Chapter Eight (Alternative Title: The Night Is Still Young and So Are We):
The whole bar was packed today; I was struggling to keep up with orders and watch the child Frisk battle Mettaton on TV. Today was a day I was glad I had gone deaf, or else the noise of the monsters pushed into every space would have been too much, as I had just finished giving a family of Snowdrakes their order.
Grillby was picking up an order or two so I had time to sneak a watch. A tall slender robot stood in front of the child. He had on black shoulder pads with a pink chest piece, where a white heart stood out, and long legs with pink boots. Frisk was posing dramatically and I couldn't help but giggle.
"Oooh, I'm just warming up! But how are you on the dance floor? Can you keep up the pace!? Lights! Camera! Bombs! Things are blowing up!" I read the closed caption of Mettaton stating before flinging bombs and discos with lasers at the child but they just kept dodging it. Grillby was leaning his chin on my head as we watched Frisk get cut by a lightning bolt thrown their way; but she stood tall and posed again despite being hurt. I clapped my hands and cheered with a big smile on my face.
{They are going to win. Then the only thing they should have left is to see Asgore.}
"I believe in them." I stated with determination as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I had apparently lost track of orders in favor of watching Frisks battle; because Grillby eventually went back to work. Most of the monsters were watching the screen with the same awe-struck happiness I was and I know all of them were rooting for the child. She had been so kind to everyone, they all had their stories to tell of how the child had helped them through a particular issue, and I felt proud to watch her win this fight.
Mettaton was taking callers for the milestone of 10,000 viewers. There were so many calls flooding at once he looked as if he was going to cry. He was sparing Frisk! They were going to make it to the end! Gazing out on the sea of monsters, I watched so many of them erupt into blissful expressions, and I felt my own scream of victory rise out of my chest. I was chanting "FRISK, FRISK, FRISK" as I watched all the monsters join in; Grillby was standing off to the side with a smirk on his face.
The booming crowd thinned down finally after over an hour and a half of partying and pure joy. My throat was sore from using it to hoot and holler after the winning battle. The cleanup was much longer than normal days, I barely noticed it though, and eventually joining Grillby upstairs for the day. He was sitting in the recliner, a book about human etiquette and culture opened to a chapter, and I took the armchair opposite of his. The day had been so long between a full house and the early morning magic training session; I was trying to focus on some book about magic but the words were just too blurry from sleepiness.
There was a bright white light. It kept calling me to let them have my SOUL. I insisted on keeping it, of course, I needed it you silly disembodied voice! The direction I was going didn't seemed to matter. It hurt to focus on if I was on the floor or the ceiling from the illusion the white room was creating; almost like staring at the sun too long. A black puddle formed and rose from the ground.
{Hello Gaster.} The hunched over figure seemed to slide his way over and turned his head from one side to the other. A hand reached out to brush my cheek as a thin smile tugged his lips upward.
{You are the key.} His hands were moving at incredible speeds as I barely made out, {You must use the human half of your SOUL to free Frisk.}
{Wait, if I do that, I won't have any humanity left right? Will I die?} I was watching him tilt his head more and another pair of hands grabbed my waist as I yelped out in surprise.
{You will not. Should not. Might not.} His pair of hands connected to his body was signing furiously now. I could see another pair of hands shoot up from the same puddles. A hole seemed to be ripped in the white room from the newest hands where there was nothing but black spinning in circles, {You must go fast.}
I lifted my hands out of his loose grip to sign, {What about you?}
His mouth met mine roughly, I felt something that I thought was a tongue dripping, until the feeling of it sliding down my throat and inside; I forced myself to gag. The liquid was almost too thick to swallow as it struggled down my throat. Gaster pulled me away from him as his black wet tongue slid back into his mouth and quickly signed, {I will help you the best I can.}
I was thrown into the pitch blackness and I felt myself brimming with determination.
I hadn't realized I was no longer falling. Another odd sensation overcome me as I felt like I was being watched; as if to confirm it I barely moved in time as a knife swung my way. I was ducking left and right, tucking and rolling, until I kicked the enemy's legs out from underneath them. They thudded to the ground so I could finally get a good look at them. It was a child that mirrored Frisk almost, the shirt was green primarily with two yellow stripes, and their eyes shown a bright red with almost comical pink round cheeks. They knew their way around a knife that much was sure.
I kicked just as the knife swung to slice at my chest; it went clattering off into the distance while this demonic child laughed and somehow I heard it in my head. 'That laugh…..' It sounded so familiar… I had heard it in my night terrors… The demon summoned a wall of knives to launch at fast speeds towards me. I felt my vision blacken as waves of magic crashed against me, I held onto determination and held my breath, and at the very last second swiped at all of the knives.
'It's useless to fight me. I will always win and I will kill them all.'
They froze in place and turned into dust to spread through the air; as I stopped one wave another came in from both sides. I shot up in the air, pulled my hand in an elaborate gesture, and watched them clatter to the ground then dropped myself back down before the next wave sliced me.
I wasn't ready for the spikes when I hit the ground. My legs hung uselessly, with one final push they sent two long swords down to slice me in half, and right before they hit me I switched SOUL modes. My black SOUL switched colors to a split green heart and used both halves to block the on-coming onslaught. Another SOUL change back to black as I slung out an energy ball dripping black goo; the child side stepped it and shook it's head smiling.
'You missed me.'
I felt my grin widen as I suctioned and forced it to break apart like a shotgun blast. The child didn't move fast enough, several piercing through their form, and then the tar bullets fell to the ground forming puddles.
I had angered the demon as they ran at where I stood. Instead of moving I stood my ground, in one quick motion before I was diced down the middle, I dissolved myself into a black puddle and watched from the other puddles I created as the demon hopped around confused. Time dragged on as they stabbed at puddles uselessly. I almost felt bad for them.
While they were focusing on one, I lifted out of one from behind, and I slung a black tar bubble of massive enough size at their back. I watched them turn around, try to lash out, and get tangled further into my bubble. They were screaming angrily in my head as I approached the black pod; focusing deeply on splitting my SOUL's human and monster characteristics.
'I AM CHARA AND I SHALL LIVE ON! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL EVERYONE YOU LOVE!'
I cried out as my black heart stretched farther until two hearts stood in each hand; one white that was facing upside down and another that was black and facing right side up. I forced the white one into my soul and my whole body shook. I felt like I was scattering across the wind. I willed myself to push my black SOUL into the demons body.
The whole thing happened so slowly. There was a suctioning noise, screaming and thrashing from the demon, and I could barely hear over the racket the child was making someone was whispering in my ear.
"G-Gaster," I heard him mumbling something that sounded like formula as my arm began to melt I screamed out, "I'M MELTING GASTER! HELP ME PLEASE!"
Chara was struggling, but the blackness was absorbing their essence, and I watched as they slowly turned pitch black. My waist was a puddle of multi-colored goo and I was slowly losing senses; and Gaster was shouting something out in my ear. My stomach was gone when I finally could hear him shout, "FOCUS ON A MONSTER FORM."
I closed my eyes and pictured as vividly as I could. I forced the image to become as clear as I could possibly get right as the top of my head formed into the puddle. I held an image of a skeleton body like I had seen before. I was four feet eleven inches and big boned still but not as much. I wore a pastel jacket, washed out petite jeans, and some pastel converses. I was virtually androgenic without clothes to determine what gender I was. Both of my eyes sockets had white iris's but my right eye socket could burn a deep purple. I had pictured my eyes in a constant state of boredom along with fangs on the bottom and top of where my canines were. I sculpted it to match the best I could and I waited. I began to get discouraged until I heard someone tell me to open my eyes.
I did as commanded, the whole room was bathed in black, and my stomach lurched for a moment until it settled. Gaster slithered his way in front of me, wrapping his hands around me before I could get a chance to say anything, and I was thrown into another hole just as the room began to shake apart.
The landing was rough to say the least. I was on the carpet of Grillby and I's home, much to my surprise I could hear fire popping from above somewhere, and I stood up quickly when I heard someone gasping out. Grillby was wearing a terrified expression as I approached him with open arms; and I felt a rope of his fire wrap me still.
"Grillby? It's me, Joanie," I wrapped a hand gently around the rope of flame and I curiously looked down to where it was. I had no skin. I did what any sane person would do. I screamed out as I stared at my boney hand, "HOLYSHITWHATISGOINGON!"
"Y-You are a monster now?" The rope loosened and sat my feet back onto the ground as he stepped carefully over to me, "Slow down. I cannot understand you."
"I met this monster named Gaster and he explained I had monster and human mixed into my SOUL. I was sitting here and I fell asleep. I woke up in a room and he told me I had to split my human and monster SOUL into half and defeat some demonic anomaly thing. And when I did I was melting into nothing and the next thing you know…" I motioned with my fingers over to my new body.
"You are…" Grillby closed the distance between us in a few steps. I could feel his warmth, I felt my face light up in a blush. He was right in front of me now, "Absolutely stunning."
I wrapped my hands around his neck as his mouth pressed against my fanged smile hungrily. I never really could hear how loud his fire roared, until now I thought it just looked pretty, but I was really hearing it now. His whole body sounded like a slow cascade and I felt like I was drowning in his heat. I was being backed into the bedroom and thrown onto the bed. I felt my right eye pulse as I materialized a tongue into my mouth with a purple glow. He caught onto what I was doing and he dipped down wrapping his tongue around mine. I reached to tug at his hair but his hands slammed mine to the bed, his tongue was lapping the bones of my neck, and I tipped my head back to moan out. I wiggled under his tight grip when Grillby bit at my rib cage; I could feel his erection brushing against my pelvis bones. He slid his pants down and tipped it to poke out of the top of it.
"Do you want it?" His voice was gruff as he took his free hand to tease my spine. I cried out in pleasure as he bit at my collar bone, "Do. You. Want. It?"
"Yes," I screamed out as his pants and underwear were lowered to where I could see the majority of his cock. I whimpered as he teased it against my pelvis bone.
"Beg for it." He whispered with a mischievous smile. I could feel him twitching between me as he latched onto one of my ribs; his tongue was working between his lip and I moaned out as he bit down for a moment.
"P-Please," I felt the heat of his cock accelerate and I groaned out, "I-I need you. I n-need it s-so bad—AH!"
I was flipped onto my stomach before I could finish, I could hear Grillbys pants and underwear flop onto the floor, and I lifted and focused on my magic again to materialize a pussy for him. He slammed into me with such primal force that I bit down on the comforter with my fanged teeth. His hands were gripped onto my hip bones as he thrust as deeply as he could, I moaned out when he picked up the pace, his member was rubbing against the wall of my ecto-vagina as I felt myself tense up.
"A-Ahh… Mmmf… You're so t-tight." Grillby groaned out in pleasure as I felt my hands grip the sheets, "You like that?"
"Please…D-don't stop…" I wasn't even aware I was panting with my tongue out; his whole being was filling me up to the brim and I felt like I was going to explode from the heat. His pace picked up again, I could feel his body arching and his muscles tensing, and I gripped harder to the bed and screamed, "D-D-Don't hold b-back!"
"Are you sure?" I moaned out a yes and I heard him chuckle, "Alright then."
His whole body was burning a thousand degrees, I answered the heat increase with a scream, and bit into the comforter to stop myself from crying out again. I had never experienced this with him before. I was sure there would be scorch marks on my bones when we were done. It was like our SOULs were merging together; and I could feel the both of us begin to shake. I moaned his name, felt him twitch at the encouragement inside of me, and moaned again. Grillby brought his hands to my shoulder blades and pulled me up; just as he groaned out my name one last time. We climaxed together, our bodies pressed together, and he leaned his head on my shoulder trying to catch his breath.
We collapsed together on the bed. He kept playing with my spinel bones with one hand, another hand possessively placed around my rib cage, and his leg was wrapped around mine. I could feel his heat die down as we both yawned and fell to sleep.
I was being shook awake and I instantly grumbled out, "No thanks. No one's home right now." and turned to cuddle against the covers. Another jostle. I groaned out and buried my head against the pillow speaking a muffled, "What?"
"The barriers broken."
"WHAT?!" I sat up straight as my whole body roared in shock. I rushed to pick up my clothes to put on, my right eye was aflame reacting to my surprise, as we both stepped out into the snow together. Monsters were everywhere. I had never even seen so many as long as I had been down here; but they all seemed to be going in the same direction. Grillby and I stood there for a moment before we both saw Sans trekking back to the direction of us.
"hey grillz. whose your friend?"
"I'm Ravie," I interrupted Grillby before he could answer my actual name and saw him give me a questionable look as I added, "Grillby's new girlfriend. Nice to meet you."
"yo what happened to jo?"
Grillby answered it with a shrug, the trail of monsters seemed to be thinning down, and we were all silently watching them. I listened as Sans explained the kid had actually broken the barrier only to pass out and everyone had gotten concerned because they started to look like they were having a seizure in their sleep. I lost interest in the conversation as I brought my jacket closer around myself. A small mouse-like monster child was shambling by, I bent down and focused on making a small ball of heat that wouldn't burn the poor creature as it shivered, and slid the ball into her hands thoughtfully. They smiled up at me and ran to join their family enthusiastically sharing the warmth as I waved at them. I conjured up as many more as I could to pass out to anyone who wanted one.
I had handed my last one as I felt Grillby's familiar pulse of magic and fire on my shoulder. We began to follow the end of the trail of people; both of us were silent mostly due to nerves. Snowdin passed as we entered the Waterfall and more monsters joined the long walk to the Surface. There were whispers everywhere from various monsters but everyone whispered the same thing: Frisk had freed them so maybe humans weren't all bad.
"Why Ravie?" I jumped a bit at Grillby's question and stammered for a moment. I wasn't sure why I had chosen to rename myself. I felt like it had been appropriate at the time. Joanie was my human name, but I'm no longer a human, so logically I would need a monster name right?
"I'm not Joanie anymore," I answered looking lovingly in his eyes as our hands entwined, "I am a monster. I thought maybe a monster name would fit better." He still looked confused at why that name in particular was my choice and I giggled as I answered, "It's a font type, silly"
We both picked out an umbrella out of a basket to pass through the next room. It was constantly raining it seemed, as we passed by an opening in the caves you could barely make out the royal castle in the distance, and then we were filing into another cavern entrance where we were asked to put our umbrellas back. A huge sign was welcoming all of us to… Hotlands? I was beginning to understand that the king of these monsters was not very good at naming places. A wave of heat hit and seemed to react to my body; so much so I had to take my jacket off so I had just my sweater on. Grillby was shaking with laughter at my reaction and all I could do was bat at him playfully.
As we passed through the royal castle I began to become more nervous and self-conscious. I had been Underground for so long, I really wasn't sure if I wanted to go back Aboveground, and if I even needed to right now. Grillby looked so calm and I envied his demeanor. A few flame monsters passed by us both. Grillby seemed to know them and stopped to talk while I walked on ahead. Up ahead by the door was the child that liberated all of the monsters, Frisk was standing beside the King and Queen, and I couldn't help but smile.
I felt someone tug at the back of my sweater as I passed through the last room; turning around to see Frisk. I smiled wide and bent down to their height.
{Frisk! You should be proud of yourself and your determination.} I was stunned when they threw their arms around me in a tight hug. They signed close to my chest, away from prying eyes, where only the two of us could see.
{I know you helped me defeat Chara and gave up your humanity in the process of it,} The tender-eyed child gazed up at me with tears of joy in her eyes, {You should be proud of your determination too. This wouldn't have been possible without your help.}
My face was blisteringly hot and I was aware my cheeks were blistered out in a purple blush. Frisk kissed my cheek bones and ran off to join the King and Queen; as I attempted to make myself go further. I had lost sight of Grillby in the crowd, which made me even more nervous, but I was already at the door to the barrier. The hallway that was the barrier was long and it had a lighting effect that made it seem to go on forever. I felt my body pass through the barrier and then there was nothing but white for a few seconds. Everything was too bright, too loud, or too strong smelling. I could hear birds chirping miles away, the sun was just rising in the air, and the smell of thousands of different flowers (it was springtime now?) assaulted my senses.
Monsters all around were 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing in sync it seemed; and I shielded my eyes with a sigh. Did I really want to be up on the Surface again? I don't think the monsters understood how terrible humans really were. I glanced around to see if I could find Grillby, I did manage to see the top of his head through the crowd, and saw he was standing with Sans away from the majority of people. I grew curious and slid closer; masking my magical presence the best I could.
"I don't know Sans." Grillby's face was red and glancing away to try and scan the crowd.
"oh c'mon grillz," Sans smile parted into a toothy grin and a blue ecto tongue slid out to waggle at Grillby. I gritted my teeth in anger, trying to hold back from acting out, and felt tears sliding down my face silently, "you didnt care when you were with jo. it doesnt have to mean anything."
'Of fucking course.' I spat out angrily in my head only to add, 'Why did I think of him any differently? At least I found out now…' I plucked off the necklace he had gifted me, snapping the connector so it never worked again, and flung it towards Grillby then turned to blend into the crowd. I could hear him shouting my name – my real name – through the gathering of monsters and it made me hate him more. The edge of the trail had ended and I had finally lost him; I let out a long breath and glanced around.
The camp grounds was where I currently was, the ones I had passed with people cuddled around warm bonfires before, and I felt a twinge of regret as I continued pressing on. I had to get back to my house and make sure Chris was okay. I needed to tell him I was sorry for what I had done; to make sure he was okay one last time. Breaking out into a jog and passing by known landmarks; I could just see the old brick house with Chris truck out in the street. I dipped myself down some, trying to see if I could see him, only to see him sitting out on the screen porch. If I had a heart still it would have been beating out of my chest as I creeped around from afar.
'What if he doesn't believe me?' I tried to control my right eye from glowing purple as it attempted to comfort me, 'Then what am I going to say? How am I going to prove myself? What do I go up and say? 'Hi. You might remember me as Joanie. I'm a monster now.'' I scoffed at my own sarcasm then threw my hand up over my mouth as Chris lifted his head to look around at the noise. His hair was much longer than I remember him keeping it, his beard had grown out considerably, and I could see he had lost a good bit of weight. I had always known him to have constant dark circles under his eyes; but they looked particularly worse than I remembered them.
I took a deep breath and stood up to walk to the screen porch door. My right eye turned back into its normal color, I pulled back on my jacket to make myself less intimidating, and knocked smoothly against the door. His eyes slowly lifted onto my figure to widen in shock and I held my hands palm facing upwards in surrender. He was reaching for something in his pants pocket and I knew he was probably packing heat; so I quickly stated my reasoning for being here before he began to shoot first and ask questions later.
"Hi. I'm not here to do any harm. Chris, right?" His head bobbed up and back down slowly. I took a deep breath in and spoke slowly, "This is not going to be easy to explain. I know you won't want to believe me, but I'm Joanie."
Chris expression darkened considerably, I don't think I had ever seen him look so angry, and I flinched as he threw whatever trinket he had in his hand across onto the brick wall as it shattered. The rocking chair I loved to sit in knocked over because of how fast he got up. He seemed to be in a calm state of anger; and his face was so close to mine I started to shake.
"Joanie is dead."
"No I am not," I saw his hand raise to hit me and I grabbed hold of it with a purple aura, "And I can prove it. I met you at Woodall's when I would go and get gas after work. The first time I ever got you to try a SquirrelNutZipper it broke one of your rotted teeth out and instead of getting mad like I thought you laughed even though I felt terrible. Or how about whenever I would go over to your house after work we would lay on your bed and I would watch you play Mass Effect…"
I lifted my eyes up to look at him but immediately stopped speaking when I saw how broken he looked with tears streaming down his face. I let go of his hand and reached out to touch his face with my hand; and he flinched away cautiously.
"It's okay, if you're uncomfortable with me touching you I won't, but I won't hurt you I promise."
"What happened to you?" I looked down again and away from his face. 'I didn't think I would get this far… What do I do now? Tell him the truth, I guess.' Letting out a breath of air and motioning for him to sit down; I sat down in my favorite rocking chair while Chris waited patiently for me to explain.
I told him without holding back anything what happened. The fall into the mountain, my SOUL splitting into two, and how I had to give up my humanity to help save the liberator of the monsters from a demonic copyself. I explained how I was stuck being a monster now. I broke down crying when I talked about Grillby and how I was a fool for trusting anyone. I rubbed my eyes, but I forgot I no longer had eyes, and ended up shoving my palms into my eye sockets making me more upset.
"I don't expect your forgiveness," I sat up and held my arms out in a hug gesture, "The only thing I want is one hug and then if you want I will go away or stay."
I could tell he was considering both options; and I respected that. I wasn't sure if word had reached about the monsters being free now, so this might have been a complete shock, but mostly I was just glad he was still alive. I tried to give him a smile but it ended up looking too sad to be an actual smile.
Chris stepped towards me, bending down to my height, and lifted me up off the ground to hug me. I squeaked a bit in surprise and my whole face felt hot as his strong arms held me into a tight embrace. Before I could stop myself, I was sobbing and wailing into his shoulder, and I felt his hand rub against my spine. I would stutter out an "I'm so sorry," or an "I missed you so much," every few seconds in between hiccups and tears.
I was put down all too fast; I forced myself to stop crying as I mentally prepared myself for him to tell me to leave. His brown eyes always seemed to pierce down into my soul and right now wasn't an exception to that rule.
"I just found out that you didn't die and you think I'm going to make you leave? I mean, I'm still a whole lot of pissed off, but you have to promise me something if I let you stay."
"Anything!" I practically gasped the word in surprise. Chris hands cupped my cheek bones as he leaned down so we were face-to-face.
"You won't ever leave me like that again. Please?" I was crying again as I nodded my head. His lips pressed against my lipless mouth and when nothing happened he frowned a bit, "I don't know what I was expecting… You're a skeleton so you've got no lips."
I broke out into a laugh through my tears at his reaction. His eyes widened as my right eye glowed a bright purple color, I tipped open my mouth so he could watch the ecto-tongue form, and waggled it suggestively at him as it hung passed my fangs.
"I've got my tricks," I said as his mouth connect with mine again but this time open. I could feel his body tense when I ran my skinless phalanges through his hair, my tongue was wrapping around his, and he pulled me close with a grunt as our mouths pulled away, "I missed you so bad. I'm so glad you're okay."
"I missed you too." He was planting kisses on the top of my head and I was trying not to blush at how cute it was when I heard the meow of Osie as she rubbed against my shin bone, "Osie still loves you even if you are skeleton."
