forum ame’s art and writing dump (or: ame’s one and only coping mechanism)

Started October 28, 2023 by @the-void-phantasmic language

tune

Literally just posting my writing stuff here, I don’t take criticism well but if it’s something I’m planning on using for a larger project I’ll head it with “will accept criticism” or smth. Keep in mind I mean constructive criticism, not just criticizing me for reasons that don’t pertain to me improving ;-; and for anything that might contain disturbing topics I’ll TW it so the mods don’t smite me

Anyway, the first thing I would like to share is this thing I made for a Spider-Verse oc

---

TW // it sounds like suicide at first but I promise it’s not

-

Kiera’s Leap of Faith

Kiera stood on the roof of a building, nowhere near the edge.

Just do it.

Her mask’s eyes were wide with nervousness. Could she really do this?

Just jump.

She took a tentative step closer to the edge. She closed her eyes, her heart pounding. She couldn’t do it. She wasn’t cut out for this. She should just go back home and—

Everything happens for a reason, Kiera.

. . .

Do it for her.

She took a deep breath. She opened her eyes, her fear replaced with determination.

She would believe in you.

She took a step back, then started sprinting towards the edge. She crouched down and leapt off the building in one swift movement, flipping in midair. Her cape flared out in an array of colors, a stark contrast to the gloomy night sky.

She thought she would fall.

But she was soaring.

It felt like the world was in slow motion. Like she was suspended in the air for ages. Her eyes widened with disbelief. She spun around and shot a web, swinging to the next building. And the next. And the next. She swung herself a bit too high and twirled in midair, shouting with delight.

She did it. She really did it!

She kept swinging through the city, her shouts reduced to gleeful laughter echoing through the streets. A reminder of the colorful hero that Brooklyn could rely on no matter what. And she just proved that, not to the people, but to herself.

Here’s a backstory I wrote for another Spider-Verse oc ^^

TW // mentions of kidnapping, torture, and one (1) shitty friend

Alice Miller used to just be Alice. Not Phantom. She had a good childhood, she made good grades… nobody would expect her to be her Earth’s hero. Especially not Alice.

Alice had a best friend, named Jessica. Alice and Jessica had been friends since they were little. That is, until Jessica got an offer she simply couldn’t refuse… no matter the consequences.

When Alice was 14, a few months before her birthday, Jessica handed her over to a couple of people who would then take her to a lab for human experiments. They were trying to create super humans with certain abilities.

Alice was brutally tortured during these experiments, being pushed to her physical and mental breaking point. She had gained some powers in the process, and those abilities were also exhausted for the sake of science.

When she was 15, she’d finally escaped, but she never became the hero she was supposed to be.

She had been dressed like a hero, she held herself like one… but she refused to be one.

Multiple events lead up to a fight between her and Miguel O’Hara. Nobody quite knows what caused it, but it was clearly something bad.

Alice Miller, the girl who was meant to be the next spider-person, became Phantom instead. And the name Alice was dead to her from that day on.

She became a villain, a threat to the multiverse, and it would be detrimental to her friendships, and her sanity.

For context: Jasper (yet another OC) and Miles are just art friends. I still ship Miles and Gwen with all of my heart, soul, and mind. Jasper and Miles just visit each other a lot to draw/show off their drawings, and Jasper’s more like the gay bestie anyway

Anyway, here’s a funny blurb I wrote for these idiots. Might try to figure out the dynamic for the Spider-Fam & OCs later since its complicated

I’ll write more for my story Fallen Light later, when I come up with blurbs for that, but for now just enjoy my Spider-Verse obsession

---

Jasper sat cross-legged on the floor of her room, digging through her bag. Miles sat across from her, doodling in his sketchbook. They would spontaneously meet up a lot, usually in Jasper’s universe, since her parents were more chill with that than if Jasper disappeared off to Miles’ universe. Most of their time together was spent drawing, arguing, and showing off their drawings.

“Aha!” Jasper exclaimed, yanking her sketchbook out of her bag. “There it is.” It was a little worn out, with a bunch of stickers on the cover, but it worked perfectly for her. She held her pencil between her teeth and flipped through the pages.

At Jasper’s exclamation, Miles looked up at her curiously. “Finally found the thing?” He asked. He rolled his eyes when Jasper nodded eagerly in response. “You gotta take better care of that, y’know.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Look!” Jasper turned the sketchbook to show Miles one of her drawings. It was a cat chasing a butterfly.

“Ooh, nice.”

“What are you drawing?”

Miles narrowed his eyes. “None of your business,” he said.

Jasper set down her sketchbook and slid over next to Miles, trying to look over his shoulder. She started laughing as he shoved her away. “Boo, you’re no fun,” she huffed, shoving him back.

“You’re just nosy,” He grumbled, laughing with Jasper only moments after.

long story short a couple of besties fought, shit went wrong, and Miguel’s a bitch <3

---

Phantom stared at Glitch as she stood over their unconscious body. Their unconscious, glitching body. Her eyes widened with horror at what she had done.

“Glitch. . ?”

She sunk down to her knees, her shaky hands hovering over Glitch. She didn’t know what to do. She needed to take them somewhere, but where? And how? She couldn’t touch them, they were glitching out and so would she.

Her breaths quickened slightly, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She didn’t mean for it to go this far. She hurt her best friend. And the worst part is, that wasn’t even close to all the other awful things she did. And she was just now realizing this?

Stupid, selfish bitch-

Phantom sobbed and buried her face in her hands. Her nails dug into her forehead as she struggled to fight back more tears. She didn’t have time to hate herself. She still needed to figure out what to do with Glitch.

She shook her head and brought her hands away from her face. She stared at Glitch for a long moment. Now she had no choice but to go back to the Spider-Society. That was the only place she could think of where she could take them.

She knew no one would take very kindly to her bringing in an unconscious Glitch after disappearing for. . . who knows long. But it was better than leaving them.

She tentatively reached toward Glitch, then braced herself and quickly hauled them over her shoulder. Strangely, she didn’t glitch at all while holding them. She reluctantly opened a portal back to HQ. She desperately hoped she could just drop off Glitch and leave, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case. . .

She took a deep breath, then stepped through the portal.

-

People. So many people. Staring at her. Staring at Glitch. Silence. Then whispering. Phantom looked around slightly. She already felt overwhelmed. Even the whispers were too much noise. The lights were too bright. Everything was too much.

She pulled Glitch off of her shoulder, crouched down, and laid them down on the floor, making sure to be as gentle as she could.

She slowly stood up. “I. . . I’ll just see myself out.”

Except she wouldn’t. Because as soon as she turned around, she came face-to-face with Miguel. Again.

She drew in a sharp breath and took a few steps backward, startled and afraid. She stared up at Miguel, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She knew something would go wrong, but she didn’t expect it to go this wrong.

Run. Fight. Try to talk to him? Just do something, idiot-

But she couldn’t bring herself to do anything. All she could do was stand there, dreading what might happen next.

So, I’m writing a story based off of four songs and characters that you can see in this thread: https://www.notebook.ai/forum/characters-board/so-i-have-an-idea
I’m combining fan theories surrounding these songs with my own ideas. This is part one of the story, and I’ll start working on part two soon. Enjoy!

---

Part I: The Conflicts of the Heart, Mind, and Soul

“You don’t understand. . .”

“No. You don’t understand. Why can’t you get it?”

“Get what?”

“You’re useless. Too emotional, too weak. Your weakness is exactly what will get us killed.”

“I’m not. . .”

“This constant little pity party of yours affects the rest of us, you know. It affects the Whole.”

“It’s not like you don’t feel anything! Constantly ranting and raving about my uselessness to Soul!”

“Would you rather me tell you up front?”

“Maybe I would. Maybe I would like you to tell me instead of being such a coward—“

“I am not a coward.”

“Ow-“

“Would you like to try that again, Heart? Maybe think before you speak this time.”

“If you want me to think, maybe don’t shove me against the wall when I’m just trying to make a point.”

“Then I would suggest you keep your mouth shut.”

——

Heart ran their fingers through their hair, loosely holding their blindfold in their other hand. Their void-like eyes drooped, and tears stained their cheeks. Soul had found out about their argument with Mind, and they were both scolded, which Heart of course didn’t do well with. Now they sat alone in a dark corner, seething. It was so unfair. Mind just didn’t get it, he didn’t get that Heart wasn’t useless. The Whole needed Heart’s emotion to survive. . . Right?

What are you doing?

A list of adjectives repeated itself in their head. Shallow, cold, wretched, miserable, dark. . . That was all they could think of, was how awful Mind was.

Put the gun down.

Maybe Mind was the useless one. Soul was logical enough, surely the Whole didn’t need a cynical, indifferent part to work, did it? Maybe. . . just maybe, if Mind was gone, the Whole would work better, and Soul wouldn’t be so mad anymore.

Think about this.

Heart shook their head. No, that would be terrible. They couldn’t kill Mind.

. . .

But it certainly wasn’t out of the question.

——

“Heart?”

“Yes. . ?”

“Why are you sitting in the dark?

“The light hurts my eyes.”

“Isn’t that what your blindfold is for?”

“I can’t wear that all the time. It gets uncomfortable.”

“Right. . . hey, I’m sorry about yelling at you earlier.”

“Hm? Oh, it’s fine.”

“I’m not trying to upset you. Mind does enough of that already. But you know how much I need you and Mind to get along.”

“I know.”

“Without us all working together, Whole’s in a really bad state.”

“I know. . .”

“Okay, okay. I’ll. . . try to talk to Mind. I know he usually starts these fights.”

“Thank you.”

——

Mind paced in a uniform pattern, like he always did when he needed to cool off. Back, forth. Back, forth. He had his arms crossed, and just stared straight ahead, dead-faced as usual. Heart was being. . . unusually aggressive lately. Or maybe bold was the right word. He didn’t appreciate their petty insults, claiming that they were ‘just making a point.’ They knew exactly what they were doing.

Useless. Weak. That creature hardly resembled a man. Mind didn’t see Soul’s reason for keeping Heart around, let alone forcing him to get along with them. He simply stated fact, and he saw no reason for Heart to get angry. And yet, Heart still wanted to hear his thoughts, despite being hurt by them. They were… confusing to say the least.

He was getting increasingly more annoyed as Soul approached him. He must have talked to Heart already. Heart, who was probably crying in their dark little corner. Mind sighed, stopped pacing, then turned to face Soul.

——

“Mind.”

“Soul.”

“I’ll assume you already know what I’m here about, then.”

“When do I not know?”

“Fair enough.”

“Just get this over with.”

“Mind, you know you and Heart need to get along. You know better than to say things that hurt their feelings.”

“I’m just saying what I think.”

“Sometimes thoughts should be kept to ourselves. I have several things I’d like to say about you, but do I say them?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Exactly. Because you tend to resort to violence when you’re angry.”

“No, I- . . . Okay. Fine.”

“We all need to be present for Whole to work. And we also need to get along. Got it?”

“I get it every time you say it.”

“Clearly, you don’t. Just. . . stay away from Heart for a bit. You both need to calm down.”

——

Soul sighed. He just wished that Mind and Heart could work together for a few minutes, at least. The Whole was getting. . . extremely erratic. Violent, even. He wasn’t sure how much longer Whole would last, if the others kept fighting. And the fighting was getting worse, too. Mind didn’t stop at verbal abuse anymore, and Soul could tell that Heart was getting fed up. There was no telling what would happen next.

All Soul could do was try to stabilize Whole, before it was too late for them all. He had to succeed, or he would die trying. They all would.

——

Bad idea.

Killing is wrong.

But I have to. How else will this end?

We won’t get along.

We can’t.

I have to kill him.

Seethe, as they snarl at you.

No more pain.

Watch them struggle just to stand.

No more anger. . .

The weaker half of man.

Everyone would be happier.

Watch them beg and bargain, time and time again.

Right. . ?

Right??

——

Mind stood with his back facing Heart.

He knew Heart was there, of course. But he sensed that he shouldn’t say so, not yet.

Heart was stalking towards Mind.

They didn’t know that Mind was completely aware of Heart’s presence. They thought they were doing a good job of sneaking up on Mind. They left their blindfold hanging loosely around their neck, so they could pull it back up after the job was done.

The gun felt cold and heavy in Heart’s hand. They weren’t used to holding any sort of weapon. Usually, they kept their intrusive thoughts as just that: a thought. But this was an idea, not a thought. And they were in too deep now.

Mind felt tense. He knew that something bad was about to happen. Heart was stalking closer, like they were about to attack them. He opened his mouth to speak, but his breath caught in his throat.

Click. A gun pressed against the back of his head. He clenched his jaw.

“What do you think you’re doing, Heart?”

“Don’t. Move.”

Their voice shook. Their hands trembled. Just shoot. Pull the trigger. Just do it—

“Put the gun down.”

“No.”

“Think about what you’re going to do.”

“No—“

Before Heart could do anything, Mind swiftly turned and grabbed Heart’s wrist, yanking it upward to aim the gun away from him. Heart pulled the trigger a second too late, shooting a bullet harmlessly into the ceiling.

Heart yelped as Mind then threw them to the ground. They kept a tight hold on the gun, pointing it at Mind as they tried to scramble to their feet. They shot again as Mind lunged for them.

Mind growled as pain shot through his shoulder, but that didn’t stop him from tackling Heart to the ground. The gun clattered as it fell from Heart’s grasp. Mind grabbed Heart by the throat as they struggled, ignoring the throbbing in his shoulder.

Heart’s scream died in their throat, cut off as Mind strangled them. Silent tears spilled from their eyes, and they clawed hopelessly at Mind’s hand, struggling for breath.

“What the hell is going on here?!”

Soul.

——

“They fucking shot me, that’s what happened!”

“Get off of them, Mind.”

“No! Just let me-“

“What the fuck did I just say?”

“We don’t need them, anyway! Do you really expect me to just let them kill me?”

“No one is killing anyone.”

“But-“

“MIND.”

“. . .”

“Get. Off.”

“Fine.”

. . .

. . .

“. . . Heart? Are you with me?”

——

Heart drew in a deep, shaky breath. They blinked a few times, trying to clear the dark spots from their vision. Their throat throbbed, and every breath made it worse. They hardly noticed when Soul helped them up, until they were in a sitting position, with Soul firmly grasping their shoulders.

They looked up at Soul. They didn’t see anything in his expression aside from. . . disappointment. Anger would have been better, they thought. They averted their gaze.

“What in the world were you thinking, Heart?”

Heart didn’t answer at first. Truthfully, they didn’t even know anymore. Their original motive now seemed childish and petty. They shut their eyes tightly.

“Heart?”

“I. . . I don’t know.”

“There has to be a reason. Why did you shoot Mind?”

More silence. Heart sighed.

“I thought. . . I thought if Mind was gone, things would be better off. You’re logical enough. You can do. . . the smart things. All he does is push me around, and yell, and complain. I. . . I thought that the Whole would be better.”

Soul didn’t answer.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix bullet holes and crushed windpipes.”

Heart subconsciously moved a hand to their throat. They made a mistake. A really, really terrible mistake.

“Just. . . go let yourself heal. I’ll talk to you and Mind tomorrow. Right now I need to fix the mess you two just made.”

——

“You understand why I want to talk to you two?”

“Yes.”

“Mhm. . .”

“Heart, try to save your voice.”

“Okay.”

“That fight of yours screwed us over. The Whole has been unstable and violent the entire time you two have been struggling to get along, and I’ve been the only one to stabilize him.”

“I don’t see how this is new.”

“Oh, this isn’t new. I’ve been trying for far too long to stabilize both the Whole and you two, but it’s just not working. I think it’s safe to assume that you don’t really care about our wellbeing.”

“Soul . . ? What do you mean?”

“I’m done.”

“What?”

“What do you mean, you’re ‘done’? That’s not how this works.”

“You think you get to decide how things work around here? You forget you answer to me. I decide how things work around here, Mind.”

“You can’t just-“

“I can do whatever I feel is necessary.”

“I’m scared. . .”

“Yeah? Well, you should have thought about the consequences before you tried to kill Mind.”

“. . .”

“I can’t stabilize things for much longer. I’ve decided to shut things down for good. It looks like you’re wishes have been granted.”

“What do you mean-?”

“I think we know exactly what he means, Heart.”

“You do. The Whole is going to die, and us with it.”

“What?! No! You can’t—“

“Heart, shut up. Arguing is pointless now.”

“But. . .”

“Again, you both should have thought about the consequences of your actions. But you didn’t. I hope you’re happy with yourselves.”

——

Okay, so, change of plans for the story mentioned above. I just went through and changed a lot of the lore, including the characters, so I rewrote part of the above short story to be more accurate.

MASSIVE TW: mentally unstable Heart, lots of cursing, gun violence, suffocating on one’s own blood, gore, eyes gouged out, panic and anxiety, Mind literally gets his arms ripped off, it’s gross. And, of course, lots and lots of blood. I obviously don’t condone anything that any character is doing here. If any of these topics upset you, do not read. And even if you’re fine with these things, please still proceed with caution.

This is my first time writing something like this in-depth, and I’ll admit it made me feel a little nauseous. So, yeah… here be dragons. You have been warned.

---

The Juno Incident

---

“I’M NOT A FUCKING CHILD!”

Heart screamed at Mind. They were so sick and tired of him looking down on them, treating them like a little kid, just because they had different views. They wiped their tears with the sleeve of their hoodie, practically shaking with rage.

“You think you’re not a child? Maybe come back and try convincing me when you’re not a sniveling wreck.”

There went Mind, talking to Heart like they were a toddler again. Heart glared at him through a blur of tears, and they could just make out the smug look on Mind’s face.

“Stop talking to me like I’m a kid.” Heart’s voice trembled as they spoke. Like a child. No. They aren’t a child.

“Then stop acting like one.” The obvious disgust in Mind’s tone made felt like a punch in the gut to Heart.

Mind had his arms crossed, looking down at Heart, his eyes narrowed. He arched an eyebrow, clearly waiting for Heart’s response, but Heart said nothing.

Heart was holding back another round of tears, squeezing their eyes shut and clenching their fists so hard that their nails cut into their palms slightly. They hated this, they hated it so much, they wanted Mind to just go away and leave them alone and shut the fuck up-

“Well?” Mind’s voice cut through Heart’s thoughts like a knife. “Are you going to stop acting like you’re about to combust, or—“

Heart cut him off with a shrill cry, a strangled sob escaping their lips.

“SHUT. UP. SHUT THE FUCK UP.”

“Or what?”

Heart went quiet at those words, staring at the ground. Another sob caught in their throat.

“What will you do to me if I don’t?” Mind asked quietly. Mockingly.

Heart’s sob escaped as a small laugh. They looked up at Mind, an unsettling ghost of a smile on their face. They knew exactly what they were going to do. They were going to make the torment finally end.

“I’ll shoot you. I’ll fucking shoot you.”

Silence.

“You wouldn’t.” For the first time, there was something else in Mind’s voice. Fear?

Heart reached for their gun. Something they always kept on them. They weren’t supposed to use it unless they absolutely needed to. But Heart did need this, they didn’t know how much longer they would last with Mind always pushing them around.

With shaky hands, Heart trained the gun directly at Mind’s forehead. Mind took a single step back.

“Heart, think about this.”

“I just did.”

Heart shut their eyes. The gun felt cold and heavy in their hands. They put their finger on the trigger, their heart pounding. Should they do this? Yes. There wasn’t any more time to second-guess themselves. They pulled the trigger.

Bang.

A thud, likely Mind collapsing.

Silence again.

Heart opened their eyes. Their breath caught in their throat at what they saw. Mind, on the floor, but alive. The bullet had hit his throat. His blood-covered hands hovered near the bullet hole, and he stared at Heart in horror. Blood. So much blood. Mind tried to speak, but nothing came out. Blood spilled from his mouth as well as the wound in his throat.

Heart dropped the gun, feeling nauseous. They just shot Mind. This was their fault. They could barely even hear the hurried footsteps, coming toward the room Heart and Mind were in.

“Heart? Mind? What happened?” Oh, God. Soul was coming. And Heart just tried to kill Mind. They almost killed Mind, Soul was gonna be mad, he was gonna be so mad-

Heart flinched back as Soul burst into the room frantically. “I heard—“ he froze when he saw Mind, bleeding, the gun on the floor, and. . .

He locked eyes with Heart. Shock, at first. Then anger. Heart’s chest tightened, and they backed away from Soul.

“Heart,” Soul said, in a strained voice.

“I’m sorry- I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight, I wasn’t-“

“Did you just shoot Mind?” Soul sounded. . . calm. Eerily calm. It wasn’t right.

Heart swallowed. Their throat felt dry. They drew in a short, sharp breath. It felt like the air was being squeezed out of their lungs. They simply nodded.

They watched in terror as Soul silently extended his hand to the side, a glowing red trident forming at his palm. Before Heart could think to do anything, Soul has grabbed them and slammed them against the wall, knocking what little air they had out of their lungs. They raised their hands up, trying to push Soul away from them, silent tears pouring from their eyes.

Soul raised the trident, directly in front of Heart’s face. Now his anger was obvious, but Heart was too focused on the extremely sharp trident pointed right at their eyes.

“You deserve this.”

The trident plunged into Heart’s face, two prongs right into their eye sockets and the middle one stabbing right in between their eyes. They let out a long, earsplitting scream. They couldn’t see. Of course they couldn’t see. Soul pulled the trident out and let go of Heart, letting them collapse onto the floor.

Heart held their hands over their eyes. Their hands quickly became covered in blood. Their blood. Their head throbbed, and all they could hear was their own hitched sobs and Soul’s footsteps, headed away from Heart.

“I- I can’t-“ another sob. “I can’t s-see-“

“Don’t think you’re off the hook, just because you’re the one suffocating on his own blood.”

Soul was still there. Talking to Mind, it sounded like. Heart stifled their sobs. Through the haze of pain, panic, and confusion, they managed to make out what Soul was saying.

“Heart wouldn’t shoot you with no reason, regardless of how much they hate you. You clearly provoked them in some way. Which endangers the Whole.”

But of course, Mind couldn’t respond.

“I don’t think you need these, for now. Not until you learn better.”

Need what?

Heart’s answer seemed to be answered almost immediately—they could hear it, the crunch of bones being snapped in two, the sickening sound of flesh ripping apart—Heart gagged, pushing themselves away from the source of the noise. Something was happening to Mind, something awful.

And it was all their fault, all their fucking fault.

Heart curled up into a ball, their sobs and hiccups growing louder once more. Their face was soaked in tears and blood, the floor growing slick with it. They felt sick, and dizzy, and they were in so much fucking pain. Soon, they fell silent, letting their consciousness escape as they slipped into comforting embrace of numbness.

You saw the Juno incident, but what about the aftermath?

Juno shot at the sun, missed, and paid the price. But was that enough? Let’s find out, shall we?

Warning, I am writing this at midnight-1am, it might be shit

TW: feeling numb, self-harm, self-blaming/deprecating thoughts, mention of panic attacks, mention of gore, the bean isn’t having a great time. If anything mentioned here upsets you, do not read.

---

The Moon’s Escape From Apathy

---

Cold, dark, bitter, nothingness.

That was all Heart had felt for the past. . . they couldn’t remember. All their thoughts and memories were jumbled. They laid on their back, their wings sprawled out underneath them. Dried blood covered their face, and their arms, and it was stuck under their fingernails, and in their wings. They had long since stopped grasping for any feeling, once they had gotten used to pain.

They remember their first nights in Apathy. Screaming until their voice gave out, violently scratching and clawing at their face and arms, and tearing out their feathers, desperately seeking to feel something, anything. Panic crowding their thoughts, rendering them unable to even breathe. And finally, giving into the complete numbness of it all, which somehow felt more agonizing than anything else.

Soul didn’t tell Heart how long they’d be in there, or if they’d ever be able to leave. But they didn’t care anymore. They didn’t deserve to leave. Soul and Mind would be better off. . . what if it was just Soul? What if Mind never recovered? And it was all Hearts fault.

Heart’s thoughts were interrupted by soft footsteps- footsteps? Someone was here? They lifted their head up slightly, trying to listen since they couldn’t see. They heard a voice. Soul’s voice. That immediately caused them to tense up in fear.

“Heart? Heart, it’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

All Heart could muster was a small whimper. They felt hands, Soul’s hands, gently grasping their arms. Soul slowly helped Heart to a sitting position, then grasped their shoulders.

“Your punishment is over. You’re fine. You. . . look like you’ve hurt yourself enough, anyway.”

Heart trembled violently, staying completely silent. They heard Soul sigh, then felt him guide them, slowly and steadily, helping them stand up. Their wings drooped, they didn’t have the energy to pull away from Soul.

“Just hold on. I’ll help you walk.”

Heart obliged, leaning against Soul as he pulled their arm around his shoulders. The nothing surrounding them suddenly shifted to. . . not nothing? They were outside, in the grass. The breeze sent a chill through Heart, and they grumbled in discontentment. Heart walked with Soul, following his lead, since they couldn’t do much else.

They heard a door open. Soul was taking them. . . home? No, that felt wrong. Heart didn’t belong there anymore, it wasn’t a home. They felt severely uncomfortable as they stepped into the house with Soul, everything feeling familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

They remembered, vaguely, how it felt before the incident. When Heart still belonged. When they weren’t violent, and volatile. . .

Home. Warm and comforting, even after an episode of panic or a terrible fight with Mind. They always found a little bit of happiness, no matter the circumstances. Not now, though. Now, Heart felt terribly out of place. They didn’t realize they had zoned out until they felt a damp cloth against their face. Heart flinched away at the sudden touch.

”Hey, hey. I’m just cleaning up all the blood. Okay?”

Heart bit their lip, then nodded. They tensed again as Soul started wiping the blood away from their face. Soul’s very presence made Heart nervous; after all, the last time Soul was close to them, he had gouged their eyes out. They shuddered, a motion that Soul seemed to pay no mind to as he cleaned up Heart’s long since healed wounds.

After Heart was left looking slightly less like a wreck, with the only blood left being in between their feathers, Soul stood them up and slung their arm over his shoulder again. Where were they going now?

Heart slightly recognized the hallways they walked through, but not enough to guess where they were going. But they easily recognized their own room once the familiar scent of flowers hit their nose. They drew in a deep inhale, relaxing in the slightest. Their happy place, where they would write their songs, and paint, and do whatever else they wanted to do.

Soul guided Heart to their bed, carefully letting them sit down on the edge. “Get some rest, Heart. You can clean yourself up later, after you’ve regained at least some of your strength.”

And with that, Soul walked away, and Heart could hear the door close. They slowly laid down, on their side this time, draping one of their wings over themselves. Left alone with their thoughts once again, but other things could also be felt. The soft mattress Heart laid on, The now-faint smell of flowers, the itch of their matted hair laying against their face.

They wondered about Mind. Was he still alive? If so, he probably despised Heart even more, and with good reason. They felt sick again, as their memories of the incident flooded back.

The loud gunshot.

The sight of Mind choking on his own blood.

The sound of flesh being torn apart. They still didn’t know what that was.

The trident plunging into Heart’s head.

Heart fought back tears. The memories seemed distant, yet far too close at the same time. They did something terrible, and they paid the price, but they didn’t feel that they deserved to be back, in their “home,” after all of it.

They curled up under their wing, shaking with silent sobs that they had failed to fend off, and eventually cried themselves to sleep.

A hint for the next thing I’m writing: objection your honor what if I wrote fluff instead
That’s it that’s the post

THE FLUFF HAS ARRIVED
They’re brothers, your honor
ALSO!!! Mind POV!!! Because we love a worried older brother
The title is a musty crusty half-assed half-baked pile of garbage but the story is good!!!

TW: hints/references to most of the violent things listed in the above two posts

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Apollo’s Guilt & Artemis’s Regret

---

Mind was worried.

Which was normally unheard of, especially recently. But since Heart had returned after the incident, Mind hadn’t heard from them at all. Again, it wasn’t completely unheard of, but he should have run into them at least once by now. He even took into account the possibility that Heart was just avoiding him, but even then, they would have exchanged glances in the halls. Mind rarely found himself overthinking anything, so his worries had to be reasonable. And Soul refused to tell Mind anything, which never meant anything good.

Mind had put off looking for Heart himself, assuming they would be hiding for a while. He hadn’t even seen them when Soul took them back, since he had been busy with something at the time. But he couldn’t do that forever.

And Mind felt. . . guilty. He had tormented Heart so much, and hadn’t even realized the damage he’d done until it was too late. Hearing that Heart had been trapped in Apathy, even if they had tried to kill him, made his heart ache for the first time in. . . well, it was a long time. Heart and Mind used to get along great, he didn’t exactly remember what had caused the fighting in the first place. Whatever the case, Mind needed to check on Heart.

Heart was still his little brother, after all.

—

Mind’s footsteps echoed in the empty hallway as he made his way to Heart’s room, which was the most obvious place to look, but it made the most sense. He stared at the door for a moment, then knocked. Three uniform knocks, like always. The metal hand sounded strange against the door. He had gotten prosthetics from Soul, with a lot of persuasion, of course. He would have made them himself, but if his arms had still been intact to do so, he wouldn’t need prosthetics.

After hearing no response, he knocked on the door again, slightly louder this time. After a long moment, he heard Heart’s timid voice.

“Hello. . ?”

Mind cleared his throat, causing his voice modulator to crackle. “Heart. It’s Mind. May I come in?”

He wondered how Heart would react to his new voice. Most likely, they wouldn’t react well. He sounded nothing like he did before, the artificial voice box making his voice sound deeper and more robotic.

There was a long pause before Heart spoke again. “Uh. . . okay.” They sounded nervous. For good reason, Mind guessed.

Mind slowly opened the door. Heart sat near the edge of their bed, their wings folded messily, crooked feathers poking out in some places. Pitch-black eye sockets stared blankly in his relative direction, and their hair was terribly matted. But what really worried Mind was that they were covered in scars, ones that hadn’t been there before the incident. What happened in Apathy? Mind hated to admit that he could already guess what.

He slowly walked towards Heart, making sure his footsteps would be audible as to not startle them. He sat down next to them and stared at the ground. He was unsure of what to tell Heart.

After a stretch of silence, Mind sighed.“I haven’t seen you since you returned from Apathy. I was. . . concerned.” He glanced at Heart. “I wanted to ask how you’ve been. Though I assume the answer wouldn’t be good.”

Heart raised their eyebrows in surprise. They seemed to process the statement for a second. “You were worried about me?” They asked.

Mind narrowed his eyes. “Yes,” he answered tersely. “I mean, yes, I was,” he quickly amended, in a softer tone.

Another pause.

“I thought you hated me,” Heart said in a near whisper. “After what I did. . .”

Mind furrowed his eyebrows. “You were acting irrationally. And I was also in the wrong. But I don’t hate you.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. . .” Heart sounded like they might cry.

Mind placed a hand on Heart’s shoulder, squeezing gently. Heart tensed slightly, but Mind kept his hand where it was. “I’m sorry as well, little brother. And I forgive you.”

Heart placed their hand on top of Mind’s, tilting their head. They opened their mouth to speak, then froze. “. . . Little brother?”

Oh. “You are my younger brother, correct?” Asked Mind. He cursed himself internally.

“I- yeah, but- you haven’t called me that in such a long time.” A smile crept into Heart’s expression. Mind simply shrugged. He was a bit grateful that Heart couldn’t see his own expression.

Mind was about to say something else, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted as Heart suddenly wrapped their arms around his torso, hugging him tightly. He froze and blinked at Heart, admittedly very confused. Heart hadn’t seemed to notice his tenseness, however, and stayed latched to Mind. He hesitantly wrapped one of his arms around Heart’s shoulders, in an awkward attempt to hug them back.

“Mind?”

“. . . Yes?”

Mind sighed quietly in relief as Heart pulled away from the hug. He withdrew his arm and looked at Heart, waiting for their response.

“Um. . . what’s with the metal arm?”

Right. Heart was already blinded when Soul had taken Mind’s arms. “It’s a prosthetic. My other arm is the same way. After Soul took your eyes. . . he took my arms.”

Heart looked shocked. “He what? Oh, I knew something bad happened, but- but I didn’t expect it to be this bad!” Heart paused, then furrowed their brows. “But how come you got prosthetics? I was just thrown in Apathy,” they muttered, somewhat bitterly.

“Well, first of all, Soul just saw that as a fitting punishment. If it would have had any affect on me, I assume I would have the same fate,” Mind said. “Secondly, it took quite a lot of persuading to get Soul to make them. He seemed very adamant about leaving us both disabled for good.”

Heart looked down. “Oh.”

Mind sighed. “Enough about me. Are you okay?” He had just remembered that Heart didn’t answer the question he had came to ask in the first place.

Heart nodded. “I’m fine,” they said unconvincingly. Mind rolled his eyes.

“Heart, please tell me the truth.”

“. . . Okay, I’m not fine.”

“Clearly. If you do not want to specify, that’s okay.”

“Thank you. . .”

---

ahdjhksh I’m so hapy now.
YOU HAVENT SEE THE LAST OF THESE TWO DUMBASSES MUAHAHAHAHA