unable to tear his stare away from the destruction. If it hadn't been for Gradient, pulling his attention away from the window, he would have continued to watch in horror.

"Mr. Mercy, we need to go, it's reaching the school!" The child explained hurriedly, "c-come on!"

"GraDiEnt." Mercy spoke, keeping his voice steady. "TheRe'S nOwhERe wE cAn hIdE tO aVoiD thiS. It wIlL ReAch uS nO maTtEr whErE wE gO. It iS oNly a mAtTer oF tiME."