Septenary 11
Author Note: In a possibly surprising turn of events, I am not dead! I am sincerely sorry for the eleven month absence (because holy heck eleven months), but I shouldn't be taking such a massive break any longer if things go anywhere near as planned. You see, I graduated high school in May, and began college after a very busy and lovely summer. Unfortunately, my first college was absolutely horrendous, and I ended up transferring after the first sixteen week period. Now I'm commuting from home and already feeling much, much happier than I was beforehand, so updates and writing are to be anticipated going forward. I can't promise no more breaks will occur, but I'll at least try to give you lovelies a heads up before any more major life changes occur.
To those who have been around this project of mine since the beginning, I am sincerely grateful you're still here and still supporting me despite my sudden vanishing. To those of you who are new, thank you for reading the story up until this point! I'll do my best to keep your interest, as things are really getting interesting now and the Underground is getting more and more impacted by the presence of seven human souls at once.
Without much further ado, enjoy this long overdo update! :)
MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS: Mentions of intended child sexual abuse, depiction of child abuse, implication of attempted suicide
Akin didn't blame Micah for holding on to Frisk more tightly now. He couldn't say confidently that he had anyone he'd completely lose his shit over losing. Even Della, who was his closest confidante since their adventure began, wasn't close enough to destroy him if she died.
"That is a load, Bandanna. You care about all of them a lot, even if you don't want to acknowledge it."
'Of course I care about them,' he sharply responded internally. 'I'm not sure it'd make me lose my mind like Micah over there.'
"Whatever you say, buddy. The thought of death weights heavy on your mind now, and you are certain you won't let it happen again so easily. You are filled with bravery."
Adeline was glued to his side as always, her hands clasped in front of her middle like they always were when she was nervous. Frisk's state was admittedly making him nervous as well- she looked like she'd come back from the dead, even more so than when she actually did regenerate. Now that he had time to think about more, he wondered more and more exactly how she managed to that. When humans died, at least Above, they were gone for good, and they certainly didn't have their SOUL pop out of them with no corpse to be seen. He knew things worked extremely differently Underground, but things like SAVE files and the battle mechanics still didn't make absolute sense out of context. He'd participate if it meant getting answers later and fulfill the nagging sense he was meant to do something important, but this whole ordeal felt like he was playing some kind of messed up video game that gambled with his and the others' lives.
"More than you know, kid. More than you know."
"Will you get out of my head?!" He demanded aloud, so strongly and suddenly that it made everyone else jump and Maria gasp fearfully while throwing her arms out to the side, as if to shield everyone else. "If you aren't going to give us answers, then just SHUT UP!"
"Are you talking to Narrator?" Micah snapped, his face twisted into a mixture of anger and sorrow. "Because you can talk to them in your head and not scare the rest of us half to death!"
He winced immediately after saying 'death', his grip noticeably tightening around Frisk's legs from where she was riding on his back. The younger boy's instinct was to scream even louder in response to the older's snarkiness, but he stopped himself before Adeline could begin pleading for them to be nice and get along in this trying, terrifying time, which she did. If he'd ever had anyone as intensely loyal and loving toward him as Frisk had been for all those years to his purple companion, he knew very well he'd been acting the same and worse.
"Look, I'm sorry," he admitted after Adeline got off her soapbox. "I know...I know you're not trying to be an asshole. Let's just get somewhere to restore our HPs, okay?"
Micah looked taken aback for a moment but sighing softly, even mustering the ghost of a smile in response. "Okay."
The fog was finally gone as they all emerged into a new area, and the ground immediately squished down in response to his weight. This new area of this strange world seemed to more to do with water than snow if this room was any judgement, and the temperature was drastically warmer, which he appreciated. Almost immediately, everyone paused to begin stripping out of the layers they'd previously applied. Most of them dropped the clothes immediately to the damp ground only to immediately be grabbed, folded, and stored into either the bag on Maria's back by Adeline. He gave her a small smile in encouragement, patting her shoulder softly before squinting to look further out.
"It's kind of dark in here," he noted, then decided he couldn't help his urge to childishly tease. "None of you sissies are scared of the dark, are you?"
"I thought you learned to keep your irrelevant comments to yourself only minutes ago, but evidently I was wrong," Oswald responded coldly. Before Akin could even think of a comeback, though, the expression on his face turned even more stoic (if it was possible) and he sealed his lips more tightly.
'Thanks, Narrator,' he thought with a small, sheepish grin.
No response. Even if he did mean his apology before, they really were a sassy brat for actually listening to his earlier childish demand. Maybe he deserved it, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"Oh thank goodness!" Micah exclaimed as they emerged into the newest room, completely ignoring the skeleton at his sentry station and running to the SAVE star, carefully setting Frisk on the ground before hurrying both of their hands onto it.
Immediately Frisk looked much more energized, and even though they all expected it, the relief in the group was obvious as they made their way up to do the same. Upon further examination, it was clear to Akin that more serious injuries, like the scrapes across her body and the residue coating her body, weren't immediately remedied because of her HP being full, but that okay by him. After all, being a little dirty never hurt anyone, and scars, scratches and bruises made you look tough!
"I wonder if we could bathe in that river in the next room..." Adeline wondered aloud as her own HP was restored and the file WATERFALL CHECKPOINT flashed and saved above. "I know the water was moving, but I think we could keep our footing if it's not too deep..."
"I doubt it," Micah replied, his demeanor very clearly more relaxed now that everyone, particularly his best friend, was taken care of. "Didn't you see those massive ice blocks floating down it? Even if it was shallow enough, we'd probably freeze to death before we were actually clean."
"Besides, a little dirt and grime never hurt anybody!" He chimed him with a grin and another shoulder clasp to his smaller friend.
"Except we probably smell bad," she sighed and gripped her hands even tighter. "And probably look awful, but you are right...Maybe we can find something better later on. We are in a place called 'Waterfall' now."
"I'd still give anything for some of Toriel's plumbing now, though," Maria said wistfully. "And I'd do just about anything for a slice of her warm pie right now."
"I could totally flop down in front of her fireplace and sleep for at least three days," Adeline agreed with the same longing expression. "And one of her hugs would make everything feel so much better."
"I doubt she'd want us back in the state we're in," Oswald rebuked wearily, but it was clear, at least to him (and if it was clear to him, he was positive it was to the others as well), that he wanted to see and stay with her again just as badly as the rest to them.
"Of course she would!" Maria immediately argued, her expression not unkind as she grabbed her friend's hands and gave them a light squeeze. "Toriel never cared about what we looked like, or how we acted, or anything we'd ever done. She...She actually loved us, totally unconditionally."
"That's what you think." His fellow ten year old was sticking to his point, but by his defeated expression and tentative hopefulness in his gaze, he knew- or at least really wanted to know- that she was right.
"I think we can pretty confidently say we all know that," Micah interjected. "She never gave us reason to not believe so. She'd welcome us back now with open arms."
"Only because of Beatrice." Akin really, really hated to agree with the solemn boy, but he'd held onto his wariness despite everything; it was how he'd learned to survive up until this point, so he wasn't releasing it so easily.
Maria's expression altered now, her shoulders drooping as she said, "Yes, that is true..."
"But it doesn't matter!" Adeline declared with surprising energy, her small hands grabbing Maria's and holding them tightly. "Toriel loves us no matter what we have thought or will think about her! Even if Beatrice changed her mind about letting us come back whenever and however, she still has the offer out, so it's okay!"
They were all silent for a moment before Micah slowly nodded, his hands securing over Frisk's shoulders protectively. "I mean...I'd be pretty devastated if Beatrice and Frisk ever went out and only one of them came back."
"Why don't we call her?" Maria suggested with a look of realization flashing across her face. "We still have that phone she gave us, and her number is still saved!"
All of them quickly gathered around her as she pulled up the contact and pressed the call button. Even Akin found himself holding his breath as the tone sounded three, four, five times, and he was the first to scoff in frustration was there was no answer. Even the Narrator didn't have anything initially to comment as all six of them stared at the small device in Maria's hand, the surprise of her not picking up hit them all right in their hearts.
"Maybe she just has really bad reception? We are pretty far away now..." Poor Della had barely gotten her statement out before Oswald angrily kicked the soggy ground beneath them, dirt and grass flying outward as he stomped away from their huddle.
"She found out!" He stated in almost growl, and Akin had to wonder if he was trying to hold back tears. "She somehow found out I offed Frisk, and she hates me now. Hell, she might hate all of us if she thinks any of you helped or let it happen!"
"That's not true!" Adeline surprisingly shouted back, her tears freely forming her eyes. "She loves us, just like Maria said! Maybe she's just busy!"
"With what?" Oswald demanded coldly, his fists jamming into his eyes and jerking back down in one motion. "Managing Beatrice? I seriously doubt it."
"Hey!" He shouted himself, his fists tightening at his sides subconsciously and stepped in the center of their broken semi-circle. "She doesn't hate us and she probably doesn't know! Even if she did, she wouldn't just ignore us like that, so let's just forget it and keep going!"
"How conveniently you suddenly want to take Adeline's side," Oswald responded coldly, but his expression drooped and lowered when he sent the most menacing glare he could in his direction.
It wasn't a matter of taking his friend's side over everyone else's, no matter what his fellow preteen thought. He desperately wanted to believe that the girls were right and that it was merely a coincidence that Toriel didn't pick up, and he'd decided to ignore all the other possibilities until and if they were irrefutably blown out of the water. To distract himself from the bubbling doubt in his stomach, he marched over to the Sans and crossed his arm, giving him the toughest expression he could muster.
"What are you doing here?" He sneered. "Shouldn't you be back in Snowdin with your brother? Y'know, the one who nearly offed Frisk a second time?"
The skeleton's expression unsurprisingly didn't change, but it was still annoying when he was sure he'd made an impact with his demand. "what, can't a guy have more than one job? something has to pay the bills at grillby's. speaking of which, i'm on break and about to head there now. anybody wanna come?"
If he was on break, why was he just standing there while all of them argued? The boy with the bandanna knew the monster before him was extremely lazy and had no problem falling asleep standing up, but he was probably just getting his kicks by listening to their conflicts within themselves. Either that or he really was that lazy to move and wasn't listening, but he doubted that.
"We just left Snowdin!" He exclaimed while making sure his expression didn't falter. "You think we want to go back with your shady ass?!"
"technically, kid, i only have a tailbone." The older monster was completely unfazed by his attempts, which only made him more irritated. "so he's out of the question. what about the rest of you? you look hungry. could probably go for a burger or something, and grillbz makes the best in town. what d'ya say?"
"We do still need to eat, or at least we should..." Maria said carefully. "Maybe I should go and bring you all back something?"
"I'd offer to go with you, but I'm not going anywhere with him," Oswald replied with a small sigh. "Somebody should go with you just in case, though. The rest of us can figure out where we can camp out in the meantime, okay?"
Akin honestly expected her to be offended, or at least a little hurt, by the notion her so-called best friend was refusing to go with her and protect her, but she actually seemed more relieved by the smile and nod she gave him. Was she somehow implying that she only trusted the rest of them when he was around? The thought made his blood boil. That jerk was the one that literally killed Frisk!
"Frisk says she'll go with you." And just as soon as they'd left, the Narrator was back in their heads. "She says she feels perfectly fine and is the most experienced with the skeleton brothers if things go haywire."
"After all that happened to you, you want to be anywhere this weirdo?" He demanded before Micah could get over his alarm. "Shit, I'll go before you have to after everything you've been through."
"Akin's right!" Micah sputtered immediately after, his arms wrapping around her protectively. "I'm not letting anything happen to you ever again and I don't want you out of my sight!"
From there, Akin had no idea what she said, as she was signing and the Narrator wasn't translating it aloud for the rest of them, but the older boy's expression drooped as he began signing back quickly. Before he could even guess what the hell they were saying, Frisk had turned her back to her companion and was walking with Maria's hand in tow toward Sans. Poor Micah looked more in shock than anything else, so he wasn't surprised that Adeline was the rest to go up to him and place a comforting hand on his back.
"She'll be okay," he heard her saying quietly. "She's really strong."
"don't worry kiddos, i'll have them back in no time," Sans commented, and he was sure he'd wink if he could. "come on, i know a shortcut."
And just like that they were gone, vanished into thin air, and Akin was positive that the skeleton was powerful enough to transport. He wasn't sure if that impressed him more or concerned him, but for the time being, he was dying to know what Frisk had said to shut Micah up.
"Trust me, it wasn't nearly as shitty as what you might have said, but she put him in his place."
'Then why can't you just tell me what it was?' He demanded internally, quickening his pace to bypass Oswald, who was now heading toward the next room.
Silence. They really were a cheeky bastard.
Teleportation was cool.
After the experiences she'd had already had with another monster who could do it,Maria was surprised to find herself returning Frisk's small grin once the cold air of Snowdin hit them once more. Together they walked over the short skeleton, both releasing a small, unanimous sigh of relief when the warm atmosphere of Grillby's began to thaw their freezing skin. The diner was surprisingly full wide a wide cast of characters, all of which greeting Sans like he was an old friend and regular patron, which he'd already proven to be.
"heya grillbz," Sans greeted the bartender separately, who had a humanoid body other than his head being exclusively flame and glasses.
"Hello," Grillby responded casually, not looking up from polishing his glass. "Weren't you just in here for a late breakfast?"
"nah, i haven't had breakfast in at least a half hour," the skeleton responded with his usual humor. "you must be thinking of brunch."
At once all of the other patrons laughed, which Sans received when his huge grin and his hands up in a comedic fashion. Maria rolled her eyes immediately and climbed up onto a bar stool, looking for a menu and looking to the barkeep sheepishly when she didn't find one.
"I can make almost anything you'd like as long as it will be paid," he noted politely, still not looking up from his cleaning.
"I see," she said quickly from her waning social anxiety. "C...can I have...Um...A milkshake...?"
"A milkshake and a burger," the flaming monster muttered to himself before looking to Sans and Frisk, who were about to sit down themselves. "And yourselves?"
Maria quickly caught the nude whoopee cushion on the bar stool her companion was about to seat herself on and swiftly removed it, dropping it in the seat on the other side of her seat and frowning hard to the comedic skeleton. He simply chuckled and told them that 'sometimes weirdos liked to put them in the seat', then ordered two orders of fries for himself and Frisk. Grillby nodded and walked behind a door that read "Fire Exit", when nearly made the teenager scoff aloud at the stupid, persistent pun.
"so..." Their host drawled after a few moments of awkward silence. "what do you think of my brother?"
Frisk gave a double thumbs up and a nod, to which the other replied, "yeah, he is pretty cool. i'd be cool too if i wore armor like his."
"Why did you want to bring us here?" The elder girl asked before he could come up with anything else sarcastic and 'funny' to say. "I figured you tolerated us because we were entertaining your brother. Why are you helping us now?"
"geez, kid, not everyone in the world is out here to hurt you," the skeleton replied before pausing in thought. "well, most monsters are, and i can't really speak for humans, but that's still not everyone."
"It's extremely hard to find anybody without personal motives to help," she persisted flatly. "Good people are only people who do things to better themselves with better spoken intentions. Why did you bring us here?"
Almost on cue, Grillby returned with three plates of burgers on one arm and a milkshake topped with whipped cream in the other. "let's eat up before we continue pointing fingers, hm? either of you want ketchup?"
Frisk shook her head and picked up the burger, which was practically oozing with grease, and lightly squeezed it to drain it. Maria followed by example and shot the skeleton a sideways glance when he began chugging the ketchup, but otherwise at her food and drank the milkshake. Said milkshake tasted more artificial than anything, and she could see the powder thinly mixed in with the snow and ice, but mixing it more vigorously made it tolerable enough to down.
Sans was telling her comrade some story about his brother's attempts to join the "Royal Guard", but she couldn't be bothered to listen. Even if she was the one who volunteered to come, she still didn't trust this guy, and being away from the others made her anxious. After all, how could she protect them when she was a full town's length away?
"so i wanted to ask you something." Suddenly his eye sockets were boring right into her, and it made her blood run cold. "have you ever heard of talking flower?"
Shit. He knew about that Flowey creep, and by how intense his gaze was, he didn't like him.
"Yes," she admitted as calmly as she could. "But you should know that I don't want anything to do with that deviant."
"so you know all about the echo flower," he said, but his gaze didn't change. "they're all over the marsh. you say something to them, and they repeat it over and over. so what about it? papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery...advice...predictions. weird, huh? i bet someone is using an echo flower to play tricks on him. what d'ya think? i'd keep an eye out if you were you."
"I don't know exactly what an echo flower is," she stated with a frown. "But I know of a talking flower that doesn't repeat anything. He's bright yellow, and he calls himself 'Flowey'. He's really off-putting and seems like he could be dangerous. I'd keep Papyrus away from him if I were you."
Something bizarre happened when she finished speaking. Sans's eye sockets, or more specifically one of them, unmistakably flashed with an electric burst of energy, one that seemed as beautiful as it was frightening. She and Frisk shot each other a surprised look at once, but when they turned their attention back to their mysterious escort, he looked as thought nothing had changed from when they first entered the diner.
"well isn't that something," he mused lethargically before rising to his feet. "welp, this is been a really long break. i can't believe you let me get away from my work so long."
Was he seriously not going to address whatever the hell just happened with his eyes? She jumped up herself and stepped in front of him before he could fully walk away, placing her hands on her hips and narrowing his eyes.
"Your eye socket just glowed," she said bluntly. "And you're just going to walk and make light of it? We could be talking about a serious threat here!"
Despite her snapping, it was clear that he'd put a cap over the emotions he'd temporarily shown, and he simply shrugged when she finished. "sounds like a person problem for you seven. i'll keep an eye socket on papyrus, but i have a job to get to. also, i'm kind of broke. you two can foot the bill, right? it's only 10,000 G."
"Absolutely not!" She yelped. Did they even have 100?!
"just kidding," he responded with a chuckle. "grillz, put it on my tab."
He stepped behind her, but once she turned, he'd vanished once again. The young teen was still fuming as she ordered burgers for the other four, but she was equally disturbed he'd referred to the fact that there were seven humans in the Underground in total. As far as he should know, there had only ever been six of them, but this was solid proof he knew much more than he was letting on.
"Frisk wants to know if you're alright, and who this talking flower is."
She didn't want to tell the younger girl. How would she ever justify the fact the little creep would appear and encourage her and Oswald to give in to their 'urges' to commit genocide? She certainly wouldn't trust her if she ever said- well, signed- something like that, so why would the same be anything different in reverse?
"His name is Flowey," she admitted carefully. "And he says some really shady stuff. He wants us to do bad things."
"You know his true intentions but want to spare Frisk from the naked truth. You are filled with integrity."
Without The Narrator, Frisk just looked concerned and a bit confused, but she grabbed her hand nevertheless and squeezed it in a reassuring way. Maria had no idea what the reaction would've been if she exposed that 'us' merely included herself and Ozzy, but she now certain this was for the best. She'd never give in to that jerk's command, so it didn't matter if she wasn't baring all.
"Frisks says you should hurry back so the food doesn't get too cold."
"H-how much do we owe you?" The eldest asked Grillby nervously after nodding to their companion. "We don't have much, but we can at least give you a little-"
"Sans likes to exaggerate," Grillby interupted with a shake of his head. "It will be 65 G for everything."
They had it, so the teenager quickly handed it over and dropped a couple in the tip jar before hurrying outside with her junior. They made it back to the area they'd been once before within a minute or so, where the other four were sitting on the damp ground. All of them, particularly Akin, looked extremely bored, but the way their faces lit up when they saw the two of them made her feel happy.
"Finally, some food!" Akin announced and tore into his burger without draining it, sending grease cascading down his shirt, but he was obviously too occupied to care.
The other three were more mindful with theirs, and Oswald gave a small, barely audible sigh when she sat beside him. "There was nothing beyond here other than a small room with mushrooms. That might be a good place to camp we need it next, but the next room was dark and muggy, so we just came back and decided to wait up. For the record, it was my idea to do so."
"Thank you," she replied sincerely and gave his hand a tight squeeze before lowering her voice. "I mentioned Flowey to Sans."
He snapped his head to look at her fully, his eyes wide and blazing at once. "You did what?" He hissed.
"He already knew about him!" She hissed back and tightened her grip on his limb. "He mentioned a talking flower, and not just the ones that are apparently already around this place. Why could could've come from lying?"
"You'd be surprised if you'd ever do it," he grumbled.
His grumpiness was getting her nerves, which was frankly unusual; she'd adjusted herself to his demeanor over the years, so she decided she must just be exhausted. She merely rolled her eyes in response and brought her knees to her chest, listening silently as Akin complained about the rocks that knocked him down a stream onto a moving set of stairs and Adeline mentioned how the mushrooms lit up when touched. Seeing an echo flower in this area quite frankly unnerved her, but she decided not to uproot it or even strike up a conversation with the monster standing beside it, just in case it triggered a FIGHT. With the mood she was in, that was the very last thing she needed.
"So do we want to rest?" She finally said when everyone had finished their food and wiped their faces on the insides of their shirts. "Oswald mentioned there was a room we could do so in. Maybe that would be a good idea before braving the rest of the marsh."
"Yes, that would be good," Adeline agreed. "It's a little hot in there, though..."
"We can handle it!" Akin assured immediately, helping her up to her feet, and Maria was surprised by how it made her smile; they would make a really cute couple one day.
As suggested, they made their way behind the rushing waterfall and avoided the rushing, reappearing rocks by running like their lives depended on it when they were in sight. She found herself taking off her tutu, an old thing she'd been gifted with when she was much younger that she'd been wearing since entering Snowdin's forest, and folding it to make a pillow. Rather than immediately dozing off, she sat upright and made sure the five others had layed down properly and curled up around the admittedly tiny space and begun to make sounds to indicate slumber. For the first time since they'd fallen, Oswald slept on the other side of the room, and she found herself appreciating it.
If Flowey showed up here, she knew she'd fight him, and she realized with a sick pang in her stomach she'd do anything to win against the creep who was succeeding in isolating her more than ever. Because of this knowledge, she forced herself to lay and fall into a nightmare-filled sleep just to feel one last sense of normality.
Chara wasn't looking forward to meeting the captain of the Royal Guard, and while they weren't going to spoil that just yet to the others and scare them, they were positive none of them would, either.
They didn't understand Monster Kid's admiration of her. She was a brute at best and a headstrong beast of a bully at worst; why did he see her as some kind of hero? No human had fallen down since themselves, and yet she insisted she protected all of the Underground and would never die to someone like a human. Of course she wanted to free monsterkind- everyone under the Surface did- but what made her so certain she could? If anything, they hoped she'd spare the lives of these young creatures fast asleep in the marsh; they of all humankind deserved it, which was a lot coming from them.
The nightmares that plagued their partner now were disturbing, too disturbing to focus on now. All they saw sweeping across the young preteen's mind were images of their prospective parents walking away, muttering about how they were a 'mute freak' and how 'that was too much to handle.' These memories gave way to images of a hideous middle-aged woman with several lines and squinty eyes beating them bloody with a belt or her shoe, screaming at them to act normally and stop bringing shame to the orphanage.
Where they decided to block out the window of memory is when the reoccurring one of a man Frisk's subconscience referred to as 'Pop', where he ushered all of the children at the orphanage and offering to allieve their 'monthly retribution' by performing vaguely sexual acts on them. Frisk refused every single time, which lead to them being whipped until they passed out from blood loss or forced to scream by the obese main putting half his weight on their head or neck.
As soon as they reached the Surface, Chara was going to make that bastard pay, even if they had to take over their companion's body to do it.
The memories left them shaking despite not having a physical form and watching over their younger friend until the shivering subsided. The others were completely passed out as well, and despite what may be their better judgement, they decided to check out their dreams and nightmares. It would hopefully at least put some of their behavior into context, and if not, at least they'd see the demons they kept locked inside their heads. In contrast to what many Surface movies portrayed, they hadn't had a "heart to heart" about their pasts, possible because they already knew all that wanted or needed about each other, so they'd have to extract that information themselves.
Akin's head was full of haze and anger pulsing through his entire being. All of the memories of the Underground were shown through a red, internal haze, one that they weren't sure had more to do with fury for their circumstances or sadness for what they kept losing. Every time Oswald was shown, the haze increasing, and they noticed the preteen rolled over aggressively every time. The sadness was potent with all of the other children, even Micah; the only exception was Adeline, who he viewed in a pink, soft light. She was clearly important to him, even more so than the others, and that didn't surprise them in the least. Eventually, his conscience was going to have to catch up with his brutally honest subconscience. It was only a matter of time.
Micah's mind was a maze of calculations that made Chara's non-coperal head hurt. All they could see were probabilities and possibly ties, and he kept going back to a map of the Underground he'd obviously been working on for ages. Frisk's SOUL was a reoccurring symbol as well, dark red and glowing dimly as he held in his hand. They watched as Beatrice appeared and began to play with the SOUL, and the screaming and crying going on inside his conscience made them retreat quickly before it got any worse. Obviously that kid had a lot of insecurity and didn't feel confident about anything that had happened, but at least he cared deeply about their youngest former party member and their partner. That had to account for something to him eventually, right?
Moving along the edge of the room, they looked into Oswald's. The images were far, far from pleasant- the memory of shooting Frisk, over and over, watching her SOUL emerge and the body completely disappear. He kept running away, screaming at Maria to leave him alone, and meeting up with an oh-so familiar golden flower, only to rip him out of the ground and keep moving. His dream self was constantly being yanked away from he reached the dark unknown of the rest of the Underground, but the implications of what he wanted to do after that were clear to them. They decided to move on.
Poor Adeline had the clearest conscience of theirs. Her dreams were full of repetitive things, like making a recipe carefully. By her side was an older man, one that looked an awful lot like her, who instructed her gently in Toriel's voice. It didn't make a lot of sense, but it did them good to see how positively they associated Toriel in their subsconcious. Perhaps if they ever met again, she wouldn't leave their mother along again.
Maria, they decided, was worse than Frisk in the dream department.
The initial images weren't too terrible. They'd evidently begun looking in the middle of a memory, one where Maria's dream self was sitting around a table and chatting with a woman and two female toddlers. She continued trying to talk, but her words came out silently, and her mother didn't respond other than to ask her to pass a condiment or plate. It changed very quickly after that, showing the familiar golden flower again taunting her, saying that 'genocide is what she wanted, just turn them all to dust, Ballerina'. She kept denying it, of course, but he just chuckled and did something unpreditented- he showed her exactly what the destruction of the Underground looked like, with dust and silence everywhere. It sincerely disturbed the first fallen human how much the silence in comparison to the previous chaos and danger seemed to please the teenager before she let out a real scream and her eyes snapped open.
"Holy-!" Akin screeched in response, jumping to his feet and looking around wildly before realizing there was no sentient threat. "God, Maria, what the hell?"
The eldest member of the party stared at him, wide-eyed and shaking, slowly sat back down and shook her head wordlessly before managing words again. "I...Just had a really bad nightmare. I'm sorry I scared you, you can go back to sleep."
Chara anticipated the brave soul to do as she requested, but he simply shook his head and walked to sit beside her. "Don't worry about it, I think I'm done sleeping now. Are...Are you okay?"
She nodded, but it was clear to both of them she was fibbing very, very poorly. It did please the ghost to see him sitting with her, discussing how he was excited to go 'kick monster ass' and how she was doing a great job leading. Though it didn't completely remove the shaken look from the girl's face, she did smile and bump his shoulder good-naturedly when he let a curse word slip out.
"Watch your tongue," she teased.
"You're not my real mom!" He rebuked with a small grin, a very small grimace passing over his face before he looked to the others. "I'm honestly surprised your scream didn't wake them up. They must really be tired."
"Agreed," she said slowly, touching his hand lightly. "You know, Akin...I really value having you along right now."
His eyes widened. "You do?"
She nodded eagerly, her hand engulfing his completely and giving it a small squeeze. "You're brave, a lot more than I would be without your determined attitude. I know that they look up to you, even if they don't always agree with you. You're a good person, Akin."
A small blush dusted his cheeks, but he still grinned. "Thank you. You are too, you know...You're a lot better than Oswald, that's for sure. I mean, I know you like him or whatever, but he did kill Frisk. That's pretty messed up."
She pressed her lips together, and for a moment, the small ghost wondered if she'd admit what she'd seen in her dream. "He's not a bad person, I promise you. He's just...hard to reach. Sometimes I am too, so please don't judge him too hard, okay?"
He didn't look like he believed her, but he did nod and lean back against the damp, squishy wall. "I trust you. I don't think I've ever seen you actually lie, after all."
The power and urges that lurked inside the oldest female concerned Chara, if only a little bit. They knew they weren't necessarily the epitome of all that was good and trusting, and the power and EXP that radiated off of Oswald didn't empower their potential quite like Maria's hidden did. Whatever these children, especially Frisk, did would affect how they guided them and showed them how to survive. If even a fraction of them began to kill, that would be the undoing of all the compassion they'd seen so far, and they'd give way to their own desires. Maria reminded them more of themselves than even Frisk did, and they weren't sure how to feel.
"So what made you scream?" The boy with an orange soul asked, bringing their thoughts back to the present.
"I just...saw nothing, and then there was this person. They looked like Frisk, but taller, and with a different outfit, and they had this ridiculously creepy expression of their face," she admitted, and they were surprised at how genuine she sounded. "Like they didn't have eyes. It was unnerving."
"You saw them, too?" Akin yelped.
Oops. Perhaps they still had things to learn as well.
