Kenneth's apartment, it's abandoned...The lights flicker. and flicker. and flicker. then burst. No lights. No movements. No more. And yet, something beats softly inside. After nearly 12 hours of darkness, something begins to faintly... glow. in the bedroom window. An incredibly faint red light, fading in, then out, then in, and so on and so forth. The beating grows ever so slightly stronger. Something falls.
Back in Meridian, Luna gets a notification on her phone. As quickly as she left Meridian, Luna appears in Kenneth's old apartment. The lights are off, it's completely dark. The windows are blocked by darkening blinds, like very darkening. There's a small "blinking" red glow coming from where she remembers the couch being. Blinking as in fading in and fading out repeatedly. Luna walks towards the blinking, being careful to not smash her shin on something or stub any toes. She gets close and tries to investigate what the blinking is, though she has an idea. Luna checks her phone in the dark. She got two cats from Vuk Zmaj??? Luna is wearing sneakers, and she walks around to the front of the couch like 5 feet in front of the blinking. She doesn't step on any shards that cut her but she does crunch on some glass on the floor. Aside from the glow from her phone screen, she's in the dark. Well, walking to the front of the couch, she can see the blinking a bit clearer now. Along with... one eye? A big glowing red eye eye that's... half lidded and a bit.. weird. with a black spot near the middle. Hm. No other eye, though.
"...Luna..?"
"Th-thrall?" She says with a couple tears in her eyes.
"..yyes! yes. aareyou... mad at me.? im.sorry."
"Not at all. Hun, you didn't do it on purpose. You..." Her voice is gravelly, "tried to protect us."
"...andifailed. anndkilledpeople." He starts to cry. She can see that he starts to cry. Glowing tears are very useful indications of crying. He's laying down sideways on the couch, and he sounds like he's been crying for hours. Very weak, shaky, shy voice.
"Person, not people. Only one died as a result. Abaddon killed the other. Eris is alive."
"Hhow.how?? I.ate her. how??"
"...I'm going to guess that note Eris left in your pant pocket was part of it. Her soul was found in your remains on the scene. I was able to release it."
"tthhenote?..that was. from your date..she..she told me she was going to die aaand that. she loved you. and i told her. to confess before it happened...i didnt know it was going to be me." Thrall is now crying harder. Luna's tears have evolved into a full on cry. Even so, something still does not sound right. Almost contradictory, but Eris is fucking magical so maybe?
"It's almost like... she knew what would happen to her. That she would protect me, that you would opt to take her soul. And that everything that happened was meant to be... and I just want you to know that I forgive you. And I still want to be friends," Luna replies. Thrall can't speak, burying his face into the couch to choke back a sob. Luna turns her flashlight on and searches for the light switch from before... if they even work? The lightswitch near the door does infact work! But only some of the lights? Others are broken. After switching it on, she looks back where Thrall is on the couch. Even with the lights, she can't see him because the back of the couch is to her and he's laying down, but she can see the glass from shattered lightbulbs and also a trail of that black liquid stuff he has leading from the hallway to the couch. Okay, she walks back in front of the couch, making sure to dodge the big pieces of glass
Thrall is laying sideways on the couch, wrapped in the heavy comforter from the bed that Luna vividly remembers the comfiness of. The couch cushions are covered in the black goop. Also he looks like he doesnt have any legs??? The only thing she can see is his face. and,,, something she immediately notices... It's unfinished. The entire left side of his face is melty. like,,, melting into that weird shadow shit! But, what she notices MORE is that.... his face is fluffy. Like, distinctly fluffy. His... EVERYTHING still easily blends into darkness but,,, it actually has definition now. She can make out actual features. Just vaguely, but she can! Round moth head. Like a cuter version of the Thrall she fought at The Structure! Fluffy, soft looking. And, again, with his right eye apparently being permanently half-lidded and damaged with a black pupil-like mark. She'd want to pet it, but... ew. Goo. Also she can see his face because he stopped crying into the couch and turned back to look towards her.
"Well uh, g-glad you made it out of there alive Thrall. What happened to your eye?"
"...i didnt. im... im, uh.....this is what happens after i die."
"...Ohhhh I see. So this is normal. M-my apologies Thrall, honestly just glad you're alive and regenerating"
" my u.h..eye..whats. wrong with it?..cant look in a mirror.. just is blurry and.. cant see that well."
"Your right eye has this like... mark on it. like a black pupil?"
"...oh uh..claire. i thinnk?...miss claire shot me there...is she.. ok?? is miss claire ok?? please tell her im so sorry.."
"I will. I'm not sure on her status, haven't seen her since last night. Probably sleeping, knowing her. Hmm. Oh! Got some news, there's this new girl who went to Astro's place, the CCEC and apparently Eris is helping them escape. She's alive. So what Astro and Playwright told me last night wasn't false."
"..pplaywright?"
"Yeah. Shortly after Harmonia's passing, a new Corrupted, I think, calling themselves the Playwright saved Harmonia's body and also buffed us, helping us kick Abaddon's ass. In fact, Abaddon fled because of how much we did to it. The Playwright seemed to know quite a bit about things, even knowing that Eris was revived by Astro."
"rright.. that word again.. Corrupted, like terminal before that big attack.?"
"Yes. They had tendrils and the suit and all of that fun stuff. Terminal and Drake are a bit special though due to being monsters in their own right."
"right...do you think eris will forgive me?"
"I know she will. If my theory is correct, she saw this coming. The fact that you didn't destroy her soul just damaged it, the fact that Astro revived her that quickly?"
"i know sheknew she was goingg to die. i dont know if she know about all of that other stuff..?" He huffs, "...can you help me sit up.,"
"I'd be happy to," Luna puts on her swordfighting gloves on, something she has on hand pretty much always, and helps Thrall up the best she can.
"..Thank you." The light from his soul can be seen through the blanket.
"I'm always happy to help," Luna has a genuine smile on her face, as helping people makes her happiest, "So uh..." she notices the light, "is that your soul?"
"...do you want to see..?" He sighs, sniffling a bit, "i uh..havent. checked. in a while."
"I mean... I don't want to cause you any pain Thrall. But um, I could if you want to?" He unwraps the blanket from around himself, letting it drop. When he unwraps his head, a fluffy moth antenna sticks up! just one. probably because the rest of his head is melty. Fluff... so much fluff. His neck and head are honestly surrounded by a bit of a...neck pillow of fluff? No clue how to describe it. Lots of neck fluff. His torso honestly seems fully healed! Well, almost there. Nearly completely normal, hunky torso covered in lots of soft. The thing that makes it NOT normal is the giant open gash in his chest, presumably from Knight's attack with Eris's scythe. It seems to be.. slowly healing up. But for now, his soul is shown for all to see. From the waist down, there's basically nothing but melting. The shadow liquid seems to be starting to for legs, though! His right arm is completely restored. From the shoulder to the elbow, fluff. from the elbow down, exoskeleton! Now you can really see how he's lost his permanent shadow qualities! The small gaps between the plates of the exoskeleton glowing a faint red.. His hand only have 4 fingers (including thumb) and... his fingers are honestly more claws than anything else, sharp looking. Left arm, though, still very melty. He looks down at himself
"...Getting there. slowly."
"What matters is you're healing, my friend. And your soul seems to be intact, thankfully."
"Ah, you don't have to worry about that! It's... I can trust you, yes..?...No, you deserve to know."
"I trust you Thrall, if that counts for anything."
"The only thing that can destroy it is me or someone who can consume souls. I am made to be weak. I am made to get strong. I am made to be eaten by those stronger than me. Cole... The Photographer... They didn't do it right. Cole tried to crush me, Photo tried to burn me. It wouldn't work. Cole absorbing me like he did that... other soul. Wouldn't work. I'd have to be digested. I'd have to be slowly killed. That's how Beelzebub, my lord, my prince, wished for his subjects to be. Gluttonous until the very end, as he should be."
"I see. That's so... terrible. But I'm glad those safeguards were in place. And um, I'm glad you're alive. I'd give you a hug but um, I'll wait til you've regenerated a bit more... n-no offense."
"..oh.. uh.. ill! remember that!..i still owe you and eris breakfast..." He sighs, "Does everybody.. want me back?"
"Um, I'm sure they would accept you back. Spider might be a bit wary, but that's just her normal behavior. Um. I could ask the group chat if you'd like me to."
"Nn..no. nonot yet. llet me uh.. finish. reforming."
"You got it Thrall. Just sayin, my DMs are basically always open, so if you need me to come back for something or you need help, I can definitely do that," Luna says, smiling and nodding.
"Thank you, Luna. Thank you so much. I hope Eris can come home to you soon.." Even with the fact you can actually, fully see his body now, his mouth is invisible. but hes smiling!
"I hope so too. I miss her dearly, but knowing she's alive and helping people in the CCEC makes me very happy. Um, is there anything else I can help you with before I head back?"
"Nno! no, no! I'm fine, thank you...feel free to come back and sleep whenever youd like."
"Thank you Thrall. You're a wonderful friend. I'll be back to see you soon. And this place is our secret, I promise you that."
"Thank you! thank you!...my previous master lived here. that's why I want... it safe. Thank you for keeping it secret. Thank you."
"Goodbye," Luna smiles and waves, then disappears. Thrall wraps himself back up in the blanket and fwomps back onto laying down on his side. A figure forms from the darkness, a tall humanoid being in a suit with a head made from the twin masks of theatre, tragedy and comedy. In a moment Thrall feels watched from everywhere as if thousands of eyes covered every surface, all focused on him. It felt like an impossibility, the definition of anomaly as it approached Thrall, towering over the goopy moth.
"Hello, Thrall." It's speech sounds like a cacophony of thousands of voices. It shouldn't be possible to understand it's words and yet Thrall does.
"whgjds???wh???" He stares at it in shock, "hH??hello??? Who.are you??"
"I Am The Playwright. It Is A Pleasure To Meet You." It bows.
"..oh.ooh you! you.." He forces himself upright, gripping onto the couch for support, "You're the one who saved everybody, aren't you? You're the one who has Harmonia.. aren't you?"
"Yes. And I Intend To Bring Her Back. But I Need Your Help."
"What?"
"You Cannot Die Unless Your Soul Is Consumed. If You Sacrificed A Piece Of Your Soul To Harmonia, I Will Be Able To Revive Her. And She Will Be Stronger Than Before."
"yyou??? need??? wh a t??? a piece of my soul??"
"Yes. If You Gave It, She Would Become Part Demon. Like You."
"w.whwh.. You're going to try that?? Really??"
"I Am Not Going To *Try* It. I Am Going To Succeed. If You Agree."
"....wwhat will it. do to her..??"
"She Will Crave Flesh And Souls. Her Body Can Digest Small Souls But It Will Still Make Her Sick. However Her Mind Will Be Unchanged. I Have Her Permission To Do This." She bends down in front of Thrall, placing a hand that feels human on his head, petting him softly. "She Understands That You Did Not Want To Hurt Anyone."
"whw....whh..?" It's soft. He gets extremely, extremely warm, "wwhyre yyou..?"
"I Am Sorry For All The Pain You Have Been Through As Of Late... You Deserve Much Better." Somehow, his gaze felt caring. The thousands of eyes softening.
"...." Thrall starts crying VERY hard. The Playwright envelops Thrall in a hug. It's gentle and loving. One of if not the best hug he'd ever received as she rubs his back softly.
"Get It All Out." Thrall buries his face into their chest, sobbing a fuckton. He's soft to hug, fluffy. Although the fact some of his face is melty is.. rubbing off onto the Playwright's clothes along with the tears! It's fine, though, as the clothes don't really exist. Anyways! He's just gonna be held for a bit.
"...tomorrow. ill be ready tomorrow..." he sighs, "jjust need to finish.. reforming..then ill be ready, okay? is that ok?"
"Of Course. Yes. I Will Stay For As Long As You Need Me, Thrall."
"Okay.. thank you. Thank you for protecting them. Thank you for bringing her back. Thank you."
"Of Course. We Will Defeat Abaddon." Playwright says. Thrall goes silent, just continuing to cry. The Playwright waits. Comfort small mothman. The Playwright waits for him to fall asleep, still comforting him. Once he's asleep he's tucked in gently and the lightbulbs in the house are fixed before The Playwright disappears.