A Faded Distortion

3

~Mind POV~

I tapped Heart on the shoulder, signaling for her to get off of me. She did so, and I left the room, looking around for the culprit of all the noise. There was nothing in my room, nor the main area, leaving only Soul's room as the area of origination. For a moment, I felt a glimmer of hope that Soul was miraculously still alive.

I entered Soul's bedroom without hesitation, curious now to figure out what was going on. What was there before was now gone, leaving a lone rope tied to the light. There seemed to be no real evidence of Soul at all, apart from that. I was confused, but tried to think for just a moment about what this could be. I knew that Soul was most definitely dead, but it didn't make sense how his body was just... gone.

Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw something - no, someone - unfamiliar. I looked around, and to my confused surprise, there was Soul. He was facing away from me, seemingly staring at a wall, but I recognised his jacket and a few more elements of him.
Hesitantly, I called out to him.

"Soul?"

He didn't respond. I was confused, why he wasn't responding, how he was even here. A part of me was afraid to touch him, as if he would disappear if I did. Finally, I worked up the courage, and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look at me, but to my horror, it wasn't Soul.

I stumbled back a few steps, and the thing seemed to stare at me. It frightened me, to a degree. It looked like Soul, or at least, parts of it looked like Soul. It was wearing Soul's clothes, it had his body type and face shape, but there was something very off about him. The most notable thing, though, was that its appearance seemed... Unstable. It seemed to be glitching, like a sprite on a broken screen. It didn't utter a word, but seemed to recognise me rather quickly.

It backed away, and my heart felt as if it shattered right then and there. I backed away as well, leaving the room. I felt scared to even be around it. I planned to return to my room, to attempt to tune Soul's guitar, but Heart still seemed to be waiting for me.

I returned to her bedroom, and she clung to me the moment I sat down next to her. I could feel (and hear) her start crying again, but I wasn't sure how to help. I wrapped my arm around her, just sort of holding her. The worst of my emotions had died down, for now.

Heart and I stayed together for a while, and she seemed to fall back asleep, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I could still hear the... thing from the other room. It was shuffling, moving Soul's things around. The thought somewhat upset me, but a part of me couldn't help but feel like the thing was supposed to be Soul. It had his features, his mannerisms, it just seemed to be missing the parts of him that would make him, well, Soul. It seemed to be nothing more than a husk of what once was.

That thought scared me, and I tried to think of something other than the "Soul replacement". My mind didn't want to quite leave Soul though, and I ended up dwelling on past memories. All was well, for a while. But soon I remembered the guitar, the times he offered to teach me to play it. I felt any heart I had shatter when I remembered my response to his offer. "I don't have time for such meaningless things," I had told him. I could only imagine his disappointment and hurt. He looked so genuinely excited to teach me, offering up his own guitar and everything. But I'd swatted him down, as if he were a fly buzzing near my head. I regretted that now, unable to rid myself of the guilt of it.

"You know," Heart suddenly spoke, knocking me out of my thoughts, "Soul would be... really proud of us right now." Her voice sounded hoarse from sleep, but her tone was morbidly humorous, as if trying to make light in our dark.

"I... I suppose he would, wouldn't he?" I agreed, a sombre smile creeping across my face. There was a long pause between our words, an eerie silence creeping up in their wait.

The silence returned once again, feeling deafening and almost crushing. It was never silent like this, back when Soul was here.

Suddenly, for a moment, I wanted to scoff at my own thoughts. A feeling of disgust and pity washed over me, not for Heart, but for myself. I stood up, shoving Heart off of me and onto the ground. I saw the shock in her expression, but any empathy I may have had moments ago had left me by now.

I didn't even glimpse back, closing Heart's door as I departed. I paused for a moment, unsure of what to even do now. Usually I was so preoccupied  with songs, or preparation for one. It felt so quiet now, not hearing Soul practicing one of his instruments, or the dull thuds of him practicing trident tricks.

I remembered with a fond grin the day that Soul had learned and mastered a kickflip on the thing. I'd not a clue how he'd done it, but I found it rather intriguing nonetheless.

With that memory still fresh in my mind, I headed back towards Soul's bedroom, ignoring the... thing... that resided within his room. I picked up the trident, examining it carefully. It was no longer the familiar deep red that I'd always known, but instead a bluish purple, similar to the one I associated Heart with.

With a pang of guilt, I noticed my own fingerprints on the trident, a navy blue against the deep purple. They were in the spot where I'd always held it when I'd attack Heart, and I saw a few traces of the remains of the attack on the tips.

I set the trident down, a wave of disgust with myself washing over me, almost enough to make me sick. I did my best to ignore it, turning my head and focusing on the thing in Soul's place. My eyes fixed on the thing, an eerie trance seeming to come over me. I studied the creature, a number of questions flowing through my mind.

It turned to me, and I was filled with an emotion I couldn't quite describe. Fear? Sorrow? Disgust? I wasn't quite sure.

It stared at me, or it at least seemed to, for a moment. I couldn't stand to make eye contact with the thing for long, it irked me in a way I couldn't describe.

I turned away from it's face, studying it carefully. It truly did look like Soul, to a degree. It's appearance never stayed constant for very long, but it always resembled him. "What are you?" I whispered, an eerie trance overcoming me.

I began to dwell on the thought. What was this thing? This freak of the brain, this... Distortion?

A/N: HELPPPP IM IN CLASS RN
sorry i keep starting to write, asking the og creator things, and then forgetting to come back ALSO TO THE MF THAT SAID FUCK YOU AUTHOR FUCK YOU TOO1!!11!1!1!!1!11!1!!!11!!1!1!1! /j