Chapter 3: Damn Puzzles!
Taking their first steps out into the next room, the group jumped as the phone in Kari's hand instantly started to ring once more.
Damian whipped his head around in shock. "Damn! Does this lady have hidden cameras or something?" He shouted in shock.
Kari rolled her eyes . . . . yet still decided to press her back against one of the far walls as she hesitantly brought the phone to her ear, glancing warily at her surroundings as she pressed the speaker button, the others slowly doing the same as they began to search for the hidden devices.
"Hello?"
"Hello. This is Toriel."
Harper rolled her eyes. "And here I thought it might be George Clooney." She muttered, Zephyr elbowing her in the side as he threw her a look.
"You have not left the room have you?"
Kari glanced at the others. "Uhh . . . nooooo! Of course not." She stated, her voice much higher in pitch that usual.
Toriel, however, seemed blissfully unaware of the fact as she continued. "Oh good. You see, there are some tricky puzzles up ahead that I have yet to explain. I'd hate for you all to injure yourselves."
"Pshh! Naw, we're totally fine." Kari said with a smile, only to freeze as Damian tapped her side and motioned to the Froggit in the corner of the room, everyone instantly clamming up. The girl stared wide-eyed at the monster before quickly bringing the phone up to her lips. "Uh, Okay! Gotta go. Bye!" She said quickly before slamming her thumb down on the End Call button.
Everyone continued to stare at the creature before Oliver let out a small sigh of annoyance, fearlessly walking up to the monster, ignoring his family's sputters of protest.
"Hello!" He waved cheerfully.
Violet let out a sigh. "Doesn't he remember? Those things can't understand him or even speak for that matter." She stated.
*Ribbit, ribbit* "Excuse me humans."
Oliver turned back to the girl with a smug smile while Violet merely stared dumbfounded, her jaw hanging open as the others warily walked forward. "I have some advice for you about battling monsters." The creature said in a small raspy voice.
"If you act a certain way or fight until you have almost defeated a creature, then they may not wish to fight you anymore." It explained. "If a monster doesn't want to fight you, please show a little mercy, humans." He said gently before hopping out of the room, leaving the family alone in the room once more.
The group stared off where the creature had disappeared before Oliver smiled.
"I like those frogs."
The others sighed and rolled their eyes as they turned to get a better look at the room around them.
Just as before, all the walls were a deep calming shade of purple, from the cracks in the ceiling down to the tiled floors. Moss and thickly-leaved vines grew up the violet walls, stretching up towards the nonexistent sunlight, yet despite the distinct lack of light, the caverns were not dim. In fact, they seemed alive. Bright and vibrant, well . . . at least for a cave.
As Kari continued to run her hands over the deep ancient grooves and markings in the walls, she noticed Frisk over by the side, standing next to a pile of leaves. Once again, she was staring at something nonexistent seemingly hovering over the pile.
"Hey, Frisk. You good, kid?"
The girl turned to look at Kari, the others taking slight notice as well. "Umm . . . you still don't see this, do you?" The young girl asked.
The teens glanced at each other before shrugging their shoulders. "Sorry, kid. Still haven't reached that level of craziness yet." DJ murmured.
Frisk let out a small sigh before shrugging her shoulders, spreading her arms out wide before falling backwards in the pile, sweeping her arms and legs in the motion of making a snow-angel . . . leaf-angel?
Whatever.
DJ turned away from his sister making a fool of herself as he caught sight of a small doorway hidden against the back wall of the room. Latching onto Kari's wrist once more, he ignored the girl's sigh of annoyance as she was dragged against her will once more to aid in the boy's senseless adventures.
Entering through the doorway, they noticed it led into a small room around the size of a large walk-in closet. In the center of the room stood a large pedestal, a bowl of assorted candies sitting on top. "Dude, score." DJ smirked, walking over.
Next to the bowl sat a small sign.
Please take one.
Kari and Damian glanced at each other before turning back to the bowl. Their stomachs were beginning to hurt considering it had been a couple hours since their last decent meal (Yeah right. Like you can call school lunch decent). Yet still . . . someone had been kind enough to leave a bowl of candy out for any passer-byers, and their wishes were for people to take one piece. So . . . the answer was pretty obvious.
Damian unzipped his backpack as Kari dumped the entire bowl of candy into the bag.
Fuck it.
Quickly hustling out of the room, they met up with the others, who were getting ready to move on.
"Where were you two?" Zephyr asked.
Damian shrugged. "Breaking the rules."
"Of course."
Following the lightened path on the floor, the family walked through the next doorway and into the new room.
"Shit."
Damian sighed and slapped his hands against his legs. "Why can't things ever be easy?" He muttered.
In front of the group stood three separate paths, each leading down different doorways, none obvious as to which was the correct way to go. Harper stared up at the crossroads, glancing down each darkly-lit path before twisting around on her heel, placing her fists on her hips as she face the others once more, a confident smirk on her face. "Welp! Who wants to do a classic Scooby-Doo Split Up?" She asked.
Kari rolled her eyes. "Jinkies! I don't think so" She deadpanned, folding her arms across her chest. "We should just go back and wait in the room like Toriel said." She stated.
DJ stared down the center hallway, narrowing his eyes as he tried to peer through the dark shadows that lingered along the walls. Realizing he wouldn't make much success, he walked behind Kari and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Aw, come on, Kar. It'll be fun." He coaxed.
The girl didn't budge. "Surprisingly, my definition of fun doesn't equal wandering around mysterious crumbling caves filled with dangerous ravenous monsters."
Violet let out a small sigh, adjusting her glasses once more. "As much as I hate to admit it, I think DJ and Harper might have a point."
"We do?"
"They do?"
Violet simply nodded her head. "Judging by how far the Ruins have led us so far, it's only safe to assume this cave is much bigger than we first suspected. It could be a few miles long, for all we know. And considering the fact it could take a few hours just simply traveling down one corridor, it might be easier to just split up and check all three out."
Violet folded her arms behind her back and began to pace, something she always did whenever lecturing, a fact she was blissfully unaware of. "Granted we might run into a few monsters, they shouldn't be much of a threat, at least judging by the ones we've seen so far." She explained.
Zephyr furrowed his brow in thought. "I don't know . . ."
Oliver shrugged. "If anything goes wrong, you guys can always just call each other. Obviously this place gets good cell reception." He nodded towards the old phone in Kari's hand.
Zephyr stayed silent for a moment, pondering his sister's words as he glanced back up at the three corridors. What she said made sense. It would take forever to navigate each and every tunnel, and that was assuming these corridors didn't branch off into even more tunnels farther in. Still, he couldn't help that nagging sense of fear in the pit of his stomach. He never liked leaving the others in strange places for very long, especially when said place is filled with monsters. But, he knew they were right.
He sighed. "Fine. Let's split up."
"Whoo!" DJ said, pumping his fist in the air before turning back towards the tunnel, dragging a dumbfounded Kari behind him. "Let's go!" He shouted, only for Zephyr to latch onto the boy's shoulder. "Slow your roll, you two. You think I'm just gonna let you idiots go off by yourself?" He asked, turning a stern glare at the two teens.
Kari snorted. "Fine, whatever. But who's gonna watch the twins?" She asked.
Zephyr turned to look back at the other four before walking forward. He placed his hands underneath Oliver's arms, hoisting the boy into the air. "Violet watches Oliver." He dropped the boy into his sister's oblivious arms, the girl letting out a small grunt as she unceremoniously caught the kid.
Lifting Frisk into the air, Zephyr dropped her into Harper's arms. "Harper watches Frisk." This time, the girl didn't even bothering catching the kid. She just continued to pick at her nails as Frisk dropped to the floor with a small oof.
. . . . was I supposed to catch her?
Kari motioned to the curly-headed girl while giving Zephyr a seriously? look. The boy shrugged his shoulders before latching onto both Kari and Damian's wrists as he began to march down the middle hallway, throwing over his shoulder as he disappeared into the darkness,
"NOBODY DIE!"
The four youngest blinked in silence before turning to look at each other. Shrugging her shoulders, Harper reached down and extended her hand out for her sister to take. Frisk felt a small smile form on her face as she placed her hand into her sister's as the two began to walk down the far left hall. "Be careful, you two!" Harper called out, Oliver and Violet giving small waves as they watched their siblings disappear.
Violet let out a sigh as she turned down to Oliver. "Well, what do ya' say? Wanna go exploring?" She asked with a smile.
"Yeah!"
"GREAT!" Instantly, the girl whipped out a notebook from who-knows-where and flipped it open. "Cause there's so much I want to start documenting! Oh, do you think we might be able to get some samples from some of the monsters down here?" She squealed in delight, oblivious to her brother trying to suppress his sigh as he turned and began to walk down the hall.
Unsurprisingly, the walls of the next room were as purple as the last. More vines of moss crawled up the walls around the room, leading to the door at the far end. But blocking said exit was a large, tall row of spikes gleaming in the light of the room. Oliver and Violet shared a look before walking forward.
As his sister began to examine more of the room, Oliver wandered over to the sign on the back of the far wall. reaching up onto his tippy-toes, the boy was just barely able to make out what it said.
"Hey, Violet!"
THe girl turned towards her brother's call, noticing him craning to see one of the signs plastered to the wall. Walking over, she watched him push off the wall and face her, pointing to the middle of the room. "Three out of the four gray rocks recommend you push them."
She followed his finger and noticed a large grey rock laying next to what appeared to be a platform of some kind. Turning a small glance towards her brother, she stared back down at the rock, kneeling down next to the platform.
Raising a hand, she pressed it down onto the platform, putting a bit of pressure underneath her hand. Immediately, the sound of whirring, clicks and pops sounded as the spikes quickly retracted back into the floor.
Lifting her hand off the platform, the spikes reappeared just as quickly.
Then back down.
Then back up.
Then back down.
Then back up.
Violet hummed in thought before turning over to look at the rock, sharing a small smile with her brother as the two pushed the rock together onto the platform. Once again, the spikes fell back down into the floor, leaving them a straight path for the door.
Rising back to her feet, Violet held out her hand for a high-five, the small boy having to jump to connect his palm with her, a large grin plastered onto his face, nevertheless.
Reaching behind her, the girl began to jot down a few notes, even including a few sketches here and there of the platform, rock and of possible mechanics and gadgets underneath their very feet that could power said puzzles.
She threw the boy a small grin as she snapped the book shut, pushing the pencil behind her ear. "Come on, Oli. Let's see what other puzzles we can solve around here."
"Do you think people are starting to wonder where we are?"
Harper glanced down at Frisk, who was staring up at her expectantly, waiting for her to answer.
The pair had been wandering around from room to room for quite some time now with little interaction with monsters, puzzles or anything of interest. All in all, it was quite boring. So, the two had merely walked in silence for most of the time, listening to the distant croaks of Froggits, the chirps of other monsters and the echoing drips of water leaking through small cracks in the walls.
To be honest, Harper enjoyed the silence over the alternative. Don't get her wrong, she loved her sister just as much as she loved any other member of her family. It was just. . . the two never had anything to talk about. They had nothing in common. Oh sure, the same could be said for any other member of her family, but it was their differences that made their interactions all the more meaningful.
Kari was fair and dependable. Sure the girl had a mild temper, but who doesn't. Whenever Harper needed to get away from it all, get some reassurance, or heck, just talk to a girl, Kari was always her best bet.
Zephyr wasn't too far off from his sister. He was calm and responsible, and he was the closest thing Harper had to a real guardian. The boy was always ready with comforting words and a warm hug. But the thing that astounded Harper the most was how patient and calm the boy could be, especially around them. After all, they were not the easiest kids to handle. Yet somehow, the boy managed to do it without popping pills day in and day out.
Now Damian was almost the exact opposite of his brother. He was prickly and a major hothead. Nobody clashed more than her and DJ, except for maybe Kari, which the boy seemed to have a knack for rubbing the wrong way. Honesty, Harper was surprised Kari hadn't murdered the boy yet. Still, despite their arguments, Harper couldn't think of bickering with anyone else. After all, nobody could make her laugh like DJ.
But if you want to talk about opposites, then Violet and her took the cake, the whipped cream, and the cherry on top. While Harper was all for feeling good on the inside AND the outside, Violet couldn't care less about her looks. After all, she'd been faring the same dorky glasses for three years straight. That added to the fact the girl always had her nose in a dusty old book, the two couldn't be more far apart. And still, despite their clashing attitude, Harper loved it when her sister went on her little rants and lectures. It was one of the only times she'd seen her sister truly happy.
Though, if you wanted to talk about happy, then Oliver was the star attraction. Honestly, Harper couldn't remember a time where the boy wasn't smiling for more than ten minutes. He always had something to smile about, even when he really didn't. No matter where they were, what was happening or what day it was, Oliver always had a smile for her. And that was enough for her to absolutely adore the boy.
Then there was Frisk.
Honestly, the most she knew about the girl was that she barely left her brother's side, she wasn't opposed to flirting to get what she wanted, and she was pretty decent with a sketchbook. To her, Frisk was a mystery. And she didn't like mysteries.
Though despite that, despite their awkwardness, despite their reluctance to be near each other, Frisk never once got mad at her. She never snapped at her. Never yelled at her. Never cried at her. Never complained to her. She'd never been anything less than a beautiful sister.
And for that, Harper was ashamed.
Ashamed she'd never taken the time to get to know her little sister as she had with her other siblings. Ashamed she knew so little about the girl. Ashamed it had taken falling down a damn hole to figure out that the problem was not Frisk, but her.
No.
Not anymore.
She was not about to let their falling go to waist. Quickly making a promise to herself, she vowed to get to know the real Frisk by the end of their journey, if it was the last thing she did!
She glanced down at the girl, cocking a brow in confusion as she noticed Frisk was staring at her with an expectant face. Wait. Hadn't the girl just asked her a question? . . . . . . . . . . Whoops!
"Umm . . ." She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Sorry. What was that?"
Frisk cocked her head at her sister's nervousness. Since when did Harper get nervous? Especially around her?
"Umm . . . I asked if you think anyone's looking for us yet." She repeated.
Harper stared down at her sister's perfectly round face and small strands of chocolate hair hanging down in front of her eyes. After a moment, the girl gave a warm smile and reached down, lifting the girl off the ground with one fell swoop, Frisk letting out a small yelp of shock as she felt her feet swing off the ground.
Suddenly, the girl felt herself get hoisted around before landing on Harper's back, the girl placing her arms around the bottom half of Frisk's legs as the young girl wrapped her arms around her sister's neck. "You know what? I bet they have the whole SWAT team looking for us." Harper chuckled, continuing to walk forward as she gave Frisk a piggy-back ride, the girl giving a grin of her own. "Really?"
"Oh yeah, I bet they got the cops, the firefighters, the Marines, the Army, everyone!" She bellowed, Frisk giggling behind her. "You really think so?"
"You bet your bottom I do!" The girl smirked. "Now come on. Let's see if we can beat the others!" She said with a grin.
"Yeah!" Frisk chirped, wrapping her arms around the girl tighter.
"Alright, here we g-AHHH!"
The pair screamed as they literally broke through the floor. After a short fall, they landed on a thick bed of red leaves, cushioning their impact. The girls blinked in shock before turning to face each other.
After a moment of silence, they both broke out into a fit of laughter, falling backwards into the pile of leaves once more as they gathered up armfuls and threw them up into the air, throwing bundles of the colorful leaves at each other with large grins.
"Hope the others are careful where they step." Harper chuckled, hurling another fistful of leaves.
"AHHH!"
Kari and Zephyr could only look on with shocked faces as they watched the floor swallow Damian up, the boy's scream drifting up from the floor as he disappeared beneath it.
Sharing wide-eyed looks with each other, the pair warily crept closer to the hole where the teen had fallen through, Kari craning her neck forward as she tried to see through the darkness below. "Damian?!"
. . . . .
. . . . .
". . . Are you dead?"
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
" . . . . Sadly, that is a negatory."
"Oh, good. Then get your ass back up here. We don't have time for your goofing off."
A loud stream of stomps and mumbled curses could be heard through the walls as the boy suddenly slid head-first out of a small slit in the wall, crash-landing on the floor in a rather awkward position. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is me injuring myself taking up too much of your time?"
Zephyr and Kari shared another look before shrugging their shoulders.
"Kind of."
"Yeah, actually."
Damian let out a growl of frustration as he rose to his feet and brushed himself off, flicking his siblings the bird as he walked over towards the large floor-plan once more, surveying the crackling ground. Off to the side, he noticed the hole where he'd fallen through the first time. "Alright . . . ." He reached his foot out to hover over the tile next to the one he'd used before. " . . .how 'bout this one?"
Gingerly, he placed the toe of his sneaker onto the tile, shutting his eyes tightly as they made contact. After a moment, he opened his eyes and sounded an 'ah-hah!' of victory as he stepped onto the tile.
CRACK!
"AHHHH!"
THUD!
"SON OF A BITCH!"
Kari and Zephyr let out sighs as they walked over to one of the nearby walls and took seats on the floor, rolling their eyes as Damian slid out of the wall once more, raising a hand into the air as he pointed a finger up in determination. "We're goin' again!"
Zephyr face-palmed as the teen fell through the floor for a third time. And a fourth. And a fifth. Eventually, his forehead began to hurt, so he instead folded his arms underneath his head and rested his back against the wall, the sounds of DJ's frustrated yells and profanities surprisingly relaxing.
"Alright! This time for SURE!"
Damian felt his chest heaving painfully as he slid down onto the floor through the wall slot once more. Instead of rising to his feet, he merely laid there, face down as he sobbed into the floor. "I hate this place!" He screamed, although since his voice was muffled by the ground, it sounded more like "I cake tits mace"
Finally, after a relaxing moment of literally wallowing in self-pity and tears, the teen forced himself to his feet once more, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, I got this." He mumbled to himself, opening his eyes once more.
"DUDE! Hurry up and get over here!" Kari shouted from the other doorway, Zephyr standing behind her, his arms crossed in annoyance.
Damian blinked in shock, his mouth hanging open as he stuttered and sputtered like an idiot. "I . . . B-but I . . . when . . . how did you DO THAT?!"
Zephyr rolled his eyes. "It was pretty easy. After you fell through every single hole except for the ones on this path, we kind of figured it out ourselves." He stated, motioning down to the floor. And he was right. Literally every single hole had been caved in except for a certain few creating a zig-zag pattern to the other door across the room.
Damian stared down at the multitude of holes now present in the floor. "I . . . and y-you . . . . w-why . . . ." He sucked in a breath through his nose. "You know what? WHATEVER! THIS STILL COUNTS AS A VICTORY FOR ME!" He screamed, stomping through the path angrily, only to stumble slightly and trip into one of the nearby holes.
"AHHH!"
THUD!
"SON OF A FUCKING FUCK!"
Kari smirked as she placed her hands on her knees and leaned over one of the holes. "So how's that victory feel, D?"
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
"Really wish you could see which finger I'm holding up right now, Kar."
Oliver grunted as he pushed all of his weight against the large gray stone, the rock skidding harshly against the purple tiles underneath his feet. His sneakers slid across the floor as he continued to forcefully shove the stone until it eventually made contact with the shining gray panel on the floor, a soft click reaching his ears.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he took a deep breath and wiped the small pebbles and dust off of his palms. Next to him, Violet strained to push the middle rock, leaving the last one unattended.
He raised his head to stare at the gleaming silver spikes that blocked their path once again. before moving over to the rock.
Placing his hands onto the rough surface once more, the child grunted as he gave a hard shove.
"Whoa there, partner! Who said you could push me around?"
"Ahh!" Oliver leapt backwards in shock, staring down at the rock that had seemingly snarked at him.
"Ahh! What are ya' screaming for?"
The boy gave the rock a look of disbelief before whipping his head towards Violet, who shared his look of shock. Suddenly, the girl clutched her head and turned away, crouching down to the floor. "This place is making me question everything!" She moaned as she began to rock back and forth, seemingly on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Great.
Oliver sighed in exasperation, but decided to let his sister work out her own mental problems. "Umm . . . hello, Mr. Rock?" He stated, unsure of how to greet the boulder. Though in his defense, he'd never had to treat a rock civilly before.
The boulder let out a hum. "I'm doin' all right, son. How 'bout you?"
"Dang, this rock's more polite than actual people."
"What was that?"
"Nothing!" Oliver quickly stated. Casting a small glance over at the spikes up ahead, the boy shuffled his foot against the ground. 'Umm . . . . excuse me, Mr. Rock. Do you think you could maybe, if it's not too much trouble that it, do you think you could move over a bit?"
If it had a head, Oliver was sure it would be cocking it right now. "Hmm . . . you want me to move?"
"Yes, sir. If you can."
Oliver imagined a nod. "Okay, just for you, pumpkin."
The boy smiled, only to pause as he noticed the rock had only moved a few inches forward. "Umm . . . . do you think maybe you could do that again?"
"Hmm? You want me to move again? Alright, how's this?"
He moved two inches to the left.
Oliver sighed.
This is gonna take awhile.
"No, a little more to the right. No, your other right. Now back a little more. No! No, that's too much! Now just a teeny bit to the left. NO! YOUR LEFT! There! Right there! STOP!"
Oliver sucked in a deep breath, gently releasing it through his nose as he tried to stay positive. After a painstaking ten minutes of fussing with the fuc - - fudging rock, he'd finally gotten the hint and landed on the platform, the spikes finally shooting into the floor.
Even Violet was getting annoyed.
But Oliver refused to get upset. REFUSED! Instead, the boy just put on another smile as he turned to the rock. "Thank you, sir." He said kindly before grabbing Violet's hand, the pair making their way over to the door.
Suddenly, the spikes shot back up, nearly slicing off a portion of Oliver's hair.
The two kids whipped back around. "DUDE!" Violet snapped.
Oliver imagined the rock's stupi - - confused face. "Oh, you wanted me to stay on there?"
"YEESSSS!"
"Kids, you're giving me a real workout."
The spikes slid back down into the floor.
Oliver sucked in another breath. "Thank you." He hissed through clenched teeth, his smile looking more like a deranged grin now.
Exiting the room, the boy let out a moan and covered his face with his hands. "Uggg . . . . why do people make it so hard to be nice? Even rocks do it! ROCKS!" Violet said nothing, merely gave the boy a sympathetic pat on the head.
"Alright, I'll be honest with you, I'm not a fan of that thing's wiggling." Harper muttered as the two girls stared down at the jiggling green blob that could easily be mistaken for jello . . . . which it had been. Safe to say, Harper was thoroughly disappointed when she'd discovered the truth.
"Aww . . . I don't know. I think it's kind of cute." Frisk said, staring down at the mass, hands on her knees.
"Of course you do."
Suddenly, the blob gave an especially vigorous wiggle, Frisk letting out a giggle as she placed her hands onto her hips and began to wiggle as well, her hair flopping back and forth into her face as she did.
Harper stared at her sister with an incredulous look. "What the heck are you doing?"
"I'm giving it a sexy wiggle!"
" . . . . A what now?"
Frisk let out another giggle. "Come on, try it."
Harper stared down at the jiggling jello impostor before letting out an exaggerated sigh of irritation. Reluctantly placing her hands onto her hips, she began to wiggle in a fashion not unlike her sister.
"So this is my life now? Awesome."
After a few more moments of their very meaningful conversation translated through a series of sexy wiggles, the blob finally seemed to have enough, slowly backing out of the room.
"Bye, Moldsmall!" Frisk called, reaching up onto her toes as she waved to the blob.
"What'd you call it?"
"I named him Moldsmal." Frisk explained as the pair entered the next room.
"Of course you did." Harper muttered, scruffing up her sister's already messy hair before raising a brow at the hall they were entering. The room was empty, save for a small table off to the side and an even smaller mouse hole cracked into the wall. On the table sat a peculiarly-colored block of cheese.
Walking over, Harper leaned down and poked at the food, letting out a moan of disgust upon noticing it was stuck to the table. "Ugg! That's just gross. How long do ya' think this thing's been down here?"
. . . .
"Frisk?"
Turning her head, she noticed her sister reaching her hand out into open air, something she seemed to be doing a lot of nowadays. It was as if she could see something they couldn't. Hmm . . . . .
Well whatever! It probably wasn't important.
Gently grabbing the girl's hand, Harper began to lead her out of the hall, Frisk letting a smile form on her face. "I bet that mouse'll get that cheese off the table one day."
"Yeah, I'm sure there's a spare chainsaw lying around here somewhere."
Kari couldn't suppress another giggle as she picked out another leaf from the mangled mess that was now Damian's hair. The boy let out another huff as he folded his arms across his chest. "It's not funny, Kar."
"I dunno. It's kind of funny." Zephyr smirked as the trio continued to walk through the halls.
DJ let out a growl. "Yeah, well you wouldn't think it was so funny if you were the one getting beat up left and right." The boy snapped, eye twitching angrily. After their hellish experience in the maze room, the trio had continued on their way, only to encounter monster after monster.
Most of the fights were uneventful, if you could even call them fights. Though Damian did seem to get the brunt of them. He had gotten shot with Loox's eye beams, Froggit's flies shot at his face, drenched with Whimsun's tears, slimmed by a Moldsmal and he was pretty sure some of Migosp's bugs were still crawling underneath his shirt.
"Look, let's just get to the end of these Ruins or whatever so we can get out of here." DJ muttered, letting out a rough hack, eyes widening as he coughed out a fly, the bug buzzing out of sight.
Kari and Zephyr's cheeks puffed as they tried to stifle their laughs, Damian shooting them a death glare as he marched down the hall.
Entering the next room, the trio immediately froze upon seeing the new creature laying down in the middle of the path, effectively blocking them from continuing. Damian stared wide-eyed at the figure before slowly leaning over towards the others.
"You see the ghost too, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah."
He gave a nod. "Excellent."
And it was true. There was a literal ghost sleeping in a pile of leaves. Well . . . pretending to sleep.
Kari let out a sigh of annoyance. "So is everything we were told doesn't exist just gonna show up today?! Alright, bring on the werewolves and vampires!"
Zephyr rolled his eyes as the trio slowly began to approach the figure.
"Zzzzzzzzz"
"Zzzzzzzzz"
"Zzzzzzzzz
"Are they gone yet?"
"Zzzzzzzzz"
Quickly sharing a look with the others, Zephyr crouched down. "Umm . . . nope. Still here."
"Zzzzzzzzz"
Damian let out a sigh before walking over to one of the piles, grabbing a stick before walking back over to the ghost. "Hey, buddy. Could you maybe move it, please?" He grumbled, poking the stick at the ghost . . . . through the ghost?
The entity reluctantly opened his eyes and floated up into the air, staring down at the trio as they quickly huddled together, Kari and Zephyr throwing a glare at their compadre, who gave a nervous chuckle.
Kari opened her mouth and sucked in a breath, only to pause as she immediately noticed the ghost was already welling up with tears. She blinked before turning to DJ. "I haven't even said anything yet!" She said with an exasperated sigh.
Damian, however didn't share her annoyance. Instead the boy resorted to covering his head with his arms and ducking behind the girl. "Oh no! Not another Whimsun! No more tears! I just got dry!"
Only, the tears that shot towards them didn't soak them as they dripped onto their shoulders, they burned, like HELL.
Three cries of pain shot out of the teens as they felt their skin sizzle as the tears burned through their clothes and ate away at skin and muscle. Stumbling backwards, Zephyr instantly took to the defensive, pulling out his knife as he stood in front of his siblings, who were still trying to blink the spots out of their eyes.
Glancing down, Zephyr took slight notice of the glowing cyan heart floating just above his chest, but decided to ignore it as he felt himself go weightless as he took flight, similar to when they'd fought Flowey. Although, unlike the previous fight, in which the boy had wanted nothing more than to feel the grotesque plant crunch underneath his shoes, he realized his approach would have to be much different with the ghost.
Upon notice that his knife would do little to help him (duh, it's a frikkin ghost) Zephyr pocketed it once more. Instead, he decided to float up to the ghost and give a small smile. "Umm . . . hi?" He called gingerly, unsure as to how the monster would respond. "I'm Zephyr." He stated, holding out his hand.
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
"Umm . . . ."
"Oh, right. No hands."
The ghost blinked his eyes, almost as if he were surprised Zephyr was actually taking the time to talk to him, as if he'd simply expected him to lunge threateningly at him immediately. "Oh? Umm . . . hello. My name is Napstablook, but . . . you probably don't care much about that."
Another wave of tears seeped from the ghost's eyes, the boy muttering a curse underneath his breath as he dove back to the ground, the harsh movement alerting Kari and DJ to the fresh barrage of tears as they rolled out of the way as well, the projectiles sizzling and leaving dark marks on the ground behind them.
Zephyr floated backwards towards the others, keeping his eyes on the ghost in front of him as he came to hover between the two humans. "Alright, any advice you two?"
DJ glanced up at the ghost, watching its eyes well up a third time. "Umm . . . I don't know. How do you handle a depressed ghost?"
Kari's eyes immediately lit up in realization. She shoved Zephyr forward, the boy letting out a small yelp before whipping around mid-float, glaring intently at the girl. "You have to talk to him!"
"Me? Why me?"
"He's depressed! You're great at fixing that shit! You've had plenty of practice with us!"
Zephyr face-palmed, letting out an aggravated sigh.
"HEADS UP!"
All three pressed their bodies down to the ground as another round of tears shot over their heads. "Alright, alright, fine!" Zephyr growled, floating back up into the air as he turned back to the ghost. "Umm . . . hey. Me again."
Napstablook turned a weary gaze at the boy. "Oh, you're still here?"
"Yep, still here." Zephyr gave a chuckle. "So, what're you doing out here?"
"I come out here cause nobody else does . . ." He cast a glance at the group of humans. " . . . Usually. It's one of my favorite places to lay on the ground and feel like garbage."
Zephyr blinked.
Kari and Damian did as well.
The boy let out a small nervous chuckle, cupping his hands together. "Well, that's different . . . ." He trailed off.
"I'm sorry, I'm being a bother, aren't I?" Napstablook muttered softly, looking more and more like a sad deflated marshmallow as the battle went on. "That's usually how these things go."
Surprisingly to the ghost, Zephyr shook his head. "Nope. You're not bothering us at all." He stated, Damian raising his index finger up as he opened his mouth.
"Umm actually-"
"Shut it."
"Shutting it."
More tears began to form in the corner of the ghost's eyes as another wave shot out at them. They did little to stop the older as he continued to talk while simultaneously dodging tears left and right. "Umm . . . you want me to introduce you to the people you're crying at?"
"Sure, I've got nothing better to do.
"Alright, well that's Kari." Zephyr stated, pointing towards the girl as she ran screaming past him, a line of tears fast on her tail. "And that moron currently trying to blink the stars out of his eyes is Damian." He muttered, rolling his eyes at the boy who was currently laying flat on the ground, his arms and legs stretched out all over the place as he let out a moan, the wall next to him now included with a dent that perfectly matched the shape and size of DJ's head.
"Heh, nice names."
"THANKS!" Kari shouted, still running.
Zephyr hissed in pain as a tear grazed past his shoulder, even the small contact enough to burn the skin. Yet the boy refused to get mad at the ghost, for he knew it would only make thing worse. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the kids were right. The boy had a ton of experience dealing with these kind of problems. After all, he'd had to deal with more than one depressed sibling.
And who could really blame them? He certainly couldn't. With the amount of bullshit they had to put up with, Zephyr was surprised none of his siblings had actually ever attempted to end it all . . . permanently. Well, except for one.
He cast Damian a small glance before turning back to the ghost.
"What are you all doing down here anyways?" Napstablook asked. "You don't have to answer to me it you don't want to."
Zephyr shook his head. "No, it's okay. Well my siblings and I fell down the mountain a couple hours ago and now we're trying to find a way out of here." The boy explained, the ghost giving a small, almost nonexistent nod. "Oh." Was all he said in response.
"So you live around here?" Zephyr asked, dodging another round of tears. He had to keep the ghost talking, try to get him to warm up to him. Maybe if he could do that, the attacks would stop. Well, at least he hoped. If they didn't, he had no other clue what else they could do.
"No, I live farther into the Underground. My house is in Waterfall."
Farther in? Waterfall? Just how big is this place? Zephyr asked himself, focusing back onto the ghost. "So what're you doing all the way out here?"
Napstablook shrugged. "I don't have any other friends in Waterfall. Well, come to think of it, I don't really have any friend here either, but it's quiet here. And I don't get in anyone's way, well . . . at least I'd hoped." He murmured, casting the group a small apologetic look.
"Uh, no it's all right." Zephyr reassured the ghost, letting another smile fall onto his face. "So . . . not a lot of friends, huh?"
The ghost stayed silent, more tears pouring from his eyes.
"Well . . . listen Napstablook. I don't know you very well and you don't really know me but . . . ." Zephyr bit the inside of his cheek. Was this really wise. He knew nothing about the ghost other than he wasn't a very chipper person. And the ghost had done nothing to earn his trust, especially considering the fact he was literally attacking his siblings at that very moment.
Yet, there was just something sad and pathetic about the ghost that could rival the emotions of a kicked puppy. It was those feelings that made the boy feel nothing but patience and understanding for him. He took another moment before making up his mind. "You wanna be friends?"
The ghost's eyes widened at the boy's words, his head slowly turning upwards. "W-what?"
"Friends. You and me . . . and probably these two morons."
"HEY!"
"You know it's true."
. . . .
. . . .
"Yeah."
Napstablook let out a small quiet chuckle as he watched the siblings converse with each other. That would be nice. The ghost thought to himself, glancing up at the tears that were still bouncing around the room. "Oh, you guys wanna see something?" He asked softly.
Zephyr gave a nod, to which the ghost began to cry once more.
Damian raised his hands slightly. "Great, we have front row seats to Depression." He muttered, Zephyr elbowing him in the gut. Unlike before, the tears instead flew up into the air, forming a small top-hat on top of the ghost's head.
Zephyr gave a small chuckle at the sight. "That's cool, man." He laughed before turning back to the ghost. "So, friends?"
The ghost stared at the boy and then back over to the two other humans. After a moment of thought, the ghost turned away."We probably shouldn't. I'd just weigh you all down." Just like I did him. Another batch of tears flew towards them. "You all should probably just go away."
The fresh wave was unexpected, the group barely having enough time to blink, let alone dodge. The tears shot into their skin, the feeling of bubbling acid tearing at muscle and bone making their screams increase in volume as they writhed.
After a moment, the burning feeling ebbed slightly, but it was definitely still present, hindering their movements even more than before.
Damian let out a growl. "Alright, I've had just about enough of this." He growled, the pain in his arm now bubbling over to anger and frustration. And it wanted out. He watched his own heart begin to glow brighter as he readied to fly up into the air and teach the ghost a few lessons about crying in private, only for Zephyr to hold his hand out.
"Wait." He stated, his tone of voice leaving little room for argument. That, however, didn't stop them from trying.
"Zephyr, this obviously isn't working." Kari sighed through gritted teeth, the pain in her shoulder making her want to cry out. "We're going to have to try something else.
The boy was persistent. "I can get through to him. We just need to stay calm. Be patient.
Damian narrowed his eyes. "How the fuck are we supposed to be patient when these monsters keep shooting us in the face?!" He shouted, flailing his arms around for added emphasis.
"Stand. Down." He growled out.
"But Zeph, we-"
Zephyr gave the boy a murderous glare.
"Weeeee're gonna wait here like good little children while you finish." DJ finished sweetly, shooting over to cower behind Kari , the girl folding her arms over her chest as she rolled her eyes.
Suddenly, the tears that had continued to fly around the room quickly froze in mid-air before poofing away. The teens glanced at each other in confusion before turning towards Napstablook, who gave a small shrug. "Sorry. Not really feeling up to it right now."
Zephyr took a deep calming breath before opening his eyes once more, never noticing how they were now glowing a bright cyan, the exact same color as his soul. "Listen Napstablook, I understand you're upset. And I'd understand if you want us to leave right now, but if you'd let us, I'd really like to be your friend." He said softly.
The ghost blinked before turning to look at the boy, slightly surprised to find his eyes were literally glowing. He gave a small shake of his head. "We really shouldn't. You seem to be going places. I'm useless."
Zephyr narrowed his eyes, his soul slowly beginning to glow brighter and brighter with each word he spoke. "I don't think you are. No, I know you aren't. Napstablook, times like these can be hard, but if you let me be your friend, I promise you I will never think you're useless. I'll never think you're a burden. I'll only think of you as such. A friend." He gave a small smirk as he folded his arms across his chest. "And I'll wait as long as I have to. I'm a pretty patient person."
Napstablook gave it some thought before shifting his gaze away, only to turn back as he watched Zephyr extend his hand out once more.
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
"Umm . . ."
"Damn. Still no hands. Heh, see how good I am at this?"
The ghost gave a small laugh, and not just a fake one. A true, actual laugh. Something he hadn't been able to produce in longer than he could remember. He gave a small smile. "I . . . I guess it wouldn't be so bad to have a few friends again." He said softly, gazing over at the others, who glanced at each other before giving small waves.
"You know, I come here to be alone . . . . but today I met someone nice." Napstablook stated, smiling up at the boy, who quickly returned it. He then blinked back into reality. "Oh, I'm rambling again. I'll get out of your way." He said before floating back up into the air. "See you around?" He called nervously.
"I'm sure we will." Zephyr responded, giving a small two-fingered salute to the ghost before he disappeared from view.
The boy smiled at where the ghost had last been, only to yelp as a large weight suddenly leapt onto his back. "WHOO! Zephyr, the Ghost Whisperer!" Damian cheered, wrapping his arms around his brother's neck.
The boy sighed before unhooking the boy's arms, Dj letting out a yelp as he crashed to the ground. Kari chuckled as she walked over, only to pause as she took notice of one slight difference. "Zeph, what's with your eyes?"
Zephyr furrowed his brow. "What about them?"
"They're glowing!"
"What?" Damian asked, rising to his feet as he tried to get a better look, only to blink in shock as his brother turned to face him. "Whoa, man. That's weird." He stated, staring into the deep cyan lights.
Kari scrunched her nose in thought. What the heck caused this? She asked herself, realizing Zephyr's soul was still visible instead of disappearing like usual after a fight ended. And not only that, but it was shining brighter than usual and . . . .spinning? What the heck was going on?!
"Zeph, you have any idea what's happening?" She asked.
The boy turned to look at his soul before shaking his head. "No idea. I did feel a little tingly as I kept talking to Napstablook, but all I was doing was focusing on keeping myself calm and staying patie-"
Suddenly, as if his words had been a catalyst, his soul began to spin violently, the room quickly beginning to glow in a bright blue light. Everyone stared at the soul, which by extension, meant Zephyr. The boy glanced at the others "Umm . . . is this normal."
They shrugged.
The spinning stopped as a bright burst of light made them all flinch and turn away.
They first thing they noticed was that the glow from Zephyr's soul was now so bright, the entire room was lit by it, the walls tinted a light blue color. The second thing they noticed was the wolf.
Eyes widening, the trio gasped and quickly backed up, their backs pressing up against one of the walls as they stared at the new creature in front of them.
The wolf was exceptionally large, almost to the point where it could be mistaken for a bear or a lion, if only judging on size. It had stark white fur which slowly dripped down into cyan blue at the tips of the tail and the bottom of its paws, which weren't even solid. No, its tail and paws seemed to dissolve into shimmering specks of light and dust at the ends, yet the wolf never faltered in its step.
Though, that wasn't even the most noticeable feature. No, it was its eyes. They were pupil-less and seemed to light up the entire room, the icy blue so deep and vivid they seemed to freeze all three teens in their place, unable to move, unable to fight, unable to speak. But even through that, the strangest thing was that the wolf didn't even seem to be real. It was slightly transparent and gave off the impression of a spirit.
The wolf lowered its large head to stare at the three, eyes blinking once before it took a step forward.
Instantly, Zephyr snapped back into focus as he whipped out his knife, pointing his shaking hand at the creature.
The action did little to deter the wolf, if it even did at all. The dog merely continued to slowly approach the trio, stopping right in front of their faces, large eyes staring right at them.
The room was eerie silent, save for the slight shimmering sound the wolf's tail and paws made. Slowly, the wolf lowered its head and closed its eyes, resting the crown of its head against Zephyr's chest. The boy blinked in shock as he stared at the creature before turning back to his siblings, who each gave him the same dumbfounded look.
Hesitantly, Zephyr reached out and began to stroke the large wolf, running his fingers through the canine's soft white fur, Lifting its head once more, the wolf opened its shimmering eyes, meeting Zephyr's equally blue ones before the dog gently touched the tip of its nose with Zephyr's soul.
Instantly, another flash of light shot through the room as the wolf became like a trail of magic as it began to circle around Zephyr, connecting with his arm before seeping in completely. Just like that, his soul disappeared and with it, so did the glow of his eyes, the room instantly returning to its deep purple hue.
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
"What the FUCK just happened?"
For once, nobody slapped DJ for his profanity, for they were all thinking the same thing.
Zephyr shook his head slightly before reaching for his arm, slowly rolling up his sleeve. They all blinked in shock at the sight. On his upper bicep, there was now a Celtic tattoo of a wolf head.
Kari stared at the sight for a moment longer before letting out a groan, rubbing the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "Alright, I've had just about enough of this place." She muttered, marching over to the door.
"You and me both." Zephyr sighed, quickly following after her, dragging a disgruntled Damian behind him.
"Oh what? So you can have a tattoo, but we can't?"
SLAP
"OWW!"
Finally! Chapter 3 completed.
So, you got a look into Harper's mind and Zephyr had quite a new experience. As the story progresses, you will get windows into what the other characters are feeling just like Harper. You will also get flashbacks and a ton of backstory later on. Also, more explanations as to what happened with Zephyr (along with what hasn't happened yet) will come to light in the NEXT chapter.
Just be patient!
EH? Get it?
Anyways, thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following: Fanfictionlover124, SaraTheAngelic, Zitroana, cassjo, musicalocelot, AppleCantRead13; dream1990, Gamewins67
Reviews:
musicalocelot: Yeah, I think this is a really great concept for this game, but when I looked, I couldn't really find many stories with this topic, so I decided to create one for myself. So I really hope you enjoy it cause I've already planned out everything, from the battle sequences to a backbone for a sequel.
AceMasterz: *Wink, wink* Great minds think alike
