IT’S FINALLY ENDING WOO
I made some AI art and it was okay(the finger bent the wrong way eugh)
Sharv’s perspective this time WOO(For those wondering what the last part was in Suffering Siblings, it was Hexa trying to soothe Sharv because he was having a Heroic BSOD. I kinda wanna draw examples of some Death Tropes idk)
Last Part: https://oursundayproject.com/the-arrival-of-the-apocalypse-part-9/(READ RECAP THERE)
(STORY STARTS NOW)
He didn’t expect the ceiling to fall.
Sharv felt rubble crash over him, cutting his body in a million different places. He held his hands over his heads in a futile attempt to protect his neck, only for the rubble to nearly scratch his hands open.
Sharv dove toward some already-fallen rocks and cowered underneath them as the rest of the rubble fell around him. Before he knew it, he was enveloped in night.
“Please,” he muttered, “please don’t let me die. Not here, not now, I just…I need to save him…”
Sharv muttered this prayer for a while before his eyes began to close, and he felt his body slump as the lines of light outlining the rocks faded to black.
…
Sharv gasped as his eyes flew open.
He sat up and hit his head on something hard. Sharv yelped and fell back.
Still alive.
Carefully, Sharv brought a shaking hand to his forehead. It came away sticky, but not too bad.
He carefully rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself onto all fours. How did he survive? Did anyone else make it? Where were his friends?
Hexa and Zynux. You need to find them.
Sharv saw a crack of light in the blackness around him. He gently pushed it open and saw the same cavern he’d been in. Despite the avalanche of rocks, there was still no sky. Only stone. Mounds of rocks lay everywhere.
Sharv took a deep breath, clenched his fist and punched the hole.
“Agh!”
He clutched his fist. More sticky liquid, except with the new light, he was certain it was blood.
Yet his efforts weren’t fruitless. He’d managed to widen the crack slightly.
Enough to shove one hand through and clear a path to outside.
After half an hour of hard work, he had cleared a hole that could fit a thin, 20 year old boy if he were nimble enough. Perfect.
Sharv pulled himself up and whimpered in pain. His legs felt like they were on fire, and his ribs screamed like they were being split open. He shut his eyes, tried to breathe through this pain, tried to stop it somehow, but no use.
Sharv hit the ground and yelped as his chest hit a rather sharp boulder. He laid there for a couple of minutes, gasping and fighting for each breath he took.
Get up, get up, GET UP!
He pulled himself up to a shaky stand, clutching a nearby rock like it was the only thing keeping him alive. As he recognized the burning in his heart and head, Sharv realized it probably was.
“You’ll be fine,” he muttered to himself, “You’ll be okay, you’ll make it through.”
He blinked to clear his blurry vision and surveyed the area. Only rocks. No sign of Neonight or RuvStyle, but no sign of his uncorrupted friends either.
All but…an arm with a black sleeve.
Sharv knew that sleeve.
“JHORDAN!”
Sharv stumbled over every notch in the floor and wiped out three times on his mad dash. He finally collapsed in front of the hand and began to clear the rocks away.
Where had this sudden rush of strength come from? He didn’t know. He just had to get Hexa out of there.
Once Jhordan’s entire upper body was exposed, Sharv pulled him out. His friend was barely breathing, and his wrist that had been sticking out of the rocks was badly cut, but no Darkness leaked from his bandages. Jhordan’s head was hot, almost burning, and he was pale.
“No, no, no…” Sharv cradled his friend and sobbed. “Jhordan, don’t leave me! Please!”
Sharv found Hexa’s bag(oop that autocorrected to body)and pulled out a bottle of water. It was relatively cold and still closed, sending Sharv into a desperate state of hope.
He managed to bandage Hexa’s wrist with some gauze he found and trickled some of the precious liquid into Hexa’s mouth. His friend’s pulse seemed to slow and drag itself out.
Sharv’s hope turned to panic. He pressed the bottle against Jhordan’s wrist after pouring some more water into Jhordan’s mouth.
When there wasn’t much water left, Sharv dumped it over Jhordan. His friend spluttered and opened his eyes. “Wha–where am I? What–?”
Sharv locked his friend in a hug and broke into racking sobs. “I thought you would die. Don’t scare me like that!” He let go and looked Jhordan up and down. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I guess. Have you seen Nux?”
“I only found you. I’m sorry,” he added, seeing the dejected expression on Hexa’s face.
“It’s not your fault. I’m not sure he even came down with us.” Jhordan clutched Sharv’s shoulder and stood up, reaching a hand out to Sharv. “C’mon. We can probably find him if we work together.”
Sharv took his friend’s hand with a grateful smile. “Sure. Where do you want to start?”
…
“Any luck?”
“No,” Sharv sighed as he surveyed the wreckage. “Nothing yet.”
“Maybe he-“
The two boys went silent as a snarl echoed behind them. There was Zynux, but he wasn’t himself…
His eyes were blank and full white, and his neck was covered in glitchy sludge. He walked with a sort of animal-like craze, not the casual, loose way Zynux normally walked.
He’d been corrupted. For real this time.
Sharv jumped in front of Hexa and pointed his gun at the center of Zynux’s face.
This weapon…it used to be Neo’s. He’d left it behind after he was dragged down here, and Sharv had taken it. Better to have a weapon, after all.
But it made him think of Neo. Each night they’d stayed up late, each time they’d walked in their special forest, every time Neo told him it was okay…
Sharv felt tears come to his eyes-all the tears he’d kept since Neo had been taken. He could still feel Neo’s hand in his, Neo’s determined expression when he’d said, “Go, Sharv. Run away, I can hold them off.” Sharv could still Neonight’s tears running down his own neck as Neo had given him one last hug and said, “I’ll see you soon. Goodbye, Sharv.”
Worst of all, he could still hear that voice in his head whispering, Your fault. Could’ve saved him, and that tiny memory of them sitting together in that park(he’d forgotten the name), as Neo told Sharv he’d never give up on him, and they’d always be together.
Sharv felt his grip weaken. “Z-Zynux…stop.”
Zynux’s snarl changed to a sympathetic face. he began to morph-from DragShot, to Swirl, to Blow, to Fore, to everyone they’d lost. When the morphing stopped, the boy had transformed into Neonight.
Sharv somehow knew that it was really him. He dropped his gun. “Neo…?”
Neonight hissed at Sharv and, to Sharv’s surprise, took a step back. “Y0U PR0M1S3D.”
The promise.
Sharv remembered what he’d told Neonight in the alley.
“You’re going to be okay. I…I promise.”
Neo had been okay. He’d been there.
But then Sharv had failed.
He’d stood there as Neo was pulled into that pit. He’d tried to save him.
But he failed.
“I’m sorry,” Sharv sobbed, “I tried. I couldn’t get to you in time and I…” His voice trailed off. What could he say? Nothing would soothe Neo’s pain.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, his eyes burning.
Neo looked almost convinced for a millisecond. Sharv thought it was the rational side of him taking back over, then-
“NO!”
Neo shook his head and snarled, “YOUR FRIEND IS GONE! N0TH1NG C@N S@V3 H1M N0W!”
“There is something.”
Sharv looked behind him, surprised at Jhordan’s sudden input. “Hex-?”
“Fight him,” Hexa muttered in a hoarse voice, “Try to defeat him.”
Sharv saw Darkness leaking from Jhordan’s bandages. He took a deep breath and said, “Alright.”
This is what it all came to.
The final fight.
Final Fight but Pibbified Neonight, Sharv, and Hexadust sing it
After the song ended, Sharv clutched his chest. It had began to burn, and he was worried about that spark of pain. What was happening?
A single figure emerged from the shadows. It was RuvStyle, except he’d accumulated more Darkness, and it looked like he were hanging from puppet strings. He brought a hand up, raised it, and…began to clap?
“Ah, good show.” He sneered at Sharv. “You sing quite well.”
He was acting like his Manifest form. “Get out of him, Manifest.” Sharv held his gun up again.
“I’m not Manifest,” RuvStyle spoke in a voice that wasn’t his. “I’m Darkness itself.”
Darkness.
The Darkness.
“You,” Sharv murmured, “you caused this.”
“Yes,” it affirmed, “Your friend makes a good host. Powerful. But not quite enough.“
He let the last few words sink in, and Sharv saw RuvStyle’s form convulse.
Sharv recalled a conversation with RuvStyle.
“I hate those words,” he’d muttered, clenching his fists.
“Which words?” Sharv had just gotten home and wasn’t sure what RuvStyle meant.
“Not quite enough,” Ruvenstain sighed. “I’ve heard them all my life, and I’m…sick of it. I hate it.”
“I just want someone who thinks I am enough. Not someone who thinks like that.”
Sharv repeated the last words of that conversation aloud.
“Ruv. I think you’re enough.”
RuvStyle’s face twitched. Sharv’s hope soared.
“I know you’re in there. You’ll be okay.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that,” Ruvenstain-no, the Darkness hissed, “And looked how it turned out with Neo. Do you want to take that risk again?”
Sharv looked at Jhordan. His friend had become less pale and looked…older. He nodded, and Sharv turned back around.
“Yes,” he stated, dousing the tremor in his voice, “Yes, I’m sure I do.”
Jhordan stumbled forward and took Sharv’s hand in his. “Together.”
They saw a flicker of emotion in RuvStyle’s eyes. They turned…human.
“Guys?”
He was running toward Ruvenstain before he’d even realized what he was doing.
Sharv and Hexa embraced the god and his body twitched once more before he returned the gesture.
The highlights on his coat began to glow, getting brighter and brighter, before everything exploded and turned white.
…
Jhordan’s Perspective now lol
“Is he awake?”
“I can’t tell anymore, his pulse is so low.”
Jhordan tried to open his eyes, but they just fell closed.
“He was in bad shape when we first found him, do you think…?”
“No, he’ll be fine.”
“Annie, not everyone is as tough as you.”
“Eh, I can tell this kid can fight.”
He moaned and tried to sit up, eyelids fluttering.
“Oh hey, he is awake! Garcy, make sure he doesn’t fall over.”
Jhordan felt strong hands grip his shoulders and steady him on a pillow. When he blearily opened his eyes, there was a neko girl with a blue bottle standing beside a man in a trenchcoat.
“Who are you?” His voice came out raspy, like he’d been asleep for a week without water.
“You’re awake!” The girl smiled. “My name is Annie. This is Garcy!”
“Garcello.”
“Same thing! You were out for a week, kid!”
Welp, he thought, that explains a lot.
“Where’s Ruv?” Jhordan observed his surroundings. He was in some sort of hospital. He was wearing a loose, white T-shirt(lol I always use this outfit) and there was an IV in his arm. An oxygen mask lay on the table beside him.
Annie looked at him and moved her bangs to the side, exposing one red, curious eye. “The gray guy?”
That forced a laugh out of Jhordan. Aaaand then it sent him into a coughing fit. He fumbled for the oxygen mask and held it against his face until he could breathe again.
“Don’t tell him you said that. No, the god. RuvStyle. My friend.”
Annie appeared to ponder for a moment. “Red? Tall? Kinda grumpy?”
“That’s him.”
“He’s in pretty bad shape,” Garcello put in, frowning, “you can go see him, though. He’s to your left-“
Jhordan leapt out of bed and promptly collapsed, yelping in pain.
“Slow down, kid!” Annie pulled him up. “We’ll take you, we’ll take you! Be patient!”
…
“How’d you guys find me?”
Jhordan found enough strength to walk while using Garcello as support. Annie sighed.
“We were part of the Resistance, a movement trying to rescue survivors of the Darkness. Then, I dunno, all of that Corruption just evaporated, like it never happen.”
“While we were searching,” Garcello sighed, “we found this pit. We jumped down, and…we found you and three other guys.”
“They’re okay?”
“Yeah.”
Jhordan felt happiness surge through him. “They’re okay,” he whispered. “They’re okay.”
He muttered this until they got to a room with a closed door. Garcello put his hand on the door, the looked back at Jhordan and asked, “Are you sure you wanna see this?”
All he could do was nod.
The door swung open, and Jhordan was greeted with a vision of pure sadness.
RuvStyle lay in bed, wearing the same thing as Jhordan. The room was dim, and machinery beeped around him. There was an oxygen mask on his face, and his chest rose slowly, up, down, up, down.
His face was what hit the hardest. He looked like he was in massive pain, his eyes worried and closed. His mouth wasn’t even open.
“Ruv!”
Jhordan broke free of Garcello’s grasp and ran to his friend’s side. RuvStyle didn’t even react.
‘Ruv, wake up…WAKE UP!”
He sobbed, shaking his friend, desperate to get even a tiny response.
“…Please wake up?”
I don’t think that’s going to happen, kid.
Jhordan jolted. That voice…
“What do you WANT?!” He screamed, clutching his head. Garcello and Annie both gave him worried looks.
Hey. I’m here to help you.
“WHEN DID YOU EVER HELP ME?!”
Dust went silent. Look, kid, as much as we hate each other, we need to work this out.
“The only reason you’d ever do that is if there’s something in it for you,” Jhordan muttered.
Manifest is my friend, too.
Jhordan was surprised at the defensive edge in Dust’s voice.
If we don’t save this guy, we’re both gonna lose a friend.
I’ll help. Just hold your hand out.
Jhordan felt tremors rock his body. “A-Alright.”
He took a deep breath and placed his hand on RuvStyle’s chest. Fucshia light exited his fingertips and sent warmth into RuvStyle’s body.
“What is this?” he asked, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from Garcello and Annie.
Healing spell. Maintain your concentration now, that’s it…
RuvStyle’s face relaxed. Jhordan was able to shakily remove his hand.
“That was…draining.”
Magic usually is. Now look.
RuvStyle moaned and turned to face Jhordan. “Hexa? Where…am I?”
Jhordan paused. Then he felt tears come to his eyes and laughed.
“RUVENSTAIN!”
He leapt into the arms of his friend as he sat up. “Thank you,” he muttered, “thank you so much.”
No problem, kid. Glad we could both help.
Garcello and Annie smiled. “I will never get how he woke up that quickly,” Annie sighed.
“I was the host for that thing,” RuvStyle muttered, “it was painful, I felt like there was a knife in my back being twisted. But we’re all okay. That’s what matters now.”
“You wanna see the others?”
Jhordan nodded, and looked out the door to see the entire Neogang smiling at him. None of them were corrupted, all were themselves again.
Neo and Sharv stood together, holding hands. Neo grinned and motioned Jhordan to come over.
He was glad this moment had come.
It was over now.
His friends were okay. He’d managed to harness his inner demon. And he’d survived.
He’d survived the arrival of the apocalypse.
END
Credits:
FLP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=453UW5mzQeg
Universo Style DEMO(PLAY IT OR I STEAL YOUR KNEES): https://gamejolt.com/games/universo-style/700496
Darkness Takeover: https://gamejolt.com/games/darknesstakeover/802587
Vs. Hexa: https://gamejolt.com/games/vshexa/796851
Playable Sharv + Chromatics: https://gamejolt.com/games/playablesharv/664249