Book 2: The First Fallen Human

A Fondness

He'd heard it. Oh, he'd heard it. He was responding in every way he could, shaking the small black room around him with his tentacles. "I'M HERE!!!" He screamed, his voice bubbling. "FRIEND, I AM HERE!!!" He jumped as there was a crack from above. It was quickly followed by more and Shattered Dream's smile faltered.

Those hits sounded uneven. Desperate. Something was wrong. His tentacles twitched and he used them to scale the wall. "Friend!! Friend, I am here!!" He yelled. The hits became more desperate, light beginning to shine through.

The first chunk of ceiling broke away and Shattered Dream could see it. He was horrified. Half of the red human's head was growing back, having been sliced off. It stared at him in pain and desperation. He flinched as its chest ripped open and it pulled out its SOUL, shakily holding it out. Shattered Dream understood.

He quickly reached up through the hole in the ceiling, taking the twisted SOUL. He held it to him as the red human shrieked. It had been pinned down, impaled in the back by what appeared to be a scythe made of bone. Shattered Dream reached up through the small hole and grasped the red human's shaking hand. "Friend..."

For a moment, the red human didn't respond. Then, its hand tightened on his and it looked up at him as its hair fell flat, no longer drifting. It had pain in its glowing eyes. Fear.

HURTS. HELP.

Shattered Dream inhaled sharply at the voice, shaking. Then, the red human screamed as the scythe dragged it backwards, out of Shattered Dream's view. Its hand was ripped away from his and he pulled it back, shaking. He couldn't see what was happening, but he knew damn well who's scythe that had been.

He quickly held the SOUL up to his chest, taking it in and hiding it. He felt nothing. He jumped as a glowing blue eye appeared in the hole in the ceiling. Reaper stared down at him with cold eyes. "If yøu knøw what's gøød før yøu, yøu'll stay døwn there." He said ominously.

Shattered Dream felt himself freeze up before nodding and shrinking back away from the hole. He lowered himself to the floor and watched as Reaper covered the hole, trapping him in darkness once again. Shattered Dream's tentacles twitched and wriggled.

He blinked and raised his hand, pulling out the red human's SOUL. It drifted quietly in his hand, spreading a startling red light around the dark room. Shattered Dream tipped his head, staring at it. "Friend? Can you hear me?"

A few moments passed before the SOUL suddenly reacted with an almost candle-like glow, flashing quietly. Shattered Dream let out a quiet sigh of relief. He slid down to his knees and sat, holding the SOUL. "I thought you were gone, friend." He said quietly. His smile twitched at his lips, but he felt like it wasn't the right time for it.

The SOUL glowed slowly, lighting up the room every few seconds. Shattered Dream sighed once again. "Isn't this awful? Both of us trapped once again..." The SOUL faded for a moment before resuming a soft, candlelit glow. It didn't seem too worried. Shattered Dream allowed a small bit of the smile to creep across his face. "Wasn't it fun?"

The SOUL seemed to flash in agreement. Shattered Dream let out a quiet, delirious laugh. It echoed around the walls and he quickly cut himself off, listening to it fade. He kept his head tilted back, staring at some unseen point in the distance. "At least we're trapped together, friend..." The SOUL gave a quiet flicker and Shattered Dream closed his eye, taking in the silence.

The dark seemed much less lonely now, even if his only companion was now a bodiless SOUL. At least he had a companion at all!! Shattered Dream leaned back against an unseen wall, allowing the SOUL to travel from his hand and perch on one of his tentacles.

His skeletal fingers laid against the ground, completely still. His breathing was quiet. The SOUL seemed to be matching its glowing in time with his breathing. Shattered Dream opened his eye and watched quietly for a minute, seeming to take notice of this. He allowed himself to fully smile as his fingers twitched.

"What is it... that's so bad about us?" He wondered out loud. The SOUL seemed to pause its soft glowing. "We both just want to be loved and accepted... but we can't even have that, can we?" His voice was quiet and shaking. "There's always some better version of us people expect us to live up to..." He was silent for a moment before turning to the SOUL with a pained eye.

Slowly, the goo began to melt away from half of his face, revealing the skeleton inside. Shattered Dream gave a pained smile, yellow tears running down his face. Cracks webbed outwards from his eyesocket. When he spoke, it was a mix of his garbled voice and the voice he'd used to have. "You... a shadow of Scooter... Me... a shadow of Dream..." He gave a weak chuckle.

"I wanted my brother to accept me... and you just wanted to be alive. I guess we both just went about it the wrong way, didn't we?" The SOUL remained quietly lit. Shattered Dream sighed and turned away, the goo covering him up once again. His tentacles flicked.

The SOUL moved down to his shoulder, floating there. It was pulsing quietly, soft red light shining out from the twisted black vines. Shattered Dream's garbled voice sounded again as he spoke. "Doomed to solitude... while you were doomed to death." He turned to look over at the SOUL. "It seems unfair to me. They only see you as an evil part of Scooter, but friend, you are so much more than that."

The SOUL had gone dim before drifting closer to him. Its glow was warm and it Shattered Dream didn't know any better, the glow almost seemed thankful. He chuckled darkly, his voice echoing. The SOUL continued its quiet pulsing as he leaned his head back against the wall.

"Come with me... and you'll see..." Shattered Dream rumbled out, his voice spreading through the small chamber. It was smooth as honey. The SOUL glowed quietly along to his words and he allowed himself a smile. "A world of pure imagination..."