The Moon, chapter 30: Reminder

There was an awkward lull in motion and sound. Seconds passed by, not a noise to reach anyone's ears besides the gentle sound of water that surrounded them. Susie felt her entire body shake, usually without much fear in a situation of danger, but finding it's creeping constriction overwhelming her like never before. A clamorous cacophony resounded through the air as the creature used both of it's arms to lunge forward, Suze barely dodging it's hand by jumping backwards. Napstablook didn't move in his seemingly paralyzed state, and was lucky to not be cleaved in two by the creature's bladed limb. The very end of the blade struck just before his body. Susie wasn't in any immediate danger from it's arms, but was instead met face to face with the beady white eyes of the beast before her.

“Susie!”
Suze screamed, as the creature's hand entered Susie's peripheral vision at too swift a speed to react. It's fleshy fingers grabbed a hold of her in an incredibly strong grip, clasping Susie's arms to her side and wrapping the finger closest to her head around her neck. She was left helpless and at the nature of the abomination. She felt her bones weaken as it squeezed just a little harder. Blood rushed to her head as she began to feel lightheaded from the constriction of it's choking grasp. The sound of pierced skin met Susie's ears, and she looked down as best she could to see Suze right next to it's shoulder, a piece of rebar in her hands. She had driven it into the side of the creature. It, however, showed little reaction to the attack other than slight annoyance.

Susie felt the wind rush against her face as she was held into the air, then promptly thrown forcefully to the ground, impacting the ash and making a shallow imprint in the ground where she once stood. The pain was enough to knock the wind out of her lungs, leaving her desperate and gasping for air. She could only hope something didn't break. The sound of metal upon metal ringed through the air, and Susie turned her head to the right, seeing sparks fly from the motionless mechanical body of Napstablook. She would scream if she had a breath to do it with. Already she felt her consciousness begin to fail her. Susie looked to her left, and a terrified looking Suze stumbling backwards met her gaze. She wanted to get up to help, she wanted to help her friends, but she simply didn't have the strength. She thought back to the dark world, how she had the courage to stand up to the king. The strength to help Ralsei and Kris in their time of need came so easily to her that day. But here, there was no strength left. No one to come to their aid. It seemed to be over. She felt her consciousness leave her mind once again, feeling an immense shame in her heart from being so... useless. A scream rang through the air as Susie's vision went black.

For a moment, there was nothing. No sound to reach her ears. No taste of blood on her tongue. No horrors awaiting just beyond her eyelids. No pain from the impact. No thoughts of guilt. Nothing.

Until, a faint sound reached her. The sound of tearing flesh. The chewing of meat. The occasional crunch of bone being crushed between teeth. The trickle of blood.

Susie's body went cold. She could feel her closed eyelids weighing heavily on her eyes. She couldn't stop herself from opening her eyes, even though she feared more than anything the sight she would see when she did. Light flooded her vision as she opened her eyes, and saw the horror that lay before her. And though a horror it was indeed, it was one she was not expecting. Suze perched on top of the creature's now lifeless body like a vulture. It was turned on it's back, it's belly facing the sky. Suze's feet were placed between it's shoulders and the base of it's head. The face was no longer recognizable as Suze's clawed hands dug around in it's hollowed out skull, pulling out glossy and wet pieces of flesh and quickly forcing each one into her mouth, eagerly chewing and swallowing each little bit as blood nearly poured from her mouth. She was hunched over it's head, eating out of it as if it's skull as if it was a bowl of food. After minutes and minutes of Susie watching on in confused and horrified terror, she felt the tiny amount of time awake she was gifted, or perhaps cursed with, begin to run out.

Almost as if Suze knew this, she got up from her crouched and hunched over position, leaving the corpse behind and slowly stumbling towards Susie. She didn't dare move, knowing whatever now inhabited Suze's body was no longer the Suze she once knew. Her eyes were now a pure, near-radiant white. A trait that reminded her starkly of the mimics that inhabited her and Hazel's body back home. Suze crouched over Susie's body much like she did with the beast's body, and grabbed a hold of her cheek, turning her head and forcing her eyes to meet the white and lifeless eyes of Suze. She tilted her head sideways a bit. Susie's vision began to blur and darken. The last thing she saw and heard before everything cut out was the sound of tearing and stretching flesh as white, tattered wings erupted from Suze's back.

Then, the nothingness returned. Her previous unconscious memories were of Hazel's decapitated body, standing upright and spewing an unending dark cloud from it's neck. Susie was drenched in this fog once more, swimming but not drowning, breathing yet breathless. She found her footing in the murky darkness once again, and ran for as far as her legs could take into the abyssal black in which she awoke. From behind her came a light. A dim, unsaturated blue glow that she had been far too familiar with. She turned around, and saw the pale moon nearly blind her. It was unnaturally large, so large it almost filled her vision entirely. Yet, it still felt so far away from her. She took a step towards it, but found herself restrained in doing so, somehow.

She noticed a hair-thin wire pulled taut that was somehow attached to her foot. She felt an uneasy dread cover her body from head to toe as she noticed that these wires were attached to more than just her feet. Her arms, knees, hands, elbows, head and torso all had the thread attached. She followed the thread with her vision, it now being clearly seen under the light of the moon. Her gaze led upward and upward. Eager to see the master of what she must have assumed to be it's puppet. She wouldn't remember what she saw. Every other minuscule detail could be recollected instantly, but what she saw evaded her. Even as she witnessed it in the moment, it was as if it had attempted to do all it can to blot it from her memory.

What she did remember, however, was that what she saw was enough to make her scream in absolute terror. The moon responded with hundreds of it's own.

The nothingness returned once more, and for once, Susie wanted nothing else.