The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.

“A flower for the departed.
But what is a flower that marks a grave,
especially when it is a seed that is buried?
It matters little under the Dreaded One’s heel.”

···

♪ ~ [The First Layer ~ Kevin Penkin ~ MADE IN ABYSS Original Soundtrack]

Great glass windows and ornate wall carvings
Polished floors of marble black and walls in white
Great halls and intricate ballrooms
Dancing self-playing instruments and cruel jesters
Great gear works hidden beyond wall and floor
A labyrinth buried under snow and ice

          ~I’d love nothing more than to try and talk Sonic into dancing in the various ballrooms now that we actually are inside the wall castle, but we’re actually enjoying a ghost hunt right now. Well, the giant gray cat isn’t exactly a ghost. I don’t think so at least, but they are the one who brought us into this Zone and Sonic and I would like to know why.

          ~Inside the castle is very different from outside though. While outside Sonic and I just had to watch out for jester golems throwing snowballs, in here they’re armed with knives, torches and bombs. Who’s building them anyway? Or are they a memory of the Rings too. Though I’m starting to think there is a lot more to the golems and the Light Blooms than it looks like. Right now though, it’s the inner working of the castle and the golems, which even come as giant faces on the wall that spit arrows and paintings that float and spin about, that have my attention. It’s like a giant haunted house!

          ~As much as I would like to focus though, it’s kind of hard. As Sonic and I get deeper and deeper into the castle the effects of Rings on it start to become more obvious. Gears and platforms everywhere, hallways, balconies, and stairs that make no sense, whole gaps that Sonic has to carry me across as only his Light Speed Dash can make use of the bridge of Rings.~

         “That’s another ability I need to learn Sonic,” Rosy pouted a moment as Sonic came out of his Light Speed Dash at a far slower speed, carried forward only by his feet. “But you don’t plan on teaching me, do you?”

         “Maybe some other day, if I feel like it,” Sonic teased Rosy and offered her a smirk. Her cheeks puffed up in response and Sonic tossed her into the air in front of him where several jesters awaited them. “For now, let’s focus on cleaning up here.”

         It only took the two hedgehogs a moment before the jesters were splintered and Light Blooms filled the hall they had been running through. They did not resume running though as Rosy noticed that there was an open pair of great doors.

“Hey, Sonic! Check this out!”

         Peeking into the dark room, Rosy was caught off guard as Sonic pushed the doors open and she fell right in, unintentionally collecting a Ring in the process. “What was that for!”

         “No reason to be polite Amy,” Sonic shrugged. “There isn’t anyone here anyway.”

         “There’s the big gray cat,” Rosy countered before laughing with a sheepish thoughtfulness. “Though they’d probably run if we knocked.”

         “Exactly,” Sonic acknowledged dryly as he looked around the room

         Though ornate like the rest of the wall castle, the room was unlit, by intentional means at least. Rings spun on their axes all over, forming intricate and ornate patterns in the room all around a giant crystal rose which cast the room in a lilac hued light.

         “Pretty~!” Rosy remarked as she jumped to her feet and moved to investigate it. A task that required she walk through and gather every Ring in her way. “What do you suppose it’s for Sonic?”

         “The Dirt Dweller, couldn’t possibly answer that question, my Medium.”

         “Yolk!”

♪ ~ [Water Sanctum ~ Kevin Penkin ~ MADE IN ABYSS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 2]

The golden-haired god garbed in white
The crystal rose casting lilac hued light
A broken pattern of Rings
Saber blades fitted to steam and clockwork motors
Iridescent wings making the swords fly
One serving as footing, keeping divinity separate from earth

         “Did I really…?” Rosy asked as she looked around desperately and saw no signs of Sonic. “I didn’t realize I had collected so many Rings.

         “Ooh~! You creep! I should be able to resist you thanks to my Ring Bond with Sonic! But you still show up like this whenever I collect too many! How do you do that!”

         Rosy’s frustration was met with laughter that was as pleasant as ever to hear. As always, she loathed the sound however and puffed up her cheeks defiantly at the human form being before her.

         “It is expected of mediums to glean the nature of the divine, but how callous and bold to ask a god to their face,” Benedict Yoluku laughed as the sword he stood on took him up and out of Rosy’s reach. The others in the room flew into attack positions and Rosy looked around with concern and determination as Yoluku playfully threatened her. “I do believe you need punished for such insolence. And I am quite bored you know. How you found a Zone beyond my gaze, I wonder which fool has forgotten their place.”

         “I don’t think anyone wants you looking at them anyway!” Rosy snapped at Yoluku while she yelled at herself.

          ~You dummy Rosy! He isn’t going to tell you what you want to know, but at least keep him talking until Sonic realizes that something is wrong!~

         “They should be so honored to have a god looking down upon them and the dirt they dwell in. But enough talk. I desire to be entertained. To have some fun. Maybe even my Medium, win you as my prize. How defeated the Dirt Dweller would be knowing you lost here, and your body became as my puppet.

         “But you still want to have so much fun yourself, don’t you my Medium?” Yoluku asked, donning a sinister smile that was eerily beautiful. “So, entertain me as you always do, my Medium!”

         The first of the sabers came for Rosy and began to spin like a buzzsaw as it cut through the air. Performing a Spin Attack Rosy deflected the spinning blade and bounced backwards through a grouping of Rings. As she gathered them, she could feel her body growing sluggish.

         “That’s not fair,” she whined as she bolted to the side as best she could to avoid another attack.

         “It is amusing though! So very amusing!”

         “You creep! It’s wrong to have fun being mean like this!”

         “Only to a dirt dweller.”

         ~I’ve got to do something. As long as I hold onto at least one Ring I should be able to hold out until Sonic notices, but I can’t risk gathering more. I’m trying to resist him, but I think there are too many inside of me right now and he’s turning me into a puppet with Rings as my strings. But I can’t risk dropping them either. If those swords were to get me… Sonic…

         ~No! Snap out of it Rosy! You have to do this and get good enough so Sonic doesn’t have to rescue you. So what if that creep is standing up there out of reach.

          ~?!

          ~That’s it!~

         Though only possessing instants at best to look up at Yoluku, Rosy could clearly see him standing on the back of the winged saber. The clockwork and steam motors were ornate looking and assured no hands could ever wield the sabers, but it was also delicate looking. With a plan in place Rosy sprang into action.

         As the next saber came spinning at her, she performed a Spin Attack and deflected it. Unlike the last time she uncurled before reaching the ground and saw the blade had stopped spinning. Another one was already spinning up from under her however, so she curled back up to deflect it, and then uncurled to land on it above the Rings.

         “Absolutely delightful,” Yoluku laughed in his pleasing voice as Rosy after cutely checking her balance looked up defiantly at him. “This is what makes you so special. A Medium defying your god! I could never have dreamed of being so amused when I was forced to slumber. You are too perfect, my Medium.”

          ~Yuck! Yuck! Gross! What a total creep! I don’t want to keep listening to him talk! It’s disgusting!

          ~Instead, I’m going to focus on fighting off this creep! I can now! I know how to keep myself safe until Sonic figures it out. And I can break the motors powering the wings on the swords too! Though doing so is turning the whole room into a spike pit.

          ~How many of these swords were there? Do more keep coming from somewhere? Is that creep making them? Come on Rosy, just focus. Just long enough for Sonic to make me drop my Rings. Then I’ll be free. Then I’ll go outside and look at the blue sky where there isn’t any sign of Yolk. And maybe tease Sonic for being too slow.~

         “Why? How?”

         Rosy fell to her knees on the marble floor of one of the wall castle’s many ballrooms sometime later and looked out at the sky through the window. Sonic stepped up beside her and clenched his fists as he too looked up at the sky. The sky which was now home to the small planet Yoluku, which eclipsed the sun as it always did. Rosy was certain it was smiling at her and laughing.