All My Favorite Monsters

Captured

[Addie]

The others seemed to be stuck in some kind of invisible prison. I saw everyone that had been with me before, other than Twilight and Gradient. Looks like even Crescent can't keep ghosts prisoner. Inferno shoved me into the prison and left quickly.

Anatox looked up from where she was pacing and gasped when she saw me. She ran over and hugged me, sighing with relief.

"Thank god, you're safe," she said. She backed an arm's distance away and noticed Paralysis. "Where'd you find him?"

"She summoned him," I explained, "With some kind of pen, like mine."

"A pen?" she questioned.

"Yeah."

"Huh," she said simply.

I looked around the small group, counting everyone that was present. I saw Harm, Dawn, Dusk, and Zane, though the ghosts, again, were missing. Then I noticed another presence.

"Blaza?" I queried aloud.

Blaza looked up at me, startled by my sudden entrance. Somehow I could tell this was the version of Blaza from No Turning Back. I don't know how, I just did.

"O-oh, hi," he said, "You must be the Creator."

"Yes, but let's stop calling me that, please? It makes me sound like some kind of god and I'm obviously not that."

Blaza nodded.

"So she took you, too?" I said.

"Yup," he nodded solemnly.

"Oh god, Akik must be flipping out," I muttered to myself.

"Yeah, he probably is," Blaza chuckled slightly. His brief smile faded quickly. "And let's just say it doesn't help that this place is creepily similar to where Vizor trapped me while I was possessed."

He shivered slightly at the memory.

"Sorry about that..." I said awkwardly.

"I-it's fine. We were fiction to you at the time," Blaza reassured.

I looked to the ground, still kind of feeling guilty about what I put these guys through despite Blaza's comfort.

I noticed that the other original missing characters, Styrmir and Vizor, weren't present. Crescent must be keeping them somewhere else, separate from us.

"Assuming Gradient and Twilight managed to escape?" I asked Anatox.

"Yeah. They couldn't capture them in the first place," Anatox chuckled, "Hopefully they stay safe. Or maybe rescue us. That'd be nice, too, but knowing those two, they may just leave the problem to us."

I sighed. "I hope they're alright."

-----

[Gradient]

I didn't feel the rough bark of the tree, but I knew I was leaning on it. My arms were crossed, and I stared at Twilight with a cold gaze. Twilight himself was pacing back and forth. It was kind of weird to watch. I could tell he was walking, but his torso faded to transparent where his legs would be. His tail swished, agitated.

I really wanted to consume him. But alas, he would just regenerate and be incredibly ticked.

"Why are you so worried?" I asked him, "The creator can handle herself. Plus, if she dies, the bad guys die, so I doubt they'd kill her."

"It's not the creator I'm worried about," Twilight snarled. "It's my parents. Anyone who can keep Vizor captive as well as Harm and other characters, they've got to be pretty powerful."

"I thought you didn't care what they did," I snickered.

"Oh, shut up, would you?" Twilight growled, "I worry about who I want to worry about."

Under his breath he added, "Jesus, no wonder your group doesn't like you."

"They don't like me because they think I've taken the job too far," I retorted, "They tell me I can kill people, so I did. And then they got mad at me. Honestly, I don't get it."

"Well, didn't you promise not to get addicted or whatever?" Twilight pointed out.

I shrugged. "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. We all knew I was gonna break that promise eventually."

Twilight grumbled to himself. I stared at him in silence.

Eventually, Twilight sighed. "I guess we should probably go save them."

"Probably."

Another awkward silence. I don't talk to the other ghosts in the cabin much, and this was why. "Social" isn't the first thing anyone would describe Twilight as.

"Assuming you have no plan?" I queried, even though I knew the answer.

He paused for a moment. "...No."

I chuckled. "That's what I thought. Don't worry. I know where we can find help."

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sassy gradient supremacy

716 words