Book 1: The First Fallen Human

Confrontation Is Key

Stretch blinked as he felt a disturbance. Yeah, Scooter called him Stretch. He paused for a moment. He jumped as Scooter suddenly crushed the lit cigarette with her bare fingers. She quickly began to move. "Hey!" Stretch said. He watched as she ripped a hole into the air, eyes wide. What was THAT?! He jumped as bright blue strings suddenly shot in front of the hole like a spider web and Scooter blinked before turning back to the source. Stretch followed it to see a black, glitched out skeleton standing next to... He scowled. Ink. He remembered Ink. No doubt Ink remembered him.

He didn't trust either of them. He DEFINITELY didn't trust Scooter if she knew them. "Scooter... please come back with us..." Ink begged. Scooter turned to face them, her face emotionless and her voice monotonous.

"Why?"

Her voice was dully confused. She stared at them. Ink seemed taken back. The black skeleton next to him growled. "Just c-c-c-come with us!!" He shot out more bright blue strings. The human's soul lit up and appeared. Stretch's eyes widened as he dropped his cigarette. He heard a shriek. He looked back to see Swap in the doorway, absolutely horrified. He quickly moved to cover him. Scooter's soul was shattered into pieces and the strings gripped it. The pieces were all in the vague formation of a heart.

Stretch froze. That... seemed familiar to him... but in a way that made him... He shivered in disgust and anger. He knew this black skeleton. Who was he?! Stretch scowled. He didn't like him. He blinked he suddenly started to reel Scooter in by her soul, her boots sliding forward in the snow. She stared at him before lifting her hands and gripping the strings with her bare hands. Stretch heard monsters scream and flinched himself as maroon blood started to drip from her hands.

The strings were slicing into her skin. His eyes were wide. Ink turned to the other. "Error! Stop!" Stretch fixed his gaze on the skeleton. Error?! For some reason, that name gave him a wave of both nausea and hopelessness. Why did he suddenly feel like he'd lost something INCREDIBLY important? He glanced behind him to check if Swap was still there. His brother stared up at him with wide eyes. Stretch felt somewhat relieved and continued to watch. He blinked as Scooter began to tug down on it. More blood began to spill, painting the snow a dark maroon.

Stretch flinched as he heard sudden snapping noises. The strings were breaking. He watched as Ink lashed out, hurling black paint at her. She ducked her head and it seemed to hit an invisible sphere around her. Finally, she snapped the strings on her soul and turned before reaching out for the strings in front of the rip. She yanked her hands downwards and there was a crunching noise.

Scooter pulled away and revealed an absolutely managled hand. Two of her fingers were hanging by shreds of skin. Her bones were showing as blood trickled down her fingers. Stretch flinched as she ripped her way through the hole and it stitched itself back up behind her. Stretch heard Error swear loudly. Ink sighed and noticed Stretch before nodding and swiping a black puddle on the ground. He jumped through it with Error in tow and it disappeared. Stretch sighed. What the hell had that been about?

He sighed and blinked, shivering. There was still blood all over the center of town. Stretch held his breath and began to shuffle over, ready to get rid of it. He reached into his pocket for another cigarette before sighing. "Gave my lighter away..." He muttered to himself. He looked up and grinned, holding up his hands as he kicked snow around to clear the blood. "Everything's over now! It's good! Bit of a MESSY situation!"