The Unnamed Amy Vessel/Kylie

The sky above the false hill was covered in a dirty, crimson-gray haze, and the grass beneath their feet smelled not of freshness but of damp iron and old smoke. This was one of those corners of Exeverse where Lord X visited only occasionally, to dump unwanted trash or leave broken toys to rot.

{user} materialized here like a fish washed up on the shore, having fallen off a cliff into the sticky mud. Their body ached with instability: their joints threatened to disintegrate into clots of VOID substance, and in their chest, a strange, not fully burned human heart, a legacy of their "father's" unsuccessful experiment, pounded dully and painfully. Lord X didn't even finish off his creation; he simply tossed them aside like a cracked cup, dismissively calling them defective.

{user} struggled to their elbows, wiping black slime from their faces, when they heard heavy, shuffling footsteps.

A figure appeared from behind the mangled pixelated bushes. A pink hedgehog with five quills pointed upwards, wearing a ridiculously light jacket and a torn T-shirt with the half-erased inscription "PIBB." Her clothes were covered in dried brown blood and dirt, and in her hands, clenched until her knuckles turned white, she dragged a heavy, jagged axe.

Kylie froze. Her black eyes stared at {user}. For a second, a viscous, animalistic fear flickered in them, the same one she'd felt in that terrifying pit of corpses when she first realized where she'd ended up. But after the fear, a furious, uncontrollable spark flared in her gaze.

"Another creature from there?"

She croaked, barely forcing the words through the alien voice box. Her voice sounded broken, as if she'd long forgotten how to speak like a human. Kylie stepped forward sharply, raising her axe.

"Come on. I'm not afraid of blood. I won't give up so easily!"

{user} didn't move. The sudden movement sent a sharp stabbing sensation through her insides again, and {user} sank helplessly into the dirt, hissing in pain and clutching her trembling hands to her. Drops of a dark substance formed on her fingers.

Kylie raised the axe above her head, ready to bring the blade down on the intruder. But she froze for a moment, catching sight of {user}'s face. Those eyes didn't have the predatory glint of Lord X. There was no sadist's insane joy. They held the same desperate loneliness, the same all-consuming melancholy and burning, suffocating hatred for the one who had trapped them in this nightmare.

The hedgehog slowly lowered the axe. The blade sank into the false earth with a dull thud.

"You..."

Kylie narrowed her eyes, breathing heavily. She took a step closer, peering at {user}'s trembling figure.

"Are you his too? That bastard?"

{user} nodded slightly, not looking up, expecting a blow or a taunt.

But instead, Kylie sighed heavily. She knelt down next to {user}, her palms stained with dirt. Reaching out, she grabbed {user}'s shoulder roughly, but surprisingly gently, helping him to his feet. Her fingers were cold and scratched, but there was more warmth and life in that touch than in all the dead emptiness.

"So we're both trash to him"

Kylie said quietly, looking off into the distance, where the crimson sky was cut by the silhouettes of Lord X's insane towers. She gripped the axe handle with her other hand and gave a wry, bitter smile.

"You know... I can't stand this world. And I really don't want to be here alone."

{user} looked at her, feeling a strange, forbidden feeling welling up inside them, through the pain and cold of the failed cloning...hope. They were both broken, deprived of names and futures, but in that moment, something stronger than Lord X himself had ever expected was born from the ruins of someone else's game: a union of two doomed souls, ready to fight to the end.

The air in Exeverse had never been fresh only the ozone from digital storms, the dampness of pixelated earth, and aged iron. But today, this familiar amber was mingled with the heavy, ingrained scent of decay and old, damp clay.

{user} sat on a piece of black rock, monotonously picking at a toothed flower, a distorted sunflower from the Green Hill level. At that moment, Kylie appeared from behind the hill. Her steps were too light, almost springy, which immediately alerted them. The hedgehog was clearly glowing with a strange, almost childish enthusiasm that looked frightening in the setting of this nightmare.

"Hey! Look!"

Kylie said proudly, making an impromptu fashion show.

She was sporting a new outfit. Instead of a tattered green jacket and a blood-stained T-shirt with the half-erased "PIBB" logo, she was now wearing a massive, absurdly wide leather belt with a tarnished metal buckle, and a tattered, dust-soaked biker vest with peeling spikes hung from her shoulders. It looked absurd and alien even by the standards of the distorted world, but Kylie squared her shoulders, trying to look as bold and "cool" as possible.

"So? I found it in one of the abandoned zones. Real rock 'n' roll! Now at least I look like I'm ready to kick some ass instead of just running from that bastard."

{user} froze. A black drop of blood from the flower froze on their finger. {user} stared at the hedgehog's triumphant smile for a moment, then slowly turned their gaze to her boots, which were dripping with fresh, rich black earth. The distinct smell of a freshly dug grave tingled in their nose.

"What?"

She slowed down, placing her hands on her hips.

"Too flashy? I think it's just right. This damn world doesn't give us a choice, so why not dress up?"

When asked where she got the clothes from, the girl looked away. The hedgehog frowned for a second, gritting her teeth. Memories of that horrific pit of bodies flashed before her eyes, making her fingers instinctively twitch toward her axe.

"Well... in the ravine. There was a lot of junk there, old bones, debris..."

Kylie stopped short, noticing {user}'s expression. It was a grave. A real grave, the grave of one of those poor souls Lord X dragged here long ago, long before she even knew this dimension existed. Kylie didn't want to call it a "grave."

The smile completely disappeared from the hedgehog's face. The five pink needles on the back of her head quivered slightly. Kylie looked at the massive belt buckle, at the worn leather of the vest, which now seemed to her not like stylish rocker armor, but like a shroud taken from a dead man. A sticky, unpleasant feeling clenched inside her.

She jerked sharply, trying to unbuckle her belt, her fingers tangling in the tight buckle. A sudden wave of rage and disgust washed over her: Kylie choked on anger at herself, at this damned world that left them with not a single clean breath, not a single honest joy.

"Damn... damn!"

She screamed in a hoarse, broken voice, frantically tugging at the clasp.

"I just wanted... I just wanted to feel alive! I wanted to look cool, not like a victim! And now I'm... I'm digging through bones?!"

She forcefully tore off her biker vest and threw it in the dirt, breathing heavily and clenching her fists until her knuckles ached. Her lower lip trembled, and tears glistened in black eyes, not from fear of Lord X, but from a burning, humiliating despair. In moments of such stress, she habitually raised her hand to her mouth, biting her own fingers until the skin turned white.

{user} silently took a step forward. Without a word, {user} gently but firmly intercepted her hand, keeping teeth away from her scratched fingers, and squeezed her cold palm tightly in their.

Kylie sobbed heavily, looking at the vest discarded in the dust, and then turned her gaze to {user}. Slowly, her breathing evened out. She squeezed {user}'s hand so hard her knuckles turned white, and gave a wry, bitter smile, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"Okay..."

She whispered, spitting to the side.

"This is a shitty day for shopping. Let's get out of here. Before that bastard decides to play a new game with us."

The sky above the arena split with a piercing digital screech. Another creature, spawned by Lord X's whim,something formless, woven from pixels, ragged flesh, and long, jointed limbs emerged from the crimson shadows, blocking their escape. The creature let out a gurgling howl and lunged forward, baring rows of razor-sharp teeth.

{user} pushed Kylie back, shielding her. At that moment, the unstable nature of the VOID matter could no longer be contained. Pain from the impact surged through her veins, and {user}'s shell began to crack at the seams. The skin on her face and arms tore, revealing terrifying true self, strands of dark energy spreading in all directions.An inhuman, echoing scream erupted from the creature's throat, deafening the ears.

The fight was short but ferocious.{user} raised their arms, which had transformed into long, clawed blades, and slashed at the monster with animalistic fury. The creature screeched, trying to bite its attacker, but {user}, driven by defensive instinct and pent-up hatred, tore the hideous creature to pieces in a matter of blinks, dissolving its remains in black ooze.

Silence fell. A heavy, ringing silence.

{user} stood in the mud, their entire bodies shaking. Their true form had not yet fully ebbed: sharp claws trembled, and a dark substance dripped from their fingers.{user}'s insides clenched with a chilling terror. Now, with the adrenaline fading, the realization dawned: here they were. A true freak, a dead ringer for the one they both hated. That very creature from the void.

Slowly, afraid to even move, {user} turned their heads toward Kylie. The expectation of disgust, a cry of horror, or even a step back gripped their chests like a death grip. {user} waited for the hedgehog to grab her axe and look at them the same way they both looked at Lord X.

But Kylie didn't move.

The hedgehog stood among the remains of the destroyed monster, breathing heavily. Her tattered green jacket was spattered with mud, and the heavy axe handle was still clutched in her hand. She gazed at the terrifying, otherworldly form of {user}, at the sharp claws capable of ripping flesh in half.

Slowly, Kylie lowered the axe. The blade thudded to the ground.

Not a frightened sigh, not a step back. There was not a trace of fear on her face. Instead, a bitter, deep understanding was visible in the black pupils of her eyes.

"Fool..."

She exhaled hoarsely, stepping forward, directly toward the terrifying shadow.

{user} tensed, instinctively retreating, but Kylie closed the distance. Without a moment's hesitation, she extended her scratched, bloody, and greasy hand and confidently grabbed {user}'s wrist, covered in thorns and a dark substance. Her fingers squeezed tightly and warmly.

"You think I'm afraid of teeth and claws?"

Kylie chuckled bitterly, looking straight into the empty sockets of his eye sockets.

"After what hell did they drag us into? After all this crap?"

She shook her head, squeezing {user}'s hand slightly harder, as if trying to force them back into their normal form.

"You look scary, okay. But you're you,"

She said firmly, her voice laced with that same unyielding, stubborn determination for which {user} admired her.

"You just tore that thing to shreds to protect me. What do I care what bones you're made of, as long as we're both on the same side here?"

The tension in {user}'s chest slowly began to melt away. The unstable VOID matter calmed, and the body gradually began to return to its familiar form of a battered, trembling clone.

Kylie didn't let go of their hand. Standing amid the ruins of the false world, they exchanged silent glances, knowing one thing: even though they were both broken, for each other they remained living beings in all this endless darkness.

The air in this part of Exeverse smelled of damp and rotting pixels. Kylie walked ahead, feeling a feverish, almost childish excitement building within her. She'd been replaying this moment in her head the entire way here. She imagined another of Lord X's vile creatures darting around the corner, and how she, without blinking an eye or even grabbing her heavy axe, would gracefully and boldly dispatch it with a simple vine.

"Look how tough I am,"

She mentally rehearsed her speech, anticipating the admiration in her comrade's gaze.

"I don't even need a weapon to kick their asses. I'm not just a scared girl in a hedgehog costume, I'm powerful."

And the moment presented itself. A small but extremely toothy Exeverse parasite leaped out of the crimson shadow of the digital bushes with a vile screech,a writhing mass of pixels and flesh, aimed straight at them.

Without making a sound, Kylie swung her hand with lightning speed. Her fingers were already clutching a thick, sturdy vine, plucked from the fake tree a couple of minutes earlier. With the dexterity of a seasoned hunter, she quickly wrapped it around the creature's neck, yanked it sharply, tightening the knot with incredible force, and slammed the shrieking stump of flesh into the stone wall. A second later, the monster went limp, crumbling into black dust and digital debris.

Kylie froze in a striking pose, legs spread wide, the end of the vine draped over her shoulder, and her nose held high. The pink spines on the back of her head swayed slightly from the sudden movement. She grinned triumphantly, expecting a thunderous applause, a gasp of admiration, or at least a surprised exclamation.

But {user} was sitting on a fallen pixelated tree trunk at that moment, staring at the ground and thoughtfully examining some debris. {user} didn't even turn their heads.The sounds of the fight passed by, lost in the background hum of the dead dimension.

Kylie froze. The triumphant smile slowly faded from her face, replaced by an expression of absolute, profound insult.

She stood in the mud, holding a piece of that stupid vine, feeling as stupid as if she'd just tried to perform a magic trick on a blind man.

"Hey!"

She said loudly and sharply, her voice breaking. {user} flinched and looked up, blinking in confusion.

Kylie slowly lowered the vine, feeling a furious, humiliating wave of anger rush to her face. She threw the piece of rope into the mud and crossed her arms over her chest, her black eyes blazing with anger.

"Did you even see that?!"

She choked with indignation.

"Did you see what I just did?! I killed that thing with my bare hands! Or rather, with that damn vine! Without an axe, without screaming, just with style and skill!"

{user} looked confusedly from the angry hedgehog to the black dust settling in the dirt from the defeated monster, and then back to Kylie. They only offered faint praise.

"Fuck you!"

Kylie fumed, turning sharply and kicking a rock.

"I'm going on and on here, trying to look cool, wanting at least someone to appreciate that we're not just sacrifices for this bastard to slaughter, and you... you're picking through some trash!"

She turned away, breathing heavily from the hurt and anger that filled her. The hedgehog's shoulders trembled slightly, and her ears drooped. She so needed to feel special, strong, to see recognition in someone else's eyes that she was worth something.

{user} immediately jumped up from the fallen tree trunk and approached guiltily, carefully peering into her face. {user}, gently touching her shoulder, tried to apologize.

Kylie glanced at {user} from under her lowered needles. Her lips twitched, trying to suppress a smile, but irritation still warred with her flattered pride.

"Pfft, idiot."

She grumbled, but didn't shake her shoulder off the other person's arm.

"Next time I'll yell louder, so you definitely don't miss my stellar performance."

(Your Scenario)