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Every time we returned to the strange, black abyss, he was waiting for us. At first, it had been a surprise to find a purple hedgehog here, floating in the nothingness. We didn’t know where we were or why someone else would be with us.
His eyes were unsettling, untrustworthy. They were slitted like a snake’s. Looking into them brought a sense of dread upon us. The hedgehog’s voice, too, would’ve been disturbing if not for what it was being used to say. Though his voice was low, had a faint growl to it, and automatically demanded attention… his words brought no fear.
He said our name(s) with such delight. We didn’t know he knew us, but he did. And quite well. He welcomed us excitedly, asking all about how we had found him in this abyss. We admitted we didn't come here intentionally. We’d simply fallen asleep and woken up with him.
His ears drooped momentarily at that information. That seemed to hurt him.
We apologized.
He waved it off and got right back to acting all chipper. Even made a joke about giving us a house tour, pausing, and saying, “Well, you’ve seen everything now!”
We laughed. He liked our laughter, too. His reptilian eyes lit up, looking just a bit less dead inside.
It was a sad joke, though. We asked if he really did live here.
“No, it’s more like I exist here.”
Oh. We asked if he was dead.
“I wish.”
Our eyes widened, and the stranger scrambled for a reply.
“H-Ha, I’m merely jesting! I’m doing alright, now that someone else is present.”
We supposed his sanity was reliant on our company. So, we spent countless hours with him. Truly, the passage of time was impossible to determine in the abyss. We asked if he even knew what time it was, but he didn’t.
Well, it didn’t really matter. We enjoyed ourselves. The stranger loved to talk and talk. We liked to listen; his voice was pleasant. He did seem a little overly excited yet anxious, apologizing when he started to talk too fast or tried to get closer to us.
His touch made us flinch from how cold it was. He withdrew his hand and apologized. It happened again, though, likely without thinking. We accepted his touch the second time… it didn’t feel so bad.
We eventually understood why he was talking so hurriedly, as we began to… feel a tug. Something was pulling us away from him. Our sight was starting to get a bit blurry. We had to interrupt him and tell him that we were… leaving.
He stopped on a dime. Looked at us funny. “...Will you come back?”
“Promise.” That we all said in unison.
He waved us farewell.
We then woke up. Oh, so it was a dream… What a strange one.
The next night, we wondered if we’d have the same dream and see him again. Sure enough, we fell asleep and there he was. He had his legs crossed, sitting on nothing… waiting idly.
He practically jumped upon seeing us. “You’ve returned!”
We nodded and smiled. It was nice to see him, too. This time, we remembered to ask for his name. We’d neglected to learn it initially.
He stared at us after we asked. A nervous chuckle came from him. “Mm… You did ask. Yesterday. My name is [][][][][][][][].”
Oh, okay! What a unique name.
…We remembered it at the time, we swear. Now, all we know is that his name is unique. We collectively couldn’t hear his name.
After that little bump in the road, the hedgehog continued his story from where he had last left off. He spoke of tragedy and drama with such eloquence that the hours flowed by just as easily as his words. Soon it was time to go again. To wake up, we supposed.
“Are you real?” we all asked. In unison, again.
“O-Of course! I am much more than your imagination! And… you’re bound to return, right? It is… quite lonely here.”
We nodded once more. Yes, we had guessed that this poor soul was very lonely. Our confidence gave him some reassurance, and he waved us off.
This pattern continued for some time. It was nice.
Although gradually, he did begin to grow irritated every time we had to leave. We kept promising him we’d be back, and that was true, but he still appeared greatly pained. Once, he grabbed our hand(s) and tried to hold onto us.
A look crossed his face that we’d never seen before: grief. His ears lay flat on his head, and those reptilian eyes had lost all their natural menace. His brows furrowed upward, and he pleaded for us to stay. “Please. Just another hour? Or, could you return an hour sooner than usual? Everything slows down when you’re gone.”
We did consider staying a little longer. But that wasn’t our choice, apparently, because we were whisked away anyway. His despair-ridden eyes watched us slip out of his grasp.
We went to bed an hour earlier to see him sooner. That did delight him.
But… we were pulled away an hour earlier.
We did not like the small, pained sound he made as we left.
On our next visit, we gave him a hug. He loved that. Wouldn’t let go for hours. Again, we did not like his clinginess. We started to hate whatever force had done this to him, to create someone so clearly broken.
He only became more upset with every passing visit. We had to apologize so many times.
Until, one day, we tried to embrace him again and he lashed out at us.
He clenched his claws into fists and cried out, “No, screw you! You can’t toy with my emotions any longer; I’m through with your games and whatever keeps dragging you away! Don’t come back anymore if you’re only going to continue teasing me!”
Oh, no. This was bad. We reached out to him, tried to calm him down. The poor guy was trembling. He slapped our hand(s) away and raised his voice.
“I don’t need you!”
We were pulled away. Time to wake up and leave him. From afar, he yelled again.
“I don’t need anyone!”
He was a speck in the distance. He had to scream for us to hear him.
“I’ve always been alone anyway…!”
It all went black. We woke up in distress. Hot and panting. Oh, we hated this feeling. The guilt was horrible.
And we still couldn’t remember his damn name.
. . .
I watched {-----} leave through glossy eyes. They couldn’t see my tears from that far away, right? No. And now they were gone.
Good, I didn’t want {-----} to see the sloppy mess I truly was.
At this point, it didn’t even feel relieving to cry. I screamed and sobbed and all that pathetic stuff into the abyss, like many times before. There was no response, like many times before. Even ripping into my skin didn’t elicit a powerful emotion like it used to. My chest was aching far too much to feel anything physical, anyway.
My claws were kind of numbing, too. So cold that I felt nothing. That pissed me off further, so I kept wailing until my voice had started to croak.
Why was I doing this again? There was truly no point. No one could hear me, and it barely brought any relief.
I straightened out rather quickly.
“Apologies,” I said out of habit. Because I owed the abyss an apology for making it endure my annoying cries.
But I couldn’t help the breakdown. It always pained me to see {-----} leave.
Whether it was Shadow.
Whether it was Silver.
Whether it was Iblis.
Whether it was Elise.
Whoever I imagined into existence before me. It hurt to see all of them leave.
My imagination wasn’t great, unfortunately. I could never keep them material for long. And I had to imagine that they were seeing me only in their dreams. Yes… they were leaving because they had to wake up, not because my imagination worked in short bursts. I pretended they would be distressed when they woke up, too, instead of feeling relief to be away from me.
It had been improving, though. And what a horrible thing, huh? I imagined them a little too well. Once they started to become any semblance like their real counterparts, they got sick of me and left. I wasn’t sure if I should spin that as praise to my own manipulation skills, or if I should be saddened that I am such a disgusting person, not even my own imagination liked me.
I found myself wondering if any of those people, the real ones, ever thought stuff about me. None of them knew I even existed, obviously, but it was nice to dream about what they’d think of me if they did.
Shadow would think of fighting with me, defeating me in combat to prove his unwavering confidence and power.
Silver would also probably pummel me after I had betrayed him.
Iblis would be indifferent. He had the thinking skills of an actual lizard. Did he ever know who I was?
Elise would… Hm. I’d never talked to her. What would she imagine herself doing with me? She was kind, but she surely wouldn’t forgive me for all I’d done. She might want to torture me… No, I shook my head. That was what her father would do, not her.
Hm. Her father…? The Duke of Soleanna, the man I loathed more than myself… He was to blame for my blight. It’d be nice to take out some of my rage on him.
I would… Oh, I would…!
“Half-thing? What are you doing here?”
I spun around upon hearing the hoarse voice of an old man. Ah, there he was, in all of his ugliness. Just waiting for me to lay it into him. I’d give the Duke what he had coming for ten years now…
Crying and screaming brought no relief. But I did enjoy screaming at him, because unlike the abyss, he would hear my words. And I inevitably started beating him senseless as well. I couldn’t hold myself back… he deserved it, anyway. I needed to see him in agony.
I got the geezer begging for mercy in no time. I still had a long list of grievances to air out, though, so I kept going and going.
Oh… what would Elise think of this? She’d be appalled, surely. Ha, well, good thing she already got fed up with me and was gone for good. But what if she returned-?
“You foul monster, what are you doing?!”
Crap. I turned around to find Elise there, hands on her hips. The anger drained from my expression. I felt light-headed. “P-Princess!” I sputtered. “I just…! Well, you know what the Duke has… I thought you had left me forever!”
“No, why would I do that?! You clearly needed my help! Oh, but now I come back and find you beating up my father?! We’re through for certain now!”
My entire body felt like it was sinking. “What?! No! No! I-I’m sorry, I can undo it! I can fix him up!”
“There’s no fixing this! You’re an awful person!”
“Yes, but he is to blame! I… I mean, I can forgive him, if it’ll make you stay!” I spun around to where I’d left the Duke in a begging heap.
He was gone.
Elise’s sharp voice rang out behind me. “Such a mean creature you are! Hiding your true self, and you didn’t even have the dignity to tell me your name!”
That made my quills flare up. “I DID!” I whirled around back to Elise. “MY NAME IS-”
She was gone.
I looked around. Everyone was gone.
I fell slack. “M… My… Mephiles. I’m… Mephiles…” I trailed off at the end until my voice was a pitifully meek whisper.
Why bother. No one was here to listen. No one was here to care, let alone remember. It was all a ruse that once again backfired spectacularly on me.