Casey sat silently resting her back against a thick old tree watching passing clouds through its leaning branches, green leaves on them were dancing calmly in soft wind. An open sketchbook was on her lap, a pencil hovering over few strokes she forgot all about. A headset covered her ears and she tapped her foot and bobbed her head in sync with music, completely oblivious of the world around her.
The sun was barely over horizon, gently grazing upon waking nature. Golden rays slowly fell from top of the mountain as time passed illuminating every curve of the high cliff. Casey's eyes traveled down with that bright line. Occasionally a lizard would run along the long wall only to freeze in warm light making the girl chuckle adoring the small creatures.
She seemed to have forgotten every care in the world, simply enjoying one of the rare mornings she had completely to herself. But her smile faded when the light reached a large opening in front of her, not too far away.
As the rays poured into the dark cavern she noticed a figure in it. Sans was standing there, glaring at her with one brow bone raised, his arms crossed in irritation.
After panicking for a bit, nervously glancing around with unnecessary arm and feet movements and inaudible blabbering with few apologies mixed in it, Casey set her sketchbook aside along with headphones and hurried to the skeleton hugging thick books tightly.
"Hi" – she awkwardly greeted him feeling her breath shake for a moment.
"Took you long enough" – he answered a bit harshly, keeping his gaze on the items in her arms.
She crouched and putting one of the books on the ground in front of her gently pushed it until a small part of it was past the barrier, then stopped waiting for him to take it. And he did, then the next one and the third, chuckling under his breath as he did so.
"I gotta admit, I didn't think you'd actually show up" – he smirked looking through the books – "I'm a bit disappointed, but can't really complain, I kinda need these… Umm, kid? Did ya get a wrong book? This doesn't have anything to do with humans" – he questioned opening the third one.
"I thought… Papyrus would like it. It's about asteroids and stuff" – she explained softly, glancing at him every once in a while.
"And what's that?"
"Asteroids are basically huge pieces of rocks that float around in space" – she said pointing at the sky.
"I don't think I asked for that" – Sans hissed.
"Just let him see it… pl-please? It might be interesting for you too"
"Now ya feel sorry for us? Want us to look at pictures of cool shit you see every day?" – He snarled sarcastically.
For few moments Casey only stared at the skeleton. He looked annoyed, normally she'd say he was scary or dangerous looking, heck she was terrified of him seconds ago, but now she couldn't find in her heart any kind of negative emotion towards him. A snigger escaped her lips followed by wholehearted laughter as she shook her head crossing her arms to form an X.
"You got it wrong" – she said wiping away few tears that formed in corners of her eyes – "I've never seen an asteroid. In fact most humans haven't and, probably, never will" – she said and for a moment watched Sans, he seemed curious, so she continued – "it's not something you can see with naked eye, unless it's in Earth's atmosphere on its way to crush somewhere in the vicinity five minutes before it disintegrates you or, if you're lucky, a bunch of other unfortunate souls"
"Disintegrate?"
"Yeah… it's scary, honestly. A giant rock falls from the sky burning and crushing everything in its way and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. It makes this world seem so small and fragile and us, so helpless…"
She stopped glancing over at Sans, mentally scolding herself, she was planning to just give him the books and leave. What was she doing chatting with him?
"Sorry, I'm rambling" – she averted her gaze from him, staring at her hands instead. He scared her, even when she knew he couldn't do anything to her at the moment. The memories of their 'encounter' suddenly returned sending a shiver through her body and, for a brief moment, a desire to leave became stronger.
"Nah, it's fine" – he shrugged – "does it happen a lot?"
"Not really, as far as I know. Most of them gravitate towards Jupiter - that's another planet - and don't reach us. Meteors, on the other hand, are quiet common, though I've never seen one of those either. Up close, I mean"
"And a meteor is?" – Sans sat down with the astronomy book on his lap, looking through pictures in it.
"Meteors are smaller versions of asteroids, much smaller. If it falls in an uninhabited area, no one will know. Though you can see some in the sky" – Sans looked up at her, now listening very closely, though she didn't notice as she kept looking up – "I'll tell you the exact date when a meteor shower is expected"
"What exactly will we see?"
"Blue streaks of light. Each of them would be visible for only a split second, but you'd probably see quite a few up here" – her smile widened becoming warmer as she talked. She looked so happy and he hated it. He hated that she lived there, free to see and know everything, while his brother couldn't.
"Not too exciting if you ask me"
"I was thinking that too before I saw my first one. It's definitely not something you can see in everyday life, for me it was something magical, out of this world" – she let out a quiet laugh – "literally"
Her voice died as her mind roamed in past, future, worlds unfamiliar to everyone else. She loved it, cherished it, daydreaming was an escape from this dull world for her. Though she had to admit, it became a lot more exciting after meeting Papyrus.
Rubbing her neck Casey stared back down, Sans was absorbed in the book and didn't seem to pay attention to her at all. Slowly getting up she backed away feeling a bit uneasy and unsafe again.
"I've borrowed the books from a library, I need to return them in twenty five days…" – she said motioning Cinis to come closer – "please be careful with them"
The skeleton smirked with a quiet chuckle and nodded.
"Will do, I still need these, after all" – he said pointing at the science books by his side – "why are ya freaking out, though, cause of our little friendly neckshake? Bet that's it. Know what that means?" – She saw his eyes grow empty, or maybe that was her imagination. She couldn't tell, but he looked sinister, almost like in her dream – "if ya make me angry, something worse might happen"
Casey wanted to respond, to say she wasn't scared, she could deceive him, couldn't she? Her mouth opened slightly as thoughts formed in her mind, but before long she closed it. Without saying a word she turned around and left, her horse trailing behind.
"And when I thought we had a nice chat he had to ruin it" – she muttered to herself as she walked along a narrow path, kicking small rocks that happened to be on her way.
With her eyes on the road she quietly muttered inaudible complains to herself, like a sulking child: a way to forget the fear that seemed to constantly change: growing and lessening as if her mind couldn't decide in what light to see him.
Lost in her thoughts she wandered, each step taking her further away and she barely noticed thickening trees passing her by, sun shining through thousands of branches lessen by minute. She came to a halt when dark shadow surrounded her. Looking around she found herself in a part of the mountain unknown to her, yet one somehow familiar.
She recognized the place, even though she knew she have never seen it or had any way of remembering the endlessly stretching trees, it felt like she has been there before. It wasn't the place itself, but rather something in it, something she felt like she knew from long ago.
"Strange…" – Casey thought taking few more steps feeling tranquility fill her mind.
A glimmer of light could be seen through low branches and dark green leaves, she followed it. Eager to get to the other side of this thick wall she barely held herself back from sprinting into unknown, breaking free of all obstacles in front of her. Moving a layer of vegetation after another she unconsciously walked faster, her eyes never leaving the glimmering light that was progressively getting larger.
Casey shielded her eyes with one hand as a blinding light filled the space around. She slowly cracked open an eye then the second one and looked around in awe.
In front of her lay a large lake, its waters crystal clear, its surface, reflecting the light like a mirror, was only disturbed by rare small waves softly grazed by the wind. On right side a tall steep cliff stood, leading straight to the top of Ebott. Small part of the area where the girl stepped out of, was covered in thick forest. Along the left shore trees spread out more, opening up large areas covered in tall grass and wild flowers. But what caught her attention the most was the far end of the lake: pure white trees were scattered there as far as eye could see, slowly blending with green only to disappear in it. It looked like a snow covered layer, briefly reflecting in water it made it hard to see the line that separated the two.
The young girl quickly turned around with a bright smile, excitement replacing the sadness in her hazel eyes and ran to the horse that was lazily peeking from between few trees.
"What are you doing? You can come out!" – She laughed taking out few pencils, a sketchbook and a couple of treats from a bag on immobile creature's side. His ears twitched at her voice and he reacted to the food she offered a lot quicker than to anything else. Scratching his neck for a bit she watched him munch on grass and berries he found, before moving closer to the lake.
Along the base of high cliff several flat rectangular rocks were lined up on shore and in water in an arc with perfectly equal spaces in between, leading to a larger circular one near the center. Casey quickly but carefully made her way over that bridge.
Standing at the center of the rock she stared down at it: strange writings covered its surface, circles and lines were curved in between, some incomplete, others tracing to edges and into the deep, their edges chipped from time. Small part of the stone was covered in moss and cracks with a chunk of it missing entirely.
Whatever that was, for her it looked incredibly beautiful, a kind of thing she always loved and craved to see: ancient, abandoned, though it somehow felt lonely, she couldn't deny, it was filled with mystery, asking her to find out more. At least that's how she felt.
She sat down in that spot and looked around taking in the scenery, she felt ideas roam through her mind and inspiration fill her from within. With almost no pauses in between, her hand moved through pages, finishing a drawing after another. With each idea filling the blanks of the sketchbook another one was born.
Lost in her mind Casey barely noticed anything else, until something buzzed in her pocket forcing her back into reality.
"Hey, mom" – she breathed out picking up the phone – "yeah, mom, I'm fine. No, no, yes, no. You know me too well to be asking that, of course I'm on the mountain, where else? I found a really nice place. Yeah, I'm drawing. Sure I can get that, yeah I was about to come back. Ok, bye"
Hanging up she turned her gaze back to the sketch. She just started it: an outline of a white forest could be seen, among the trees she put up large, tall monoliths and was going to add writings from the rock beneath her on them. She really wanted to finish it, but the sun was setting and it wouldn't be long before its rays hid behind the horizon.
With a sigh she got up stretching her back, surprised that sitting on a stone for hours didn't hurt in the slightest. Careful to not slip she made her way back to the shore and called out for her horse, while looking for a way down herself. A narrow, but relatively empty of rocks and branches path soon came into view, twisting between trees and bushes down the hill. Beyond that she could see northern cliffs stretching into the dusk.
"We're this far?" – She half-whispered in tired voice realizing how long it'll take her to get home – "we'll have to go all the way around" – she groaned looking back at the grey head staring at her, this time louder as if the horse was going to answer.
But, at least, the trip that was definitely going to repeat many times in the future, was pleasant. Casey couldn't help but look around constantly, barely having enough time to see everything surrounding her. She noted to herself to return there in daylight, simply to wander around, to explore, she knew Cinis would love it too.
The trees soon cleared a wider, less steep path allowing her to move faster. When on a completely even field at the base of the mountain she took a turn towards the town.
Stars began to glimmer softly in darkening sky as last light of the sun began to disappear. Casey raised her gaze into the dark vastness above her small self, stared into it. Endlessly big and endlessly beautiful it enticed her, bound her mind and spirit. It made her forget everything: her troubles, thoughts, everything around and everything within, she forgot about the home she called Earth and about herself. Seemingly for only a brief moment her world was nothing but the sky, stars and wonder.
She let herself get lost in it until Cinis' pace slowed then came to a halt. Looking around the girl found herself near their farm.
"Good job, boy, but we have a small task in the town" – she muttered pulling the leather rein gently – "I know, I'm tired too" – she sighed when they moved again talking to herself more than anything.
With lights on, the small, old town looked even friendlier. Making her way through it she did her best to memorize certain scenes and details: she found it useful for her new ideas.
Some parts of it looked ripped straight out of medieval times with no modern technology or cars in sight. It felt like a knight will show up around the corner to give her a quest to kill a dragon, at the least.
A smile found its way to her lips at that thought and she covered her mouth to hide the few giggles that followed. But they grew to none when a familiar face came into view.
"Just when I was almost done" – she thought looking at the young man walking towards her – "what was his name again? Nick? Nile? Nye, yeah it was Nye" – she watched him get closer, when close enough he briefly glanced at her, she nodded in greeting with a small smile – "should I say something? I don't really wanna talk to anyone right now"
To her relief he didn't respond, walking past her he shifted his eyes forward. It wasn't exactly polite, but she didn't really care. She moved her head to her side, barely enough to see a soft glimmer of a plain silver earring before he disappeared. She didn't turn around, nothing compelled her to watch him and, in a way, she was grateful for that.
Breathing in the cool evening air Casey made her way back to the stables, a small packet with groceries in her hand. She had to admit: night with its lasting darkness, calm and silence had a charm she couldn't resist. She loved it as much as the morning, its beauty even more. Sometimes she wished she could stay awake when the world was still and serene and sleep when sun was practically burning her alive.
"I wish I was an owl… an owl that could paint" – she thought feeling her eyelids get heavy.
Her tired and sleepy mind wondered away with each passing second, various images finding their way through, appeared in front of her, erasing the reality completely, while she did her best to stay awake.
Before long she was home, familiar scent of it filled her lungs with each breath. Sounds of a TV could be heard from living room, a narrow strip of golden light shining from under the door seemed even brighter in dark hallway. The girl was silent as she made her way to bathroom, almost too silent. In a small mirror hanging on the wall she saw a pair of tired eyes staring back at her, brown hair messy from wind and the unexpected trip. She quickly washed her hands and face with cold water feeling, somewhat, refreshed; that would be enough for now.
"Hey, mom" – she greeted the ginger woman walking into the well-lit room.
She was on the sofa in front of TV, her legs comfortably stretched on a small stool in front of her. She watched her daughter plop next to her: a small tray with meat pie and a mug with juice on her lap. She looked quite happy, the smile on her lips much wider than usually.
"Something good happened?" – She asked with a sly smirk and the girl nodded, with absolutely no clue of what her mother meant.
"Yeah" – she exclaimed a bit too loudly – "remember I said I found a nice place. It's so pretty and I think we've been there, though it's strange I forgot it was there"
Casey talked non-stop about it, trying to describe every little detail she noticed, or maybe imagined, but at that point she didn't really care. Memories of clear water, old trees rocking softly in wind came back to her and she couldn't hold herself back from telling her mother everything.
The older woman listened with a warm smile on her lips, while her eyes reflected both curiosity and a little bit of confusion. Casey rarely talked that much even with her, the one person she was closest with.
Eilis could only wonder what secrets her daughter had and how many there were, but she never pushed her. She knew that everything would be revealed when she'll be ready and only then. That's how it always was.
"I only know two lakes and neither of them is that high up. Are you sure we were there before?" – Eilis asked after the brunet grew silent.
"I'm sure. That stone, whatever that was used for, I've seen it before. I couldn't have mistaken it for anything else, it's the only one around" – she said rubbing her chin – "maybe I've been there with dad"
She looked back at her mother who only shrugged and mouthed a quiet "could be".
"Think you can show me the place?" – The woman asked feeling excited herself.
"I can, but you'll have to wait a bit" – Casey said. Seeing her mother's puzzled expression she added – "I found it by chance today, didn't really see where I was going and it was dark on my way back. So now I'll have to find it again… kinda. When I learn the way I'll show you"
Casey stretched her back yawning and felt her mind slowly drift away. Wishing her mom a good night she took her tray back to kitchen and slowly made her way to her small, but cozy room.
Crawling into the bed she soon fell asleep.
The next few days were mainly uneventful. Most of her time Casey spent on the farm helping out her mom. With her dad away she was the only handy person around, the only free one that is. Luckily for their family she hardly ever had a problem with fixing things: whether it's a roof, broken fence or anything along the lines. Indoor equipment wasn't that easy, but she managed to find her way around those too (with manuals, google and video help). And after a repeated earthquake a couple of days prior their house needed her skills. Even though it wasn't that strong, few things still managed to break or come loose.
With few sandwiches by her side Casey was spending her well-deserved break in front of her laptop. With her eyes glued to the screen she watched one of the last episodes of an anime, scared to miss even a split second of it.
"Not another cliffhanger…" – she groaned her mouth full with last remains of a late sandwich – "screw it, I'm watching another one"
And so she did. With a bit more satisfying ending she turned the device off, planning to watch the rest after coming home: truly a miracle.
She quickly changed her clothes to more comfortable ones: a pair of plain black pants and boots, on top she put on a sky blue tank top. Grabbing a thin knitted jacket she made her way out.
"Mom, I'm gonna go up" – she said pointing at the green mountain in the distance.
"Bring back some nice sketches, will you?" – The woman replied glancing up from a small book in her hands – "and finally paint something. I haven't seen you touch a brush for months"
"I'll try" – Casey nodded with a smile turning around.
She knew how much her mother loved her work. For a while now she kept talking about staging an exhibition and, surprisingly enough for herself as well as her parents, Casey loved the idea. For that she was willing to try harder and now was the time she felt like she could.
On Cinis' back once again she made her way to the forest looming high above them, quickly inching closer. Without thinking much at first she lead her mount over the paths she grew to love and soon was by a large crack, nearing a dark cave.
Pondering about why she went there, while never intending to, she got off the large creature walking towards the opening, her eyes pinned to what was inside. Leaning against the cavern wall was someone familiar. His hand was weakly holding an open book on his lap, a hood covering his head protected his face from bright golden rays. His eyes were closed and she could see his chest rising and falling slowly.
For few minutes she paced around the wide area wanting to leave, but something kept her from it. She couldn't leave him like that. Though she knew no one was going to pass - no one ever did - it felt unsafe, wrong.
Sighing in defeat over herself she returned, watching him one more time hoping to find him awake, but nothing had changed.
"Guess we're staying here for now" – Casey whispered, carefully removing all the equipment from Cinis.
She watched him run around a bit, enjoying the little freedom she gave him and it made her smile wider. Taking off her boots and getting the little pillow she took from home Casey lay down on her tummy in front of the cave.
"Screw it, I'll just draw from memory" – she thought turning the page of her sketchbook to the unfinished illustration.
Soon she heard something large plop down next to her, casting a shadow on her form. Leaning her head on one arm she gently stroked the silver mane of the creature hearing him fall asleep.
Now alone with herself she forgot the track of time, getting lost in her work and ideas. Not always drawing, she often found herself thinking about worlds unseen, trying to complete and imprint them on white sheets.
She remembered the stone, something about how it looked and felt was alluring, she tried to understand what exactly it was. Recalling details she began drawing the outline, added the lines and arcs, the weird symbol in the center, she wasn't sure was correct, then the writings…
She had no clue what they could mean, had no way of remembering after seeing them once, yet she did. Sitting up to have more light she kept writing, adding more and more symbols she could swear she never knew. When finished she glanced over three rows of perfectly aligned glyphs of some sort.
"Did I dream these?" – She thought carefully examining every little detail and her eyes widened in shock – "this part was broken, how could I know what there was? I… I must've imagined it, that's it, right?"
Though she kept saying it to herself many times over, somewhere deep down she doubted it, she knew there was no mistake.
"What am thinking? Stop being so paranoid, Casey" – she shook her head – "I'll just compare these and get it over with" – the plan calmed her down a little. Yeah she'd prove herself how stupid that was, she'd laugh thinking back at it.
"Do me a favor, shut up" – a deep voice echoed making her jump a little.
Sans stared at her rubbing an eye, one arm leaning on a bent knee as the book slowly slid down closing on his side.
"I'm sorry" – Casey apologized covering her mouth with two of her fingers – "was I talking out loud?"
"Yap. What are ya doin' here anyway?"
"I saw you were asleep in plain sight and decided to stay. It might've been troublesome if someone saw you"
"Wow, very thoughtful, thank you"
"Great, make fun of me when I was worried" – she crossed her arms looking away – "I'm leaving"
"Not so fast, kid. Let me see that" – he came closer leaning on earth peeking through the gap and pointed at her lap where the sketchbook rested.
"Kid? I'm 18" – she mumbled holding the drawing up – "like it, old man?" – She teased, but he didn't react.
"Where did ya see that?"
"There was a stone thingy around there. This was on it"
"And you're not sure you wrote it all right?"
"That's the thing. I think I did, but there's no way I could. I saw it only once and my memory isn't the best. Do you know what this is?"
"Yeah, I read about it. It's a magic circle monsters used long ago. Could still be working" – he said looking up at the girl – "can I have it?"
"What do you mean 'could be working'?" – Casey narrowed her eyes – "how can you tell?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but there must be a reason why you remembered it so perfectly. Well, at least you think you did. Now, can-I-have-it?"
Casey nodded after short hesitation. Taking out her phone she took a picture, then carefully ripped the page out.
"What about this part then?" – She pointed handing the paper over to Sans – "It was broken, so there's no way I could've remembered it. It's, simply, not possible"
"Magic, kid, it works wonders" – he smirked, then added without looking up – "you were leaving, weren't you"
"I changed my mind, I'm staying… when can I see Papyrus?"
"Donno, he never said"
Hugging her legs and resting her chin on her knees Casey watched the skeleton. He took out a pen from his pocket and started scribbling something around the circle she so carefully placed. Every once in a while he muttered something under his breath, but the words were never clear for her. He asked few questions about the place she found the stone, the time of day and other small details she found meaningless, but answered precisely.
"What do ya think this means?" – He asked putting the paper away.
"I have no clue"
"Yeah, me neither"
"Say" – he spoke after a short silence stepping closer once again – "do you like magic?"
"I love it!" – Her voice sounded cheery as her lips formed the widest smile. He stared at it for a moment.
"Will you help me out then?"
"I'll try" – she nodded. If she did well, maybe he'd trust her more and that was exactly what she needed.
"Good, give me your hand" – he held out his own waiting for her to place her palm in it, but she shook her head. After last time she wasn't going to stick anything through that barrier – "I won't harm you, I promise. I need your help, remember?"
Slowly, but surely she inched closer reaching inside, feeling strange for trusting him so easily. Once possible he took her hand, holding it softly. It was strange how gentle he could be if he wanted, strange but also comforting.
With his free hand Sans made a quick, smooth motion and a pure white matter appeared. Casey watched, with her mouth slightly open, as it took a form of a small bone. She had to admit, it was more than fitting for a skeleton, still unexpected.
He placed the bone into her hand and closed it firmly.
"Take this to that stone and watch closely what happens. Place it on the stone if ya have to, but try to get a reaction. Can you do it?" – He asked and she nodded – "make it quick, it won't last long away from my magic"
Holding her hand close to her chest she stared at the bone, her finger tracing its surface. It was smooth and rough, just like a regular bone would be, it was hard to believe it could just vanish.
"Can I do it tomorrow?" – She asked looking back at him.
"I told you, it won't last that long"
"It's just…You see I don't remember where exactly that place is" – she explained – "I have to find it again and it might take long. No, it definitely will take long. I walked about an hour before stumbling upon it, so it's not close by"
"Ok" – he nodded – "still, try today. Even if you don't make it I'll wait here tomorrow. Deal?"
"If I do this you'll let me see Papyrus. Deal?"
A loud laughter echoed in the cave. Sans was holding onto his nonexistent belly and wiping light blue, dimly illuminating tears. For once his smile was genuine and truly happy, it made her feel warm inside.
"Smart" – he half-whispered after calming down – "gotta admit, I didn't expect anything…" – he looked at her from head to toes as if searching for the right word – "bold"
"Can't say the same about you. Anyone can see clearly that you always were and always will be… bald"
"What's gotten into me? I never make that kind of jokes" – her mind exclaimed, but she ignored it grinning at the guy in front of her, her gaze falling on his head every so often.
Sans stared at her in disbelief for a solid minute, his eyes expressing joy for only a moment before he blinked it away.
"Ya know what? Deal" – he put his hands back into the large pockets, leaning on one leg.
He watched her features beam with joy, it slightly irritated him, but he didn't show it. She quickly spun around poking a large creature with one foot.
"Wake up, buddy. We gotta go" – she laughed. The creature raised its head then got up, shaking its body free of soil and few bugs. The girl slid her feet into high boots then proceeded to attaching leather…things at its back and head.
"What are you doing?" – He asked.
"You could say I'm equipping the horse. I need these to be able to ride him" – she smiled.
"Ride him? That's what you call it?" – He asked, getting a somewhat confused look from her.
"Yeah, why?"
"Nothing. It's just new"
She nodded getting on it in a hurry. She clearly wanted to say something as she opened her mouth a few times, her smile not faltering even for a moment. For a moment she stared into distance as if noticing something then turned back to him and whispered.
"I'll see you later"
She disappeared from sight and for a moment it felt lonely, as if a bright light died.
Tuning around Sans picked up the thick book and the paper she gave him, holding both close and, in a flash, disappeared.