A Survivor's Guilt Grows Heavy.

It all happened rather quickly.

ZERO'S USB landed right in front of the two guardians, in the middle of an adventure with their avatar no less. They watched, in shock, as the USB's entrance gradually opened. They were stunned. They didn't get much time to react before being zapped by some kind of- bolt. It knocked them both off of their feet, knocking them back significantly.

"AVATAR..." HIS voice rasped, a huge, blue, three-fingered hand being the only thing emerging from that pod. ZERO reached out, and snatched the guardians' avatar: Spudnick.

"NO-!! SPUDNICK!" SMG2, one of said guardians, yelled out, jumping up into action in an attempt to get his avatar in a safer position. He dashed over, and leaped toward ZERO'S hand— but subsequently missed, as the hand rose up into the air before he could land on top of it properly.

"SMG2?? What's happening-" Spudnick asked, in a fearful confusion.

In an instant, a searing pain shot through Spudnick's entire body, causing him to scream, loudly. It not only effected Spudnick, but pain was brought onto the other guardians. One of them groaned, the other cried, albeit it in a strained manner. Nevertheless, they were both in a similar amount of agony.

"Ah— NO!" SMG1, the other guardian spoke. "If HE dies, that'll be the end of us, AND our universe! We NEED to protect our avatar!" He exclaimed, fighting past the pain enough to lift SMG2 up, and launch him towards ZERO. This... didn't really work. SMG2 was knocked back, colliding into SMG1 on the way down. The pain had increased, and they were compromised to the point where they could hardly move right. Their textures began to corrupt; SMG1's cyan blue texture deteriorated at his arm and leg, and SMG2's bright yellow texture deteriorated at the side of his head. They- couldn't do ANYTHING. They were useless, Spudnick was—— was——

...

"HELP..."

One last cry from Spudnick, and they knew it was over. While partially damaged , they were able to survive- WHATEVER that was. But Spudnick... wasn't too lucky.

He was dropped, falling onto the floor, without another single movement.

"SPUDNICK-!" SMG2 cried out. Nonono— nononono, he— he couldn't be—

"...He's..." SMG1 started, but hesitated. He didn't wanna say it. He didn't wanna believe it either. "...he's dead."

"NOOOOO!" SMG2 found it difficult to accept the gravity of what just happened. But he couldn't deny the fact either. He hiccuped, immediately heartbroken. "TH-THERE WAS SO MUCH WE WANTED TO DO TOGETHER!" He struggled to hold back his anguish. How—

..How COULD he?? How could someone be THIS cruel?? SMG2 took a few steps towards ZERO, glaring at the hand. "WHY?? WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! KILLING US WON'T FIX WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!" He yelled, beads of tears forming in his eyes.

ZERO retaliated with another beam shooting out from his finger. SMG2's eyes widened, freezing in place. Luckily, SMG1 shoved him out of the way, both of them having dodged the attack.

"That's not gonna solve ANYTHING!" SMG1 spoke, looking SMG2 directly in the eyes. "We FAILED our avatar, and now wih him dead, our whole universe is going down too!" He wasn't lying. Their own world was slowly beginning to crumble from the loss of Spudnick. The stability was fading by the minute.

"But he CAN'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!" SMG2 shot back, still in a fit of anguish.

"...he won't." SMG1 simply responded, before standing up, and looking where ZERO was. "Leave him to ME." ..what? "Go to my USB on Toy Mountain and use it to evacuate whoever you can." He commanded, not looking back at SMG2 once as he said this. No- no, he wasn't gonna-