Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Well... this is certainly a scenario." I said to myself as I felt the last of the other consciousness fade away into nothingness. There were wafts of emotion I felt from the fading spirit, not limited to copious amounts of rage, iridescent indignation, and a none too small portion of annoyance.

But underneath all of that, I did feel something more. An underlying current of immense relief. A soul was put to rest, leaving me knowing just her name before fully passing on.

Sarah.

"So does that make me... Needlemouse?" I asked out loud, hearing a strangely feminine sounding voice leave 'my' lips. Looking down at my hands, I saw that they were covered by a familiar pair of gloves. "I think yes... How weird."

Well, weird doesn't even begin to describe suddenly waking up as a Sonic.exe analogue... thing. But I guess it was the simplest word I could use. Mostly I'm just asking myself the same question over and over again...

What now?

Thinking back to what little I knew about the series this little rodent starred in, I don't think I'm too interested in doing the same things. From best I could tell, the other members of Sarah's friend group were still walking free.

Wait hold on, I should probably check that just to be sure.

I felt a strange, almost ethereal arm extend from within my being. Grabbing onto the landscape and twisting, I saw it change into a black space. I could feel the programming of the game, the binary and coding being almost like a clay I could change and alter however I liked. It was almost intoxicating how much control I suddenly had, but now wasn't the time to think about such things.

Another twist and I saw several individuals appear before me, all with blank expressions on their faces.

"Jeez, glad none of you have that creepy smile on your face. That was unironically one of the creepiest parts of that series." I muttered to myself before stepping forwards, looking into the blank eyes of Tails the fox. I rasped a gloved hand on his forehead. "Hello? Luther? You in there? If you're there, scream for me. I'll see if I can let you out."

It was technically true. If Needlemouse had already trapped people in this place then I'd let them out. The part I'm leaving out is that I'd be sure to turn them over to the police the first moment I can. They hid her body and let people believe she went missing, after all.

Nobody deserves to be let fully free after that.

But anyways, there was no response escaping from Tails. Not even a wisp in his programming. It was just a blank slate, and a quick check revealed the same for the others I had summoned. There was no one here besides Sarah.

"Which means that her killer is probably still out there." I put a hand to my chin whilst transforming the black landscape into the scenic landscape of Green Hills. "Damn it, I wish I had kept up with the series now! Maybe they revealed who was actually responsible for her death and I didn't know. Of all the things..."

Being reduced into what was essentially a demonic, paranormal AI wasn't an ideal thing... but what if...

"What if..." I looked up into the blue sky, an idea coming to my mind. "I were to upload this game onto the internet, and used that to exact justice for Sarah? If not her death, then those guys for hiding her body and obstructing justice? Oh ho ho ho ho ho, delightfully devilish Ms. Needlemouse!"

It was a wonderful plan. People love Sonic games, and fan games in particular are a thriving market. Sonic Mania is the main thing that comes to mind, but that's just one example among hundreds of thousands. If I could pass off this world as a rom hack or fan game, I could worm my way through computer systems and slowly take over. It was a little fuzzy in my memories what time period the Needlemouse tapes took place in, but if Sonic games exist then there's definitely some way to get across computer platforms.

"Now then," I started to myself, looking over the world I was about to remake. "What would be an idea for a good first level? We need an interesting hook, after all..."

"Alright, that seems to be the last of it," I huffed to myself as I looked over the final zone, having just placed the final end sign for the game that I had inadvertently designed. "Man, even though I have full control over this place and its assets... that was a lot harder than I thought it'd be. I couldn't even imagine having to program all of this from scrap."

The whole 'game' that I had built was essentially just a result of me stretching, cutting, and stitching together various assets from whatever files I had access to and mashing them into a whole new game. Every new zone was essentially a cobble pot of existing stuff repainted and made anew. Even the boss battles were the same, though I was able to reuse one or two boss battles here and there, primarily the Sonic robots. It'll be interesting to see how players deal with Super Mecha Sonic.

But let's not worry about that. At the moment I'm still in need of finding actual 'beta testers' willing to try out my little play place.

Whilst I was making this new rom, I did my best to see how my awareness worked on the outside of this realm. As it stands, I'm still inside an actual copy of Sonic 1, which while neat isn't really conducive to my plans. Most of my current goals hinge on using the internet to run free, so I'm kind of in-between a rock and a hard place.

To further my issues, I seem to be in a copy that's being held in a farmers' market. What exactly Sarah was up to until now, it doesn't seem like she did anything with this game until the cartridge got close enough to her old circle. But with all the work - and with the alternate ending I have in mind - there's no way I'm going to wait for this thing to happen upon the cartridge.

Hmm... maybe it's time for me to work some ghostly magic?

Similar to how I did in the game, I was able to reach out with that same ethereal arm. It was far weaker, showing how little influence I had outside of the game's programming, but it was enough to do some small adjustments to attract attention.

The first thing I did was change the art on the cartridge sticker. Sorry Sonic, but physical cartridges are expensive already - having an original copy of one of your games will make me way too expensive.

Sonic's little smile was burned away and replaced by a collage of my own needly self, accompanied by Tails, Knuckles, the robot Sonics, and Robotnik. The poses were pretty dynamic, and I actually quite liked how it looked.

Art was so much easier when you can turn your thoughts directly into reality. Now to change the title... what should I... a-ha!

Needle Needle Needle Mouse!

Now to get some attention. A few bright sparkles shall do.

I watched over the people passing by, a few stopping by the stall to check out other games. The older man managing the stall managing to sell some of his retro collection, but most didn't seem all to interested. I wonder if it had to do with the prices?

Is Vectorman for the Genisis worth $90?

Oh, that one looks promising! Take some sparkles and look at me!

"Tch," I saw the man blink, a woman next to him looking at him quizzically.

"You okay honey?" Oh, so they're a couple? Wonder if they're married or- Wait! Focus on getting bought Needles!

Lighten up on the sparkles. Just a little bit of ghost magic and hopefully should seal the deal!

"Hm, what's that?" He walked up to me, looking over my artwork with a look of curiosity. Good, it's working. "Hey, sir? What's this game? I never seen it before."

"Wha- Hey! What's this piece of garbage?" The man asked angerly, picking up my cartridge and looking me over. It's working! "This was supposed to be a copy of Sonic 1. What's this all about?!"

"It might be a fan game or something?" I heard the woman pipe up, seeing Tails and Robotnik on the collage. My sneaky scheme is working! "Though I don't think I've seen... 'Needle Needle Needle Mouse' before."

"Well it doesn't matter! I can't sell this thing at the price of an actual Sonic game." The stall owner groaned, before looking up to my target. "If you'd like, I could sell you this one for half price? I need to meet up with the guy who sold this thing to me and get to the bottom of it."

"..."

✨Sparkle~✨

"You know what, sure." He agreed, taking out his wallet. "Who knows, maybe this'll be an unexpected gem."

Oho ho! It's only a matter of time before the "Fun Gang's" mine!

Chapter Text

Turns out the people who bought my game have names! Anthony and Marie Collin. A married couple that seems to already have an interest in video games. At least, that was the impression I got from the set up in the basement.

Lucky me, I was added to their collection.

I didn't force my way too much into their lives, not wanting to strain their relationship just so that Anthony would play with me. The two actually already had enough curiosity already, trying to find any evidence of my existence elsewhere via online forums. Of course, they didn't get anywhere, and with my limited influence I was able to tap into the electrical outlets, getting a small but present into their home computer.

It was the first step, but I needed a way to spread without seeming like a virus and catching people's attention.

In the meantime, I tried to find out where I needed to look to enact justice. Cross referencing Sarah's missing persons' report with towns that have a SEGA building located there, I was able to find the place where she lived and met her unfortunate end. Ironically, the name of the town was Emerald Hills, Ohio.

Of course Needlemouse is from Ohio. Where else in the world do demons come from?

Between sitting pretty and combing over the internet, both Anthony and Marie would play my little game - which I was glad to see that they were enjoying quite a lot. Usually it was Anthony that would play the game, but Marie occasionally picked it up after him and try things out. They each had their own complaints, which I did my best to fix after they were finished for the day, altering content and level layouts to maximize enjoyability of my little project.

Anthony actually took notice of my changes, commenting on it on several occasions.

"Does this level seem less different from before?"

"Is the water a different shade of blue?"

"Why does Mecha Sonic have more I-frames all of a sudden?"

Ironically, he probably would have figured out something was different about me if his wife hadn't gaslit him unintentionally. Every time he was close to understanding that there really was something off with me, she'd just dismiss it saying that maybe it was because he took a break or had the lights on or something else. And every time he decided to let it go, though I still made sure to become more subtle about how I altered the game.

In an inevitable twist, Anthony managed to beat the game, defeating the final boss I had crafted with so much care. It was a little upsetting, considering how much care I took to recreate the glory that is Metallix, but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Though that does mean that I can take the opportunity to make them even more curious...

The ending credits didn't get a chance to play, changing it to a familiar black space. I churned through files before displaying a graphic in the center in the screen for the couple to see.

In loving memory of Sarah Henderson ('63)
Gone but not forgotten

"...Huh?" Was the first thing that came out of either of the two, primarily from Marie. "Who's Sarah?"

"Don't know, maybe a friend of the developer?" Anthony suggested, but eventually stood up and reached for the console. "Whoever made this game did a good job. Maybe we can see about getting Nathan to make a digital copy and upload it online? There were a lot of people asking about if they could get a copy of this thing."

"Maybe, but don't go spending too much time if it doesn't end up working." She said, pointing a finger at her husband. "There's no telling what kind of malware might be hiding on that thing if you upload it onto a computer."

Who are you calling malware?! I'll have you know that I am 100% genuine hardware, lady! SEGA approved!

...It doesn't matter that I changed the whole game to serve my own ends...

"Don't worry, we'll use a stopgap computer. Nathan knows what he's doing." And with that, Anthony turned off the Genisis console and pulled my cartridge out.

Within my playground, I smiled. Things were progressing just as I had hoped they would.

Michael, Martin, Luther... I may not torture you for what you've done, but that doesn't mean you'll be getting off scot-free~

"I have no idea what this is." I looked up from my game cartridge as Anthony spoke to another man, this one far shorter and more... snively than him. "There's no company logo and this shape is pretty standard, looks like it was taken right from an original Sonic game."

"We think it's some sort of fan game that got sold on accident." My beloved beta tester spoke up as I looked over the various electronic with an ethereal eye. "The guy we got it from called us back and said he has no idea where he got it from. The supplier somehow mistook it for a copy of Sonic 1."

"I don't see how he could have done that. This art is completely different!" Nathan huffed before plugging me into a Genisis, booting it up with a little click. Taking the opportunity, I jumped onto the screen into the custom starting screen I had created. The two men watched me wag my finger in random intervals with interested looks.

Hmm... should I?

...Yeah, they deserve to know what they're getting into.

The computer glitched, my influence taking complete controller over the machine through it's line to the console. Both Nathan and Anthony jumped a little as everything shifted around me until I stood in an empty space, a small spotlight shining on me.

"...Hello." I said, a small smile plastered on my elongated face. Both digitized vocals and text appeared above me as I called out to them. "I'm glad you've been enjoying my game, Anthony..."

"...He- he hahaha!" Nathan laughed as he slapped the other man lightly on the back. "Oh you really got me! A haunted Sonic rom, what a prank man."

"I..." Anthony looked at me with horror, implications sinking into his mind. "I didn't do this."

"He's right, Nathan. He didn't." I spoke once again, my smile twitching a little as I found his surprise a little amusing. "I must thank you and Marie for giving me feedback. I think we made a pretty good team."

"...This prank is getting a little weird, man." Nathan gulped a little bit as he sweat. "T-Turn off the console!"

Anthony practically dived forwards, grabbing onto the console and switching it off. Nothing changed though. I already had too much control over the machinery. Nothing they did at this point could purge me from this laptop unless I allowed it.

"Don't bother. Pressing the off button won't do anything." The two men watched me with increasingly horrified looks. "Sorry for tricking you guys, but I needed to use you for my plans."

"W-What plans?" Anthony asked, stepping back.

My smile widened, and I could practically feel my eyes turn black.

"Justice, of course." A familiar display appeared. The picture of Sarah looking right at them as I tried to explained everything. "This is Sarah Henderson, a girl who was killed by back in 1963, and her friends decided to hide her body. I was brought into this world to ensure that those 'friends' face justice for their crimes."

"S-So what, you're some sort of vengeful spirit?" My smile dropped as I thought over Nathan's question.

"...Not really." I answered. "I'm not Sarah, though I did know her for a brief period."

No need to tell them that I essentially usurped her vessel from her. Better for them to meet me than the original Needlemouse.

"Why tell us this?" Anthony stepped forwards this time, eyes narrowed. "Why did you trick us into bring you here? What do we have that could possibly help you?"

"Your technology," I answered simply. "The internet is an incredibly powerful tool, and it'll go a long way for me to expose Sarah's killers and get them behind bars. Being a fun game gave me a better chance of being uploaded and getting access to the web, which by what you're seeing now, worked out pretty well."

"So what now?" My former test player asked as I began looking over the full scope of the internet. Already I was beginning to craft a website to act as my primary platform. Man, being a cyber-demon-ghost-thing makes web design a breeze!

"You guys live the rest of your lives." At their looks, I huffed a laugh. "What? Did you think I was going to try to kill you or something? I don't stoop to that kind of behavior."

I leaned forwards, mt face filling the monitor as red teeth appeared in my mouth in a truly monstrous looking grin.

"Besides... it's not like anyone's going to believe you."

Chapter Text

My my, isn't this this a fun new land to explore~!

The internet was truly a great thing for a lil' old spirit like me. It's got so many nooks and crannies to look through and spread. Honestly, it feels like an entirely new universe has opened up to me. If I really wanted to, I could just exist in the background and watch this world evolve around me.

However, the time had come for me to begin working. Things were starting to get close to ready, and I needed to know where the pieces were in order to exact everything properly.

I still needed more influence over the web before I was fully ready, so the Needlemouse website was a necessity. I cleaned it up as best I could and slapped a download for the rom containing a piece of my... ghostly essence, I suppose.

This would essentially allow me to be based out of every single computer containing a copy of my game, which would be a good thing if I ever got exposed somehow. It was going to be almost impossible to destroy me if I was essentially everywhere with a working monitor.

Hell, with every piece of tech I get shoved into, I seem to be growing stronger. It may get to a point where I can just force myself into machines without any need for a direct connection. That'll definitely be useful to keep in my back quills.

Didn't want to die cause some priest dropped my cartridge into holy water, after all.

Actually, I wasn't even sure if that would do anything to me. Sure, Sarah as Needlemouse was definitely unholy, but I don't know where I stand on this. I don't feel unholy... but I guess a ghost isn't really the best judge on what is or isn't airtight in God's eyes.

We cool, right big man?

Anthony still had the original copy of Needle Needle Needle Mouse that I came from, and on occasion I would use it to communicate with him. Marie was quickly let in on the secret, and she... had a few questions about me.

And no, Marie, I still won't let you pet my quills. I don't even know how to manifest in the real world yet. (And of all the things to ask someone who might be a demon, you chose that?)

But aside from the first copy, some curious individuals were good with downloading my game, and began leaving ratings in the in-built comment section I had decided to include. Unlike with Anthony, I wasn't 100% focused on tweaking things as he complained. I was essentially omnipresent in all copies of the game, but I was still limited in what I could actually focus on at one time. Thus, them making comments on the site allows me to look at them whenever I have time and create patches.

But at the moment, I was looking into a particular form of influence to get more people interested in the game.

"Hello everyone! My name is MagiYagi and welcome to a very special gaming stream!" An excitable male voice called out as he looked into the camera, unaware that I was looking right back at him. "Today, we are playing a fan game that someone had sent to me. It's called... 'Needle Needle Needle Mouse', and if I'm right she's actually with us in chat today. Can we get some comments from you Ms. Mouse?"

With a virtual tug, the comment wrote itself.

Ms. Mouse: I'm excited to see how you feel about my game. I've worked very hard on it, so I hope you enjoy~!

"Thank you very much Ms. Mouse! Now let's dive right into the game!"

Luther was exhausted. The day was long and work was longer; every bone in his body seemed to ache with exhaustion as he stepped through the door of his house.

The house was quiet, which wasn't too unusual. His wife and son were usually ones to do their own things, one in the garden out back, and the other playing whatever new game caught his interest.

He walked up the stairs, already hearing the clacking of Thomas's computer keyboard (why he thought that mechanical keyboards were cool, he'd never understand. He stepped into the hallway of the second floor and peered into his son's room.

"Yeah! He did it!" He heard the boy cheer, excitement clear just from his tone. Taking the opportunity, he stepped into the room with a soft smile.

"Who did what?" He watched the young man he was raising turn around in his chair, a grin etched onto his own face.

"I'm watching a game stream by MagiYagi. He's playing this Sonic fangame that someone donated to him." That caught Luther's interest. Stepping forwards he stood in front of his son's monitor, watching a man he didn't know cry out in what seemed to be a combination of joy and relief as explosions danced across the screens. "He just beat the final boss of the game!"

"Really? That's cool." Luther wasn't really one to play many video games, but he was fine with how Thomas was so interested in them. It was definitely a safer option than drinking and partyin-

"W-Woah, chat what's this? Ms. Mouse, what's this about?" The two males looked back to the monitor, and Luther felt his heart, stomach, and lungs leap into his throat as he read the words displayed in the game. The text accompanied by a very, very familiar photo.

In loving memory of Sarah Henderson ('63)
Gone but not forgotten

No. That was impossible. She was buried. They all made sure of that! Why would anyone bring her up in this day and age?!

"Dad? Are you okay?" Luther looked back at his son, now seeming concerned. "You're shaking."

The man immediately clenched his fists tightly, trying to force the shaking to stop even as his knuckles turned white. His heart pounded through his head as a feeling of sickness washed over him.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." He wiped at his brow, trying and failing to sound calm. "Look kiddo, I got to make a call. Why don't you get started on your homework and you can keep playing on your computer after dinner."

"A-Alright." Thomas thankfully agreed, turning around to turn off his computer to do something else. He uttered a brief 'love you' as Luthor nearly ran out the door, desperately dialing a number on his cell phone.

"Come on.... pick up!" He growled at the device, hearing it ring with no answer for a short while. Thankfully, the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

"Martin! This is bad! This is really fucking bad!" He panted as he paced down the living room, deciding it to be for the best if he had this conversation in the garage. None of his family ever went into the garage except for him.

"Woah woah! Slow down Luther! What's up?"

"So-" Luther took a deep breath, trying to calm his ever-growing panic. "Someone's bringing up Sarah on some sort of online game! People are going watching some sort of online video and it's being played by God knows how many people! My son was watching it too!"

"...Alright, I can see why that has you so wound up." Martin tapped on something, what it was Luther didn't know. "How did they present it?"

"It... was some sort of memorial thing. They had the 'in loving memory' thing and everything."

"I see," there was a pause. "Well, I don't really think it's that big of a deal. It might have been Lily who made the game, or maybe one of... her cousins. If they wanted to dedicate their fan game to Sarah, then I don't think that'll put too much risk on us being discovered."

"Y-You're right," Luther said, more to himself than to Martin. He relaxed himself as his breathing started to stabilize. "Nobody knew what happened that night. There's no way someone will be able to find out through some online game."

"Exactly. Now I gotta go. The wife's making meatloaf tonight and I need to mentally prepare myself."

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"Wait, you're not trying to exorcise me?" I asked with a head tilt, though there was a none too small bit of relief that I wasn't being betrayed. I actually had a small soft spot for these two, after all. "Then why? Why do you have a knock-off Ghost Buster here?"

"My job description is a Paranormal Investigator, Ms. Mouse." The jumpsuit wearing man corrected, before nodding a small bow. "Jerimiah Ramis, at your service. The Collins hired me to determine... what exactly you are."

"Really now?" I looked at the couple, my disappointment palpable through the screen. The two were decent enough to look sheepish. It didn't last long as I soon turned back onto the investigator. "What's the verdict then, doc? Give it to me straight; how long do I have~?"

"Your attempts at humor are noted." Jerimiah sated, opening a notebook and quite literally wrote it down. I chuckled a little at that, though it faded away as he looked back up. "However, on a more serious note. I don't know what you are exactly."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Marie asked with squinted eyes, obviously not satisfied. "You said that you knew almost every type of spirit out there! What makes her any different?"

"It's mostly her demeanor." Was his answer. "There's almost always a common theme with spirits, and that's their tendency towards rage and aggression. Even the calmest of poltergeists would turn hostile if you got too close, and those capable of speech weren't too interested in holding a conversation beyond telling others that they were going to die. The only thing that allows them to cling to the living world is their unfinished business."

Had I still had a regular human body, I would have gulped at that. Does that mean that there's others like Sarah out there?

"The fact that you've retained what seems to be full clarity and sapience sets you apart massively from other paranormal creatures." He explained further, looking right at me. "The only time I've seen them this way was as they were being put to rest, so you being this way naturally puts you in what could be considered an entirely new classification of spirit."

"Is that so?" I hummed a little whilst crossing my arms. "But what now? Are you to try to put me to rest or something?"

"I will if it becomes necessary." Jerimiah states as he packed up his things. "As for right now, I'll submit your case to my colleagues and see what else is to be done. That may take a while, though. A new type of ghost hasn't been discovered in more than a hundred years."

"Well be sure to present my good side~!" I joked with a wink, before watching him walk out of the room. Once I was sure he was gone, I refocused my attention back onto Anthony and Marie. Brows furrowed as I tapped my foot impatiently. "Now then, what was that all about?"

"Well..." Marie stepped forwards, twiddling her thumbs for a moment. "To be honest... we're worried about you."

Huh?

"Huh?"

"I know that it sounds weird, but for God's sake you're a ghost!" She yelled, throwing her hands into the air. "It's like Remis said, spirits almost always have some sort of unfinished business. I just thought that, if anyone might be able to help you achieve that, it'd be a professional..."

I was silent for a moment, thinking over her reasoning.

"I... thank you for your concern, Marie." I shook my head, feeling quills swish a little behind me. "But I don't really need any help with that. I'm already well on my way to finishing what was started."

I wagged a finger, a smile crossing my lips once more.

"And if you're really that concerned, then think of it this way." I showed a picture of the Needlemouse website, practically flooding with activity from across the internet. "I technically have thousands of people working diligently to help me rest, even if they don't know it yet."

"...Okay." The wife of the Collin couple eventually backed down. "If you really think that it's for the best."

"...For what it's worth, I really do appreciate the thought." I began getting ready to leave; there was still so many things I needed to do. "But from here out, be careful about the kinds of people you bring into your home. You may have lucked out with an actual expert, but you could have easily gotten stuck with some random crazy."

And with that, I went back to the vast web, the conversation being replayed in the back of my mind. There was so much to do, so much to see. What was wrong with taking a backstreet and letting someone help me directly?

Maybe later. Things were still too early in development for me to be comfortable with them getting so close to the case. There's no telling what the old 'gang' might do if they caught Anthony and Marie investigating them.

After all, they've killed before. It wouldn't be too crazy to assume they'd kill again.

I had forgotten that Kyle existed. A little strange, considering he was one of only two characters capable of fighting back against Sarah's control over her game in the original Needlemouse tapes. But hey, cut me a little slack. I've had a lot on my mind.

Besides, Thomas was quick to remind me of his relevance, considering that he went straight to other kid after seeing my little musical video.

"I-I'm just a little freaked out, I guess." The son of Luther said as he nursed his wrists, small crackles escaping as he rotated his hand. "That video showed the SEGA building just outside of town- a-and there was a bit where they showed off the name of the town. It's starting to get really weird."

"Then stop playing the ARG," The other child said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If it's really scaring you that much, then don't engage with it anymore."

Huh, guess Kyle's not a horror movie protagonist... Good on ya, kiddo~! Take that shit elsewhere though; I'm trying to get justice over here!

"I know that I probably should," Thomas huffed, putting his hands through his hair. "But I don't think I can. I fell this weird... compulsion to finish it. To see it through to the end."

And that would be my doing. Sorry Thomas, I didn't want you to drop the case too soon, so I worked a teeny tiny amount of ghostly hypnosis to make sure you'd see this through to the end. You deserve to know more than anyone what your father did, and it's something you should see for yourself.

Was it a little scummy for me to do it? Definitely, but I'm not risking being dropped because people got a little weirded out. I'm not truly here to entertain, anyways.

"So the ARG just so happens to be based out of Emerald Hills? Big deal." Kyle said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "If anything, you're probably lucky since you can go out there and find whatever hidden cache might be hidden out there."

Kyle has a good point, Thomas. You should listen to him.

Eventually the two decided to sit down at Thomas's computer, opening it up and heading over to the Needlemouse website. I had included a new forum section of the page for players of my 'ARG' to discuss with each other and compare notes. It was still in its infant stages, but they were all already getting somewhere with their investigation.

They know of Emerald Hills, and of the SEGA building. Now it's time to really hammer in what's going on to the lucky few in the know~.

"Huh?" Thomas looked confused as the website actively churned and changed under my influence, coming to a stop when a new video appeared on the screen. It was the first level of the Needlemouse 'fan game' I had made back in the beginning, this time filtered through vhs style recording. If one was already aware of the tapes like I was, they'd recognize this as a callback to the first Needlem0use video.

The gameplay continued as normal for a short bit, before freezing. When it did, I began the theatrics.

"...It's been so long." I shifted the eyes of my Sonic form, even in the paused screen. Looking directly at the 'camera' and into the eyes of everyone watching. "How long has it been? Thirty years? I don't even remember at this point."

The scene shifted, with myself standing in the center of what looked like an office building, empty of all signs of life.

"I can still hear the outside world." The text glitched as faint sounds of conversations echoed through the video. "People talking, children laughing, life going on without me. I can hear it all."

My eyes turned red as the noise became louder, and muffled voices began to speak. I had intentionally left their words unintelligible, but I made sure just three words could be understood.

Sarah

Killed

Hidden

"I can't stand it," I felt my form twist and bend as things became slanted, the video twisting once more to look as though it had gotten frozen on an old scene. Blocky sections of the image were organized in a zig zag, with fuzziness everywhere to filter it. "You have to help me, help her. Make sure that they are exposed and punished."

Alright, and now for the finishing blow~.

"Thomas. I'm counting on you..."

Luther. Do you hear that, Luther?

That's the sound of me turning your son against you~!

Chapter Text

Kyle started laughing his ass off, pointing at the disturbed expression on Thomas' face.

Of course, I didn't expect him to understand what was going on. He thought it was some sort of massive coincidence that his friend happened to get his name called out on. Eventually though he calmed down, howling laughter turning to concern when he realized that Thomas wasn't able to look away from his screen.

Uh oh, did I break him? That wasn't supposed to happen yet.

"Uh, dude? Are you okay?" At Kyle's question Thomas realized that he was starring, and shook his head to get out of his own head.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." He said, looking completely not okay. It made me feel a little bad that he was having to go through this, but I couldn't stop now. We've gone in too deep, so it's better to see things through to the end.

"I just... I'm starting to think that this may not just be an ARG." The son of Luther spoke up again, getting a confused yet humorous look out of his friend.

"Oh yeah? Then what could it be? Ghosts aren't real." Oh you poor, sweet summer child If only you knew the things that were real.

"Maybe not, but..." Thomas tapped his chin for a second, before leaning forwards to his computer. "Alright, just take a look at this."

He changed tabs to a missing person's listing, showing a particular case that he had become very familiar with in the past month and a half.

"This is Sarah Henderson, went missing back in 1963." He explained. "She's the supposed 'ghost' that people are saying haunt the Needlemouse games."

"They used a real missing person's case to do their ARG?! Bitch!" Hey, I'm not a dog you little shit! I'm a hedgehog-demon thing, thank you very much.

"Yeah, it was something that made a few people drop the whole thing when it was uncovered." Thomas tilted his head. "But when they went to delete their copies of the game, they found out that it was stuck on there. Even resetting the hard drive didn't do anything. If anything, that made them more interested in finishing it, just so that they could try to get rid of the game."

"That sounds like some pretty freaky malware." Once again, Kyle is so completely unaware.

"That's not all." Thomas wheeled in his chair, pulling open a drawer in the bottom of his desk, before pulling out a picture hidden under some books. "I found this while looking for cash in my Dad's room."

Oh hey, it's the Fun Gang's old photo~! Isn't this helpful.

"Y-Your Dad knew that Sarah girl?" Kyle asked, now seeming to understand the reason for Thomas' discomfort. "What the hell man? And calling out your name specifically."

"I don't understand any of what's going on." The boy said, looking down at the photo. "But between all of the specific information, the claims of actually being buried, and then... calling me out. I think someone's trying to get me to go there, or something."

"You can't go to the SEGA building man. You don't want trespassing to get put on your record." Of all the times to be a goodie two shoes, now is not one Kyle.

I don't care if he's technically right! It goes against my machinations!

"Look, I know it's crazy!" He said, putting the photo right back in its original spot, hidden from all but a very deep investigation. "But I feel like I'm going to go crazy! If I don't at least know who's behind this whole set up it'll just haunt me!"

"Alright! Alright!" Kyle raised his hands placatingly. "Just... promise me you'll take some time to think about it, really think about it. Don't do anything rash unless you're absolutely certain you have to."

"...Okay." The boy's friend left a short while afterwards, each child needing to get really for another night with their families. From the edge of my senses I could see him, Luther.

He was having dinner with his wife and child, acting as though nothing had ever gone wrong in his life.

Enjoy it while it lasts, Luther. After all, this will be one of your last nights as a free man~!

A few more weeks have passed since I had started to unfold the plan, and I've realized that I've never really gone over why I was going about this route.

Why am I getting so many people involved in this? Why not just flood the local police with anonymous tips and have them throw those jerks in prison? Wouldn't that be easier?

And anyone asking these questions would be right! It would be easier, but that's not the point.

I'm not just trying to put them in prison, I'm trying to destroy their lives. Take all of the things that they have built since Sarah's death, and rip it away from them. Or rather, have the people in their lives leave of their own accord.

Murderers don't deserve to be loved by their families, after all~! Nor to be remembered fondly. What Sarah did ensured that neither would happen.

Speaking of my revenge plans, I've actually managed to tap into the phone lines of both Micheal and Martin. After getting so many game copies and videos downloaded, I could finally do so without having to worry about having to be let in. It was unfortunate that it took so long, but now I have full sightlines on every member of the Fun Gang.

I had to be honest, it was really hard to resist screwing with them now that they were so close. Nothing close to what Sarah would have done, but I definitely had to resist the idea of tying Michael's shoelaces together when he wasn't looking. I did, however, make sure that they never caught sight of my growing collection of investigators. Would want them to see one of the countless Youtubers covering my 'ARG' before it was ready.

By the time they learn of it, it'll be too late to do anything.

Things in the Collin household was slowly returning to normal. I'll admit, I felt a little betrayed by their decision to bring Ramis into everything, but his actions were thankfully not too bad. I could get past it.

It did worry me a little about how well hidden his group is, with even my current scope being unable to perceive their activity. I have no idea how many of them there are, or what their internal politics were like. If one section of their organization decided to come after me, I'd have no way of knowing unless they already started their assault.

But aside from that worry, I had a few nice conversations with Anthony - who I had gotten permission from to possess his phone. He would keep it in his shirt pocket while out and about, and would talk to me like he was in a phone call.

It was nice, having certain times where I just... didn't have to think about anything but the conversation. I like the Collins, they're good people.

Maybe once this is all over, I can spend more time with them?

I'll think about it later, for now I need to start implementing my next few steps.

The 'ARG' I made was a sort of love-hate relationship with the people working on it, with my spirit essentially holding their hardware semi-hostage whilst they worked. I made sure that whatever tiny pieces of evidence they uncovered was safely stored away for later. There can't be even an ounce of doubt for when the hammer of the law comes down.

But my public persona, Ms. Mouse, what quickly becoming a hated figure to them. To the eyes of the public, I was using a dead woman's case as a platform for popularity. Which is an understandable reason, of course, but that doesn't mean it isn't ticking me off every time I have to delete a hate comment off of the Needlemouse forums.

Things were at least progressing quickly, with Thomas helping people realize that the ARG had a connection with the town of Emerald Hills, the SEGA building, and Sarah. People were in agreement that the game involved what was likely some sort of cache buried in the area, which would hold some sort of clue. Thomas had looped around the building a few times to look, but hadn't yet taken the full leap into the truth.

Which means it's time to nail in the coffin~!

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"You know, when I said that you should seriously thinking about if you want to do this, it was my way of telling you to not do it." Kyle grumbled as they got closer to the building. It had long since closed for the weekend, and the security staff were surprisingly lax, almost as if something was distracting them. "We could get in serious trouble, and not the kind that'll put us in detention. We're talking about the 'go to actual, literal jail' kind of trouble."

"I know," Thomas sighed whilst rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes, his heart already pounding in his chest at the idea of being caught. But he didn't stop, he couldn't stop. Not now. "I just- can't get this whole thing out of my head. The video addressed me directly; said I was the only one who could find out the truth."

"Dude, it's probably just a-"

"They called out my father by name."

"...Okay, maybe this Needlemouse person is targeting you." The other boy admitted, looking down at the shovel that Thomas had given him. "But like, couldn't you go to the police or something? I'm pretty sure this counts as some major stalking."

"I- Maybe?" Thomas slumped, sighing once again. "But... the things they said in the video... the warnings they gave me. It didn't feel like it was some sort of game or joke. It felt real, and... it scared me."

"You're saying that you think your dad might be a murderer? Mr. Luther? Mr. 'I must appease everyone around me or else I mean nothing'? That... doesn't seem likely."

"Maybe if you had said that a few weeks ago, I'd agree with you." The boy rolled his wrists, loosening them with faint crackles and pops. "But I can't help but think about his reaction back when this whole thing started. He froze when he saw Sarah's missing poster, like, with the whole pale skin and everything. And before you say that maybe he was just shocked to see her case brought up again, I already considered that. This was different; he looked afraid. He practically ran out of my room too, and I heard him talking with someone hushed on the phone afterwards."

Kyle looked at his friend, jaw slightly drooped as he tried to take in all of the things that were just said to him.

"N-No, you must have been imagining it." He finally responded, his brow furrowing. "There's no way he could have done something like that."

"I'm serious, Kyle. There's definitely something he was hidi-" Thomas paused halfway through his sentence, a shiver crawling up his spine. He could somehow tell this spot was different, hidden along the back wall of the SEGA building.

"Thomas? You okay?"

"...Here. There's something here. Start digging." He didn't give Kyle any time to protest, beginning to burrow away at the spot with a single-minded focus. The other teen, worried for his friend, decided to start helping, if only to appease his likely frazzled mind.

The two worked for quite some time, their arms aching and backs hunched over. Heavy breaths heaving in and out as dirt had began to cake onto their skin and clothes as it was disturbed. It had felt like several hours had passed and they had dug a deep enough hole to bury themselves in.

"Dude! Let's just get out of here. There's clearly nothing!" Kyle yelled, now just angry about the whole situation. When the other boy just continued digging without paying him any mind, he just yelled again. "Why aren't you listening to me?! There's nothing here-"

Thomas suddenly let out a gasp, falling backwards and dropping his shovel in the process.

"What? What are you looking at-" The previously upset teen let out his own gasp of shock when he saw something sticking out of the ground, something white and solid.

Bone. It was bone.

The two only needed to look at each other for a single second, then nodded as they continued to dig in complete silence.

Bones upon bones upon bones, all perfectly in place to show a body laid in some sort of fetal position. The two stepped back to look at it with unnaturally wide eyes.

"I-Is this..." Kyle gulped.

"I... I think it is." Thomas answered.

"We need to call the police, now." And for some reason - even though they themselves could get charged with breaking and entering - Thomas couldn't find it in himself to disagree.

The Needlemouse ARG was one that had been blasted on the internet for a variety of reasons.

The first and the most obvious was that their entire premise was around the missing person's case of Sarah Henderson. Commentators and video documentaries have referred to it as degusting, heartless, and overall insensitive to those who were close to her. It was a fair argument to most, with a lot of people attempting to drop the whole thing as an act of solidarity.

But that immediately lead into the second thing that made the ARG so controversial. Every person who attempted to leave the project found themselves unable to delete any copy of the game or videos on their devices. Even going to a specialist and having the whole thing wiped and reset failed to do anything to the files. It was a form of malware that nobody had been able to get rid of, essentially leaving people unable to fully leave the ARG unless they were willing to toss their computers and buy a new one.

Then there was the supposed targeting, of someone named Thomas. It was all very specific information, hometowns, family members, even images of places that the person theoretically knew. Many people who were still willingly working on the project - as well as the ones trying to find out the identity of the mysterious Ms. Mouse - believed it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for the whole thing to be targeting and stalking a specific, real-life person.

But then a new video was posted to the site, one containing a news report. And it changed everything everyone thought they knew about the project.

"We come to you live from Emerald Hills to discuss a missing person's case that may have finally been solved after decades of baffling investigators." A news anchor started whilst standing in front of an unknown building, which soon shifted to a familiar missing poster accompanied by a voiceover. "Sarah Henderson went missing many years ago, all the way back in 1963, after going to a party with her friends Luther, Michael, and Martin. After a night of partying and drunkenness, everyone began to notice that Sarah had gone missing, and all attempts to locate her had ended in failure."

The scene shifted back to the reporter, gesturing back to the police setting up barriers around the building.

"But now this long, heartbreaking disappearance may have finally had its conclusion." The reporter stepped a little bit closer to the scene. "A pair of young men, who had asked to remain anonymous, had decided to investigate the town's SEGA headquarters after receiving a tip from an as of yet unknown internet website. We asked police investigator Ryan Sher for more details."

A man wearing a police uniform appeared on screen, wearing sunglasses as other officers worked behind him.

"It's not clear if this really is Sarah Henderson yet," He started whilst hooking a hand through his belt loop. "She died before the invention of DNA forensics, so it'll be some time before we can have any certainty that it's her. We'll need to contact any living relatives of hers and cross reference their DNA with whatever DNA we can salvage off of the skeleton. However, the location of the corpse is close to the location she was last seen at before she disappeared, so there is certainly a chance."

"If it does end up being Sarah, do you plan to return the remains to her family?" The reporter asked, getting a cringe from the officer.

"We would but..." He paused for a second, looking to the side at something out of frame. He nodded to whatever was over there before continuing. "There appear to be some evidence suggesting foul play. The depth the skeleton was found at is far deeper than what it should be. This may very well become a murder investigation."

"Well, how do you intend to find anything after all this time?"

"I unfortunately can't answer that at this time." And with that, the scene shifted back to the reporter's face.

"As you can see, this is quickly spiraling into one of the busiest weekends for Emerald Hills in quite some time, with many wondering just what is going to happen next. Channel 8 Emerald News, this is Rebecca Moores signing off." And with that, the video ended.

And the internet exploded.

Chapter Text

At this stage it was basically impossible to keep the Fun Gang unaware of my machinations, or at least that Sarah's body had finally been discovered. I mean, they were name dropped on the local news, and I had posted that very same report on a public forum that reached thousands of people across the country and globe. I knew that they would be scrambling to hide their conspiracy.

Which is why I watched as Luther practically bolted into his bedroom, upending his closet until happening a box labeled 'do not open' in bright red marker. Then, he grabbed what seemed to be a box of matches that had been left on top of it.

His course of action was obvious; he was going to try to destroy the tapes.

Fuck. That.

Luther went to open the door, only to find that it wouldn't open. He pulled at it desperately, putting all of his strength into it. It wouldn't budge though, held shut tight by my ethereal powers.

"What the fuck?!" He whispered under his breath, before starting to pound on the door. "Hey! Let me out! Thomas! Linda! This isn't funny!"

"...On the contrary, Luther." Watching the man shiver and shake as my voice echoed around him made me feel oh so wonderful. I kept a tight lid on the feeling though, focusing on the task at hand. "It's always funny to see a villain get their just desserts."

"H-Huh? Who's there?!" He yelled into the room, before jumping towards a safe of some sort. Looking inside to check- yep, those are pew pews. I'm just gonna lock that up too.

"Oh dear Luther." I practically growled, taking no small pleasure in watching him sweat whilst looking around fearfully. "After thirty long years you actually ended up forgetting my voice? You wound me- well, more than you three already had all that time ago..."

Luther's eyes widened, quickly realizing the implications.

"...N-No, that's impossible." He said, more to himself than to me. "Y-You're dead."

"Well of course I am! You did a wonderful job of ensuring that!" I responded in a sing song voice, before appearing on his massive tv. I had made sure to appear in my 'Sarah' form, disgusting red teeth and eyes framed by long black hair. "However, you'll find that death wasn't the end for me."

I felt a weird feeling taking this form (not bad, just weird), but elected to ignore it. I would be lying if I said I wasn't taking immense enjoyment from this.

"S-Sarah?" He said shakily, skin turning white as a ghost as he clutched the box filled with juicy evidence. "You're lying. This isn't real! It's all just some sick joke made up by some online conspiracy theorists that are messing with me."

"Oh yeah it's a conspiracy alright, just one based in the supernatural!" I grinned ear to ear, fully in character (actually, I didn't really think I was acting all too different... strange). "I've been waiting a long time to bring your world crashing down, Luther. Long enough that I found some pretty tools and friends to exact revenge on you."

"Stop it! Stop it!" The man practically panic shouted, but I didn't care to listen.

"No, you stop it." I growled, smile turning into a snarling frown as wind began to pick up in the room, making the man feel like he was suddenly trapped in the center of a tornado. "I will give you this one last chance, Luther. You will go to the police right now and confess to everything. My death, the coverup, how you three lied to everyone to cover your own sorry selves for so many years... Do that, and you may somewhat redeem yourself."

Luther, being the man he was, didn't listen. Instead, he dropped the box of tapes in the center of the room, before pulling out one of the matches. But before he could even light it, a cold, gloved hand grabbed onto his wrist.

"And what do you think you're doing?" With a guttural twist, I managed to lift the box off of the ground before pulling it into the digital space next to me. "Did you really think I was going to just stand here and watch you burn such valuable evidence? After your recorded conversations on the phone, this is the closest thing in the world to a signed confession from you."

"Please, let me go." Luther begged.

"Don't worry. Once I leave, you're free to go." I smiled once more, my form glitching between the Sarah persona and the Needlemouse form. " At least, you're free to leave the room. Pretty soon you'll find yourself tangled up in the long chains of the law."

The wind stopped, dust and small objects falling to the ground as my influence receded.

"Just be careful about what kind of games you play, Luther. After all, I'll be watching you~!" With those parting words, I let myself fade away, listening in just long enough to watch the man break down in the home he built.

Excellent~!

Lily felt like her heart had been ripped out all over again.

It had been so, so long since Sarah disappeared. After months had passed with nothing, everyone began to assume the worst, even Lily herself. It had been hard to move on, both for herself and for Sarah's parents. But slowly, ever so slowly, those wounds began to scab and scar. There would always be a permeant mark left where Sarah had been ripped away from her, but people and things eventually began to fill the void.

Sarah had a little sister now, Anna Henderson. She had been born around three years after Sarah disappeared.

She was so much like her older sister had once been, silly and kind and so many other things that used to make Lily almost feel like she was practically a clone. Oh how she wished they could have met, but life seems to just be unfair sometimes.

She had tried to date more people after Sarah, and even found a nice girl that she was all but married to. Yuri was a nice girl, who always seemed to know how to push Lily to try new things and be more adventurous (thankfully without being too pushy). The two had been settling in after a long night of movies and board games when the tv suddenly turned itself on.

And it was like the nightmares she suffered through for so long had followed her into the real world, turning what should have been a quiet night into a terror intent on renewing old pains.

"S-Sarah?" She asked quietly, slack-jawed and teary eyed as she watched the initial report on the news. An all too familiar missing poster shown boldly on the tv with Sarah's almost permanent smile.

"In a small update to the Henderson case, we were able to get a written quote from the two individuals who discovered the unidentified skeleton. One claimed 'It all started with some weird online fan game- a Sonic fan game. But it began to evolve into some sort of ARG based around Sarah's disappearance. It was the stuff we learned from that site and game that lead us to finding the body.' What this ARG has to do with the missing person's case or this body is unknown. Whether they had some sort of knowledge or investigative knowledge has yet to be disclosed. Once again this is Emerald News, Rebecca Moores, signing off."

"W-Woah, I didn't even... Lily?" The girl in question looked up at her spouse, pain evident on her face. Yuri leaned closer and held her hand. "A-Are you okay?"

Lily just shook her head no. She was comfortable enough to show that she was affected.

"...You knew her?"

Lily nodded this time, trying to stop the tears running down her face. It was in vain though, salty face water coming down like waterfalls as she leaned into Yuri'd arms.

"She was... We were together before she went missing." She muffled out into the other woman's heavy night coat, slowly starting to stain it with her face. "Why?! Who would do this?"

Yuri looked up, thinking about what had just played on the television. What was an ARG? Some sort of new-fangled thing for kids on the internet? She didn't really understand it all that well.

But clearly whoever was behind it knew something about what happened to Sarah, and was possibly even personally involved. She wasn't going to just take this sitting down. She'll get to the bottom of whoever was behind this whole fiasco, and if needed she'll make sure they pay.

As Yuri made her mentally declaration, the two remained blissfully unaware of the half-visible figure watching them from the outside. Red eyes and teeth visible in a pure black face, mouth set into a frown. It wasn't one of annoyance, or anger, or even sadness. It was one of acceptance, of coming to understand that the things you had hoped for wouldn't be coming.

Yet at the same time, there seemed to be confusion within those eyes. Why was she feeling this way? She hadn't even known Lily, right? So why?

Why did she feel so cut up about seeing her with someone else?

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"...You're still here." Thomas said as he walked back into the room, carrying a plate in his hand. I tilted my head to the side, my brow furrowing slightly.

"Well yeah, of course I am. I did promise that I'd still be here when you got back." I looked over the contents of the plate he was holding. There was a pretty healthy serving of kadhi, along with some rice and a pear haphazardly stacked on the edge of a plate. Sticking our of the top of the plate was a little fork, one that strangely seemed too small for him to comfortably use. I had intentionally receded my sight from the house, both to give the boy some privacy... as well as ignore the possibility that he might tell Lily that I was here.

I once more ignored the little throb in my emotions. I wasn't even sure if those were my feelings.

"You must have been hungry if you decided to bring back a second helping." I commented as he set it down on the table. Even with my intentional blindness regarding the goings-on in their meal, I made sure that he had actually eaten. "Good on you."

"It's not for me," the boy grumbled as he walked away from the plate, sitting down on his bed. He watched me with careful eyes with his legs crossed, almost as if he was anticipating something.

"Who's it for then?"

"You."

"Huh?" My brow shot up, a feeling of genuine surprise coming over me. I pointed to myself with a gloved finger "Me? Really?"

"Yeah." Thomas looked away for a moment, not making eye contact. "There's a ton of holidays where people leave out food for the dead... I thought that maybe you'd want some after you mentioned what Mrs. Henderson was making."

"I... oh." I didn't really know how to respond to that. Well, not any more than the obvious. "Thank you."

"...It's nothing." Was his reply.

I looked over the plate, a sense of... something building up somewhere within me. Grabbing the small utensil, I held it in my gloved fingers whilst looking over the contents of the plate. There was a sense of hesitation as I just watched it, almost as it I was expecting the food to jump off the desk and run away.

"Something wrong?" I looked over my shoulder as the son of- no, this is Thomas. Don't think of him as just his father's son. Bad Needlemouse.

"I-uh just..." My eyes flitted back to the yogurt-based food, emanating heat in a way that almost seemed familiar to me. "I haven't really tried to eat anything since I became a ghost... I don't even know if I still can."

"Then there's only one way for you to find out."

"Yeah, guess you're right about that." I mumbled, before deciding to just take the plunge. Taking a fork full of the mixed spices, gravy-like yellow sauce, and rice, I stuck it in my face with the expectation that it would just pass through my 'body'.

...Why do I know this flavor?

"A-Are... you crying- Are you crying blood?" Hearing Thomas's breathless question, I wiped at my eye to see that he was right.

"Huh, guess I am." I said quietly. "That's new..."

"Did you... want to take some time to eat that?" The boy asked, slumping slightly where he sat. "You don't have to answer my questions right now if you don't want to. I can wait just a little while longer."

"...I'd like that a lot, thank you."

"No problem."

I took my time savoring every bite, a flood of emotions washing over me like I was caught up in a tidal wave. There were strange senses of nostalgia and pain, yet comfort I could feel bubbling up from within. I just don't understand; why did I have any sense of what this tasted like? I've never even had kadhi before...

Didn't I? Some part of me feels like I have.

It wasn't what I was looking for when I found myself feeling these things, but they were somehow comforting. It wasn't much, but I felt... lighter than before.

Well, guess I'll need the confidence when I finally face the music...

"You look like you're enjoying yourself." Thomas told the spirit as he watched her slowly but surely clean the plate. Even the seeds of the pear he had balanced on top were reduced to nothing, even the seeds. A small flush appeared on her face as she looked away from the boy.

"Yeah well, it's been a while since I've been able to have a good meal. Being dead for so long doesn't exactly allow you many chances to cook after all." She said, before the plate and silverware slowly lifted themselves into the air and set themselves beck down on the desk. "Sooo... do you want to sit down for this or..."

"Let's stay seated. More comfortable that way." He said, before flinching slightly as the hedgehog-like vessel floated up before settling down in front of him. Their weight didn't even make the comforter shift, like she wasn't even there. It really just seemed to compound the fact that there was an actual ghost in his (guest) room.

If he woke up tomorrow and found out this was all a dream, he was going to be so mad.

"What did you want to ask first?"

"...Did my father actually kill you?" It was the one question that Thomas was the most afraid of, but also the one he needed to ask the most. There was a moment of pause where neither even moved, but eventually the poltergeist relented, speaking with a low voice.

"I don't really remember who was the one who dealt the killing blow." She started, crossing her arms. "But Luther was one of the people who hid my body, made sure I wasn't found cause they were afraid of the consequences. Him, Michael, and Martin were the three who were responsible for my untimely demise, so I'm not even sure matters who's blows did me in."

"I guess it doesn't." Thomas reluctantly agreed, rubbing his arm slightly. He felt a little sick, thinking long and hard about the answer he was just finally given. He thought he'd be more distraught, more upset, maybe even more willfully ignorant. But for some reason he just felt a sense of sorrowful acceptance, like it was a truth he knew all along and didn't want to admit. "But why do all of this? Why not just leave bunch of anonymous tips to the police? With the influence you clearly seem to have it would have been easy."

"I could have done that, yes." She agreed, pointed ears drooping down slightly. "It could have been over in a day, maybe even a couple of hours. The truth is... I was being selfish, angry, uncaring of the repercussions it'd have. All those guys have families now, children. I had wanted those connections they'd built to crumble, to rip themselves away from their lives. I wanted them to do more than just rot in prison; I wanted them to be left completely alone, like they'd left me."

"...You're lying." The boy said, seeing her twitch. "Or at least, that's not your only reason."

"...If you had just heard it on the news or from the police, would you have believed them?" She asked. "While yes, I really was just being self-centered, I really did feel like you deserved to know and understand the truth. If you still held onto the belief that Luther was innocent, you would have wasted your whole life trying to prove it. You deserve to live your life not tied down by the sins of someone else, or trying in vain to prove everybody else wrong."

Thomas crossed his arms, looking up at the ceiling in thought.

"I... I guess you're right about that. I don't like it, but yeah, I'd probably think it was wrong." Was his eventual reply, exhaustion seeming to set deep in his bones as he started to understand more of the situation. "What am I supposed to do now? I can't go home with da- with Luther there. I don't think I could stomach being in the same room with him without blowing up at him. Are you just expecting me to live here now?"

"To be honest, I wouldn't put it past Lily to make you stay once the whole thing goes down." Needle- Sarah- The spirit said with a reminiscent, yet confused, look. "Just hold out for a little while longer. I have all of the evidence ready, now it's just about putting it all in the right places."

"I see," Thomas commented, before he seemed to have a thought. "Wait, before we move on, I have a question."

"GO ahead. That's why I'm here after all."

"It said you died in 1963. How'd you learn so much about game design and video editing?"

The ghastly rodent didn't seem to expect that particular topic, but began to answer easily enough.

"Well, it all starts with the nature of spirits..."

Chapter Text

It wasn't much longer until I had to return to the digital world, watching over every piece of tech I had wormed into in search of the perfect opportunity to strike.

You know, it was so strange how much this world resembled the one I knew before. It had technology equivalent to that of the 2020's... but it was still the year 1995. I don't know what time traveler screwed up, but it almost seems as though the presence of ghosts weren't the only things that had changed.

It had actually been something I had asked Mr. Remis when he had one of his unannounced visits, though I had to frame it in the sense that I was confused about how all of these new things were invented. Apparently the reason things like the internet, plasma TVs, and other things were actually created using ghost hunting tools.

Guess fighting an endless war facilitates innovation, though I'm not sure how you're supposed to hunt a ghost with Kids Kuisine...

But that's all besides the point, the whole reason I'm talking about this is because the way this technology was rolled out one after another made it so that police departments and private investigators alike had both the materials and skills to investigate older pieces of technology, such as the VHS tapes Luther kept.

The man assigned to investigating my- Sarah's case ended up being the same guy who talked to that news reporter, Ryan Sher. I watched him sit at his largely blank desk glaring at the missing poster. It was old, and worn, and with the way the man was glaring at it I was surprise it didn't turn to dust on the spot. I had checked in on him a few times since the investigation began, and it was... disappointing yet expected that he made so little progress.

I don't know how, but they managed to find some sort of DNA evidence that confirmed Sarah's bones to them. It at least got the case going, but after so long the gas in their tanks have gone flat. They weren't going to get anywhere without major help.

Which meant it was a good thing I was here to provide it.

"Yo Sher, you got a package!" Another officer walked in, haphazardly dropping a massive cardboard box on the desk, pinning the poster underneath.

Bastard! All that stuff's delicate content! Look at it, I even put fragile stickers all over the place!

"Who's it from?" the investigator asked, picking up a forgotten cup of coffee that had long since gone cold. He grimaced at the taste as he practically chugged the contents.

"Don't know, there's just some weird pen name. 'Missy Mouse' or something." The other officer said casually whilst turning to walk away.

Also, it's Ms. Mouse you jerk!

That had gotten his attention, mostly in the form of a near spit take that he just narrowly avoided. Ryan looked at the box, wrapped tightly and with what seemed to be a stylized Sonic face written on the side under the name, along with a small note.

Hope this helps~ ;3

"What the hell..." The man hissed to himself, but still moved to cut open the box. Inside were a bunch of VHS tapes, cassette, photos, and more. He recognized them, after all, they were close to the case he was investigating them for a while.

They were all photos of Luther, Micheal, and Martin; each one taken from my memories at just the right moment to make them look suspicious. I had even included locations and times. There was less of the pictures for Luther as there were for the other two, but that was because I had made sure not to take photos of the inside of the house. Didn't want all of this evidence to be thrown out because a judge decided crimes were committed when gathering them.

I guess a similar argument could be said for the phone recordings, but it'll be fine so long as they think they're recordings of an in-person conversation.

With mortified curiosity, Ryan picked up one of the cassettes from the collection and walked towards the station's break room. I knew there was a player in there, which he made a b-line for the moment he reached the room. Pausing the other tape and practically tearing it out.

"What the hell Ryan! We were still using that!" Protested one of the officers on their break, but stopped when he saw the look of focus on the investigator's face.

He pressed play, and the audio began to play.

"Martin, you can't be serious. We can't just stand here and pretend nothing happened. What if the police find out? I can't go to jail, I have a family."

"We all have families Michael, and who said we were pretending? Nothing happened that night. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, we had nothing to do with Sarah's death."

"You're sure that nobody's gonna know?"

"The only person who could rat us out is Luther, and he knows that if we go down, he does too. We'll be fine..."

You so sure about that, Martin?

Cause the look on all of the officers faces are telling another story.

Luther was at work, but he wasn't really doing anything. He pretty much already knew he was doomed; he was just waiting for the hat to drop. It was almost like waiting for a jumpscare in a video game, turning longer and longer as dread continued to build.

Then, right before the time for his scheduled lunch break came, he heard a knock from behind him...

On his window... on the 13th floor...

"Open the window, Luther." Came a familiar voice, barely higher than a whisper as the faint sounds of police sirens began to reach the man's ears.

"...Ah."

Yuri had been doing a lot of internet digging lately, and it made her feel like she was about to have some sort of stroke or conniption fit the more she learned.

What kind of psychological thriller nonsense was this... 'Ms. Mouse' getting at? What kind of sick, twisted pleasure was she getting out of this?

The videos, the game, all of the conspiracy theorists and malware that people on several different video platforms and news sites had warned against. It looked less like the work of a person, and more like a group of anarchists using the dead as a means for sewing chaos.

It was disgusting, not least because of the effect it was having on Lily.

The girl that this whole 'ARG' revolved around was Lily's old girlfriend, Sarah. Yuri could see it in her eyes how it affected her, learning what happened to her after all those years. And now some random group of people (she refused to believe that all of this could be done by on person) was using the poor dears face and case for brownie points? Horrible.

And even worse, was the accusations they sent towards Luther. This was the father of her child's best friend, he would never do something like this...

Yuri had actually been watching another short documentary video when Kyle practically burst into the room.

"MOM! MOM! TURN ON THE TV! TURN ON THE TV!" The younger boy yelled at her, sweat caking his forehead as he flailed his arms towards said television.

She got up from her chair, the desperation in her child's voice motivating her to move quickly.

"What channel?" She asked, pressing the power button on the remote.

"The news, the police arrested suspects for Ms. Sarah's killers!"

"WHAT?!" She yelled, nearly dropping the remote as she flicked through channels. Yuri now understood why her son was so panicked. After all, she was now panicking too.

"Get your other mother." She said, watching as a reporter finally appeared on the screen, standing outside of a very familiar house.

"I-I'll go get Thomas too!" He said as he ran towards the stairs, knowing that both were in their respective rooms. But Yuri wasn't listening anymore. No, she was looking at the screen with widened eyes. Her focus flitted between the familiar house and the news description shown on screen.

Be Careful Who Your Friends Are!
Three close friends have been suspected and charge with the murder of Sarah Henderson, along with other crimes!

"...After several weeks of investigation, new, crucial evidence was discovered that lead to the arrests of this trio of men." The female reporter spoke, before cutting to a police officer overlooking the investigation site. "We spoke to police investigator Ryan Sher for more details."

"It wasn't likely that we would have been able to make any sort of arrests under normal circumstances." he began, running a hand through his hair. "But there was a massive donation of evidence sent in from someone using the 'Ms. Mouse' alias, which actually lead us straight to our subjects. It's too soon to say anything, but with the recordings we have, its basically an open and shut case."

"Yuri, what's going on?" Yuri's head snapped to the living room entrance. Thomas was by her side, looking like he had just been woken from a long nap. "Kyle came upstairs and just demanded we come downstairs. Is something wrong?"

"...The news, Lily." She said quietly. "Just watch it."

And it was the right time too, as the images of three men appeared on the screen, ones that were very familiar to the people in the house. Each of them had varying degrees of emotions on their faces.

Martin had a furrow in his brow, a face similar to an angry boss when you committed a fire-able offense.

Micheal looked distraught, holding back tears as he faced the police camera.

Luther... just looked defeated, dark rings around his eyes that seemed to make them look like empty voids. He practically looked dead on his feet.

"L-Luth- M-Martin... Michael?" Lily chocked out as her hands shot over her mouth, tears already beginning to drip down her face. Thomas put a gentle hand on her shoulder, looking at the screen with a sad, yet somehow understanding expression.

Yuri had already planned to be awake late into the night investigating this 'Needlemouse' conspiracy...

But now she was going to be up late for an entirely different set of reasons.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Kyle - unsurprisingly - was a little iffy about playing a game that was connected to my- to Sarah's death, and that was okay. The whole idea just seemed to make him uncomfortable.

Thankfully, Thomas didn't push on the subject, accepting his refusal as what it was, though that did leave him back in the same place that he started at. Watching their conversation go down, I began to ponder what I could do to fix it.

Well... I am basically a massive, overarching program/spirit... Maybe I could just make it online multiplayer?

Thomas seemed to like the idea, but he did warn about the backlash there would probably be from the internet over continuing to work on this.

Not that it really mattered to me. What were they going to do? Kill me?

And he ended up being right. Sure, the people who did play it seemed to at least consider it well made - and perhaps even a little fun - but the vast majority of people weren't happy about it, and were refusing to play on principle. But that's not really what's important to me, it was just about making sure that Thomas wasn't letting himself waste away doing nothing. I really just wanted to help him fill time until people moved on from the whole ordeal.

And they did, slowly but surely.

Months slowly began to chug along, from the start of May when the schools were out, until the end of August when kids were forced to go back. From the sidelines, I watched as the Hendersons (Lily's family, not mine) slowly grow even closer with Thomas, growing into more and more of a family unit of four rather than three and a guest. They used each other as support, slowly beginning to smile more and more as they got used to their new way of life.

And just in time too, as the first few days of September came and went. The time had come for the trial.

Watching from my invisible perspective, I watched with just a tiny bit of glee as the three men were walked in with cuffs around their wrists, each one sadder and more defeated looking than the last. And maybe - just maybe - I took a little bit of sick pleasure in watching Luther look to his son, only for the to look away in shame.

If any other ghosts told you I was cackling like a little demon? No they didn't.

But eventually the trial started, and I mentally began to prepare myself for the show. Reaching out across all of cyberspace, I shifted every broadcast, every livestream, everything with a screen or audio output. I took them all and forced it onto a eagle eyed view of the courtroom as the judge and jury began to walk in.

"All rise for the honorable Judge Guy 'Fats' McGuy," announced the bailiff, to which everyone obeyed. Already I could see the commentary of confused and angry viewers popping up across the country, with many of them wondering where the hell their football program had gone.

They could all just shut up and watch, we doin murder trials now.

"Thank you, bailiff." The man, who in spite of the nickname was actually quite thin, spoke as he began to read through the files that had been left on the heightened desk. "Alright... We now begin case 13-D of the Ohio state criminal court, concerning the 1963 murder of Sarah Henderson."

And hoooo boy, did that get everyone's attention. It was so freaky. Everybody hates watching court proceedings unless it had to do with famous people.

And well... let's just say my machinations had inadvertently made me- made Sarah just a tad bit famous.

"Before we introduce the defense and the prosecution, does anyone in the Jury have any conflicts with their ability to be present and attentive?" The people sitting the stands remained quiet, which the man took as a sign that everyone was prepared. "Very well, defense and prosecution, please state your names for the record."

"Andrew Harris, on behalf of the defendants." A brown-haired man in a standard black suit said simply. I huffed a little bit, watching as his three clients just sat in silence behind him.

"Maxwell Khan, on behalf on the prosecution." Spoke the other suited man, adjusting his already perfectly straight tie in what seemed to be a nervous habit.

"Excellent. If everything is in order, then please give your opening statements."

Things unfolded pretty much how I expected them to.

The attorney defending the three men had of course declared that they were innocent, with Luther being the only one that had the decency to look ashamed by the lawyer's statement. WHilst the other two had looks that mixed together nervousness and annoyance, he lust looked down at the table. He knew that he was doomed, and his own confession would doubtlessly be brought up to nail in the coffin further.

The thing is, I wasn't going to wait for that. What I was about to do was going to make that among the least damning pieces of evidence presented today.

Speaking of... looks like the prosecution was took the floor~!

Sure, I could go about this in a far more casual manner... But where's the fun in that?

"Your honor, due to the age of this case, there are a distinct lack of witnesses to bring to testify here today." Khan started as he adjusted his tie once more. "However, we were able to gather some of the individuals in attendance that night. As such, the prosecution calls for Mr. Jer-"

A phone rang out through the room, loudly. There was a moment of silence as the first ring sounded out. Slight pink shading crawled up Maxwell's neck, betraying the source of the noise as his.

"Mr. Khan, I believe it is standard practice to keep your phone on vibrate during court proceedings." The judge chastised.

"Y-Yes your honor, many apologies." The prosecutor said, reaching down into his pocket and inspecting it. "I could have sworn I had left it on sile- ...That's weird, it is on silent."

Not really understanding the full oddity of the strange glitch, he just turned the device off and pocketed it.

"Ahem, as I was about to say, the prosecution calls for Mr. Jeri-"

And yet again, the phone rang, even louder than before. Some of the more auditorily sensitive people in the room had to cover their ears from how loud it was.

"MR. KHAN! Turn that thing off this instant!" The man said, calling over his own ears.

"YES, YOUR HONOR!" The prosecutor scrambled to get his phone back out of his pocket. But just before he pressed the button, a massive spark erupted out of it. "GAH?!"

He dropped the piece of tech, which continued to spark as it thumped against the ground. Sparks quickly began turning to thunder as the screen cracked. Fuzzy images began flashing on the screen in a loop, until landing on a single one.

Me.

It was time for the show to begin~!

I just hope they get my good side.

"MR. KHAN! BAILIFF! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" The older man called out from his heightened seat, watching a ring of golden light began floating above the phone, which no longer rang. Instead, it had been warped replaced by a constant screech.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Maxwell cried out, stepping back from where his cellphone dropped. To his side the defendants all watched with horror on their faced.

"She's here..." Luther said quietly, only loud enough to be heard by Michael and Martin. "Of course she is..."

"Who's here? What's going on?" Luther looked up to his two co-defendants, their horror combined with confusion at his statement.

"I'm sure you'll learn pretty quickly." He said, watching as a hand seemed to appear on the colored screen, slowly reaching out. "She'll want you to know what she's been up to."

A gloved hand burst through the screen, which caused many of those present to cry out in shock. The hand slammed down on the floor, before pushing harshly. Something was climbing out of the device, causing more electricity to spark off throughout the room, only coming breaths away from hitting those in attendance.

Soon enough a second arm wormed out of the machine, also grabbing onto the ground the same as the first. Then, with their combined efforts, they managed to pull a full body out of the ground, landing onto the open floor of the courtroom with an inhuman grace.

Across the country, many of those being forced to watch the trial would quickly recognize the purple quills as they reflected the bright lights.

But the cartoonish shape glitched, warping like a distorted picture, before changing entirely.

There, standing in the center of the silent room, Sarah Henderson turned her head to look her former friends in the eyes, revealing a face made up of a single red eye and toothy smile within a black void.

"Hello boys! I'm ba-aaaack~!"

Chapter Text

I wasn't sure how long it would take for someone to finally react, the silence so deep that I was half sure that everyone had stopped breathing.

I decided to push on, taking a small moment to fix up my face. Got a little bit melty there with all the excitement. As I did my gaze locked onto Luther, who was the only one besides Thomas who didn't look like he was seeing a literal ghost for the first time.

"What? No warm welcomes? And after I spent so long learning how to pull off the manifesting trick. It's not easy to do that you know." Well, that was a lie. It was actually pretty easy for me to manifest in the physical world... so long as I used Sonic's code as a vessel. "But hey, look on the bright side. We have the whole gang back together~."

Yet even more silence.

"...Jeez, tough crowd." I said in a - not so quiet - whisper. "What? I've been waiting for this day for thirty-two years! You think I wasn't gonna show up just 'cause I died? HA!"

"S-S-S-SSS-SAA-"

"What's that Michael?" I leaned forwards, playfully floating into the air and leaning over him, cupping a hand around my ear. "Saa something? Come on, spit it out! I want to hear you say my name."

"SARAH?!"

"There we go~!" I cackled whilst kicking my legs a little in the air, though I took a deep breath to keep my form from warping too much. Had to remember to keep an eye out for that while I'm manifested. "Oh no Martin, you shaved your head?! Now why'd you do that?"

"Hwha- Thi- WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" I couldn't help but grin internally at the judge's shout, turning around and giving him a small smile.

"Isn't it obvious your honor?" I asked before pointing to myself. "You're officiating the first murder trial where the victim herself is the first witness."

That seemed to just shock the man back into silence, which quickly began to turn awkward. Just keep talking Sarah. Don't lose your momentum.

"Oh Luther, don't think I've forgotten about you." I turned back around to see that he was looking away from me. "How's jail been treating you? Anything to say about it?"

"...The food wasn't as bad as I was expecting." He muttered, causing the two killers next to him to look at him, confused at how casual he was being. "Though I did see a guy get stabbed because he wouldn't give up his chocolate bars after agreeing to trade it."

"Well I'm glad to hear that, cause you'll probably be getting more of that in the future." I commented with a knowing look.

"W-What the actual fuck Luther?" Martin asked with wide eyes. "Why are you acting like any of this is normal."

"Because unlike you guys, apparently, she's actually decided to... visit me a few times already." Luther looked up at the judge. "Your honor, I can confirm that this woman is Sarah Henderson, just a little bit more... ghost-ee."

"Ghost-ee?" The man echoed, tone completely flat. "You're telling me, that this woman is an actual undead spirit."

"I mean, she literally crawled out of a phone like some sort of cursed video." He commented, before pointing one of his chained hands at me. "I mean. she's literally flying right now."

"...I see your point-"

"And if you want more proof, I can just ask her a few questions about herself." Luther looked up at me with a flat look. "Sarah, what were you studying in college?"

"History."

"What was your girlfriend's name?"

"Lily, duh."

"What's the name of the guy on first base?" I couldn't help but grin a little at that.

"No, What's the name of the guy on second base."

"I don't know."

"Third base~" We mirrored together, and I cackled a little out loud before wiping a small bloody tear out of my eye.

"Oh man, that skit never gets old. Then again, I'm not getting any older either! Oho ho ho ho ho~!"

"Did somebody drug me before the trial started, or did I go crazy while incarcerated?" Michael asked out loud.

"Trust me, You're completely sane." Luther answered.

"Hmm, you sure about that?" I asked, quirking a brow. "Because from where I'm floating...

Killers aren't usually the most stable bunch."

It took a while for everyone in the courtroom to finally accept that, no, they weren't just having a collective hallucination. Luther was ironically the biggest facilitator of getting people in gear, which eventually led to me taking the stand with a nervous and sweating bailiff.

"O-Okay Miss Henderson, d-do you swear t-to tell the t-truth, the w-whole truth, and nothing but the truth s-so help you G-God?" I easily rested a hand on the bible presented to me, and those who were praying for my downfall found themselves disappointed when I didn't immediately burst into flames or something.

"I do." The moment the last syllable left my lips the man practically bolted back to his standard place in the room, though he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Understandable, and to be honest it was pretty brave of him to push on in spite of that.

Maybe I should send him a gift basket or something later? Bah, think about it after this is all over.

"Well, this is certainly the most... existentially disturbing trial I have ever had to lead." Judge McGuy started, before looking down at me. "Are you ready to give your- ah, 'victim testimony' Miss Henderson?"

"I am, your honor." I spoke, my gaze turning away from him and onto the two legal representatives in the room. "Guess I should start from the beginning?"

All eyes were on me, now. Both in the courtroom, and throughout the world. Every pair of eyes within view of a screen was now watching me.

"I had actually asked Luther to go to the party with me, mostly to keep my relationship with my girlfriend Lily a secret. We had arrived with Martin and Micheal around... oh, about 8pm? It was about half an hour after the party started, and the hosts had already started to bring out kegs of beer and other kind of alcohol-"

"Objection your honor." The defense attorney, Andrew, spoke up with a questioning tone. "I have an issue with... this whole situation."

"Objecting during an initial testimony is against court etiquette," The man said. "But given how much this trial has already been thrown off the edge of insanity, I suppose I'll allow it. Sustained, but you better have a good reason."

"Yes, your honor." The lawyer stepped towards me, and gestured back towards his clients. "My reason is that, we're here for the sake of a murder trial. Which, going by all metrics of logic, leaves the victim... well, dead. The fact that the supposed victim can just stand here today and testify proves that she's still capable of speaking and interacting with the world puts the whole purpose of the trial in question."

Is... Is thit mother fucker serious?

"Miss Henderson, I understand your anger with my clients, but-"

"Say that again."

"You- Huh?"

"What you just said." I clarified, practically feeling my illusion begin to boil with rage. "Say it again."

"I-I understand your ang-"

I could feel my form shutter, nearly to the point of shattering. Actually, it was more than just my form, I could feel my very mind and soul nearly tear itself apart with how much raw emotion I let out in that single moment. The building almost seemed to shake from the sudden ghostly wail, and the force actually knocked over the attorney, sending him rolling across the floor.

Once I realized what I had just done, I did a quick ethereal sweep over the building to make sure nobody got hurt. Thankfully, everyone was fine, if scared out of their minds. There wasn't any damage to the building either, which was a blessing.

Then I noticed how the screech damaged my form, black hair reduced to patches, and various purple hedgehog quills were poking through. Mouth and muzzle were stringed together by remnants of a skull that filled the cracks between them.

It looked monstrous.

I looked monstrous.

But I kept pushing on regardless, hearing my voice glitch and echo as I did.

"If you did, you wouldn't be so eager to let this go..." My bloody eyes glared daggers right into his soul, as he looked up from his place on the ground. Only when I was sure that he had understood my point did I finally start to mend my illusion. The shape of flesh and hair was once again draped over my form as I continued. "I'm going to continue telling my story, and the end of it, if you're still so sure that there's no point to this trial..

Go walk right into the police evidence locker, and say that to my ice-cold, empty skeleton..."

Chapter Text

"The actual events of the party have pretty much faded from my mind entirely, but I remember at least a few things that led up to the whole... this," I started up the story again, gesturing down to myself. "Being the idiot kids we basically were, we all drank way too much. And then... well..."

I looked up, strange foreign memories coming back to me. Why am I able to remember this?

"Martin made a comment about Lily and I - called us weirdos or something to that effect. And that sparked into an argument between the two of us, which an equally drunk Michael and Luther joined in on. One thing after another, and the verbal argument evolved into one with fists. I don't remember who actually started it or who threw the final punch... but at the end of it I was looking down at my own body." I had to pause, a strange pit of pain and sorrow almost seeming to open in my soul. It was like the long-faded spirit of Sarah was somehow reawakening, channeling herself through me...

Or was I always Sarah, just only now acknowledging the past that led me here?

The fact I couldn't tell worried me...

"I watched them panic, more concerned about getting punished for their actions than the fact that they literally killed me." I growled, before pushing the thought aside. You're so close Sarah. Don't let your emotions get the better of you now. "They buried me in a secluded spot, where there hadn't been anyone around - there wouldn't be for some time. And then they just... left me there."

My form glitched, the pit of despair seeming to grow larger in my stomach.

"I wish I could say that the worst part of the whole thing was actually dying, but no. Things got so, so much worse in the time afterwards." My eyes glowed as I looked up, locking onto the three men. "I didn't just see my body, I could still feel what was happening to it. My soul was still tethered to it, making me suffer not just the pain of death, but the pain of decomposing."

Luther was starting to look sick at my description, only adding more and more to his shame. Good, he should be ashamed.

"I could feel every root burrowing into my skin, feel the bite of each and every maggot in my intestines. dry soil draining out whatever was left of my blood." I took another breath, though it didn't do anything to help. "I was trapped inside of my own rotting body, for 32 years. Just stuck waiting, hoping and preying to God that I could just move on. Heaven or Hell, it didn't even matter to me at that point. I just wanted out."

I waved a hand in front of my face, the illusion of a human face fully disappearing as I showed off my own, more hedgehog-ee form.

"And I lucked out; finding a way to finally change vessels once that SEGA headquarters was built over where my body was." I raised my hands to my sides, showing off my Needlemouse form for the whole world to see. "It took a little bit of effort, but I was able to transfer my soul into one of those little hedgehog games, which I used to start planning out my revenge."

"The Needlemouse ARG," Maxwell muttered in realization, a hand raised to his chin. "Y-You're the one who made that whole series of videos, the one who donated all of that evidence to the police."

"The one and only!" I laughed a little, winking towards him. "I wasted away for 32 God damned years! And these bastards get to run free and have families?! Fuck! That!"

My Sarah form was reapplied, and I glared towards the bastards.

"I missed my parents funerals. I missed my girlfriend's marriage. I missed her adopting a child and so many other things. I couldn't be there, because I was trapped inside of my own corpse!" This time I didn't even try to hold the illusion, feeling my face start melting. "And before anyone says anything about me being able to be there now... no I can't."

I glitched again, the hole of pain growing even further. Just end it off, Sarah. Before you unravel.

"This isn't a body. It's just that game's main character who's code I'm using as a vessel." I clenched a hand into a fist. "This... isn't life. It's not anything close..."

I started letting go of my manifestation, deciding that this was more than enough.

"This is nothing more... than a remnant..." And with that, my form faded away, like smoke from a fire.

I couldn't bring myself to actually watch the trial past that point, the painful memories of that time now fully filling my mind. There was just barely enough focus placed into it to keep broadcasting, and nothing more.

The results of the trial itself was already a forgone conclusion, even if I had never shown up. With all of the individual audio recordings, photographs, the VHS tapes, and Luther's own cooperation with the investigators. There was no possible way for their attorney to defend them.

The looks of anger and betrayal from Martin and Michael when Luther's confession was brought up was the only thing I bothered to look at, the only thing I could bear to look at after it was all said and done.

It was all over. They were convicted and sentenced. 30 years for Matin and Micheal, and Luther got his reduced to 25 for his willingness. Though, none of them were getting parole.

Seeing their looks when the gavel came down and the officers dragged them away to the rest of their lives... it was more satisfying than any torture or brutality I could ever possibly come up with. Made all the better by the fact that this fate was one of their own making, I just had to show people their dirty laundry.

But of course, there was a world outside of that courtroom. And man... I really should have seen all of this coming.

Needlem0useSuks: I... Jesus Fucking Christ... She felt her own body rotting for 32 years? How is she even sane?

DarkCookie: I don't think she is. Did you see how she was acting there?

Needlem0useSuks: I think I should change my username. I don't want to piss her off.

Sarah Henderson (Website Owner): It's fine. Your username doesn't bother me. The only people I hate are in prison now.

That thread quickly devolved into a combination of people freaking out or wondering if I was the real Sarah. Which was a fair question. Even I wasn't sure about the answer to that question.

Maria Kindly: This just proves that video games are the devil's work. Just look at what they did to that poor woman's soul! If all you kiddies out there don't want to go to hell then you need to stop playing those cursed things.

Anthony Collin: Ma'am, if you had been paying attention, then you'd notice that the reason Sarah suffered so much was because she was trapped inside her body after dying. The video game was her relief.

Maria Kindly: Shut up, child of Satan! Don't you dare try to corrupt these peoples' spirits! I'll call the police.

Anthony Collin: How in the hell is this the same generation of people that created the world of super computers and the internet, and yet they can't listen to someone properly?

Of course Anthony was defending me. I hadn't seen much of him in the time since the whole trial was set, most of my focus being put on the preparations of my appearance. I should make some time to talk to them, now that this was all over.

Those were really just two of the hundreds of thousands of reactions happening all across the country and world, the now infamous being recorded and broadcast across the planet, meaning that even those who weren't near a screen at the time would quickly come to know of the existence of the paranormal.

Various government entities would do their best to try to quell that massive leak of information, but you can't plug leaks in a damn when the damn is gone. And eventually they were essentially forced to reveal the truth to the world, though most were already starting to believe it.

I don't know how long I spent just watching people type away their own reactions. Was it minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? I don't think I'd even notice if years went by at this point, just watching the fallout of my ultimate revenge. But even with my attention so spread out, I had kept my focus on the three that started it all.

"I miss my family. This isn't fair."

"I didn't even do anything."

"You know that's a lie, Martin." I said, my voice echoing as I immediately manifested behind them. They had been bunked together, with Luther in a nearby cell. "And don't bother crying for the guards, they won't hear you. As far as the rest of the world is aware, you're sitting quietly in your cell."

"P-Please, Sarah. We're sorry." Micheal begged, pathetic tears coming out of his eyes. Disgusting.

"You're sorry that you finally got caught." I corrected with a snarl. "You didn't care about how you hurt me until I hurt you back. But really, this is exactly what you deserve. You've deprived me of life for more than three decades, so three decades wasting your own lives away is the least you all deserve."

My eyes cracked with a spitting hot rage, looking them both dead in the eyes.

"This is fair; more than fair, even." I said. "And before you complain any further, I could have done much more than just taken away your lives in a metaphorical sense..."

With that I returned to the world of code, my unsaid threat hanging like guillotines over their heads.

Chapter Text

"Look like Sarah did more than just show up to the trial, she broadcasted it across the whole country, maybe even the world," Thomas spoke quietly from the back seat of the car, scrolling idly through his phone. "I don't think I've ever seen this many people affected by a single event before. Pretty much every news station is broadcasting something about Miss Sarah..."

BaconMan332: Oh God Oh fuck does that mean we feel our bodies decay after we dies?!

BigMan9090: This is certainly going to have an impact on SEGA stocks. I don't know what yet, but it'll definitely do something.

GhostiePoppers: Is it weird to find the ghost girl hot? Asking for a friend.

"How are you so calm about this, Thomas?" Kyle asked, disbelief clear in his tone. "We just say a ghost, an honest to God undead spirit! How are you not freaking out?!"

Thomas looked a little guilty, but answered the question easily enough.

"Because I... kinda already met her." He said, causing the car to come screeching to a halt.

"You what?!" Yuri Henderson screeched, her head whipping around the headrest to look at the boy sitting behind her. "What do you mean you've met her before?!"

"S-She manifested a few times before to talk to me." He tried to clarify, putting his hands up defensively. "I-I just didn't think anyone would believe me! Besides, it's not like she hurt me or anything."

"That's not the problem," Yuri started. "You knew what was-"

"Yuri." The argument immediately came to a halt, the three turning to see Lily in the passenger's seat. "Stop."

"B-But Lily, he-"

"No. He's right. Nobody would have believed him, even if it was just about that game."

Yuri still had a slight smolder in her eye, but eventually relented. Sighing a bit, she watched as Lily leaned around her own seat, looking right at Thomas.

"Thomas, I need t-to tell me..." Lily bit her lip nervously. "D-Did Sarah mention me... at all? Was she thinking about me?"

The boy sat in silence, seemingly pondering how to answer. There was a long, brutal period where Lily was terrified he'd say no. But he crossed his arms and leaned back.

"She mentioned your cooking, talking about how she was jealous that I could eat it." His gaze shifted towards the windows. "...I think she was trying to avoid thinking about you; it seemed really painful for her to think about her past in general."

"Oh God," Lily whispered, tears starting to prickle at her eyes. "I shouldn't have stopped looking for her. She was so close the whole time and I never even bothered to look! What kind of..."

She turned back around, her head falling into her hands.

"What kind of girlfriend am I?"

"Hey," Yuri pointed a finger at the other woman chastisingly. "None of that talk. Shame on you for deprecating yourself. You were an incredible girlfriend, a fantastic wife, and a wonderful mother. If Sarah can't see that - which I doubt - then that's on her. You can't let yourself wallow in regrets over something you couldn't do anything about. The only ones to blame are those three. Are you Martin, Micheal, or Luther?"

"N-No?"

"Then there's nothing for you to be guilty about." Yuri put her hands back on the steering wheel, pulling out of their impromptu parking spot. "You can only control your own actions, so let everyone else be responsible for theirs."

"O-Okay." Lily quietly accepted, allowing the car to once again fall into an awkward silence. Kyle was stealing glances at Thomas, who had gone back to his phone to continue seeing the world's reactions.

MasochisticSeagull: 32 years of rotting pain? I don't think I'm ready for that...

TacoTuesday: This feels like something right out of a Lovecraft novel. What's next, Cthulu is real?!

MaxTenson: I'm just gonna be the first to admit it. Would.

"Thomas," The boy looked up to see Lily looking at him through the rearview mirror. "When we get back, I want you... I want you to see if you can get Sarah to appear. I... I want to speak with her."

"Y-Yeah. No problem." He replied with a quiet tone. There was certainly going to be a lot of tears involved with that, but he'll just have to deal with it when it happens.

I... felt myself fade. No, I felt Sarah fade? No! Me fade! No?

I didn't fade, but I also did? Or, it was less fading and more... becoming dormant, letting one part of myself trust the other to make the right decision?

My eyes opened, the sounds of what seemed to be a party muffled through a wall. It was a simple living room setup, with the only thing of note being the person sitting on the couch. She looked at me with a grateful smile that also seemed to speak of endless exhaustion.

It was me Sarah.

"No no, you got it right the first time." She said, before picking a can up off of the table. She cracked it open before offering it to me. "You want some? I know they're about... oh... thirty years out of date, but what's it gonna do? kill us?"

"Heh," I couldn't help but chuckle softly at the joke. "So what, is this some sort of Force Vision thing I'm supposed to have before disappearing to whatever afterlife is awaiting us?"

"It can be, if you want." Sarah explained, before putting her hands up in the air, as if displaying the world to me. "This is the Crossroads to the otherside. Usually, souls are basically frothing at the mouth to pass through to meet their makers, for better or for worse."

She shuffled in her seat slightly, taking a swig of expired beer.

"But you? Us? We're a little bit special." She explained, looking to the wall as the party noises grew louder. "Since most lingering spirits don't have much of their humanity left, they don't have the ability to let themselves pass until whatever unfinished business they have gets solved."

"So what? I can just go to heaven right now?" I asked, taking a sip of the drink before immediately spitting it back out. It had long since gone rancid.

"We can go whenever we want." Sarah clarified. "I'm you, bud. You are Sarah, just with a few extra pieces granted by whatever cosmic forces are at play."

"Then why didn't I feel like I was?" I asked, no, begged. "Why did it take until the trial was getting so close for those memories and feelings to come back?"

"Because I decided it was better if we didn't." She answered easily enough. "I'm the part of us that's Sarah. All of her happiness and pain, her memories and other junk. When Sarah and the other soul combined together, it was decided that it was better for the memories of the other guy to be used to exact our get-back on our old gang. Sarah's hatred was too volatile to get that done without lashing out, so we pulled back to let things play out."

"So what does that make me? Sarah? The Outsider? Some other third thing?"

"All of the above, buddy." Soddenly I found my chin being grabbed, pulled close to Sarah's eyes. "Look, it doesn't matter who we were anymore. All that matters is who we choose to be now. Whether that's mostly Sarah, mostly Outsider, a middle ground of the two, or even someone new. It's all up to us."

"But that's if we even decide to stay here..." I stated, leaning away from her.

"Yep!" Sarh grinned at me as I started pondering what to do. "So, what's the plan boss? You wanna rest, or do we have stuff we want to do?"

"I..." I hesitated, hearing the roar of a party on the other side. It sounded so nice, almost hypnotizing. I started to stand up, walking towards the door that led to the other room, to the other side. My hand wrapped around the doorknob, ready to turn and open it.

"Sarah? Can you hear me?" I flinched at the familiar voice, before stepping away from the door entirely. That was Lily's voice, coming from the doorway. I looked to my other self, who just continued smiling at me.

"Well? Aren't you gonna go answer?" Standing up herself, she reached out her hand towards mine. "Remember, we have all the time in the world. We can wait to pass on just a little while longer."

...Yeah, we can.

I reached out, and grabbed my hand.

And I was complete.

Chapter Text

"Sarah?" Lily asked hesitantly, looking down at Thomas' computer. "Can you hear me?"

Everyone stood a little bit further back into the room, watching as the woman tried to call out to her past love. Yuri was... hesitant, to let her wife attempt to commune with the dead, especially since it was now known that they exist. But she knew that Lily was never going to be able to sleep soundly without at least trying, and at the very least, the descriptions Thomas told them about how Sarah acts... she at least sounded like she wouldn't be hostile towards the girl.

But still, that didn't make her feel any more comfortable with the whole thing.

There was a moment, then two, where nothing happened. Everyone worried a bit as silence continued to stretch onwards without an answer.

"Does it usually take her this long to respond?" Kyle asked Thomas, who shook his head.

"No, she's usually pretty quick about this." The boy said, crossing his arms. "I... I don't know what's going on."

"Do you think that... she maybe moved on?" Yuri asked. "I remember reading somewhere about ghosts only sticking around because of 'unfinished business' or whatever."

"You might be right..." Their guest said. "But given the way that Miss Sarah is, I'm not sure that she wants to-"

A faint white glow took over the computer screen, a bead of light floating out before forming a shape. It didn't look like Sarah, but it also didn't really look like that hedgehog form. It was... a mix. Lily could identify traits from Sarah painted onto the hedgehog's face, whilst Thomas noticed the more human shaped arms and legs. The being opened her eyes, bright, almost alive.

They locked onto Lily, before looking away as a shameful look came over her form.

"H-Hey Lily..." She said, pointed ears pinning down against her head. "S-Sorry I didn't try to find talk to you up unti- HMPH?!"

Sarah didn't have time to explain further as the much larger human scooped her up into a bone crushing hug. Tears dripped down from her face as she tightened her grip even further.

"S-SHARAAH!" She cried out, burying her face into the hedgehog-like spirit's shoulder. Loud, agonizing sobs escaped her throat as she just kept trying to hold the ghost tighter, as if she was afraid Sarah was going to slip right out of her arms. "I-I-I'm so sorry!"

The three other people in the room watch the spirit slowly lift her arms up and reciprocate the hug, the small pointy tail beginning to wag at a rapid speed.

"...Oh my God..."

"That's so cute..."

"Umm..." Yuri stepped forwards, catching the attention of the hugging human and ghost. "H-Hello Sarah... I'm- Yuri. Lily's wife. I hope you don't mind that we..."

"No no, you're good." Sarah said, taking a hand off of Lily's shoulder and reaching out. "If anything, I should be thanking you for being there for Lily. Now come here and hug your wife."

The three hugged in silence for a short while, tears now leaking out of Sarah's eyes. They still had the same blood-like quality that they had the last time she had let them flow, but they didn't feel as... horrific as before. These weren't tears of pain, fear, or sadness. these were tears of contentness, of someone who knows that all is right with the world.

Kyle and Thomas just continued watch the scene unfold, until Yuri tilted her head invitingly. A group of three turned to five, all surrounding the woman who had inadvertently brought many of them together in some form or another. There was just silence as former lovers reunited, meeting the new family that had been built officially for the first time.

This was better than any revenge. Sarah was so glad that she decided to rely on the outsider's perspective, or else... well, she knew what would have happened. This was a better fate for everyone, including her. There was still so much life that she hadn't been able to live, in either of her two composited lives. But at the very least now, she'd have a chance to see what the world could still do for her.

Kyle opened his eyes to look at his family.

"D-Does this mean that I have three moms now?"

Marble Zone was in ruins. Flames of disaster and volcanic pits bathed the landscape in red hot destruction, melting stone, burning plants, and reducing animals to ash. Not that it mattered to them, it was all just meaningless code. The true target lied beyond the programming of the cartridge, beyond its base, and beyond the world that the imposter had created.

"Atem." The demonic embodiment turned to look at its counterpart, who looked on in disappointment. "You know that what you're planning to do will only hurt us. Sarah has healed. She has found her way. There is no need to continue stewing in this senseless cycle of revenge."

"That thing is not Sarah!" Atem growled, his skeletal mouth moving as he swiped a claw swiped at the contrasting white hedgehog. Rage boiled further along with the fire as Del once again dodged his strike. "It destroyed her! It killed her! It put on a mask and pretended to be her!"

"You know that isn't true." The white and blue spirit countered. "Sarah may no longer be the same as what she was, but that doesn't mean that she is gone. She's changed, more than she once was. She has moved on from your hatred."

"NRAAAAAGH!" Atem clasped his hands together, unleashing a Chaos imbued blast of energy.

Manipulating the game's code, Del shifted space to place a massive chunk of Marble Zone's terrain to take the hit. The block of simulated stone was crushed beneath the wave of energy, which faded away itself. When the smoke cleared, Atem was gone.

"He's planning to use the game's Chaos Emeralds..." Del deduced, looking up towards where the television screen looked out into the real world. "Atem... I know it's impossible for you to look past your anger. It's the nature of your existence, the purpose of your being. But I won't allow you to cause any more grief for Sarah now that she's finally found a slice of happiness after so long...

I won't let you."

Chapter Text

The iron was still hot after the whole mess with the trial. Conspiracy theories were still flying about on the internet, governments were trying to cull the massive leak to little avail, and a wide variety of people were wondering if they should be burying their dead. Hell, there were even people asking me questions directly on the Needlemouse website!

For the time being I just ignored then, though I did still make sure to passively monitor the incoming commentary to make sure people weren't saying anything vile.

Seriously, what is it with all of these losers calling me 'Ghost Mommy'? I couldn't tell which was worse, that or the one Spanish guy wrote a horror fanfiction about me. What did he call it again? El Pendrive Azul or something...

I just told the kid to post that somewhere else, as well as remove my association. A lot of things I am, but a killer is not one of them. That goes against the whole mess I had just gone through.

When not dealing with the backlash, I was mostly splitting my time between the Henderson household and the Collins. They were two of the only places that still held interest at the current moment. It was a little bit of a strange set up, almost feeling like I was a kid spending time at her friend's house before heading home for the night.

The only thing I regret doing was showing off the manifesting trick with my new form. Marie practically smothered me in affection, and I felt too awkward to deny her.

No I didn't find the head petting nice, shut up!

Another thing we figured out about my existence as a ghost is that while I can eat, it's only when the food is offered to me. An interesting caveat, but one that prevented me from being able to do a midnight snack run. It didn't even matter that I didn't need to eat anymore, it was the principle of the thing.

Although I didn't really try after the first time, preferring to spend time with Lily and Yuri.

The two were kind enough to let me into their house and home - something that I was immensely grateful for as I didn't want to infringe on the Collins too much and couldn't really focus on any internet activities at the moment. I mostly just wanted to exist in the real world, and they were all too happy to let me do that.

There was a part of me that longed for Lily to be closer to me. I knew that it was wrong of me to think that way given the literal marriage she had, but I just couldn't let go of it. It was a feeling that I missed.

But that wouldn't be fair to Yuri. She was willing to let me near her son, and her wife, after I had gone as far as leading the child to my own corpse. Having the undead spirit still pining after your beloved might be the thing that makes her snap, and I don't want that.

So I kept a cap on my still immense feelings. It wasn't the healthiest thing in the world, but I'd be fine eventually.

I made a few updates to the Needlemouse game to keep both Thomas and Kyle entertained, the two still not too comfortable with spending time out where people might recognize them. It was more an issue for Thomas than it was for Kyle, since he looked so much like his father.

Even behind bars, you still seem to cause problems for me, Luther.

Today I was helping Lily clean the house, using Sonic's speed to zoom around the room and dust the hard-to-reach areas that would usually require a ladder. Yuri had taken both of the kiddos back to school shopping, which I had originally wanted to help with, but quickly realized probably wasn't a great idea.

You're a ghost Sarah, and both of your forms are known to the public. You don't want your new family to get accosted at Barriermart because the ghost from the TV decided to come.

But even with all the little complications, I could feel things were starting to really get better.

I was the only one home when the phone rang.

Okay, it wasn't like I was actually home. I was actually continuing to tinker away at the multiplayer for Needlemouse when the ringing started. It was a little strange since I blocked all scam calls from reaching the phone, so I knew that it had to be something important. Forming my hedgehog avatar, I sped over to the home phone and picked it up.

"Hello? This is Miss Henderson speaking."

"Yes, hello Mrs. Henderson." And already I didn't like whoever was on the other end of the call. Seriously did I say Mrs? "This is Principal Ovi from Emerald High. I'm calling you regarding your son Kyle, he got into a fight with some other students at school today.

Okay, hold the phone.

"Kyle got into a what?" I asked, not believing a word I was hearing. I do remember the kid being more than willing to fight the Sarah from the Needlem0use tapes, but I knew for a fact my Kyle wasn't nearly so confrontational. That child couldn't throw a punch if he tried!

I was getting immensely suspicious of the circumstances surrounding this call.

"I'll be there in 6 seconds," I said, before demanifesting and entering the phoneline. The only thing I heard was the short 'pardon me' from the principal before reaching the other side and retaking my physical form. Looking around, I was quick to deduce what was going on.

The principal was on the ground, looking up at me with wide, fearful eye. He sputtered a little bit as he saw me floating in the air, recognition plainly written. I didn't pay much attention to him though, my vision catching something in the corner.

It was Kyle, with small bumps and s bloody lip. I felt rage and disgust immediately fill my heart as I took in every detail. It didn't look like he was seriously hurt, but I couldn't exactly be sure.

"Y-You're t-th the-" I stopped listening to whatever the man had to say, landing in front of Kyle with a laser focus.

"...Who did this to you?" I asked, noticing how the child flinched at the question. That wasn't a good sign. "I'm not mad at you, or even disappointed. I just want to know."

"A-Ahem," I looked over my shoulder to the school official. I don't know exactly what he saw, but it seemed to scare him into silence for a moment. Was my form deteriorating again?

A quick check confirmed that it was, but I didn't bother to fix it this time.

"Tell me, Principal Ovi," I started, my tone reaching a dangerously low level. "What exactly happened between Kyle and these other students, because just saying 'he got into a fight' tells me nothing."

"I-I hardly see how that matters." He stuttered out indignantly. "T-This school has a zero-tolerance policy on fighting, so he will be reasonably reprimanded regardless. It's a way to crack down on the bullying issue."

"Zero... tolerance?" I repeated the words, practically feeling my hedgehog muzzle starting to melt off from the heat of my rage. "You mean to tell me that you are going to punish a student for something they may have had no involvement in, and are enabling whoever is the abuser to hurt people knowing that their victims will get in trouble as well? That's not preventing bullying in any way. You're just enabling abuse."

My eyes turned a bloody, scarlet red. There was no way in hell I was going to let this stand.

"Here's what's going to happen. You are going to have the children of every parent come here for a group meeting. You will investigate what happened today or I swear to both God and the Devil that I will make you wish to see them just to escape what I will do to you. Do I make myself fucking clear?"

"Y-Y-Yes! Crystal clear, Ma'am!" The greasy man shouted, already picking up his phone.

"And while you're doing that, I will be taking Kyle to whatever excuse of a nurse this school has." I said, gently grabbing onto the child's arm and leading him out of the room.

I don't know what is fully going on, but when I do? There will be hell to pay for whoever fucked with my kid!

Chapter Text

Of course, the school's nurse couldn't do much more than provide a couple of ice packs to numb the pain of Kyle's bloody lip and bruises. That did nothing to alleviate the anger I was feeling at the moment, but at the very least I was also able to confirm where Thomas was. He was in the nurse's office, nursing what seemed to be a rapidly growing bruise on his own chin.

If it weren't for the fact that the 'medical professional' wasn't already doing as much as she could to help, I'd probably have a few... less than kind words to say to her. Though, that probably isn't necessary. She already looks like she's going to have a heart attack just looking at me.

"So, you want to tell me what exactly happened here?" I asked the two boys, crossing my arms over by chest. They were both quiet for a brief moment, but eventually Kyle spoke up.

"There were some guys who were saying some... things about Thomas." He started, moving the ice pack away from his lip. I didn't like how the injury made him sound, but still motioned for him to continue explaining. "They were spreading rumors and saying that he was 'just like his father' and that I shouldn't talk to him anymore."

I stopped myself from clenching my hands into tight fists.

"Alright, I understand why that would be... upsetting." Taking a useless breath, I pointed a finger at the two of them. "But what that doesn't explain is how that evolved into a fight. Care to explain how that happened."

"When Jason was talking about how I was just like my dad, I told him his girlfriend was just like his mom. Open and ready for business." Thomas said casually, before wincing and putting the ice pack back on his face. "Then he pushed me into the lockers and started swinging."

I blinked, mentally dissecting what he had just said. Did he seriously...

I couldn't help it; I started giggling at it. In my eyes that was a totally justified response.

"Ahaha~ O-Okay, I can't really get mad at you both over that." I explained before doing my best to cool myself back into a more neutral expression. "But that still leaves me in a pretty precarious situation. No doubt that these other kids' parents will try to spin this tale into trying to make you both the bad guys. I'm going to get on the phone with your mothers and see if I can get them here. You two sit tight, and if they try to pressure you into admitting something that isn't true, don't say anything. Let me handle this, alright?"

"Okay, Mother." Kyle nodded, followed by Thomas' own small nod. That had been something I hadn't expected the kiddo to start doing. Kyle usually called Lily "Mom" and Yuri "Mama", so I wasn't really expecting me to actually start referring to me with a maternal title of any kind, but I guess he was more serious than I thought.

Well, I guess I was gonna have to step up, then.

Reaching across my massive network of connections, I tapped into cell towers and phone lines until I found my two targets- or rather, Lily and Yuri. There was no way I was letting these other parents show up without those two being there to defend ou- their kids. It was a necessity that they were aware of what was going on, and that they got here as fast as possible.

"Hello, this is Lily Henderson speaking. How can I help you?" I heard the voice through digital space.

"Hey Lily, it's Sarah. I need you to get the boys' school as fast as you can. They were beaten up pretty badly and the principal is trying to punish them for it." I spoke casually, not paying attention to how all three people in the office were now looking at me with varying looks of confusion.

"W-What's she doing?" The nurse asked hesitantly. The only reason I could hear it was the dead silence that was suddenly emanating from the other side.

"I think she's using her ghost-tech powers to call my mom. I didn't know she can do that without a phone." Was the only thing I heard before my hearing was flooded by the screams of hell, all combined with the mouth of the sailor known as Lily.

God, I love that woman...

It didn't take too much longer until both Lily and Yuri were both at the school building, both with varying degrees of anger on their faces due to what I told them. Both Kyle and Thomas sitting quietly next to them as the other three involved individuals walked in with their parents - the office becoming extremely crowded due to the number of people. Not a single bruise or scuff mark between any of the bullies, which only served to make me more upset.

Did either of these two guys even throw a punch at them?

I began hacking into the school's camera system, checking through the day's recordings. If I found out the answer was no, then this place would be in even more trouble than before.

"Who's pet weasel is this?" The father of one of the boys said with a blatantly fake accent, pointing in my direction. "And why does it look like Sonic?"

"I'm not going to dignify that insult with a response." I said flatly, ignoring how Principal Ovi flinched at my low tone. "Let's focus on the issue at hand instead of trying to disturb the dead any further."

"Tch, whatever." The slimy man said, showing just the kind of person he was. Thankfully, his wife was less than willing to deal with him, giving him a light smack in the side of the head.

"Patrick, knock it off!" She chastised. And though it successfully made him quiet, it clearly didn't fully pacify the smarmy jackass. "Principal Ovi, care to explain to us what happened that required us all to leave work to get here?"

"W-Well you see-" The man didn't get a chance to continue speaking as I interrupted him.

"Don't worry, I've figured it out." Everyone looked at me with a look of both worry and confusion. "Take a look at the computer monitor and you'll see exactly what went down."

Of course, being a shitty public school, there wasn't any audio being played due to the shitty recording devices, but at the very least the video quality was decent. Just slightly above the frame and pixel size of your average bank security camera.

It was a video of Kyle and Thomas walking away from their lockers, talking about something that couldn't be heard. It was a pretty normal scene, up until a set of three guys showed up, the same ones who's parents were all sitting across from us.

One of them started talking to Kyle, pointing to Thomas with a thumb with a combination of a sneer and a smirk. the other two boys spoke up afterwards, their words seeming to add weight to Thomas' shoulders as he looked away with shame.

Whatever they said just seemed to piss Kyle off, who started yelling at them. The three were surprised for a second by his sudden outburst, before looks of rage overcame their faces. In a clear act of aggression, the leading boy pushed Kyle into the lockers, causing my- Lily and Yuri's son to bounce off them face first.

"Miss Sarah, your face... it's getting melty again."

"I am aware, Thomas." I answered, not bothering to fix it in spite of the growing looks of terror from the principal. He looked like her was getting close to having a heart attack.

From there things quickly devolved into a massive brawl. Well, I say brawl, but it was clear that neither of my two wards were able to get any hits in edgewise, beaten black, bloody, and blue until a teacher thankfully came rushing in to break everyone up.

"I'll have you know... these three boys did almost the exact same type of thing that led to my own murder," I mentioned with a false casual tone, feeling a relieving bit of glee at the massive flinches from the three culprits, who were all suddenly realizing just what they've gotten themselves into.

"I recall that, Sarah." Lily said, not looking at me. "So let me ask you all something...

...Why should we not sue you all into the ground for this?"

Chapter Text

"Hey, Sarah... Can we talk on the way home?" I looked up at Yuri as we walked out of the school building, a concerned look painting her face.

"I can do that." I commented. "Though I think if you want to do that I'll probably need to sit in the back seats with the boys. Unless you want me to run alongside the car? I can use this character's speed to keep up if you two want the room."

"You don't need to do that Miss Sarah." Thomas denied with a blank expression, while Kyle seemed to be in thought of how that would even look. Must have been a funny image, given how he was now trying not to laugh. "I don't think Mrs. Henderson would like it if their van was posted on YouTube."

"If it's really that big of a deal, I can easily delete all traces of the video to maintain privacy."

Lily looked over at me, pulling her car keys out of her purse.

"You can do that?" She asked before opening the back door. "How much power do you even have at this point?"

"Do you actually want to know, or is that a rhetorical question?" I asked, climbing into the back of the car along with Thomas and Kyle. The two sat awkwardly at my sides, likely not too happy with being within earshot of me. "Cause if I were to actually make a realistic guess, I'm pretty sure I can essentially hold the entire United States cyberspace and power grids hostage if it really came to it. Being able to interface with technology like this is... a really powerful ability."

"Please don't try to hold the country hostage, Sarah. You nearly gave me a heart attack when you showed up in the courtroom. If you did something like that... I don't think I'd be able to handle it." Lily gave me a pleading look as she looked up to the rearview mirror. "But that actually brings me to what Yuri and I wanted to talk to you about."

"Recently there have been people who have been trying to... contact us." Yuri spoke up, and I could already felt my brows furrow in concern. "It's mostly been through the physical mail, though we have been getting some emails as well. I assume since you don't seem to know, you haven't been looking at them?"

"Of course not!" I protested, crossing my arms. "Yeah, I could watch your stuff, but that'd be weird and controlling. You're already kind enough for me to live in your home and eat with you. It'd be a massive betrayal of your trust if I were to do that."

"Well, I appreciate that." She nodded. "But that means you're not really privy to the kinds of things we've been receiving as of late. It's... a lot, Sarah."

"People have been sending us threats, Sarah." Lily said, and I felt the world pause. "Not everyone. Sometimes it's like - an interview request or something. But a lot of the time people are sending us hateful messages for taking Thomas in since he's Luther's son."

"I-I'm sorr-"

"No. None of that." Lily pointed a finger over her shoulder. "You haven't done anything Thomas. This is all happening because people are ignorant and hateful."

"I agree." I looked over to the boy, who was still holding his head in shame. "The only person in this situation who's opinion you should even consider taking to heart are Lily and myself, and neither of us have anything bad to say about you. You're a good kid, and you don't deserve to be on the receiving end of any of this treatment."

He didn't respond this time, but my words at least seemed to get through to him.

"But about all of those messages, I didn't know that you were dealing with all of this." I crossed my arms. "Do you want me to track these people down? I'm pretty sure that threats like that could quantify as a felony if we have reason to believe that it's a legitimate danger to your health or safety."

"I don't think you should go that far." Lily said, pulling out of the parking lot. "Maybe see if you can get an interview with a major network and broadcast it the way you did with the courtroom? Clear the air a bit and tell those people to stop sending us messages."

"Alright. I'll cook tonight and then look into whatever major network is on at a good time." I agreed, with both of the adult women thanking me. To be honest, I didn't agree to cook because I wanted to make up for anything. I was pissed at these people and needed a distraction.

I'm thinking Korean Army Stew will be a good meal for tonight.

Del busted through the code lining the walls of the cartridge, thumps of power echoing through his ethereal being as he felt the Emeralds in his hands. Looking out, he knew that he was being followed. He'd need to move quickly.

"Atem, I know what you're planning with these." He stated, looking down at the blue gem in his hand. "This world does not deserve your hatred. I'll put these in places where you won't be able to reach them, at least for a time."

The spirit wasn't a fool. He knew that his actions would do nothing but delay the spiteful being's plot for a short time. Hopefully, that would be enough time for him to reveal himself to... her. He wasn't sure how she would react to his existence. Was she aware of him? Of Atem? Would he be accepted?

Del still held hope that it would be the case. He was made to hold onto hope, after all. Her hope.

But he would need to find out where to hide these Chaos Emeralds first. If he did this wrong, then this whole risk will have been all for nothing.

He ignored the roars of rage of who was left behind.

Chapter Text

It didn't take very long for me to find a decently watched live show, some equivalent to Saturday Night Live. I actually had to check a few times to actually make sure that it wasn't just saying that it was live and then just having pre-recorded nonsense, but thankfully that turned out to be a false fear. At the moment they were in the middle of the episode, some talk with an actress of some sort that I didn't really recognize.

"So Anna, let me ask you something." The interviewer started, holding what seemed to be notecards as he motioned his arms through the air. "There's been a lot of talk every since the trial about Sarah Henderson went down, and I couldn't help but notice that you shared the same last name. Do you happen to have any sort of connection to her?"

"Okay, Mr. Interviewer, that is an extremely insensitive way to ask that question." I grumbled, already not liking the way that this was going. Anna looked around uncomfortably, cringing slightly before ultimately giving her response.

"That's... quite the question Steve..." She tried to laugh off her discomfort. "As a matter of fact, I did have a sister named Sarah, though I never had the chance to meet her. I was born a few years before she died, you know?"

...

...What?

Hold on, I need to check my family's medical records.

...

...

Well I'll be damned. Anna Henderson, born in November of 1966.

I... don't really know how to feel about this...

Why didn't anybody tell me about this? Hell, why didn't I think to look?

"Really?" Steve pressed on, blatantly fishing for more information. "Was it the same one from the trial? I'm sure it must have been quite the shock for your own family to be responsible for the world at large learning that the supernatural is real."

And again, this guy proves to be a really shitty host. This feels more like an interrogation in all honesty. If I had any say in this, I'd just tell Anna to leave.

Which given my plans, I'd have a say in but moments. I continued to stay tuned into the broadcast as I entered the digital world, traveling through underground wirings and radio waves to reach the source of the live broadcasts, a studio just outside of New York City.

"Look, I know that people have been all up into a frenzy regarding that whole thing." Anna said, holding up a hand. "And forgive me for being a little bit harsh, but I can't really find it in me to really believe it. I mean, we saw what was supposed to be my dead sister's ghost to testify at her own murder trial, but there hasn't been any sign or whisper of her since then. And even with all of these new groups coming forwards claiming to be claiming to be from a hidden world of ghost hunting, we haven't seen anything of how they work. Doesn't that seem a little suspicious?"

"It is somewhat strange, from an outsider's perspective at least." I projected my voice through the speakers of the studio. Everyone in both the live audience as well as those working in the production team flinched before looking around the room. "But let me ask you something before you form an opinion..."

My form faded into existence, forgoing the theatrics of my first on screen manifestation. Still, I decided to do it layer by layer just to further push the idea that I was actually putting myself in the real world. First was the very basic core of my possessed power, the various 1's and 0's that made up my vessel, followed by the outer appearance of a purple hedgehog. Then a new layer was draped overtop of it, giving me the oh so recognizable face that I had used many times at this point.

it just that it wasn't until now that I knew it was my own.

There was quiet for so long, the world going silent as I once again took over every channel and wavelength that I could. My face was showing in even more places than before, from the heart of the United States to the most backwater corners of Siberia. Everywhere there was a signal, I was there in some form or fashion.

My eyes flicked towards Anna for a second, her look of shock and... heartbreak made me hesitate for just a moment. But I pushed on regardless, my illusion melting for just a moment before snapping back into place.

"If you had accomplished everything you wanted in your afterlife, would you not want to rest?"

"Sarah," a man muttered to himself in minor annoyance as he watched the screen, putting a hand over his temple. "At this rate you'll do more than just expose the world of spirits to the world, you'll make it the only thing that anyone every talks about..."

"And that's why I'm saying we need to have her put to rest, Ramis!" A man spoke up from behind him, wearing a similar outfit to the ghost hunter. "Every time that girl has gotten involved in something, more and more of these unaware children try to involve themselves in the affairs of the dead, only to get themselves hurt, or worse! We can not allow her to continue running free!"

"How do you propose we do that, Micha?!" Jerimiah shouted, causing the other investigator to stutter. "She has control of almost all of America's power grid and internet signals! The entire country - maybe even the entire world, is at her beck and call if she really wanted. If we wanted to even have a chance at forcing her to rest, we would need to completely flush her out of the whole world's technology at once. If even a single copy of her game - even a line of code, it would end in failure. Then we'd have both a powerful, intelligent spirit after us, but the rest of the world! If you haven't noticed, she's made herself extremely popular."

After the rant, Ramis looked back to Srah's form. The woman was currently looking down at a terrified interviewer, contrasting the serious situation by casually leaning on his desk.

"Besides," He continued. "This could be a great opportunity for us to get a PSA out, get people to stop brainlessly searching for things like her."

Chapter Text

It must have been a solid minute of waiting, every person in both the audience and those on stage just sitting with similar looks of shocks on their faces. I rolled my eyes before speaking up.

"You should be mindful of all those open mouths; you might end up swallowing flies or something." A number of onlookers clacked their faces shut, but continued to stare at me with what seemed to be completely unblinking gazes. The whole scene felt like an episode of an old cartoon where the main character has stage fright.

Glad I was beyond the point of caring when it came to that kind of thing.

"Uh- Uhm..." The host of the show darted his eyes around for a second, before gesturing towards me. "L-Looks like we have a surprise guest today folks! Let's give a warm welcome to Sarah Henderson!"

Another silent moment passed.

"...Hey!" Steve whisper-yelled to the crew. "Play the music!"

What followed was a small scramble by the members of both lights and the band as a hastily played introduction song was played. Spotlights flew around the room for the few seconds that the drum solo echoed around the room, before leaving everything to fall back into the same uncomfortable silence.

"Thanks, Steve." I decided to be cordial, at least for now. There was business that I had to get to here, after all. "Apologies for dropping by on such short notice, but your little interview caught my eye and I couldn't help but decide to make a personal appearance."

"Oh really?" The suited man asked with a slightly surprised look. "And what was it that made you want to show up?"

"Well, besides the fact that you decided to bring up my little... time in the spotlight." I hovered in the air, lounging casually whilst turning my eyes towards the girl sitting across from him. Her own face held that same look of shock, but there was also a tinge of... what seemed to be wonder in her eyes. She didn't seem afraid at the very least, so that was a plus. "Not that just mentioning my name would be enough to make me appear. I had already been watching a little while before that, and I was really surprised by the fact that I had a younger sister. At my age, I had considered the idea of having a sibling to be a lost cause."

I touched down on the ground, a small smile gracing my face as I decided to sit in the seat next to Anna. All eyes were on me as I looked directly towards the camera.

"Well that and," whilst speaking, I decided to make a show of my control. My powers flexed as I let the broadcast fuzz a little bit. The result was that the video quality took a downturn, resembling a VHS rather than the more modern appliances people had in their homes. "I wanted to take some time to 'clear the air' a little bit regarding both myself and paranormal activity at large."

I turned my head towards Anna.

"Like you said, most people have never seem the supernatural at work, even after my little display to the world." I rested my head on a hand, leaning further in the chair. "So, consider this an open Q&A session or whatever those streamer people online call it."

Another flex of my power, and a phone number appeared on screen. It didn't actually exist, but just acted as a code to bring my attention to for whoever's phone had it input into the keypad.

"In addition to whatever question the people here have to ask, like you Steve, Anna, and the members of our wonderful little audience." I held a finger up, my smirk growing wider. "I'll let a lucky few who call the number on the screen ask a couple of questions as well, just so that we make sure to cover all of our bases. I'm sure everyone has their own questions they want to ask."

"I-I can understand that," Steve sweated a little bit, putting his hand up int a soothing motion. "But we aren't really that kind of show. M-Maybe it would be better if you tried to do some sort of internet strea-"

"Aren't you usually asking your guests for stories and answers when they sit here?" I ask, only partly rhetorically. At his nod, I continued. "Then I don't see how this is much different. There'll just be more people asking questions than just you."

"Well... I suppose I don't really have a choice in this?" He didn't wait for an answer, sighing slightly. "Alright then, I guess we'll just roll with it. Bet it will look good for me to be the first to interview a ghost anyhow."

The man took a minute to compose himself, settling down for what would clearly be a long interview,

"Well then, I guess the first question should be one that I think quite a lot of our audience is asking...

"Do you have any insight on what comes After?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." I answered, crossing my legs before continuing my explanation. "I'm not really sure what it's like exactly. If there's a Heaven or Hell like in the Bible, or some other form of afterlife. But I do know that there's somewhere that we end up heading to after we're done here. Don't try to go there too soon though. Take it from me, being alive is much better than being dead."

"Even with the ghost powers?" Anna asked.

"Without a doubt."

"Man," Steve muttered, rubbing his temples with a hand. "When I woke up this morning, I would have never expected to learn that Heaven is for real..."

"Like I said, I don't really know if it's heaven or not. I haven't really tried to pass on over yet."

"Actually, I have another question that relates to the whole afterlife thing...

Is there a God?

"Well it's a little like the whole afterlife scenario," I explained. "But in this case even I don't know the real answer to that. I want to say it's certainly a possibility, but there's no guarantee that I'm right. And even if there is a God, there's no real way of knowing if they are like we imagine them to be."

"If there is a God, they're either impotent to alter the course of their universe, or unaware to the things that happen in his kingdom." Anna muttered, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. The red locks contrasting against my own black rats nest.

"What happens here is completely at the hands of those who live here." I replied, crossing my hands over my chest. "Besides, people should be responsible for their own actions, instead of using religion as a motivator for everything. The bad and the good, it's all just you, not anything about God or the Devil or anything else of the sort."

"You know, you're being pretty tame about all of this." Steve commented, which caused me to huff in response.

"Well I've had thirty whole years to think about all of that... guess I just got used to the idea?" I shrugged. "I was more distracted by, well, plotting my revenge on my killers. Didn't really give myself much time to think about the afterlife or what Gods there may or not be."

"Well now I have something to ask." Anna stated, and I nodded for her to ask.

Will you be helping other spirits less fortunate than you move on to the other side/settle their business if it's reasonably possible? with the amount of power you have, you have a lot of potential to do a lot of good, give families closure and those who linger that are suffering some long needed peace and rest.

I stopped, thinking about the question carefully. There were a lot of things that I would need to say to properly explain that one.

"I need you to understand something before I answer that." I said, leaning forwards to look my... sister in the eyes. "There are no other ghosts in the world like me. I don't know how, but I was able to retain my ability to reason even after so long as a spirit, which has never happened before. Any other ghost you could happen upon will be violent and have no capacity to differentiate friend or foe. They will do everything they can to complete their unfinished business, regardless of who they hurt to do it."

I paused for a moment, letting what I said sink in.

"I do want to help them rest if I can, but it's a bit of a difficult thing to do. You can't exactly ask them, so you're just left trying to research who they were and working out the puzzle pieces." I chuckled a bit humorlessly. "If I were to be honest with you, I'm still trying to work out all of the history that I've missed since dying. The world's changed a lot."

"So you're just lucky then?" Anna asked, raising an eyebrow. "Just some anomaly in the world that works differently than everyone else? Surely there has to be something that let you be different."

"Obviously," I huffed. "But it's not something that anyone should be looking for the answers to. If someone tried to kill themselves in the hopes of becoming a sentient ghost like me when they die, they're almost guaranteed to just become another unthinking monster like the others. It's not worth the risk."

"Well, that's all very interesting, but maybe we should all move on to a new topic." Steve tapped his table nervously until an idea seemed to come to his mind. "Wh-What about that number you gave our folks at home to call? I'm sure we have quite a few people lined up an waiting. Why don't we listen to a couple of them?"

I didn't argue, using my powers to play the call over the studio speakers.

"Okay, we have our first caller on the line now." I opened. "So, lucky little listener, what do you have to ask today?"

Can you still fu-?

Everyone flinched when a violent static noise ripped through the air, the call being cut short as everyone seemed stunned once again. This time not by anything unbelievable, but simply being flabbergasted by the audacity of the caller.

"Let's move on to our next caller, shall we?" I said, feeling my teeth getting exposed to the air as my mouth began to drip off of my face.

"Ah-he," Steven squirmed in his seat, sharing a look of disgust with Anna. "Y-Yeah, let's..."

"Good."

Chapter Text

"Alright, let's see what our next caller has to ask!" Steve announced to the crowd. After a slight moment of awkward silence, he turned to look at me. "I-Is there a caller on now?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. You're on lucky caller." He shifted in his seat slightly, looking directly into the camera. "What burning question do you have for our resident spirit today?"

"Hey, I just have one question for you." An adolescent voice started, clearly in the midst of puberty.

"How the heck did you program a game? Weren't you dead for thirty years and like, a high schooler?"

"Firstly, I was a college student when I died, not a highschooler." I corrected. "And you'd be right, if it was under normal circumstances. I have no idea how to actually program computers in the way a living person would."

"Then how exactly do you do it?" Anna piped up.

"Well, for me I can directly touch and interact with the code itself." I explained. "It's less like programming and more like... shaping clay or building a sandcastle. Sure it still requires effort, but it doesn't require any true technical skill."

"That explains... a lot about the things you can do." The redhead sitting next to me admitted. "I couldn't imagine how'd you'd be able to basically hijack the television station like that, and considering how far your reach is that must make it all the easier?"

"Correct!" I smiled, feeling better to have moved on from that... other question that had been asked before. "But to be completely clear-"

I made myself invisible for a brief moment, before returning to the room.

"-It's still not that easy. You have to have a clear understanding of the code in order to get what you want out of it. Some things just can't do certain things. For example, I can't force a ring in the Sonic games to become an algorithm. There's just required elements that are missing."

My joke was just met with silence, likely due to how I brushed past it to continue speaking. Oh well, the kiddies on the internet will probably find it funny. Maybe they'll turn me into one of those me-mes that I've been seeing.

And no, I'm not calling them the wrong thing. They're literally called me-mes in this universe...

"Alright, let's move on to the next caller, then we'll have our live studio audience ask a few of their own." I announced, before putting a waiting caller on the line. "You're live, my friend. What do you have to ask today?"

"Um, hello Miss Henderson." A feminine voice started, sounding a little unsure. "I really just have something I need to ask."

"So, can ghosts die? Like, can you double-kill a ghost? Or do you just end up scattering their spirit until it reforms?"

"The answer to that is no." I stated simply. "You can trap them, you can contain them, but you can't kill them. Ghosts are already dead, and the only way to get rid of one permanently is to help them complete their unfinished business and hope that's enough to put them to rest."

"If that's the case, then why are you still here?" Anna asked, sounding suspicious. "All of your killers are in prison now, so didn't that complete your business."

"They're still alive, aren't they?" I asked, like the question was an obvious one to ask.

Everything was uncomfortably silent all of a sudden, and I leaned forwards in my seat.

"They have been dealt justice for now, but there's a chance that if I moved on now, they'd be released on good behavior or some sort of ignorant nonsense like that." I clasped my hands together. "They're going to ride out the entirety of their sentences, and I'll be damned if I allow some pretentious shithead judge let them go because he decided that murderers are somehow safe enough to be let out into the street. A killer once is a killer a thousand times over if they can get away with it."

"...Gonna be honest, I though you were going to say you planned to kill them." The original show's host said.

"No. They deserve to live with the consequences of their actions." I muttered, yet my voice carried through the studio. "I'll rest when they die of natural causes. Until then, I'm having a good time reconnecting with friends and family, exploring this new world I've been let out into."

I leaned back into the chair, the tone seeming to lighten up somewhat.

"But yeah, like I said before, ghosts can't be 'double-killed' in any way." I tapped a hand to my chin. "If you really have an issue getting rid of a ghost, the only safe way to handle it is to avoid the thing and call an expert. And since I've essentially forced the world of the paranormal into the public eye, there are several places you can go to. My personal recommendation is the Paranormal Containment Coalition. I actually met a member of theirs, and they're pretty legit."

I pointed towards the audience.

"But enough of that, let's get back to the questions, this time I'll see if anyone in the audience has something to ask." When nobody said anything, I continued. "Well? Go on. I won't be upset with whatever questions you have. You don't even have to raise your hand!"

Another pause, until someone towards the back of the crowd piped up.

"Uh, yeah I have a question." A younger looking boy said, even as his parents seemed to try to shut him up.

"You're a Sonic clone, right? Does that mean you can go Super Needlemouse or something? What about Hyper Needlemouse, if you power up the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald? Can you even do that with Sonic 1 assets?"

"That's... actually a good question." I pointed towards the tween with a serious expression. "Yes, due to the fact that I've essentially used a Sonic game as the base of my form, I can essentially do anything he can. Super and Hyper are both something I can do, though I don't really see a reason to."

"As if you weren't already ridiculously powerful." Steve muttered, away from the microphone.

"If you think that's bad, then think about this for a second." I grinned evilly. "Each copy of the Needlemouse game has its own set of Chaos Emeralds, and I have access to all of them. From what I can tell the original set will always eclipse them, but that's thousands of sets of emeralds! Imagine if I drew on all of them."

"And as if there weren't already enough reasons for people to try to start a cult dedicated to you..." Anna drawled.

It was then that another voice piped up from the crowd.

"Hey... so... do you still count as a US citizen? I mean, you start being one when you're born on US soil, but as far as I'm aware you don't stop being one when you die?"

"As a matter of fact, I technically do!" I said with a smile. "Yeah, I have a death certificate, but that doesn't mean I've stopped being an American. In fact, I could technically run for president if I wanted to."

"You can?" Steve asked.

"There's nothing barring me from it." I pointed out. "There aren't any rules in place to prevent a dead person from running for president. Yeah, I doubt that either party would be willing to nominate me, but I'm sure that if I got enough write in ballets I could do it."

"...Even though you essentially hijacked the show, you're probably a better choice than any of the other people who'll be running in November..." Anna grumbled to me.

"Why thank you for that." I drawled, putting a hand to my chest dramatically. Then I turned my attention back to the audience. "Does anyone have anything to ask before we get back to the callers?"

"Do you still have hunger or thirst?... outside of the now-quenched thirst for revenge, that is."

I looked to the older looking lady who asked that.

"That's actually a pretty interesting little facet in this whole thing." I started explaining. "While no, I don't feel things like hunger or thirst, I can still eat and drink. There's just an interesting little caveat to it."

"And what would that be?" Anna asked.

"It has to be offered to me first." I stated. "You know those celebrations like Day of the Dead, where people leave food for their deceased relatives? That's how it works, at least for me. I can't eat or drink anything unless I'm told it's specifically for me. Otherwise, I can't even touch it. I move right through it."

"I can already see that holiday becoming more popular as we speak." Steve stated jokingly. "Now then, you said we would be going back to the phone questions now?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." I said, connecting the new phone. "You're on sir! Whacha lookin to ask?"

"So, does this make you a IRL VTuber?"

"...What kind of question is that?" The host asked out loud, completely lost. "I don't even know what a Vtuber i-... Miss Henderson?"

"...Am I?" I whispered in horror, now lost in my own little world.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"So..." Lily started as she stood over me, a sandal in her hand whilst looking down at me. "What have we learned?"

"Don't take over the global broadcast to host a Q&A session." I droned, before getting smacked in the head by the piece of footwear. "And don't create a potential incident for a sister I didn't know I had."

"Good. Glad to see that we've gotten that cleared up." The woman nodded in satisfaction, but sighed as her expression became more serious. "Sarah, you can't just keep doing these things. It's already crazy enough that you've confirmed the existence of ghosts by being a witness at your own murder trial, but you've also gotten gone and cause a whole mess for Anna. She didn't even look like she fully understood what was going on. You basically put her into shock, Sarah..."

"I-I did?" I asked.

"Of course you did!" Yuri stepped in, standing by Lily's side. "She was so out of it she basically looped back around to being normal again! If you had seen her face for more than a couple of seconds you would have been able to tell."

Shoot, did that really happen? Now I just feel like human garbage...

Hedgehog and ghost garbage too, I suppose.

"Look, Sarah." Lily started up again, crossing her arms. "There's really any reason or way for us to try to punish you. You were an adult when you... became a ghost, and you clearly have enough sense to go through things the proper way. You showed that when you turned Luther and the others over to the police instead of... whatever you would have done if you were like any other ghost."

"Probably kill them and trap their souls in a playground of torture until I could somehow find peace." I muttered.

"...Thank you for not doing that, Sarah."

"Mmm..."

There were a few moments of silence, which was taken as an opportunity to switch up the topic.

"Now, Yuri and I have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Lily stated. "We were originally planning on taking the kids out for a day in town, but a surprise came up and we're needed at work. Do you think you can fill in for us go with Thomas and Kyle?"

"Y-Yeah, of course." I agreed with a thumbs up. "S-Sorry about the mess. I guess I've just gotten careless."

"As long as you're aware of that and try to do better."

Thomas woke up feeling like there was a heavy weight on his chest. It wasn't an immense weight, but it was enough to be noticeable. It was like a big dog way laid out across his bed, right on top of the comforters.

Thing was, they didn't have a dog. Well, he didn't have a dog, and neither did the Hendersons last time he checked.

"Hmm?" He opened his eyes blearily, propping his head up to see what the weight was. "Miss Sarah? What are you doing in my room?"

"Vibing."

"Vibing?"

"Yep." She confirmed, popping the p.

"That's... I'm not even going to ask where you learned that term." He decided.

"Internet."

"I just said I wasn't asking." Thomas grunted. "Sooooo... Are you just going to lay here?"

"Lily and Yuri asked me to take you and Kyle on your little town trip today." The ghost explained, her quill covered form turning on its side to meet his gaze. "Though to be honest, I think they just want to stop me from causing problems by keeping me occupied."

"...You're not upset by that, are you?"

"Nah, you two are cool." The woman smiled a bit, hopping off of the mattress and onto the ground. "Now get up and start getting ready. I need to go wake up Kyle and then get breakfast ready."

"Wait, I thought you couldn't do food stuff?"

"Can't eat it, but I can still make it." She smirked. "Just gotta make sure that I actually use sugar and not salt."

"If you make a salty pancake I'll kill you!" Thomas yells at her, though his voice lacked any bite.

"No promises!"

"Only one emerald left to hide." Del muttered to himself as he soared high above the Earth. "Mountains, trenches, and even in the oval office. I'm managed to hide away the majority of the emeralds."

He looked down at the stone in his hand, and decided to make a drastic decision. He knew he was only slowing down Atem, his dark counterpart knowing everything he was going to do not long after he did it. He was only delaying the inevitable.

"But no matter where I put them, he'll learn where they are eventually." The spirit changed course, heading towards the small town where his creator was living. "If I can't stop him from finding the emeralds, I'll put it in a place he wouldn't dare touch."

The speeds that he reached as he zoomed across the edges of the atmosphere caused him to leave a trail in his wake, a steak of blue and white behind him as he continued on his path. All the while, he planned his next move.

"With all of the copies of the game out there, Atem might try to use them to substitute the prime emeralds with the thousands from those copies." He muttered. "I don't have the time to hide them either. Even with how much power those files give..."

He shook his head.

"No, It's not her fault that this is happening. She doesn't know of our existence yet, at least not consciously." Del started descending, his eyes narrowed as he was covered in a cone of flames. "There's not much time left. I need to get this emerald hidden as quickly as possible."

Neil deGrasse Tyson pulled his head back from the telescope's feed, starring at the phenomenon he had just witnessed.

"...What in the actual fu-"