The girl hit the ground with a cough, shoulder burning from the harsh impact with the packed dirt as she cursed herself over her lack of balance. If she hadn’t tripped over that damn rock! Chest heaving, she groaned, picking herself up and wincing as she tenderly felt the inflamed skin gashed open by the rough, rugged terrain. It wasn’t like she could trust her vision out of that particular eye to assess the damage anyway...
Still, she shook her head and looked around, observing the barren, empty, gray space she’d been trapped within. It was... nicer than she expected but even that was a stretch. What with the silver moon shining bright down overhead and the chains that seemed to come from nowhere to halt her numerous attempts to get free. She had to get back. She wouldn’t get lost in whatever hell this twisted domain was! Rubbing briefly at her wrists, a cold shudder gripped her as she felt the atmosphere change around her. The virus had said it would only be gone a short while and yet she distinctly heard the ticking of a clock before there was a loud pop and the ever familiar mostly invisible chains appeared around her wrists and ankles only to disappear behind her into nothing. Well that wasn’t entirely true, the metal links were still there - as she knew from tripping over them in the past.
“My, my... Is Scribe awake still?” She flinched back, recoiling both from the raspy static-laden voice and the uncharacteristically gentle tone with which her nickname was used. Something had ticked her captor off and, for once, it didn’t appear to be her... not that it would probably make a difference.
Getting to her feet, she forced herself to breathe, feeling anxious dread starting to tighten up her throat. “What did you expect? You trap me in this fucked up world and expect me to obey my body’s internal clock? I don’t even know what time it is!” That wasn’t the right response, she deduced as the feeling of something heavy draped over her injured shoulder and it took everything in her not to scream in pain.
Nebula still spun around, curses rising to her lips but failing to go any further as the light illuminated the perfect duplicate standing within arms reach. The long hair, stained green at the ends instead of her own red along with every other single feature copied in the most unnerving way so it honestly made her think she was looking in a mirror. With a soft smirk, the doppelgänger’s eyes opened, shining a brilliant shade of emerald green through slitted almost draconian pupils. It made sense her own creation would loathe her. As a writer she had tried to craft stories that would be full of twists and turns but it had also seemed to give a certain soul life after the end she penned.
“Miss me? I imagine not.” A dark chuckle escaped Void, her eyes taking in the pitiful sight before her as Nebula took a step back warily if only to get the pressure off her shoulder. “Still it is nice to be recognized by name, isn’t that right?”
Eyes narrowing, she took another step back, hands lifting in an attempt to ward off any confrontation. “You don’t deserve the honor of me saying your name, parasite!”
The air around her buzzed, crackling with static as the unstable spirit tilted her head with a sharp, bone snapping crack. Without a word, she vanished in a flurry of green sparks only to reappear right behind Nebula with both of her hands being pulled back behind her with a vice-like clawed tug. A far darker voice murmured in her ear, all traces of friendliness gone as she stiffened in alarm and tried to squirm free.
“There’s no one who is coming for you. Not your friends, not my beloved, you are stuck here with me for eternity.”
A smaller flurry of glitches sizzled briefly into existence in front of her face, showing her all too familiar icons before fading as she struggled past the rising lump in her throat. How long had it been? Had she really been forgotten so quickly...?
A single clawtip poked at her aching shoulder, eliciting a soft whimper before she could stop the noise from breaking free. “So it does hurt. Well if you won’t say my name...” There was a dark rumble to the words, the notion not lost on Nebula as she was released and she immediately started forward in a desperate sprint. Unfortunately she only got about two good strides in before she crumpled like a sack of flour, vision swimming as her stomach rolled uneasily.
“Did I say you could run? That wasn’t part of our deal.” Void chuckled, advancing from behind as dry heaves racked the small frame seizing on the ground. “Oh well. I lose my humanity, you lose control of your body. Heh, fitting trade if you ask me.” She squatted down in front of her target, lifting her chin up with a clawed fingertip as the violent spasm eased to where she was just coughing.
Despite the fact it was hard enough trying to get her breath back, the urge to spit at the virus was overwhelming. Nebula chose not to, however, suspecting that would only make things worse. Her pupils did shrink in fear though at the sight of the rather sharp claws Void was licking clean amid rumbled growls and strange, half foreign words muttered softly into the suddenly colder air.
“I’ve been patient long enough. Gave those fools plenty of time and yet here I am seething at just how resilient you still are! Maybe I should force it out of you?” Her eyes glowed brighter, teeth gleaming under the moonlight in a wicked smile that sent chills along the human’s back. “Yes, yes that will work. You will scream my name. You will acknowledge my existence!”
She tried to get up, only managing to get on her hands and knees before a deep throated snarl caught her off guard and a clawed hand came lunging for her throat. What started as soft begging rapidly turned into panicked pleading until the first puncture into her soft flesh threw her whole system into overwhelmed shock. The last thing she remembered was her own screams as her vision went black and she lost conscious...
