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Streaks of purple followed them as they ran.Kurloz had let his version of Meulin explore their next destination, and left his Mituna with his matesprite, hoping that he would be safe. Meulin had given the next destination the 'ok' for saftey, all that was left was the arrival of the purpleblooded pair.Gamzee could have destroyed hordes of the infected in a second, but he was caught off guard and an infected teal motherfucker slashed his back, meaning Gamzee became weaker and more animalistic, and began coughing a dust-like substance.* * * * *'It's not far now my invertebrother, you can make it.' Kurloz said comfortingly using his chucklevoodoos while helping Gamzee run away from the briskly moving infected. Gamzee only replied with a raspy grunt, leading to a splutter and a splatter of blood. Gamzee stopped in his tracks, the horde still moving as a stream of purple spewed from his lips onto the floor and his god tier suit.'GamzEE?' Kurloz asked through chucklevoodoos, his sentence ending in a silent screech as Gamzee swiped at him, his orange claws barely missing Kurloz's chest, a white powder sprinkling behind and sticking to his clothes. Kurloz's white eyes grew wide as Gamzee became rabid, snarling and hissing at both himself and Kurloz as white tendrils trailed up his horns and sprouted from his head from beneath matted hair.Kurloz attempted to reach him with his chucklevoodoos but was met with Gamzee's desperate pleas from his own mind, screams of sanity drowned out by static and pain. The silent clown flinched when the bards head lifted, blood dripping from his cheeks and chin as the pale tendrils burst through his eyes and several of his pores; Gamzee's screaming causing the infected to move quicker, the horde moving closer and closer to Kurloz until they were within an alarming distance. Kurloz hesitated before running, looking over his shoulder to see the horde tearing apart his Gamzee, the clown screaming as his body was being ripped into pieces, tears escaping Kurloz's eyes, his makeup smearing and smudging.As his legs weakened, he got closer to his destination. It was Mituna's dancestor's hive from someones memory, a large apartment complex that towered over the mishmash landscape created by the bubbles. As he slammed the door, he barricaded the inside with whatever he could find, including the receptionists desk and several doors he ripped from their hinges. Not even pausing to take a breath, he ran up the stairs, using his powerful psychic aptitude to seek out Meulins consciousness. Kurloz sighed in relief, discovering that she had hidden in the vent shaft were all of the vents had led, large enough to fit a small group in.He burst into the nearest room and used what ever he could to get him in the vents. Luckily for him he was tall, but didn't have a particularly large build, meaning his limber body could slide into the vent and crawl. Kurloz felt himself draw closer to Meulin, her mental signals growing stronger until he could see her at the end of the vent, sitting on the floor and staring at the ceiling, her eyes wide and emotionless, but soon grew with fear and curiosity as she heard a clambering in the vents. She silently retrieved her clawkind specibus, still staring into the vent, Kurloz crawling closer to her. She quickly eased up as she saw Kurloz, bearing a stitched smile as he clumsily clambered along, jumping out onto her, so relieved to see a comforting face."(=^w^=) PURRLOZ! I'M SO HAPPY TO S33 MEW!" Meulin said, not even attempting to lower the sound of her voice as she hugged him. "WHERE'S YOUR DANCESTOR?" Kurloz paused, his eyes widening as he was overwhelmed with the memory of seeing his version of Gamzee torn to pieces by the infected. Meulin drifted from quizzical to concerned as Kurloz began crying into his gloved hands, Meulin wrapping her arms around him and letting him cry into her shoulder."( =^,_,^=) That bad? I'm really sorry." Meulin said as quietly as possible, patting Kurloz's back as he bawled, the stitches in his mouth stopping him from screaming into her. When he finally pulled his face from her shoulder, his makeup had smeared onto her.'He-they took him-tore him up-I dont know if hes dead or if his regeneration made him-' He thought, Meulin feeling his words in her head, vague images of purple and white splattering in her mind."I'm so sorry Kurloz" Meulin said softly "What should we do now?"'I don't even know my wicked kittybitch. We should maybe stay here, I blocked the door so we will be safe.'
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It lasted about three days.They stayed three days in the hive complex, moving about within the vents and rooms that the memory could detail, Meulin and Kurloz filling the rooms that weren't remembered with rooms from their own memories that branched off into trees of nostalgia.Kurloz knew that blocking up entrances and exits and concealing segments of memories wouldn't be a permanent solution, but he couldn't think of anything else, not wanting to trouble Meulin any further than the entire situation already had.The first day was fun for them both, they explored the rooms, fawning over the foreign society of Alternia and generally snooping around, not that there was much snooping to be done.The second day was the best. Before Meulin had played sgrub, there was a beautiful lake in front of her hive, a lush, floral forest a few feet from where the lake ended. That day they spent at her hive, reading, swimming in the cool lake, watching the sky and gazing into the blue and pink forest. It was like everything was normal. It was nice.The third day...Kurloz didn't like the third day. Throughout the second day, Kurloz had the biting feeling that something would go wrong. And it did. They burst through into Meulins hive door, one of the infected possibly having some manipulation of the dream bubbles, allowing them to claw into crevices they shouldn't normally have the ability to reach. Kurloz tried to create more memories to climb through so that Meulin and himself could escape, but they would always find them. "Kurloz, we can't keep running." Meulin panted, running with into a room that was originally a hygieneblock, but promptly morphed into Damaras room."What are we supposed to do then?" Kurloz chucklevoodooed, anger not leaking into his voice as he and Meulin jumped over a recupracoon into another room that turned out to be a beach."I don't know. Maybe we can fight?""Fight?! There's so many of them, some of them are God tier, we can't take them!" They ran into a beach hut and found themselves in the end of a control room."Well there's not much of a choice meow." She said, half afraid, half courageous. Kurloz began panicking, kicking anything and everything that could provide a sufficient exit for them both.Just as he managed to shatter an electronic vent and climb in, the infected burst through the door, and Meulin began scratching and kicking at them, blood and spores squirting at her as she fought futilely against the growing horde. Kurloz tried to reach for Meulin, but she kicked him further into the vent, fighting off the infected herself and not wanting Kurloz to get hurt. As his chucklevoodoos reached into her mind, he realised that it was full of fear and melancholy. Out of terrified curiosity, he looked through her eyes.Its face was twisted with agony, dripping with yellow. The helmet that used to adorn his head was cracked and white lumps bulged through, powdered antlers replacing his four horns. Kurloz couldn't move, and because of this, neither could Meulin. He was being mauled and eaten through Meulins eyes, his, or rather her body was being torn limb from limb, in a similar fashion to the way Gamzee's was, only she hadn't been cursed with immortality.As the light inside her mind died, he snapped back into reality.He was inside an electronic vent, wires tangled around his horns, and his body damp with sweat. The infected were leaving and...what was left of his ex-matesprites bleeding corpse was sprawled out on the floor. Kurloz rushed out of the vent, panicking and crying as he looked at the pieces of her. She was missing chunks of her body, and white powder littered her broken flesh. He gazed at her face, and forced himself back as white strands burst through her skin, entwining themselves up her neck and down her arms, sealing the breaks in her skin. Her face not contorted into a silent scream but instead a brain-dead stare that shook his soul.He scuttled back into the vent, praying to his mirthful messiahs for help.
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He gave up on running. He gave up on hiding. He gave up on praying. His wicked kittybitch was a mindless infected corpse. His mirthful messiah invertibrother was in a stage of eternal torture.He was inside a grubbie-mart someone had remembered, and had been binging processed drinks despite the fact the flavours barely registered in his tongue-less mouth.He hadn't touched the faygo.Kurloz hadn't bothered to lock the doors and had even left them open, letting in the cold air from outside. He would usually just sleep, not even rummaging around or flipping through the comic books and magazines.It was funny to him really. When he was with Meulin and Gamzee, the infected stuck to them like glue, but alone, they barely found him.When they came in, he was a little scared, but let the fear die, not looking at them or moving.The infected found him lounging on top of the counter, sipping on a green slushie, not even sparing them a passing glance.He nearly choked when he looked up after his arm was grabbed. He fell of the counter and clambered into a corner, not prepared for what he saw. The horde was moving closer and in it there was his Meulin. He was prepared for his death up until that point, but seeing Meulin stirred something inside of him. She swiped at his chest and he remained still, letting her bite into his neck. More of them began ripping into his skin, Kurloz no longer able to stand the burning pain.He released a loud, throaty roar, his voice gravelly from lack of use, the stitches on his lips dripped purple as his mouth was forced open by his own reflexes, the string fraying and his lips splitting. The world was turning black and white, growing darker as the infected dug into him. He wrapped the remains of his arms around Meulin, burring his face into her mass of hair one last time.