The Mind Grows [Training/Solo] [Junko]

It spoke.

“H-H-H-Hol-l-lo-ow.” It’s voice… Well, voices, sounded like a million children and teens spoke out, the occasional adult’s voice fluttering within the sea of youth. It’s voice sounded strained, as it it was struggling to get the word out, as if it was difficult for it to speak. She understood what it was trying to say; Hollow. It was a Hollow. She had heard of the term through Junko, who had heard it from multiple conversations and the occasional show of seeing one attack people, rampaging, just to be dealt with immediately. But this was strange; this creature seemed to have some thought behind it’s actions, some semblance of care. She payed closer attention to what emotions had radiated from it’s body.

Fear. Depression. Sadness. Anger. Every negative emotion that could be conceived, this creature was releasing. But, it seemed to have a less oppressive force over it, with the more positive emotions that pumped out along with them. This seemed impossible; before her was one being. How could it be feeling this many positive and negative emotions at once? It puzzled her indefinitely. She opened her mouth to ask how it was doing this, just for the creature to suddenly rise to it’s feet and made a sniffing noise. It suddenly growled, soon hitting it’s head against the building. It whimpered and twitched and jerked, letting out a screech as more of the black gunk gushed from it’s mouth.

June went back, her eyes widening at the sudden powerful display of emotions. Fear… No… Hunger. Extreme hunger. She watched as it’s nails scraped against the wall, it’s body contorting and shaping, many, many faces of screaming people appearing on it’s body, hand-like appendages slightly protruding from it’s white flesh. It looked like a large amount of people were trapped in it’s body, screaming, hungry, in pain.

The canid-like hollow suddenly went rushing off, slamming into walls as it huffed and screamed. June ran after it, skidding through slippery alleyways as it continuously slapped into walls, twitching and screaming in pain. It was rather lumbering and slower than her, so she caught up to it after a while of giving chase. She grasped its body, clinging onto it’s white, smooth, moldable flesh. Hands slapped against her, mouths bit her, feeling much like a toothless child trying to teethe.

She closed her eyes tightly shut, simply going on with this situation as if she’s done it a million times. Like it was completely normal for her to cling to a fleshy dog monster with people in it. She grit her teeth, feeling close to tearing up from how much pain she felt coming from it. It didn’t want to be like this, it didn’t want to look like this… Tears came from her eyes as the raw emotion simply pounded on her, like a torrent of waves. She felt oh so close to passing out, to letting go. The pain was far too much for her mind to handle.

“C-calm down… It’s okay… It’s okay…” She impulsively began speaking to the Hollow, attempting to soothe it. Soon, the pain was blocked out by a sense of calm, a sleepy calm. It appeared in her mind, and appeared to spill from her, much as if a bowl had suddenly broken, allowing it’s contents to spill out. Everything slowly became black for the girl, a pitch black abyss as she lost consciousness.
“Everything will be fine…”

Her eyes suddenly flashed open. She was floating… As if in water. Her hair was flowing around her field of vision, though what stuck out to her was a white door. It was curved and warped, as if it were melted flesh, except a sickly white color. She seemed to slowly float towards it, the door opening, a light engulfing her, causing her to avert her eyes.

Then, a vast field appeared before her. And within that field, was a child. Maybe ten, or eleven, definitely a preteen or perhaps a year or two before it. It appeared on the cusp of puberty, but it appeared very gender neutral. It bore short, but slightly spiky, stark white locks. It’s skin was also quite white, much like dead flesh. It’s nails were black, and only wore what looked like a form fitting white dress that reached it’s knees. It was completely barefoot as well, it’s head tilted down to look at it’s own toes.

“Hello? Are you alright?” June called to the child, beginning to take a couple slow steps towards it. It’s eyes made contact with her’s, now being visible. They were completely black, like a void of the unknown lied behind it’s eyelids. This did not stop June from approaching, in fact it had made her walk faster, concern on her face. The moment she blinked, the child changed once more. It’s body was covered in almost every type of wound imaginable; burns, lacerations, crushing, breaks. The body seemed to be utterly destroyed, but June broke into a pace.

The child brought its hands up, waving them frantically as it tried to back away, only to fall backwards onto the grass from it’s snapped legs. Blood splattered on the blades, it beginning to scream like multiple scared children as it waved it’s arms at her.
“Stop! Go away!” The collection of voices screamed in unison, yelling reasons why she shouldn’t get near. Self deprecating reasons; it yelled slurs, bad words, names, in description towards itself, constantly referring to itself in plural. June only pushed herself into a run, a solid expression on her face as she got closer and closer.

“No.. NO… NOOOO!” It screamed, “DON’T TOUCH US! WE’LL HURT YOU!” And in that instant, June skidded on her knees as she had come close, immediately pulling the child towards her and into a hug. A gentle, welcoming embrace. Tears welled in her eyes, which were wide open, soon to shut as she pulled the child closer. She heard sniffing, crying. It was crying. It was sad.
“…W…Why..?”
“None of you are filth. None of you are monsters. None of you are any of those. You’re all people, and you all deserve to belong.” Her voice was full of pain, but empathy and care as well. To fully describe it, it was full of understanding. Understanding of this Hollow’s pain within. Why she felt so many emotions from it, became clear now.

“Th-Thank… You.” They all spoke, the area, and even the child themselves dispersing much like clouds. June’s consciousness slowly floated away from where she was, back into the familiar.

Her eyes slowly opened, blinking and noticing she was on the floor.

“Puppy! Puppy I decided something!”

She heard the voice of a little girl pipe up, slowly sitting up and looking over at where the Hollow was. It’s floppy tail wagged, in front a girl stood. Not just any girl, a Plus. She decided to keep quiet, regardless of her stance of what to do with souls, and watch, lying on the ground poured on by the rain.

“Okay puppy, listen. I’m really sad and alone… So yeah. I really wanna come with you!” The girl pronounced, running up to the Hollow and hugging it’s leg. It seemed to wince, but accepted the hug. The girl seemed to fade into the Hollow’s body.
“Welcome, Suzie.” The collective spoke, though seemed shocked, it’s body stiffening.
“We… We… Speak.” It turned around to look at her, lying still on the ground, “We speak! We sp- Augh!” When it went to move it’s front most leg, it appeared to flinch. June rubbed an eye, looking concerned at the Hollow, standing up and walking to where she saw the flesh twitch the most.

A rather large gash was in it’s side, bleeding a rather viscous black liquid against it’s vinyl-like flesh. She quickly reached a hand to touch the side of it. She felt the creature’s pain, it shivering as she made contact.
“I-It’s okay… I can figure out someth-“ A sight to behold, had caught her sentence, bringing it to a full stop. The flesh appeared to mold together with her touch, though very slowly, steam coming from the forming material. She moved her hand away, the process immediately stopping, the formed flesh turning into an ash-like consistency and fell from the wound. She placed her hand back near the wound, bringing more focus into it.

“Hold still, let me try something.” She placed her other hand near it as well, shutting her eyes. Quite a long time later, roughly thirty minutes having passed, the wound sealed, the very last bit of skin knitting together on the cellular level. She panted, falling onto her side, letting out an uncomfortable groan. It took a lot out of her to make this happen, to allow the wound to heal. She could barely move at this point, the Hollow looking towards her, a frantic nature rising in it’s emotions.

“You alright?!” The collection asked, rather fearfully.
“I’m fine… Just… Needa rest…” She instantly lapsed into unconsciousness, her deep breathing showing she had immediately fell into a deep sleep. The Hollow soon stood up, looking at her, before bounding off towards who knows where.