Electrical Buzz
((Cover art by @mkun406 :3))
Kris was panting heavily as they quickly ran, you beat quickly within their chest as the two of you felt the same amount of terror in that moment.
SLAM!
"GET BACK HERE, YOU SPOILED BRATS!!" The enraged CRT screeched out as Kris, Susie and Ralsei all tried to get away from what appeared to be a corrupted version of Tenna chasing you all down. "I WON'T LET YOU ABANDON ME AGAIN!!"
Kris looked back at the corrupted Tenna as he got closer to all of you. Susie looked down at Kris and Ralsei for a moment, before glaring back at the Tenna. "I've got an idea!" She snapped her head back in Kris' direction before grabbing them, holding them firmly in her hands, lifting them in the air and swiftly throwing them as far as she could. "FIND SOMEWHERE SAFE, WE'LL DISTRACT 'EM!" you heard Susie yell from the distance as Kris managed to somehow land carefully, not a scratch on them. You, however, ended up flying out of their chest and bouncing off the wall. Kris gasped slightly as they watched you bouncing back in the direction Susie and had just thrown them from. Kris tried to remain as silent as possible as they ran back over to try and grab you before the other two, or even that monstrous Tenna, saw you outside of their body.
It was silent for a moment, Kris let down their guard for just a moment as they knelt down before you. A soft, warm glow radiating off of your tiny, heart shaped body as their hand reached closer to grab you. Kris just managed to brush against you with their finger tips when they were suddenly snatched away before your very eyes, dragged away to somewhere unknown.
Kris?! You were careful not to speak aloud as you floated upward slightly. You tried to get a look around when, suddenly-
CRASH!
One of the hall lights shattered while your back way to it, the sound caused you to shift back to your vessel form as a fear response. You quickly looked around, your inner soul glowing more as another ceiling light was destroyed, and another, one by one the darkness only grew darker as every light shattered.
You felt your chest tighten, your soul dimming as you froze for a moment. Heavy footsteps approached you from behind, and if you weren't already gray, the color would've drained from your face as you tried to turn around, only to be grabbed by a massive gloved hand. You struggled to move as it dragged you away, quickly being pulled through the air. You saw nothing, the massive hand holding you still forced the light from your soul to almost completely go out, the air stinging your eyes for a few moments until your finally stopped. The hand finally placed you down before disappearing, leaving you alone in the darkness of the unknown room for a moment before you heard a door shut, causing you to jump and look in that direction.
Finally, a light besides your own soul. But, this light made your skin crawl as you slowly looked up to see the angry scowl of the corrupted Tenna staring down at you. His hand holding the doorknob firmly in place before he finally released it as he saw you finally look at him. His rage subsided into a more annoyed expression as he crossed one of his sets of arms over his chest, the other on his hips as you assumed he was glaring down at you, though it was hard to tell with the lack of eyes. "You..." his tone was strangely calm, though still aggressive, "You're an unfamiliar Lightner... I watched every moment those three have been here from the moment they arrived, and yet this is the first time I've seen anyone like you." He stepped closer to you, causing you to try and back up, only for your back to hit a hard surface, a wall maybe? You quickly looked around to see what you were touching; a massive desk (most likely his) that he would easily be able to grab you from had you tried to make a ran for it to find somewhere to hide.
You looked back up at the terrifying version of Tenna, he was kneeling down to your level. Despite his lack of eyes, you could still tell he was furrowing his brow at the sight of you. His pointy nose about a foot from touching you as he rested one set of his arms on his knees, and the other ones again crossed over his chest. "Explain yourself, Lightner."
You felt your soul beating quickly as you tried to respond. "I- ... uhm... n- not unless I know Kris, Susie and Ralsei are okay! Leave the kids alone!" You tried your best to be brave in the literal face of danger.
The other Tenna let out a soft, annoyed groan. "Who the hell said I was gonna hurt 'em?"
You blinked as a confused expression formed on your face, "... I thought-"
He scoffed, interrupting you with a cocky chuckle as a smirk appeared on his screen. "I'm a tv host, sweetheart, I gotta make things look exciting."
You blinked. "So, wait, that... that whole chase? It was just... just for show?" Youd obvious confusion made him chuckle again, seemed you were entertaining enough for him to calm down a bit.
"Partially, yes." He slowly began to stand up, but not before he carefully scooped you into the palms of two of his massive hands. It was strange how careful he was being with you. "Though, anything genuine was aimed at Kris, not Susie and that Darkner boy... Ralsei, or whatever his name was." With one of his free hands, he snapped and suddenly all of the lights were repaired, revealing the full view of his office. It looked very similar to the Tenna's office you had met previously, with you having taken a glance at one point before wandering off into the Cold Place. The color scheme of everything was more along the lines of crimson red, black, and mostly other darker colored hues rather than the other Tenna's bright and vibrant private quarters.
"Why only Kris..?" You figured there'd be no harm in asking if his main focus was Kris.
He looked off to the side a bit as he spoke. "They're the only one I have... history with, so to speak," He snapped his head back in your direction, "but that's enough questions out of you, Lightner. You never answered mine."
This caught you off guard, confusion remained on your face. "What- oh, how I, uhm... got here?" He gave a single nod, no words as he waited for you to speak. "Well..."you felt that it wouldn't be as easy to explain yourself to him as it was to the other Tenna, the other Tenna clearly had no ill will, he gave you a feeling of safety that allowed you not to worry how telling him the truth would go. This Tenna, on the other hand...
His gaze was locked on your tiny form. He wasn't outright threatening you, and as he said, his anger was only towards Kris. "Well what, little Lightner?" He tilted his head slightly to the side, his smirk still present. He must've found your fear entertaining, he was now leaning his head against one of his palms, one arm resting on his desk near you still as his other set of arms were now under his head. He seemed otherworldly like this, his extra set of arms making him look more insect-like than his counterpart. It did make you wonder if the other Tenna had more arms as well. "You sure are taking your time to answer, sweetheart."
This was the second time now that he had called you that, and both caught you off guard but you made sure to just ignore it. He must've been toying with you. "I... I've been here since the others arrived, when we tried, uhm, sealing the other Dark Fountain..."
His smirk slowly faded, though nothing else about him changed yet as he finally spoke, still staring directly at you as his antenna seemed to twitch in annoyance. "Is that so?" All of his hands were now on his desk, two of them clasped together as the other two rested at either side of you, he now looked away from you as his screen turned black. "Do you and those children plan to seal my Fountain as well?"
"I assume so, though for some reason when we tried to seal the other one, instead of closing, it just... opened up yours...
He turned back to face you, though his screen was still black, which caused you to shift uncomfortably in place. "I see... so the Kris you arrived with must be different from my own." a toothy grin appeared on his still black screen, "Good to know."
His sudden shift in attitude worried you, it was as if something in his he as shifted at the new information. "Wait, a different Kris..? What do you mean a different Kris?"
"Nothing for you to worry about." The grin vanished from his screen as he stood up from his chair, all four of his hands on both sides of you, keeping you trapped in place as he stared down at you. Your eyes were wide as you fell backwards, your gaze frozen on him as he lifted on of his hands from the desk. "You, my little friend, have just helped me realize something far important..."
Snap.
A massive Prize ball which looked identical to the other Tenna's came down from the ceiling, directly on top of you, and swiftly snatched you up, trapping you inside. You gasped as you quickly stared hitting the insides of it. Your voice was muffled as you started yelling at the corrupted Tenna. "LET ME OUT OF HERE, I HAVE TO GET BACK TO KRIS!!"
He chuckled darkly, that same devious grin from early appearing on his screen again as he picked up your prize ball prison, holding you up to his screen. "Oh, Kris will be fine, little Lightner." You began to kick it, only for him to grasp it more firmly. "After everything I've seen since those kids- and apparently you -arrived, I think I finally do recognize you, dear." He finally looked away from you, only for him to begin making his way to the door, and out of his office.
You looked around, still panicking as you felt your inner soul beating more quickly, your vessel form starting to feel unstable. No no no no NO! He can't see my real form! You held your chest tightly. "Where are you taking me?!"
"Somewhere that'll help you to forget all about those kids." Your chest started tightening even more, causing you to fall to your knees inside the prize ball.
Please. No, I can't-
It was too late, your body couldn't handle your anxiety and forced you back into your purest state. The corrupted Tenna stopped in his tracks as he looked down at you. You brought your prize ball up to his screen as he made sure to observe your new appearance. "Well I'll be, isn't this something?" His grin widened as he caressed the prize ball with his thumb. "After I saw something glowing red getting away from Kris, and you suddenly appearing, I understand exactly how you've been sneaking around under my nose until now..."
You remained silent aside from your quick breaths as your tiny heart shaped body slammed the insides of the prize ball wildly. The corrupted Tenna finally cracked it open the prize ball, only to grabbed you with one of his free hands. He wasn't crushing you, but there was no easy way for you to get away from him. "This new form of yours should be easy enough for meto keep an eye on." You couldn't see it, but he carefully tucked you into a hidden inner pocket of his suit jacket, he gently pant the outside of the jacket before he continued walking. Your tiny body glowed a dim red glow as the Corrupted Tenna kept that same hand over the spot where the pocket was, ensuring your escape was impossible. "You have nothing to worry about, sweetheart, I guarantee it."
((WHOOOOO, BOY, HOWDY. I meant to make this sweet, but it turned into a scary continuation of the previous fic, hello??? Might make the next one a throuple fic, eheheheheheheh. Tenna x Soul x Null, yes? Do you people want that from me? DO YOU?! Pls lemme know in the comments, I'll happily do fic requests <3))