Undertale: Long Road
By: Nathan Weaver
Chapter 11
Sprawled out comfortably on her back, Tilin looked out at the rain from beneath the bench she had taken shelter under. When the storm hit, most of the humans had crowded into little booths or store-fronts to take shelter. Being small, Tilin had plenty of room under the benches at the center of the walkway near the exit of the park. The spot was plenty dry for the time being, and it was certainly more private than any of the other spots she had seen nearby.
Yawning, Tilin quickly stretched out, working some of the kinks out of her spine before grabbing her cell from her belt-pouch. No messages back from Undyne, still. She sighed as she sat the phone face down on the cement and tried to collect her thoughts.
She was certain she'd left enough messages. I'm ready to go Undyne, I don't want to get wet Undyne, and her personal favorite, not all of us are freaking fishes Undyne! She smiled as she recalled that last message and considered leaving another, but waved away the idea. Chances were ole fishy face was just too busy with her girlfriend to notice her. Big surprise there, of course.
Sighing loudly Tilin picked up the phone and dialed up her sister. Ever reliable, Kitlin answered a mere breath after she finished dialing.
"Hello, Tilin?" a familiar warm voice asked from the other end of the line, "are you surviving this storm okay? I can come meet you if you're in trouble." Aaaand there was the mothering, in record time too. Tilin couldn't help but let out a single wearily-incredulous huff as she grinned crookedly. The way she took care of everyone, nobody would ever believe that Kitlin was actually the younger sister. They did look almost exactly like her though, save for Kitlin having the exact opposite coloration. So most people did correctly guess that they were sisters at least
"It's not like you can drive here and get me, nerd," Tilin rolled her eyes as she slowly shook her head, "you have just as much trouble reaching the pedals as I do! It'd be nice if you could meet me at the station though."
"Sure thing Ane-chan!" Tilin could practically picture her sister smiling brightly as she cheerfully said the words. "Did you have fun spending the day with your friend?"
"Oh cut the moonspeak already!" Tilin groaned into the phone, aside from the weaponry, she didn't share her sister's appreciation of all things Japanese. "And no, things didn't quite go as planned. Undyne ran into her girlfriend and well-" Tilin spread the fingers of her free hand in a sort of poofing motion as she trailed off.
"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry!" Tilin briefly glanced away from the phone as thunder rumbled off somewhere in the distance. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it!"
"It doesn't matter," Tilin sighed and tried not to be annoyed by her sister's sympathy. She knew Kitlin was trying to help, but her pity could be galling sometimes. "She's not really my friend anyway, just a co-worker. Well, not even that anymore I guess."
"It does matter!" Tilin could hear her sister pacing in circles as she spoke, it was one of her little nervous habits. "You need to move on, to make friends!" Tilin clamped her muzzle down, biting back her response. She didn't even really want friends, but was not going to have this argument with her sister again!
"It really wasn't a problem," Tilin said with a quiet chuckle, "heck, I kinda encouraged it, those two needed to work some stuff out."
"Well, that was thoughtful of you."
"Eh, you know I hate seeing things left undone," Tilin waved away the compliment with a motion of her paw as she spoke, "the whole thing was bugging me, that's all."
"Well, still," Kitlin paused for a long moment on the other end of the line, "are you certain you don't want me to come get you? I have a friend that could give me a ride."
"No!" Tilin gruffly huffed out her answer before pausing to rein herself in, "sorry, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself."
"Alright," Kitlin said uneasily, "and, I don't have to worry about you doing anything to yourself?" Tilin closed her eyes and let out a deep breath as she heard the question. She supposed she couldn't blame Kitlin for asking her this so often, given what she did.
"No," Tilin opened her eyes and stared out at the rain with empty eyes as she answered, "I promised you didn't I? I'm not going to put you through that again."
"I'm sorry for asking," Kitlin said this in a manner that immediately made Tilin picture her with that soft worn out smile she'd often wear when she felt relieved. "It's just, well you know.."
"It's fine, I know I make you worry," and I'm going to keep making you worry aren't I, Tilin rolled her eyes in disgust at the thought, go me! "Anyhow, I'll send you a message when I know when my bus will arrive."
"Sounds good sis," Kitlin answered warmly, "and remember, you better watch out for yourself, because somebody loves you!"
"I will, and love you too," Tilin answered with a shallow smile, "later dork."
Ending the call Tilin put away the phone and spent a long wordless moment staring up at the bottom of the bench she was lying beneath. For a time she found herself enjoying the quiet, the calming sound of rain upon the ground. Soon enough however, she grew impatient and quickly stretched once before rolling out from beneath her shelter. Getting to her feet Tilin flattened her ears to keep the rain out and began walking. She casually took in the gray waterlogged scenery as she moved towards the exit.
Everything looked dull, dreary, and pointless.
Frisk pushed open the door and walked into her bedroom, carrying Flowey carefully in the crook of her free arm.
For the most part, Flowey had been quiet since the incident at the park, which in turn he'd hardly been willing to talk about when asked. The most she'd been able to get out of him was something about a fight, and then he sorta just got really quiet. He'd spent most of the past few hours either staring off into space or avoiding her gaze whenever she tried asking questions.
She was getting to be really worried about Flowey actually, but everything going on with MK wasn't helping either. Nobody had known where he'd gone too after running off. His parents had apparently found him about an hour later, but, that was only after everyone had spent that hour looking for him in the rain. That had left everyone worn out, and Frisk, well she felt absolutely fried!
After carefully setting Flowey down on his table on the other side of the room, Frisk walked over to her bed and promptly flopped face down onto her pillow. The fluffy softness of her bed was heaven after the long day, even if her clothes were still damp.
Moments later Frisk felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Despite being tired, she flipped over with a slight groan of effort and fished out the device. To her relief, it was MK answering all the text's she'd sent earlier. She'd been really worried, and had probably sent him way too many messages.
Frisk quickly read the message before sitting bolt upright in bed, and swinging her legs out over the side of the bed. A part of her was suddenly grateful that she was so worn down, because she knew she'd be furious otherwise.
"You called him a, cripple!?" she emphasized the last word sharply as she turned to stare wide-eyed at the plant. Flowey just groaned loudly in response, almost like he had a stomach ache. "A cripple, really!?
"I know, I know!" Flowey grumbled out the words pitifully, "I just got angry, okay, you know I get angry-" He trailed off as he spoke, almost as if he lost either the energy or will to continue. Frisk took a deep breath and felt a tiny portion of her frustration melt away. By Flowey's standards, that was nearly an apology, but she still couldn't let it go so easily.
"And?" Frisk asked expectantly, drawing out the word as she motioned him to continue.
"And what?" he looked up and tried to glare at Frisk from across the room, but he couldn't seem to quite meet her eyes.
"Flowey," Frisk said flatly as she stared at the plant with a deadpan expression, "I know there's more to it than that! C'mon, talk to me about this!"
"Oh, and talk about what, exactly?" Flowey growled out the question like he was trying to be angry, but couldn't sustain it. It was like he was slowly deflating with each word. "What do you want to hear Frisk? That I had an epiphany, that I was racked with guilt? We both know that I can't be that way."
"That's what the medicine's for," Frisk said as she shrugged, though she didn't think for a second that Flowey hadn't felt anything earlier.
"Yeah right," Flowey said with an incredulous sneer as he turned and stared out the darkening window, "like that's going to change things one bit!"
"What do you mean?" Frisk asked and took a deep breath for patience, "Alphys says you're making great progress!"
"Well golly, if the illustrious Alphys says so it must be true!" Flowey rolled his eyes and sighed as he turned back to Frisk. "Even if I really believed that, which I don't, do you really think it'd make a difference?"
"Of course it would," Frisk said with a tilt of her head as she scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion, "why wouldn't it!?"
"Even if I did get my soul back, I'm still going to look like this!" he motioned up and down at his body, with a bitter expression on his face. "I'm going to be stuck like this forever, Frisk. If everyone's going to look at me and see a little abomination anyway, then maybe I'm better off without a soul!"
*Um, bro, from one soulless freak to another, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!
"Nobody really thinks's of you like that, Flowey," Frisk said uneasily as she leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands as she averted her gaze.
"You're a horrible liar Frisk!" Flowey said as he chuckled weakly and turned to stare back out the window again. Frisk let out a long tired breath as she tried to think. He really wasn't wrong, some of the others really were a bit put off by him. Still, she couldn't help thinking that was just an excuse, or maybe a half-truth. Either way, she didn't think there was much she could do when he was like this, and she still needed to try fixing things with MK.
"I'm going to go make a call," Frisk scooted forward and stood as she said this. "Oh, and you should probably start settling down too. We're going out with Uncle Sans and Papyrus tomorrow."
"You can count me out," Flowey said flatly as she walked towards the door, "I don't want to do this anymore!" Frisk's hand froze on the the doorknob as she turned to stare at her friend, her eye's widening slightly in growing alarm.
"What do you mean, you don't want to do this anymore?" Frisk asked tightly, though she tried not to sound worried, "do what?"
"Any of this!" Flowey answered in an incredulous frenzy as he turned to glare at Frisk. "No more outings, no more lunches, no more little check-up's, I don't even want to take that stupid medicine anymore! I just don't care Frisk, I'm sick of all of it!"
Frisk opened her mouth to reply, but she just couldn't think of what to say. The thought that he didn't care after all she'd gone through had hurt. She tried to reassure herself, to tell herself that this was just another lie, or that he was just freaking out; but that tiny sliver of doubt was already gnawing at her.
"I'm s-, look, I'm tired Frisk," Flowey said wearily, breaking the silence that had been building between them as his gaze fell back to the floor. "I just want to be alone, okay?"
"Alright," Frisk responded as she took a deep breath and looked away from Flowey, "if that's what you want. Do you need anything while I'm downstairs?"
"I'm good."
*No, no you're really not.
Nodding slowly, Frisk turned and walked out the door.
Though the sun had only just set, on the streets of Eagleton surrounded by tall buildings, it may as well have been the middle of the night. Helis took deep calming breaths and tried to relax as she leaned against a brick wall that was still damp from the recent storm. She'd only begun calming her jitters when a tin can loudly hit the ground with a clatter.
Snapping to attention she turned, expecting to find the person they were waiting for; only to see a small orange feline head peering out over the rim of a nearby dumpster. It's glinting eyes fell on her with animal curiosity.
"Kitty!" Helis beamed loudly as she pressed her hands together, and hopped up onto her tippy toes in excitement.
"As I live and breathe," Nigel said sarcastically as he grinned down at Helis from the opposite wall. "You're actually legitimately adorable, I wouldn't have believed it!"
"Shut up Nigel," Helis flushed with embarrassment as she stared down at the blackened pavement. So she had a thing for cats. She didn't see why he had to tease her about it.
"Get serious you two," Artur ordered with a weary roll of his eyes, "Helis, are you really sure this guy uses this route?"
"Yeah," Helis straightened up as she answered, "he cuts through here every workday." Though she spoke with confidence, Helis couldn't help clasping her hands together nervously. She just wasn't very comfortable with these sorts of things. Following random people around and charting their habits, just felt sinister to her. Still, given what they were up against it wasn't as if they had a choice, and it wasn't like anyone was going to get hurt.
"Ah, speak of the devil," Nigel said as he glanced down the alley-way.
Lifting her head, Helis clearly saw a feathered figure with a book-bag slowly walking towards them from the other end of the alley. Without saying a word the two younger mages gathered around Artur.
Helis reached up and tugged her hood down around her face as she took a deep breath and struggled not to show just how nervous she actually was. She could practically hear her heart beating more loudly as their hapless target approached. Helis had never done this before, hadn't even trained for it, she could only hope that things didn't go too badly.
It was around then that their target, a sort of tan-gray bird-headed monster with spectacles, seemed to notice them. Immediately he froze, his body going tense and rigid as light gleamed off his glasses. Helis couldn't blame him for being scared, she would be too if she suddenly ran into strangers in a dark alley-way like this.
Helis concentrated and surged her magic to teleport as the target turned to run. The world flashed green and her perspective suddenly shifted. Suddenly the man that had turned to flee a second earlier was skidding to a halt right in front of her. His eyes widened with panic as he realized what he was seeing.
With a loud pant, the man surged forward again. Helis stiffened and threw her arms out to brace herself, as the the bird-man crashed past her and sent her toppling to the ground. On instinct, she reached out and sunk her fingers into the fleeing bird-man's pant leg. Her small body was painfully scraped along the cold dirty pavement as the target tried to break away, but the monster's pace was all but stopped despite his efforts.
In the midst of the struggle, shadows began to dance along the walls as a half dozen figures that looked like spiny black monkeys made of fire exploded into view. The creatures let out a series of wild screeches that sounded like a fork running along a glass window, as they scurried about and surrounded the two people on the ground.
Helis scrambled backward on her hands and feet, as Nigel's creatures began slowly herding the bird-man up against the nearest wall. She knew that weak elementals like these could only follow orders, and wouldn't attack her unless directed to. Still, being surrounded by so many beasts with long pointy teeth, and dark soulless orbs for eyes, was upsetting to say the very least.
"Well, mission accomplished," said Artur with a pleased grin as he strode up towards the creatures, "and good save Sting!"
"Thanks boss!" Nigel beamed at the compliment as he walked beside Artur, "but I think I might choose a different name. Sting isn't very dignified."
"Ah, well let me know how that goes," Artur said with a sigh as he subtly rolled his eyes.
Wincing, and feeling somewhat perturbed, Helis picked herself up off the ground and carefully brushed herself off, doing her best to avoid the scrapes and cuts she'd just picked up. She knew it was childish, but she couldn't help resent not at least getting a thank you for her trouble.
"So, we have a guest I see!" Artur rubbed his hands together excitedly and approached the birdman as the pack of flaming beast's parted way. "Pardon me if I'm staring, this is actually the first time I've ever seen a monster up close."
"Uh, okay," the birdman muttered tensely as his eyes darted around in a vain attempt to see everything at once. "Why, are you doing this?!"
"Ah, a very good question," Artur slowly nodded as he said this. "To be honest, I really do understand, this must be distressing for you." Narrowing his eyes in thought, Artur stared off into the distance for a moment before letting out a quiet chuckle and looking back at his captive.
"Your people understand the appeal of freedom, right?" as he said this Artur reached out and clasped his hand atop the terrified man's shoulder, as if he were a close friend. The poor man nearly jumped out of his skin at the contact. "You were all trapped for a thousand years, but you never gave up on freedom. I rather admire all of you for that."
Artur smiled regretfully and slowly shook his head as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small black cylinder that was covered entirely with what looked like celtic knotwork.
"But, that that doesn't really answer your question now, does it." The object clicked with a flick of Artur's fingers and a long ivory white needle shot out from the tip with an audible spine-tingling snap of bone sliding against metal. "You see, you have something we need," as he said this Artur clamped his hand down hard on his victim's shoulder, holding him firmly in place as he brought the needle up towards his chest.
"Harvester," the birdman blurted the word out between panicked breaths as he stared in wide-eyed terror at the artifact. Artur froze and tilted his head in disbelief as he stared at the man pinned to the wall.
"You know about these!?" Artur asked incredulously as he emphasized the object with a motion of his wrist.
Helis lifted her eyebrows in surprise. As far as she knew, not only had harvesters not been used in over a thousand years, but there shouldn't be more than a few intact one's left anywhere. There used to be more of course. Harvesting core magic and selling it to humans had been one of monster-kind's most valuable exports. After all, a single dose of core magic could turn an ordinary person into a magic user. For apprentices like themselves, it'd both instantly speed up their development, and boost their total magical potential. Understandably however, monsters were reluctant to sell Harvesters to humans.
"Please, it won't work!" the birdlike monster pleaded shakily as he began to sob, "humans can't use-"
Artur's hand snapped around the monster's neck in a blur, choking off his words as he lifted the man clear off the ground. Helis jerked in alarm and stared wide-eyed at her leader in shock. She knew Artur could use magic to make himself stronger as well, but she hadn't expected this outburst.
"I know, this is very scary for you!" Artur said the words calmly as he brought the needle up to the struggling monsters chest. He ignored the monster's fists and they pounded and clawed at his arm uselessly. "But you'll be fine, I promise!"
"Boss," Helis said with a frightened quaver, "maybe we sho-"
Without waiting, Artur swiftly pushed the needle hilt deep into the man's chest, piercing him like an over-ripe fruit. The man convulsed as the needle sunk into him and he let out a shuddering gasp of pain as his eyes rolled back into his skull. Suddenly his body seemed to sink in upon itself and lose all color, becoming an ash white statue for a split second before crumbling to dust beneath Artur's fingers and falling to the ground in a heap, along with the monsters empty clothes.
For a long moment, no one in the alley muttered a word. Helis opened her mouth, but couldn't even begin to think of what to say. She felt cold, her mind had gone numb, and everything seemed to be swaying around her.
"It didn't work then?" Nigel asked in a tight curt manner, sounding more like a kid that hadn't found the prize in a cereal box, than somebody that had just witnessed a murder.
"No, no I'm afraid it didn't," Artur sighed sadly as he bent down and examined the monster's dust. "I guess we're just going to have to try again."
"Thought so," Nigel added in the same tone as earlier as he turned and stormed off.
Overwhelmed, Helis took a few steps towards the opposite wall and leaned forward, resting her hands against it as she waited for the world the stop spinning.