// TW \\

Gore

Vomit

———

Lightbulb took a step.

Lightbulb took a step.

She glared at the door before her.

She glared at the window before her.

She had to do this.

Lightbulb sighed to herself. Was she really about to do this? She hadn't seen this woman since... Well... she'd first came to this world. Her nerves tugged at the back of her mind as she slowly walked into the massive palace like structure before her. The first thing that had caught her eye was the statue in the grand hall. A massive statue chiseled from marble. Polished and well kept. She stepped onto the carpet beneath it, and walked slowly around the large decoration keeping her eyes instead on the plethora of glass windows. Which seemed different than when she'd last been here.

A familiar face caught her eye.

Paintbrush.

She felt her heart in her throat as she froze and stared at it. Tears welled up in her eyes as she glared at the last monumental window she'd expect... in what was once a simple flame was now the face of her childhood best friend. They looked identical.

She wanted to cry, but had to continue forward. She was supposed to be strong. She was supposed to bare through it. After all, what other choice did she have?

She continued. The only glass window she'd recognized was the centre of it all. The immovable one. The divine. The definition of everything. The opposition of nothing. She'd only met this woman once before.

She hoped it would go as good as it had before.

She ignored opened the door to the cathedral centrepiece. The practical throne room as one may call it. A place of divine worship and pray. It's what replaced the statue from her home. She looked across at the massive woman. Her gaze faded... her eyes dulled and distant. She'd look like she was dead if she hadn't been floating.

Lightbulb sighed. The look in the other's face told her that she expected her to arrive at this moment. Like a clock clicking to the twelfth hour. "You summoned me?" She got down on one knee.

"That is a fact." She said in a serene, nearly ghostly voice. Full of grace and manner. "One only wishes to... Gather the ones we Crowned in place of the old. Our people are dying... One couldn't expect to live much longer in a state such as this..."

Lightbulb bit her cheek, "What...?" She seemed confused. This wasn't what she was expecting either.

"Have you not taken notice of the glass stained with the figures of new? You cannot dwell on my heal. One should be expected to know that I shall succumb to the choices that have dug my grave by my own hand." The lady of stars replied to her confusion.

"You... Bu-but who...?"

"That is something one must find for themself, Lightbulb." Her voice sang, nearly drifting off. "My last moments are nigh. Please grant my final wish and acquire the ones of new. And take them so I may rest at peace."

Lightbulb flinched, knowing damn well that if she didn't everything as she knew it would be destroyed. The thought of something so calamitous befalling everything so imminently was a stressful thought to her. "I-I will.... Miss..." Her silly demeanour could wait this once. This was both the wrong time and place for such behaviour.

"One gives their gratitude for your service." Her voice a whisper as she warmly smiled at the small object before her.

"I will... Do my best..." Lightbulb muttered to herself... And summoned her spear. She bowed and then left, not taking another moment to question.

———

The ground rumbled which caused Mephone to collapse after tripping on the ruffled carpet. He groaned and looked ahead at X who was directing Paintbrush to a safe area. They looked towards the smaller object and beckoned Mephone4 to follow. Mephone looked back and quickly noticed Lightbulb wasn't there, X soon followed with their same

"What the—?!" X rushed over, helping Mephone4 up as they looked about frantically. "Where did she go?!"

Mephone4 spun around and whipped his head around, snapping from significant detail to significant detail. "She was right behind me!" Mephone4's eyebrows furrowed at the lack of his former contestant.

X grabbed the sides of their head, "Please don't tell me she..."

"Knowing her? Anything's a possibility..." Mephone grumbled as he glanced back at the door Paintbrush had gone through. They poked their head out shortly after. "Lightbulb, Mephone, X come on!" They rushed.

"Lightbulb is gone!" Mephone4 shouted, pointing at where she'd been before.

"What?!" Paintbrush rushed back over. Another rumble from the ground followed by a loud bang sent everyone to the ground, ducking for cover.

Mephone4 breathed heavily, loud noises were NOT his thing... Paintbrush bit their lip as they looked up, removing their hands from protecting their neck. Soon after, stumbling over to the window which they leaned on to get a better look. They instinctively ducked as a piece of rubble was sent flying through the wall next to them... They shielded themselves with their arms and looked back to see some sort of shadow amalgamation— no— two? Three??? They couldn't tell... They squint to see one of them was attacking the other two. One was spring like... The other like a spool... and the last— the one attacking looked... Like nothing recognizable.

They looked around snapping their eyes from one yellow detail to the next... that's when they noticed Lightbulb running towards the danger. Of course... But why would she be going into it on purpose? Lightbulb was silly, Naive at times but... she wasn't an idiot. Unless.....

Lightbulb ducked out of the way of rubble and falling debris as the clash between the monsters above raged on. Her only thought was to find her beloved pet before he was injured... She whipped her head around looking... nearly stumbling off the docks s she reached them. She had to step back and duck out of the way of another chunk of house.

She turned and saw a port like warehouse, and ran towards it. Hoping Baxter would be inside. "BAXTER?!" She screamed, hoping if he was inside he would hear her. She ran inside looking at massive crates and shelves of supplies and trading material— that's when she noticed the Dragon hiding in a pile of boxes—which had fallen on him during the chaos. The dragon whined like a puppy.

Lightbulb frowned and ran over, petting the beast's snout. "BAXTER...!" She hugged him tightly... The poor dragon perked and licked Lightbulb's face in an instant. She was worried he'd been hurt, or fell from the island. She backed up and flinched to the rumbling that echoed from beyond the port warehouse. "Oh jeez... We'd better dip before those nightmarish things get to us!"

Baxter whined like a puppy. Lightbulb frowned in response to which.

"Oh... come on!" She tugged Baxter over trying to pull the beast towards the door— to know avail. "Urgh...!" She scowled, "Bad dragon!!" Lightbulb huffed, stomping a foot.

Baxter made another puppy like whine before coming out, the boxes that laid atop him crashed down to the concrete and stone below. Lightbulb patted Baxter's side. She then hopped on his back and summoned her bow.

"Let's go... J-just uh. Try to stay out of sight... yeah?" She gave a reassuring smile to the beast. The dragon huffed to himself, the scaly-mass then travelled out of the warehouse. Her gaze landed on the immediate sight of a large piece of debris flying towards her face. Baxter jumped a aside, tumbling from the island, and catching himself midair.

Lightbulb gripped the scales, careful not to accidentally push them the wrong way as Baxter flew back up.

Lightbulb observed the creatures snarl, the spool uncommunicative, they growled and attacked relentlessly. The spring... who'd she's swore was familiar, had a distorted voice as they talked to the third creature. Who had a similarly distorted voice. This one seemed more upset... wary almost. Taking a defensive stance rather than a offensive. Lightbulb narrowed her gaze, she recognized these creatures similar to that of Cobs's. Of course, it was more than obvious.

She took in her options... many were dying... But she barely knew how to fight. And had to make a decision FAST. Not many were around either. Her eyes drifted to down the road. The stone path that paved the way up to the wooded inn from before. Her eyes briefly widened as she'd seen the state of which it had been in. "Baxter! That way! Hurry!" Lightbulb directed, pointing at the ruins across the way.

Baxter snorted smoke and abided orders. A near gallop of an effort was made to reach the inn, Lightbulb hopped off as they slid to a stop. A frantic breath could be heard as she burst in. "Hello? Hello?! Flower? Uh— what was it... Ruby...?!" She screamed, cupping her hands around her mouth.

The raspy voice of Flower rang out from under her desk. "Wh—? HELLO? Over here!" She responded in panic.

Lightbulb rushed over, leaping over the counter. She'd misjudged the amount of counter and space there was in opposition of the wall. Her head collided with wood, causing her nose to bleed. "Argh..." The spherical bulb caused it to be closest to the wall, after all. Her head turned to look down at Flower, and crouched down. "You need to get out! The— shadow things outside! They're a comin!" She stressed.

Flower grumbled to herself. "Ruby is crushed under a beam! She's in the kitchen— I can't just leave her! I-I heard a few crashes! A scream! Now she won't answer me...I need to know if she's okay..." Flower frowned.

Lightbulb's eyes narrowed and she gave a faint nod. "I'll go get 'er okay? I got this!" She gave a confident smile and leaped up, running over to the room. Her feet tapping against the hardwood, dodging bits of shrapnel and rubbish.

Upon emerging through the door way she studied the room only to freeze in horror and disgust. A beam over the leg of Ruby, which was only connected to a now fragment of her. Her digestive tract strung out across bloody floors. Pieces of her gem crushed under the weight of a collapsing roof— along with sprawled out limbs which remained from the shattering of her body. She glanced at what once was the girl's face. Teeth and jaw crushed together and broken, pieces of teeth and exposed nerve decorated where she'd been destroyed. And what was her brains oozing out as if someone had squeezed a cream filled pastry. The tissue whitened and her eyes dull and bloodshot.

Lightbulb recoiled, forcing herself to look and doubling over, vomiting onto the reddened wood. She sputtered up everything she'd eaten from the girl before her. Her eyes wide as she stared Down at the liquid bits of her regurgitation seep into the wood. What would she tell Flower?

She'd never leave if...

She knew...

Lightbulb walked out, forcing her face to contort into relief. She prayed Flower couldn't read her. That she couldn't tell what she'd saw. She wanted to clutch her chest—she'd... Shed never seen a dead body before... Not one like that anyway...

Flower perked, and poked her head up from the desk, wincing from another blow against a house in the distance. She blinked and took a breath, "R-Ruby! Where is she?!" Flower asked frantically.

Lightbulb shuddered on the inside and blinked her worry away. "Sh-s—she uh— She's not there—? Th-sh—she... must have left! Do you know where?" Lightbulb shrugged, trying to look worried, and not like she was about to puke once again.

Flower frowned worriedly. "Wasn't her leg trapped...?" She muttered, "that's what she told me..." Flower whispered in her raspy voice.

Lightbulb shook her head, "No she must've gotten free..." She sealed her statement with a slight shrug. She nearly had a heart attack as Flower sighed and nodded in agreement.

"I guess... Maybe she... Went to go check on her sisters..." Flower replied with clear distress.

Lightbulb had never felt such relief in her LIFE. "Maybe... we— Uhm... Gotta get out of here though!" Lightbulb quickly spoke, trying to draw attention away from the subject before she was caught lying through her teeth.

Flower nodded to herself and took Lightbulb's hand. It was time to leave.

———