An apology for taking forever and a half to update Destati - in the time that I don't, I'll be trying to update this forum with snippets of writing done by either myself or my co-writer as supplementary material for the universe! As a warning, there will be spoilers, but some of these are either scenes that were thought off and discarded, or just randomly thought up as filler, for lack of a better term. You can read Destati here though!
Begin.
Noxic ; Introspection
By Artikitsune
How annoying, and here she thought that whining and whingeing would get him to save some other planet with her. He felt pretty irritated (what day isn’t that the case?) but this time he had extra incentive to wear that grumpy expression on his face. Y’know the one, eyes-lids half drawn, lip-furs pursed together and ears completely drooped. Badgering him won’t make things go faster. If anything, it gave the rabbit extra reason to relieve some of the pressure off the clutch of the Gummi ship his big footpaw was pressing down on. It wasn’t that he didn’t like saving planets with her, nothing of the kind. Part of him actually enjoyed seeing people happy, seeing people living in a somewhat semblance of peace and simply knowing he was part of that happiness. That’d be something that’d put a smile on his own lips. It’s not like he doesn’t have a heart, after all!
No, that wasn’t it, not even close. It was the fact Noxic’s mind was resigned to a single target, a single objective. A focus point, you could say. Her. The one that thrust emotion into a beast that lost its chance to have something so precious, something that should be cherished and held onto until it’s last day. The one that had his thoughts turn crimson in fear, then black in hate. That one women. She started this all, and he’s going to finish it. Nice and simple, right? Wrong. These ‘detours’ were simply distracting from the task at hand! The messy haired girl sleeping next to him peacefully, with the thoughts of heading to their next adventure drew the attention of those crimson eyes. ‘Do the right thing’ right? She couldn’t understand quite how he was feeling and he shouldn’t really take it out on her but… but, that lady- no, she didn’t such a human title. That female was the true evil they should be heading towards.
That was a thought he’d never be able to dismiss.
Dark furred fingers curled around the wheel, teeth gritting at the silent thoughts screaming inside his mind, grinding slightly against their own smooth surfaces. Could he point it in a tactful way, try to describe it in a manner that’d get her on board with his trains of thought? Nah! He’s not Nyx, far from it! Noxic was a man of action, not a man of words. All of a sudden, his arms would yank the wheel to the side, turning those thrusters of their ship built for space travel and battle a full one hundred and eighty degrees. The sensation was a tug to the side, one that had one of his ears perking a little in alarm. Did that wake her? Nah. She’s still snoozing like an oversized baby. Good. It’d be much better if they could simply arrive at the destination he was now streamlining for. The last place he saw the one who started it all. The black rabbit was going ‘home’.
He didn’t need to set any navigation, the process of getting there was as simple as retracing his steps. Nobody forgets where their home is, not wholly and fully. The case was exactly the same here, only for all the wrong reasons. Leaning his body forward, Noxic would arch forward and push that steering wheel up then away from him and then the stars would fly by not as balls of light, but as streaming white lines. Hyperdrives really did make intergalactic travel no sweat at all. Chip and Dale work wonders, he’d have to clomp both their brainy heads together at some point, to show his affection of course! Hearing them squeak out angrily wasn’t the reason. Oh no, absolutely not. Okay so maybe, just maybe that put a small smirk on his lips.
It’d be a full grin if his body wasn’t shuddering from anxiety at that laid before his vermillion hues.
There it was, a planet which he refused to learn the name of. Pulling back sharply on the wheel, he’d put a stop to the raw speed in what seemed like instants. This was the place, he was sure of it. Why’d the lagomorph have the furs tingling up on the back of his neck otherwise? That and the sickly taste in his mouth was unmistakable. This here ball of rock and water, this is where he was ‘born.’ With a shaking breath leaving his lungs, he’d lean over to the seat Suihei was resting on and dial co-ordinates into the device in front of that’d warp them down to the surface. As much as a rush breaking atmosphere is, Noxic wasn’t out for a kick, or for some fun. This here was serious business. So without further hesitation, he’d squeeze his eyes shut and ram his finger in the ‘GO’ button.
The familiar tugging sensation that gripped all his innards in a gentle embrace that followed couldn’t be any colder and when he finally opened his screwed closed lids, gentle turned to ruthlessly tight and cold turned into freezing. There it was. A place that didn’t look very astonishing or disturbing, a simple red brick building that stood as wide as it did tall. “I-It’s just a dumb place. Stop shivering like a sissy, damn it.” He hissed under his breath, forcing his body to move and get out of the ship.
Paws touched the cool moonlit grass and a wash of nightly breeze licked his dark form. It was peaceful, almost tranquil. How ironic. Moving his legs one step at a time, he’d advance towards those large double doors. Then a single hand would lift to touch them, before he’d lean close and let the furs of his forehead graze the old unused oak. It was just like yesterday… a black rabbit bursting out of the very same doors with a frantic wild look to his eyes, scrabbling off to the distance without even a jacket to his name. Tsh. Gritting his teeth, Noxic would push forward and with a groaning creek, the door would swing open with ease. As if greeting the bunny to his one true home. Then with but a single glance back towards where his partner laid, he’d advance.
The only sounds in the air were his almost silent footfalls, padded furs carpeting the noise while he’d carefully advance. A careful that was also stiff with a breed of emotion he couldn’t describe. It was a mix of anticipation and fear of what he was anticipating. Turning right, he’d head down a memorised route, one he could walk even if he’s only been down it once before. The old red painted corridors, even such simple walls carried memories. Reaching out, he’d trace fingers over four claw marks, following them down and down to another door. One he paused at.
This is where it all started.
Fingers swiftly curled into twin fists and embracing his determination to finish it, Noxic opened the place best forgotten wide open. What awaited inside was all but a few trashed devices, destroyed utterly by deep slashes and papers scattered everywhere by what one could only assume was an explosion. An explosion that, if the shattered glass held any indication, came from inside a large tube. Cage would be a better description though, because that tube was never filled with any sort of liquid. It was used to hold a sole individual.
Him.
“Not here, huh…” He could have guessed that much. This room was full of painful memories, ones that no reasonable person would ever want to revisit. But, there might be a clue here! A single hint, a single lead that’d let them give chase! That’s all Noxic needed to step foot in that all important room. The door slammed shut behind him with a menacing and ominous aura, something that had him swallowing before he continued. Maybe there was something in these papers? Think back to what that Sherlock mouse fellow said! ‘Open your nose, open your ears, open your mouth, open your hands and for heaven’s sake, open your eyes.’ Eyes… eyes… it was just devastation, all the papers were burned, all the machines beyond repair! ‘Look twice, look trice. There are somethings even I would miss, if I didn’t take my time.’ “Yeah but you’re patient, dumb mouse. It’s not like a guy like me could ever do the same sorta-”
Then he saw it, a sole paper that laid right in the centre of the tube. A single white as snow sheet amongst a field of papery ash and soot. It couldn’t be possible, it shouldn’t be! But it was unmistakable, there lay a solitary document, untouched. Dashing forward with a new found feeling of hope inside his heart, he’d quickly kneel on one knee to pick the paper up. With a few wipes from the back of his hand and blows from his mouth, he’d pick up on the neatly written and extravagant swirls of words written by a hand he knew, he knew was from the person he was after.
Only his eyes didn’t focus on any sentence, on any key bits of evidence the skim read might have given away. No, they focused on the final word that was written with so much more force than the rest. A single word. A word that hit a chord he didn’t even knew he had.
Failure
After all of that, after everything she put him through—“Shut up!” He’d cry out. The room felt so much darker, so much colder. “You’re tellin’ me, you’re tellin’ me that after everything I’m a- I’m a—“ The word, his worst nightmare wouldn’t leave his choking and clogged up throat.
It was here in the past he experienced emotion for the first time, he experienced a forbidden fruit no heart consumed by Darkness should experience. Light. It gave him fear and that fear span him down a carousal of agony. He was scared about even feeling fear! He cried, he screamed, he sobbed, he shuddered. He bared through his existence itself telling him he was all wrong, wrong, wrong! All to be called a failure!?
It filled his very core was so much- ugh! Arms tensed, eyes screwed shut and he quivered with sheer hate filling his form. “I don’t care! I don’t care if I’m some failure or mistake! I don’t care if I’m some monster made from spare parts! All I care about is making you pay!” Black whisks of smoke like tendrils started to lift from the ground, licking at his torso and wrapping around his arms. “You did this to me!” He could feel himself slipping through the cracks to a dark eternity, a place where only his hate and hurt would remind him of what he is, what he was. But he didn’t care. “It’s all your fault!” That fear of falling down never ending void of hunger, it was being overtaken by a single emotion. “I HATE YOU!” Voice broke and echoed through the building before he’d fall onto the pair of his knees, punching his fists into the ground. Then tear falls would follow, right before the shadows would swallow him down.
Falling down and down, endlessly. Ever on and on, he continued circling. With nothing but that hated in an endless roundabout loop. Till slowly he forgot even that, and his heart started to vanish. ‘Hey Nox, Nyx? Let’s solve all this together, as friends!’ So stupid… Then suddenly he could feel that he couldn’t break free, that he’s gone too far. The feelings weren’t as alien as they should have been. It feels like he’s fallen down this very same pit before. Feelings… they were drifting away as he fell. Tiny golden streams letting him know he’s going deeper and deeper while all he could do was look up while he fell and fell, deeper and deeper. ‘C’mon, can’t you two get along for once? If I can put up with you guys, you guys can put up with each other!’ Yeah, like that’d ever happen. You’re always so naive… Uncertainty was enveloping his mind, maybe this was a dream? Maybe nothing else is real? It doesn’t mean anything, nobody would understand how he feels. He’s tired of all the pain, tired of all the misery inside. ‘Promise me you’ll stick with me till the end, okay? I need you, just like you said you need me. Hey- Noxic! Look at me, I’m being serious!’ Yeah yeah, I said I promised already…
That maw opened sharply in the endless sea, eyes that were drifting shut snapping open. He couldn’t fall, he couldn’t give up! He promised—he promised somebody important! Lifting that arm he’d grab onto the thread of Light, then he’d tug himself up and up. No, if he just fell there would be no turning back. He couldn’t just let everything fade to black again! He’d touch that pillars tip again, a pillar that was shattered and imageless. Tugging himself higher and higher, he’d hear voices, voices that were… familiar! ‘Such a illogical beast that acts on nothing but instinct alone could never beat me. We don’t require assistance from something so- so black, XXXX-Something.’ That stupid cat, he’d show him, he wouldn’t lose to that guy ever! The pulls got stronger and stronger, faster and faster until he started to see the surface. Only a few more then-- then!
The Darkness surrounding his form retreated in a swift recoil, and Noxic would slowly stand to his full height inside that shattered tube. Wiping away the water from his eyes with the back of his arm. “I don’t care if I’m a failure. It doesn’t matter, because I’ve still got a promise to keep. Right, Suihei?” Smiling softly, he’d clutch the note in hand and calmly walk out, heading back for the ship, without a single look back.
By Artikitsune
How annoying, and here she thought that whining and whingeing would get him to save some other planet with her. He felt pretty irritated (what day isn’t that the case?) but this time he had extra incentive to wear that grumpy expression on his face. Y’know the one, eyes-lids half drawn, lip-furs pursed together and ears completely drooped. Badgering him won’t make things go faster. If anything, it gave the rabbit extra reason to relieve some of the pressure off the clutch of the Gummi ship his big footpaw was pressing down on. It wasn’t that he didn’t like saving planets with her, nothing of the kind. Part of him actually enjoyed seeing people happy, seeing people living in a somewhat semblance of peace and simply knowing he was part of that happiness. That’d be something that’d put a smile on his own lips. It’s not like he doesn’t have a heart, after all!
No, that wasn’t it, not even close. It was the fact Noxic’s mind was resigned to a single target, a single objective. A focus point, you could say. Her. The one that thrust emotion into a beast that lost its chance to have something so precious, something that should be cherished and held onto until it’s last day. The one that had his thoughts turn crimson in fear, then black in hate. That one women. She started this all, and he’s going to finish it. Nice and simple, right? Wrong. These ‘detours’ were simply distracting from the task at hand! The messy haired girl sleeping next to him peacefully, with the thoughts of heading to their next adventure drew the attention of those crimson eyes. ‘Do the right thing’ right? She couldn’t understand quite how he was feeling and he shouldn’t really take it out on her but… but, that lady- no, she didn’t such a human title. That female was the true evil they should be heading towards.
That was a thought he’d never be able to dismiss.
Dark furred fingers curled around the wheel, teeth gritting at the silent thoughts screaming inside his mind, grinding slightly against their own smooth surfaces. Could he point it in a tactful way, try to describe it in a manner that’d get her on board with his trains of thought? Nah! He’s not Nyx, far from it! Noxic was a man of action, not a man of words. All of a sudden, his arms would yank the wheel to the side, turning those thrusters of their ship built for space travel and battle a full one hundred and eighty degrees. The sensation was a tug to the side, one that had one of his ears perking a little in alarm. Did that wake her? Nah. She’s still snoozing like an oversized baby. Good. It’d be much better if they could simply arrive at the destination he was now streamlining for. The last place he saw the one who started it all. The black rabbit was going ‘home’.
He didn’t need to set any navigation, the process of getting there was as simple as retracing his steps. Nobody forgets where their home is, not wholly and fully. The case was exactly the same here, only for all the wrong reasons. Leaning his body forward, Noxic would arch forward and push that steering wheel up then away from him and then the stars would fly by not as balls of light, but as streaming white lines. Hyperdrives really did make intergalactic travel no sweat at all. Chip and Dale work wonders, he’d have to clomp both their brainy heads together at some point, to show his affection of course! Hearing them squeak out angrily wasn’t the reason. Oh no, absolutely not. Okay so maybe, just maybe that put a small smirk on his lips.
It’d be a full grin if his body wasn’t shuddering from anxiety at that laid before his vermillion hues.
There it was, a planet which he refused to learn the name of. Pulling back sharply on the wheel, he’d put a stop to the raw speed in what seemed like instants. This was the place, he was sure of it. Why’d the lagomorph have the furs tingling up on the back of his neck otherwise? That and the sickly taste in his mouth was unmistakable. This here ball of rock and water, this is where he was ‘born.’ With a shaking breath leaving his lungs, he’d lean over to the seat Suihei was resting on and dial co-ordinates into the device in front of that’d warp them down to the surface. As much as a rush breaking atmosphere is, Noxic wasn’t out for a kick, or for some fun. This here was serious business. So without further hesitation, he’d squeeze his eyes shut and ram his finger in the ‘GO’ button.
The familiar tugging sensation that gripped all his innards in a gentle embrace that followed couldn’t be any colder and when he finally opened his screwed closed lids, gentle turned to ruthlessly tight and cold turned into freezing. There it was. A place that didn’t look very astonishing or disturbing, a simple red brick building that stood as wide as it did tall. “I-It’s just a dumb place. Stop shivering like a sissy, damn it.” He hissed under his breath, forcing his body to move and get out of the ship.
Paws touched the cool moonlit grass and a wash of nightly breeze licked his dark form. It was peaceful, almost tranquil. How ironic. Moving his legs one step at a time, he’d advance towards those large double doors. Then a single hand would lift to touch them, before he’d lean close and let the furs of his forehead graze the old unused oak. It was just like yesterday… a black rabbit bursting out of the very same doors with a frantic wild look to his eyes, scrabbling off to the distance without even a jacket to his name. Tsh. Gritting his teeth, Noxic would push forward and with a groaning creek, the door would swing open with ease. As if greeting the bunny to his one true home. Then with but a single glance back towards where his partner laid, he’d advance.
The only sounds in the air were his almost silent footfalls, padded furs carpeting the noise while he’d carefully advance. A careful that was also stiff with a breed of emotion he couldn’t describe. It was a mix of anticipation and fear of what he was anticipating. Turning right, he’d head down a memorised route, one he could walk even if he’s only been down it once before. The old red painted corridors, even such simple walls carried memories. Reaching out, he’d trace fingers over four claw marks, following them down and down to another door. One he paused at.
This is where it all started.
Fingers swiftly curled into twin fists and embracing his determination to finish it, Noxic opened the place best forgotten wide open. What awaited inside was all but a few trashed devices, destroyed utterly by deep slashes and papers scattered everywhere by what one could only assume was an explosion. An explosion that, if the shattered glass held any indication, came from inside a large tube. Cage would be a better description though, because that tube was never filled with any sort of liquid. It was used to hold a sole individual.
Him.
“Not here, huh…” He could have guessed that much. This room was full of painful memories, ones that no reasonable person would ever want to revisit. But, there might be a clue here! A single hint, a single lead that’d let them give chase! That’s all Noxic needed to step foot in that all important room. The door slammed shut behind him with a menacing and ominous aura, something that had him swallowing before he continued. Maybe there was something in these papers? Think back to what that Sherlock mouse fellow said! ‘Open your nose, open your ears, open your mouth, open your hands and for heaven’s sake, open your eyes.’ Eyes… eyes… it was just devastation, all the papers were burned, all the machines beyond repair! ‘Look twice, look trice. There are somethings even I would miss, if I didn’t take my time.’ “Yeah but you’re patient, dumb mouse. It’s not like a guy like me could ever do the same sorta-”
Then he saw it, a sole paper that laid right in the centre of the tube. A single white as snow sheet amongst a field of papery ash and soot. It couldn’t be possible, it shouldn’t be! But it was unmistakable, there lay a solitary document, untouched. Dashing forward with a new found feeling of hope inside his heart, he’d quickly kneel on one knee to pick the paper up. With a few wipes from the back of his hand and blows from his mouth, he’d pick up on the neatly written and extravagant swirls of words written by a hand he knew, he knew was from the person he was after.
Only his eyes didn’t focus on any sentence, on any key bits of evidence the skim read might have given away. No, they focused on the final word that was written with so much more force than the rest. A single word. A word that hit a chord he didn’t even knew he had.
Failure
After all of that, after everything she put him through—“Shut up!” He’d cry out. The room felt so much darker, so much colder. “You’re tellin’ me, you’re tellin’ me that after everything I’m a- I’m a—“ The word, his worst nightmare wouldn’t leave his choking and clogged up throat.
It was here in the past he experienced emotion for the first time, he experienced a forbidden fruit no heart consumed by Darkness should experience. Light. It gave him fear and that fear span him down a carousal of agony. He was scared about even feeling fear! He cried, he screamed, he sobbed, he shuddered. He bared through his existence itself telling him he was all wrong, wrong, wrong! All to be called a failure!?
It filled his very core was so much- ugh! Arms tensed, eyes screwed shut and he quivered with sheer hate filling his form. “I don’t care! I don’t care if I’m some failure or mistake! I don’t care if I’m some monster made from spare parts! All I care about is making you pay!” Black whisks of smoke like tendrils started to lift from the ground, licking at his torso and wrapping around his arms. “You did this to me!” He could feel himself slipping through the cracks to a dark eternity, a place where only his hate and hurt would remind him of what he is, what he was. But he didn’t care. “It’s all your fault!” That fear of falling down never ending void of hunger, it was being overtaken by a single emotion. “I HATE YOU!” Voice broke and echoed through the building before he’d fall onto the pair of his knees, punching his fists into the ground. Then tear falls would follow, right before the shadows would swallow him down.
Falling down and down, endlessly. Ever on and on, he continued circling. With nothing but that hated in an endless roundabout loop. Till slowly he forgot even that, and his heart started to vanish. ‘Hey Nox, Nyx? Let’s solve all this together, as friends!’ So stupid… Then suddenly he could feel that he couldn’t break free, that he’s gone too far. The feelings weren’t as alien as they should have been. It feels like he’s fallen down this very same pit before. Feelings… they were drifting away as he fell. Tiny golden streams letting him know he’s going deeper and deeper while all he could do was look up while he fell and fell, deeper and deeper. ‘C’mon, can’t you two get along for once? If I can put up with you guys, you guys can put up with each other!’ Yeah, like that’d ever happen. You’re always so naive… Uncertainty was enveloping his mind, maybe this was a dream? Maybe nothing else is real? It doesn’t mean anything, nobody would understand how he feels. He’s tired of all the pain, tired of all the misery inside. ‘Promise me you’ll stick with me till the end, okay? I need you, just like you said you need me. Hey- Noxic! Look at me, I’m being serious!’ Yeah yeah, I said I promised already…
That maw opened sharply in the endless sea, eyes that were drifting shut snapping open. He couldn’t fall, he couldn’t give up! He promised—he promised somebody important! Lifting that arm he’d grab onto the thread of Light, then he’d tug himself up and up. No, if he just fell there would be no turning back. He couldn’t just let everything fade to black again! He’d touch that pillars tip again, a pillar that was shattered and imageless. Tugging himself higher and higher, he’d hear voices, voices that were… familiar! ‘Such a illogical beast that acts on nothing but instinct alone could never beat me. We don’t require assistance from something so- so black, XXXX-Something.’ That stupid cat, he’d show him, he wouldn’t lose to that guy ever! The pulls got stronger and stronger, faster and faster until he started to see the surface. Only a few more then-- then!
The Darkness surrounding his form retreated in a swift recoil, and Noxic would slowly stand to his full height inside that shattered tube. Wiping away the water from his eyes with the back of his arm. “I don’t care if I’m a failure. It doesn’t matter, because I’ve still got a promise to keep. Right, Suihei?” Smiling softly, he’d clutch the note in hand and calmly walk out, heading back for the ship, without a single look back.
