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projectnewmoon · 5 months ago

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Sonic - Project: New Moon

Chapter 5 - Haunted House of Horrors

Summary: Trapped in a ghostly realm, Sonic and the others must find a way out while facing the spirits that dragged them in.

Warnings: Drowning, swearing, violence, blood, unsettling imagery, body horror, vomiting.

Word Count: 2,966 words

Sonic feels himself fall into a dark, freezing void. Everyone’s voices cry out for him, but they grow more and more distant as he falls further and further down. Slowly, his ears are filled with the sound of eerie, childlike laughter. It’s impossibly dark, he can barely see his own hands in front of him.

Then there was a loud splash, and the laughter became garbled and muffled.

Water. He’s in water.

His heart starts to race. He can’t breathe.

He tries to swim, kicking and flailing his arms and legs uselessly, but he just continues to sink further. The weight of the ocean above him slowly crushes him. He can’t breathe.

No, no, no, no, no… Panic sets in, his thoughts becoming static as he sinks ever further, down into an endless abyss. Water forces itself into his lungs, claws wrapping around his insides. He can’t move. He can’t breathe.

No, this can’t be it, this can’t be how it ends, he can’t die here, he can’t drown, not now, not now, not now.

He has to get out, he has to, he has to–

“Sonic!” Two voices, distorted by the water surrounding him, call out his name. He looks around, but there is nothing. Nothing but the void.

A warm hand grabs ahold of his own, pulls him down further.

“This isn’t real!” one of them cries.

“Breathe, Sonic! Or you’ll suffocate yourself!” the other urges him.

He shakes his head. He can’t. He can’t breathe. His lungs are full of freezing water, he can feel it. The cold is stabbing at his skin and his insides like thousands of needles. He can’t breathe. Everything hurts.

“Sonic, you need to trust us! Breathe!”

The hand pulls him into the warm embrace of two people. They hold him tight. He could feel the warmth in his very soul, like something reaching out to it, calming him.

“Breathe…” he hears one whisper in his ear, her voice loud and clear.

He gasped. Air finally reaches his lungs. The weight of the water around him completely vanishes. It’s no longer cold- or, well, no longer as cold.

Sonic opens his eyes. He hadn’t realized he’d closed them.

“There we go,” Specter spoke with a slight smile, gently patting his shoulder.

Sonic looked around, first at the strange and distorted landscape, then at the twins sitting right across him, holding what looked like scythes made out of pure energy, and then down at his… paws.

Large, furry blue paws.

Had he transformed just now without realizing? Did the sun set while he was in there- wherever there was? No, that couldn’t be, it hasn’t been that long, has it?

“How do you feel?” Phantom asked.

He opened his mouth to respond, but instead, he began to cough, puffs of purple smoke coming out of his snout. The twins watched with worry, patting and rubbing his back.

And as quickly as it came, his coughing fit subsided.

“I… I’m alright, I think…” he answered once he could breathe again, though his entire body felt like it wanted to tear itself apart. He looks over his beastly form, then at his surroundings. “... Where the hell are we?”

“Spirit realm,” Phantom replied, “Evil spirits dragged all of us in with you after you went into the ring.”

“Wait, everyone? Where’s Tails and Rue, then?” Sonic pushed himself back onto his feet, looking around for them.

“I’m… not sure,” Specter gripped her scythe tighter, “I can sense their souls, so they should be somewhere around here, but- ah! Sonic, wait!”

Sonic walked forwards, looking back at Specter as she called out to him. “We’ve gotta go find ‘em. Come on.”

The two couldn’t help but follow after him, and they all walked deeper into the Spirit Realm.

The ground constantly shifts in odd, almost pearlescent hues, swirling like liquid under the trio’s feet, yet it was completely solid. There were no walls to be seen, but Sonic could feel them around them, invisible, yet confining them to a twisting and seemingly never ending path. It was hard to tell whether they had made any progress traversing the Spirit Realm or not.

Sonic wondered, was this a Special Zone? It felt just like one, the way it seemed to almost reject his very presence in this form and made him feel ill. Maybe this “spirit realm” is just a Special Zone the ghosts had hijacked somehow, he thought. The Emeralds give their power to anyone as long as they can handle it, after all.

His musings are interrupted by a strange sound. Is that… buzzing? And that crazed laughter again?

He looks back at the twins behind him, and is met with them fighting off a swarm of large insects. Specter is practically in tears, whimpering as she slashes away with reckless abandon, and from the edges of his vision, he can see pale white figures with unhinged smiles, laughing at her misery.

“Don’t look at them don’t look at them don’t look at them don’t– eeeAAAH!” A bug nearly flies in her face, but Phantom manages to cut it down just in time. The swarm is quickly dispatched, both the bugs and ghosts disappearing into nothing, but Specter is still left a trembling, crying mess.

“We need to keep moving,” Phantom says as he grabs his twin’s hand and pulls her along, walking past Sonic.

“What even was that?” Sonic asked, before looking down and realizing the floor was suddenly flooded with freezing cold water that was slowly but surely rising. His quills spike up and he hurries after the twins.

His footsteps feel sluggish, like he’s wading through a swamp. His chest tightened. The water is at his legs now, he could feel it.

“It’s not real,” Phantom looks back at Sonic with a stern look on his face, “It’s all an illusion. The ghosts are using your fear to slow you down and make you vulnerable so that they can steal your soul. Don’t let them.”

Easier said than done, he thought, but he shook his head, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Balling up his paws into fists, he continued to walk forward.

The cold weight of the water disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, and he caught up to the twins without issue.

Sonic opened his eyes once more and looked around, avoiding looking at the ground at all costs. “This is bad. How are we gonna find the others with all these ghosts hauntin’ us?”

“I can sense Tails’ soul. He’s nearby. Can’t pinpoint where exactly, though.” Phantom thumped his tail on the ground, frustrated.

“M-maybe you can, I dunno, sniff him out?” Specter suggested.

What was he, a dog?

“I mean, you’re kinda like Rue, right?” she elaborated, “You should have a better sense of smell than us. Maybe you could, like, smell him or something.”

Well, he didn’t have any better ideas…

Sonic began to sniff the air, focusing on whatever scent his nose could pick up. There wasn’t much, at least, not much he could identify, but eventually, he caught something familiar.

The smell of mint.

He rushed forward, following the minty smell as best he could, the twins running close behind. And, eventually–

“Oof-!” Sonic runs straight into an invisible wall.

He places a paw on the wall, and reality itself seems to ripple under it. Though, strangely, it felt completely solid, like glass. He sniffs the wall a bit, catching even more of that familiar scent.

“I think he’s through here!” he says confidently, “How’re we gonna get past this, though?”

“Hm… Stand back, I think I know what to do,” Specter, now having wiped her tears away and finally collected herself, gestured for Sonic to move. He takes a few steps back.

She pulls back her scythe, and with one mighty swing, leaves a large gash into the fabric of reality itself. Dark clouds spill out of the new opening, sparking with electricity.

“There he is! Tails!” Sonic called out before pushing his way through the opening. He can see his little brother just up ahead, on the floor, trembling like a leaf as rain falls and thunder crashes in the distance. Ghosts surround him, whispering things he can’t quite make out despite his more sensitive hearing.

But what he can make out is Tails’ crying.

“Stop it…” Tails sobbed, “You’re lying… He’s not…”

Thunder crashes once more. A ghost’s claw reaches for Tails’ back.

“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!”

Sonic quickly grabbed Tails, held him close in his arms and shielded him from the storm and the ghosts. Like a wild beast, he snarled at them, violet mist slowly slipping through his bared teeth. His mind began to fog.

No, he can’t lose it now, not like he did last night. He needed to focus. Focus. Focus.

Lightning flashes. Tails covers his ears and closes his eyes shut, shaking in Sonic’s arms.

Specter and Phantom swoop in, slashing away at the ghosts, cutting them into pieces as Sonic protected Tails. The ghosts shriek and scream as they are cut down two by two, until there are none visible and the storm begins to clear.

Sonic looks down at Tails, who looks back up at him with sad, tired eyes.

“You okay, buddy?”

Tails nods, sniffling. “Y-yeah… yeah, I’m okay.”

“Poor kid looks drained,” Specter commented.

Phantom scowled. “They almost took his soul. If we were even another second late, he might’ve been a goner.”

“Good thing we got here just in time, then.” Sonic walked out from the rift Specter had opened, still carrying Tails, running a paw through his fur to calm him. “Better find Rue quick before they get to her too.”

The twins nodded in unison, following after Sonic and continuing the search for their last missing companion.

Phantom swung his scythe at the invisible wall, its blade tearing through it like paper, and the group walked into the newly formed rift.

They’d repeated the same process as earlier to find Tails. Using Sonic’s nose and the twins’ ability to sense people’s souls, they eventually found themselves here, in what looks like the ruins of an old town. A nightmarish red sky hangs above the group as they make their way past decayed buildings, the sound of the ghosts’ mocking laughter ringing throughout. The air smelled of humidity.

And yet, unlike when they’d found Tails, Rue was nowhere in sight.

“Rue? Rue, where are you?” Specter called out, but received no response.

“This is weird,” Sonic said as he looked about the hellish landscape, “Feels like this place could go on forever. Where could she–”

Crunch.

Sonic’s head snaps towards the sound.

“What was that?” Tails asked, his tails puffing up at the sound of another crunch, then a snap.

Sonic hurries ahead, turning the corner and stopping when he steps on something… wet.

The pungent stench of rot fills his nose, and he looks down to see a pool of a green substance rippling at his feet. He looks towards its source.

A pile of bodies, bloody, broken, and torn apart. Faceless illusions, all of the same child, a wolf pup with blue and white fur wearing a pink dress, all stained with green blood.

Rue stands in the middle of the carnage, paws and mouth stained and fur covered in viscera. Their whole body shook, their eyes unfocused. A figure of Nox stands right in front of her, faceless, just like the children. The only discernible feature on his face was a grin twisting around his mandibles.

The twins tried to call out to them, but their cries fell on deaf ears. Rue snarled at the illusion of Nox, forcefully grabbing him by the neck and choking him. With a sickening crunch, the figure fell limp.

But the figure was no longer Nox. In the blink of an eye, it had become the child in Rue’s paws. The lifeless body slipped from their grip and onto the pile, and they quietly stared at it, an unreadable expression on their face.

“Rue!” Specter yelled as she and Phantom threw their scythes towards an unseen enemy. The weapons spin and cut through a horde of ghosts behind Rue, destroying them all in one fell swoop.

Sonic hurries over to Rue’s side, grabbing them by the cloak and pulling them down into the pool of green blood. As they pick themself up, something begins to rise from the pile of bodies. Something big.

And whatever it is, Sonic could feel a lot of Chaos Energy radiating from it.

The twins summon their scythes, and everyone watches as the bodies meld and change into a large, white form. A giant ghost rose from them, with crazed multi-colored eyes and blue, frostbitten lips twisted into a permanent smile. It opened its maw, revealing teeth as black as obsidian and insides of bright, swirling colors.

“That’s… That’s the King of Spirits…” Phantom muttered, clutching his scythe tightly.

Specter’s fur rose. “No way…”

The King of Spirits dove into the ground, becoming a shadow and rushing after the group.

“Look out!” Sonic yelled out as its maw rises from the shadow, attempting to eat him and Rue, but he drags her out of the way just in time to avoid it.

Specter gasps. “It wants to eat you guys’ souls! Keep it distracted and give us an opening to strike!”

Sonic nods and runs, Rue following closely, and the malevolent spirit gives chase.

Scythes drawn, the twins run after it.

It dives down again, trying to bite down on Rue. She manages to push herself and Sonic out of the way, but she falls, coughing and heaving. Purple smoke comes out of her mouth.

“Ah, shit-! C’mon, you gotta get back up!” Sonic grabs her paws, pulling her up just as the King’s shadow approaches. It pops out once more, its maw snapping shut as it eats nothing but air.

But now they were cornered. Neither of them had realized they’d run into a dead end, and there was no way Rue would be able to get away, out of breath as they were. Unable to find an exit, Sonic braced for impact as the King opened its giant maw, its smile unfurling as its mouth grew wider, its entire body slowly splitting in half and revealing more and more knife-like teeth.

But just before it can eat them, Sonic sees Tails struggling to carry the twins just above the King. He lets them go, and in a matter of a second, the blades of two scythes stab right into its head.

The King lets out a deafening screech as it is slowly, painfully cut down by the twins. Its insides splatter out from the gash, raining technicolor ectoplasm on the now fading illusion of the town. It falls and begins to fade, leaving nothing but a red Chaos Emerald in its place.

Tails flies down, and grabs the Chaos Emerald, and before anyone knew it, the realm was swallowed in blinding white light.

Sonic opened his eyes once more and found himself lying on his back, staring up at the desert sky, now painted in beautiful yellows, oranges, pinks, and blues right at the edge of the horizon.

“GOOD GAIA BELOW, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THAT?”

Tails lies next to him, clutching the red Chaos Emerald close to his chest. “We finally got our third Emerald… Ugh, my head’s spinning so much, I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”

Somewhere behind him, Sonic can hear Rue actually throw up. Which surely does not help Tails feel any better.

“That was… wow, holy shit, we just killed the King of Spirits.” Specter stared off into the distance in disbelief of what had just happened.

“I wanna go home,” Phantom stated plainly as he stared off into the distance with his sister, a troubled expression on his face.

“Oh, man,” Sonic pushed himself to sit up, looking at the twins, “I’m so sorry for dragging you all into that. That was a nightmare.”

“Are you kidding?! That was sick!” Specter exclaimed.

“That was probably the worst day of my life,” Phantom said as he stared right into his very soul.

“We got to fight the King of Spirits! And WON!”

“I never want to think of this ever again.”

“AND you guys got the thing you needed! SO I’d say today was a pretty good day!”

“I wanna go home.”

… Well, at least one of them had fun?

Sonic turns around to look at Rue, who was still on their paws and knees, trembling. He gets up, walks up to them, then kneels down beside them.

There is now a puddle of bile on the sand in front of them. It stinks. He elects to ignore it and focus on Rue.

“Hey, uh, you okay?” he asks.

They don’t respond. Their eyes are unfocused, staring at nothing in particular.

“I know we don't really know each other that well, but… Do you… wanna talk about it?”

They shake their head slightly, still silent.

“Yeah, I wouldn't want to either, to be honest.”

He sat down next to them, watching the sunset.

“It's getting pretty late. Y'think you and the twins can get back home safe?”

No response.

“Hm… Hey, y'know what? I think all of us need a bit of a break. How about we camp out for the night?”

“That's fine,” they finally reply, mumbling.

“Awesome. I'll go let the others know. If you need anything, just say so, okay?”

“Mm.”

And with that, he got back up and walked back to the rest of the group, announcing their impromptu camping trip and hurrying over to the Tornado to begin setting everything up to spend the night.

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