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💫Semi-Selective💫Multiverse💫OC & Canon Multimuse💫Written by Writer💫

Hello, all.

This blog is more dead than ten doornails.- Dunno how that works, but it is. But since I still have inklings of energy for the muses on here, I’ll be putting it under my low-activity main, @thedoublingcenter​, for safe keeping.

I’m planning on at least pulling Willow the Ringmaker off the blog and putting her either on a Sonic Movie Multimuse, or back on her old blog ( @mobianringmaker​). If there’s another muse you would like to see saved from the low-activity account, please DM me @mother-ofwriting​. All other muses are gonna be put into the low activity pile on this blog.

Char had, naturally gone incredibly tense and rigid as the cauterization had taken place, his fangs obliterating the item given to bite down on, his groan of pain harsh and guttural. Only a few moments after the process, did he remove the item from between his lips and pant heavily, his body covered in a sheen of sweat not borne of running or exercise. Tears had naturally formed within his eyes, but he bit them back from falling, instead trying to focus on staying aware and not sinking into shock.

“We can’t stay on this planet. We need ta warp.” His mind was fogging quickly, the pain clouding his senses, face pale. Though he held enough mental capacity to balk when they mentioned a hospital. “No!!” An outburst, laden with fear that he hadn’t intended to allow free, his eyes holding the emotion just as strongly as his wavering voice. 

He inhaled shakily, then exhaled even slower, attempting to recollect himself and ground his anxiety. “No hospitals. I can’t…can’t do those. Can’t we just..can’t we just do it ourselves? I can take the pain. But I can’t…I won’t let em put me under.” His paranoia wouldn’t allow it, nor would he, consciously, allow a doctor near him.

Past trauma with the medical ward within the prison was the blame for that. Countless experiments, needles, questionable substances pumped into his veins that caused excruciating pain that far exceeded even the cauterization he had just endured. 

And the last thing he wanted to do, was ask for Tempest to hold his hand should he be forced to go. Because alone, he would no doubt attack the doctors, his distrust endless. He would fight to escape. The scents, the walls, all of it far to reminiscent of the prison med bay. 

“Anywhere but a hospital. No doctors. The only way you’ll get me ta willin’ly go, is if m’unconscious.”

Tempest paused as the other yelled out, eyes flicking to the hedgehog before nodding. Got it... No hospitals. It would be a hint more difficult for the two to get him healed, but... That outburst was a bit chaotic, and the injury could be dealt with outside of a hospital... Still... She was a bit worried about it all.

“... We can.” Tempest put the rest of her stuff away, preparing for what would be a bumpy trip. “It’s not advised, but yes, we can take care of it away from a hospital.” She didn’t want to knock Spike out, so she was left with the second option: dealing with this on her own. She couldn’t take Spike to Tails’ place, the kid would freak. So the best bet would be her place, since Sonic and the others didn’t quite know much about Spike.

She sat close to Spike, crackles of electricity rising from the ground around them as she did. A dark, purple smoke filled the air, hiding away the world they had been in as  more sparks flew. For Tempest, it felt like dropping in an elevator- that odd sensation when the stomach goes up but the body goes down. The Chaos Emerald she was hiding was forced into use, its energy powering the majority of the teleport between worlds.

There was a small crack! followed by a quiet bng!, before the smoke began to fall away- inch by inch. The electricity fell away, revealing an entryway to an unknown home, dim in the dark of night, with a rod on each corner glowing bright for a moment before fading. Tempest closed her eyes for a second, breathing in the familiar old-book smell that filled her home.

   {➹} – IT HAD BEEN on the tip of the hero’s tongue to ask what the spark had to do with what she was doing but, Chaos knew, he had gotten his answer soon enough. Watching the purple energy come to life had him taking a reflective step back, unwilling to risk getting even marginally close to…whatever it was. He stood there, bewildered and trying to piece together what he had just seen, enough so that he had nearly missed her question altogether.

     Still, even as he looked back up to her the most he gave a small sound that could have been agreement, namely towards her last words. The hedgehog couldn’t say he considered himself smart in the traditional sense but he did have his moments, they were just far and few between. He had a very particular set of skills, some very few would call everyday knowledge but he supposed it was what made him interesting, for lack of a better word. Not for the first time he wondered where he might have been if things had been different, and not for the first time he found he had no idea.

      It was just another funny thing about life, he reckoned.

     His had undoubtedly changed; he had undoubtedly changed. As much as a part of him longed for how things had been in those first ten, carefree years, he knew it was a pipe dream. Nothing would ever be the same for him, not how he lived and not the world he had sworn to protect. It was the price he had paid for doing what he did, and he knew he was one of the lucky few to come out of it all alive and well. In a general sense anyway.

     He had died, yes, but that itself had also been inevitable. It was a terrible thought, but one he found himself pondering time and time again. His death had been, in a sense, necessary. So what the hell did that say about the rest of his life?

     Softly shaking his head to rid himself of the thought he snorted at Crystal’s optimism. He wished he could start again so easily, but it simply wasn’t in the cards. Not for him. “Easier said than done. I was ten when all that started. Things…they’re different now, picking things up isn’t exactly an option anymore. Not really. Best I can do is make good with what I do have, and hope no one else comes along trying t’ change that.”

      Watching with a frown that had little to do with his answer as she tested the portal, the hedgehog blinked as she put her foot in and drew it back. Sonic was no expert but it didn’t seem like she had gotten what she wanted, though how she was supposed to change that he had no idea. Given he wasn’t wholly sure how his own versions of portals worked maybe that was to be expected, but he found he still preferred warp rings to…whatever he was looking at in that moment. 

     He did look away from it, for a moment, when Crystal mentioned his hobby being a distraction. That was oddly fitting, actually, and had been the case for years. Music was cathartic to him, and without it he hated to think where he might be, hence why he let out a small, amused sound at the thought. “I can’t argue with that…“

     Still all his attention was back on her and the portal a moment later, a look of pure uncertainty on his face as she mentioned going through the latter. It wasn’t often the hero listened to that little voice in his head, but today was going to be one of those days. 

      "Are you sure that’s safe?” The hedgehog didn’t know if she had much of an option, but he sure did. He wouldn’t admit it but he was tempted to see what the portal was all about but logic was quick to take over and he shook his head. It wasn’t a risk he could take, not if they weren’t sure if he could get back. Chaos knew his girlfriend would kill him if he got stuck in some mining-based world. “If it’s all the same t’ you, I think I’ll stay here this time. ‘M not exactly up for an other-wordly adventure at the moment, but I do wish you the best of luck.”

“Easier done than said, for me.” Crystal chuckled. It was an interesting flip- one she couldn’t quite reconcile in her head anymore after all the years, but she still did her best to understand on an intellectual level, if not emotional. Sonic probably had tons of requirements thanks to modern society to take care of... Something that Crystal partially yearned for, even now. But still, she kept that to herself. “Agreed!”

It was startling how much that statement rang with her past. Some pieces... Some pieces hadn’t even shattered, they’d been ground into dust, with no hope of recovery... So to try to hope no one would come along to change it... Honestly, she was caught. Change would be nice- even if it was for the worse. It would break up the monotony of her existence, endlessly living and dying by the edge of a pickaxe and the will of her blade.

Crystal leaned down, watching the purple hue as it danced and floated about, waiting to see if it would glitch or warp or fade.. But it did no such thing. She had indeed created an active portal- but the smallest kick to its sides would destroy it, and break its connection. That way, Sonic could probably destroy the link the second he desired- and she would just form a new one some day... Probably with better decorations than this flimsy thing. But the desire to return home- well, to one of her homes- overpowered the need to make the portal super fancy.

She gave him a look at the question of the portal’s safety- one that nearly seemed to say ‘you’re kidding, right?’. Crystal snickered, shaking her head not a second later.

“Notch, no! If the Nether was safe, I don’t think I’d like it too much.” She nodded her head in response to his statement. It wasn’t often others had ever followed her into the Nether, even before the curse began.- Such was life, she supposed. “Don’t need it, but thanks!” She jumped up with a cry of joy, before crashing through the portal’s front- and vanishing clear out of sight. The portal itself groaned and hissed, like a beast from the depths.

On the other side, Crystal slammed into the soul sand with a laugh. She bolted upright, eyes sparkling as they caught sight of the world around her. It was still a rather insane place- full of netherrack and the cry of ghostly behemoths beneath lava-drenched waves. Far off, she could make out the faintest outline of a Nether Fortress, and nearby, she heard the familiar groan of a zombie pigman.

“Time to find home, Cocoa!” Crystal started off, knowing it would take some time to find her network of minecarts... She would, however, find it..

And she had it in her mind to find a way back to that strange world someday.

    {➹} – THE HERO HAD HARDLY FOUGHT the small smirk that came to his muzzle when she began listing names. There were fitting as far as he could tell (he particularly liked the first one) though he didn’t quite get the last one. He was still quite confused on what the Nether she kept mentioning was, though his own previous conclusions had told him it wasn’t exactly anything good. Though that then begged the question of why she seemed to travel by it but even the hero felt that was a can of worms best left closed. 

     "Seems like you’re due for a new one, if you ask me,“ he said, a playful air about him as he smiled at her. Not that he was going to pick one out right at that moment, but the hedgehog did have a knack for giving people nicknames once he knew them well enough. A task for another time, he figured, waving a hand at her concern regarding the people on that planet. "I reckon you could call them, us, commonplace but there are plenty of regular people out there too. A lot of my friends are…pretty average, but they each have something that makes them special. Chaos knows a lot of them are smarter than I am, and that’s the least that can be said.”

    They all had their quirks, it was why the hedgehog adored his friends and family so much, but they would be there all day if he went over each little thing, Instead, he focused on Crystal’s explanation, and before too long it was his turn to notice something wasn’t quite right in the way she spoke.

     The realization was slight in his expression, barely noticeable unless one was looking hard, but there all the same. Fortunately, given the context and nature of their conversation at the moment, the hedgehog knew better than to poke at it. The past tense alone concerning the one she referred to as ‘Bean’ was telling enough, and the hero couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that came with it all. Another reason why living forever seemed so much like a curse rather than a gift in his eyes.

     But he digressed.

     "Sounds a bit like my team an’ I. We originally got together t’ protect the people from a person who didn’t have their best interests at heart, but I guess that’s where the comparison ends because we are the fighting type. We didn’t want t’ be, but we didn’t have much choice in the matter when we were up against killer robots and the like,“ he said, and rather casually at that, before chuckling lightly and shaking his head. "Of course we haven’t died a thousand times, but we did learn a lot in that year an’ a half. More than we cared t’, actually.”

    Had she listened closely, Crystal may have noticed a bit of an odd emphasis one the number but it was clear the hero wasn’t going to be explaining it, anely because the next change of topic had him frowning in thought. He didn’t know what constituted as a ‘job’ for people like him. He definitely didn’t work, not in the traditional sense, but even then things were far different today than they had been a few years ago. Had she asked back then, he may have had a better answer. 

     "Not anymore, not really. It’s…complicated, being a hero with no villain, I mean.” No real villain, that was. There were still people out there causing trouble but not to the extent that Robotnik had been. They almost seemed irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and yet still the hedgehog hadn’t made it quite as far as to leave the mindset of a savior behind. He doubted he ever would, frankly. “Likewise, when you’ve spent the better half of your life fighting against a mad doctor you…tend t’ let go of any real plans.

     “But, for what it’s worth, I did want t’ be a musician once upon a time but…” He merely shrugged, a sure sign that he no longer saw that one as an option for one reason or another. 

Crystal moved the pieces closer to one another with her feet, until she had a portal frame laying on its back on the ground. Hopefully that wouldn’t cause any troubles in the Nether realm, but this entire world was already off-its-rocker crazy, so she wouldn’t put it past the odd attempt at a portal to backfire. She snickered, glancing back the hedgehog’s way.

“Feel free, man.” She clicked the flint and steel together, watching the spark that cascaded off. Her eyes were caught on it for a moment, a childlike joy at seeing the small spark that could cause either life or death with a simple flick. Still, she couldn’t just stand and stare. She quirked an eyebrow Sonic’s way as she smacked the flint and steel against the frame of the portal. The spark caught on the edge, and thankfully, like all else in her own world, the interior came to life with a burst of purple energy. Crystal barely flinched as ghostly echoes of the initial spark danced away from the now-purple sheet that covered the interior of the portal’s edges.

... So they were commonplace... But not? Okay, that was just... Confusing.

“So are you and your friends normal or not?... Because you said you were, then you said you weren’t- and then you called your friends average...??” Crystal shook her head. “You’re gonna confuse me to death.” She hummed. “.... Being smart isn’t everything in life. Besides, I’m sure you’re smart in other ways.” Crystal nodded her head, tapping at the edge of the portal’s frame to make sure it was stable. The light flickered. Well... Not-so-stable then.

Crystal couldn’t help but laugh a bit. That... Was a bit relatable. Maybe not the fact that they were the fighting type, but that they had to protect others.- There was little to say in the matter, unless one lacked a moral compass, which she doubted Sonic or herself did. She did, however, pick up on the mention of having not died a thousand times... Which meant that a few deaths had taken place. Crystal exhaled softly at that.

It had taken years to work up her pain tolerance to where it was now. The first hundred had been agony with each death, but now... It didn’t matter. Shot, blown up, melted, electrocuted, bled out... Whatever. She didn’t feel a thing. It was a blessing to just die without sensation, but if it wasn’t a thousand deaths... It was only a year and a half... Then for them, it must have been Hell on Earth.

“Life just loves throwing curse-balls, doesn’t it?” She jokingly inquired, trying to pick her mirth back up. “Well... If you don’t have a villain anymore, then you can pick back up where you left off, right?” Crystal lowered a foot into the portal, feeling it twist and churn before burning heat, like that of a desert in the middle of a summer day, seared across her skin. She pulled it back. Yep, that was definitely the Nether! “And hey, musician still sounds like it’s worth a shot- no matter how much life you’ve got left.” She grinned.

Giving up on one’s life goals... Yeah, that had happened once upon a time. Long, long ago in her own timeline... But it was so far away, and she’d found something to distract herself over the eons, so... It all worked out for the better, right?

“Even if you don’t pick it back up... It’s nice to have something to distract yourself, I’m sure.” She brushed her pant leg, and shook out the shoe- only to see flickering bits of dark gray, almost black flitter down. Soul sand. Even better! “I need to make sure I can get back home, so I’m gonna head through the portal... Do you wanna come with, or no? I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to get back here- although considering your rings, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She waved  a hand.