what the eye can't see - EVENT CLOSED
This is Hive City, but different. It is suddenly colder, a dusting of snow upon rooftops that couldn’t have fallen in the moments before Neku opened his eyes and ended up here, in Sector 001, outside of Joshua’s apartment. The edges blur and fade, but it’s still recognizably that doorstep Terezi lead him to, the doorstep where Terezi now sits in a crumpled heap. He runs to her side, places a hand on her shoulder, and opens his mouth to ask her what’s wrong, but is interrupted by the girl’s tear-ragged voice.
1 DO NOT W4NT ON3 OF MY L4ST M3MOR13S OF YOU TO B3 S331NG YOU WR1TH1NG 4ROUND ON TH3 GROUN 1N 4GONY B3C4US3 1 DUG MY CL4WS 1NTO YOUR F4C3
She doesn’t look at him when she speaks. It’s as if she hasn’t even noticed his presence.
"Terezi - what the hell is going on?"
[What?]
[You’re silent as you remember, as you observe. This is a scene you’ve replayed often enough—though not all that recently. You know what’s going to happen. You know what will be said. You know the ghost of pain that always pulses through your chest… Normally you would get up, go somewhere, do something. Normally you would force your mind off of this sequence of events.
This time, however, you’re not in the memory. This time you’re observing it and that alone stops you from moving.]
JOSHU4…
[You mutter, just as your past self does.]
[You don’t notice the person in front of you, the blob of orange and purple, until he speaks. Your blind eyes widen.
The nature of this memory quickly sets in]
N3KU!!
1T 1S QU1T3 FUCK1NG RUD3 TO 1NV4D3 SOM3ON3S THOUGHTS
1 4M GO1NG TO H4V3 TO 4SK YOU TO L34V3
[You move to grab the boy and begin dragging him away from Joshua’s door, away from that memory, before the scene is able to play out. You’re not sure about the specifics of what’s happening, but you don’t want Neku in your head and memories. You don’t want anyone there.]
TH3R3 B3TT3R B3 4 FUCK1NG 3X1T
[You say mostly to yourself. As you walk, though, different memories flash and shimmer. Your horns and a familiar fluff of white poking out of a pile of blankets. The two of you covered in flour trying to decorate half burnt cupcakes. A semi-physical argument with a tall purple clown. The overwhelming presence of red covering a wall like a canvas. Pink trees. A grey wall covered in chalk…
Suddenly you stop.]
44444RRRRGH
The brittle silence breaks as a familiar voice calls his name - but the voice echoes strangely, and he's suddenly aware that the Terezi in front of you isn't the one speaking. In fact, that Terezi doesn't seem to have noticed Neku at all. Another Terezi, the one who knows he's here, is attempting to grab him with more frantic energy than he has ever seen her possess.
"Your thoughts?"
The words spill dumbly from your mouth. The threads slowly connect, and he's so used to oddities that he does not question the fact that he is now seeing Terezi's memories. It's not like he wants to be here, witnessing whatever his friend would rather he not know, though he cannot deny a tinge of curiosity stirring in his chest.
But before he can process this scene, this strange, terrible scene (he understands this already), the lines shift and transform into a new series of smells and sounds and Neku feels a bit sick to his stomach.
Then they stop, centered on a single moment. Terezi yells.
"Terezi?"
