Arcadian Rhythms

by D3stiny-Sm4sher

"Everything can be hacked. And everyone." - "You should be smiling, too. Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy? You're going to be free." - Multi-fandom modern AU supernatural crime drama story. Inspired by 'The Wolf Among Us,' 'Stranger Things,' 'Mr. Robot.' - Horizon: Zero Dawn, Undertale, Overwatch, Life is Strange, Night in the Woods, Oxenfree, VA-11 HALL-A, Pyre, and more.

14. Episode 14

Arcadian Rhythms
(by Desma 'Destiny-Smasher' Fettig)

Episode 14

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Olivia was leaned up against the glass counter, awaiting her contact to finish up office work in that cramped back room. Liv's lab coat was still in her car, and she'd just tossed on her jacket over her work shirt. Despite the absolute insanity she'd dealt with at the Aperture lab, Liv still wasn't allowed to rest, to sleep, to take any kind of a fucking break. She needed to get the ball rolling on dealing with a potential threat, she needed to touch base with her crew, she still needed to work out technicalities to help Oracle deal with her crew's problems, plus she had to make sure her damn tracks were still being covered up, not to mention that-

Wait, what?

She had a Peek-A-Boo.

It was this messaging app where when you received a message, as soon as you looked at it, a timer would start counting own – once the timer was up, the message auto-deleted. Typically these lasted only a few seconds. Sombra used it frequently when dealing with people higher up the food chain than her – it was a good safety measure when it came to her line of work.

But why the hell was she getting a Boo sent to 'haunt' her right there and then?
She was almost afraid to read it, given everything going on.

But, as expected, her curiosity was entirely too thirsty, and she soaked up those droplets of information immediately, like a desperate traveler lost in a desert. Only it felt more like guzzling potent drops of cactus juice instead of refreshing oasis water.

( From: Unknown )-
( Your Master wishes to see you. )-
( Tonight, Midnight. Address to follow. )-
( Don't be late. )-

Fucking A.

Now Sheik wanted to see her, too?! On top of everything else? Sombra couldn't even remember the last time she'd even laid eyes on Sheik. Years ago. Still didn't even know what they looked like beneath the mask. Collectively referred to as the Sheikah, they were one of the world's biggest covert activist groups, and Sheik was their leader. They were a fucking ghost, no one outside of their inner circle met with them, not in person, not unless they deemed it necessary. And with Sombra, despite years of service, diligent back and forth, Sheik had only called for her presence once. Damn, it must've been...what, since back when Sombra had first arrived in Arcadia, when their deal had been struck. Sheik didn't have the time to see someone like Sombra, anyway. Why arrange a meeting so suddenly? Was this because of her Black Mesa heist causing problems? Had she been ratted out? Was everything Sombra was doing still not enough for Sheik?! Arrghh...-!

Sombra was feeling lost, swimming in uncertain questions of panic. But she in a public place, and didn't even have the time to waste on panicking. So Olivia hid 'Sombra' back in her own little shadow for a bit. She needed to slow herself down for a moment. A drink. A damn drink was what she needed, and she didn't even have the time to get one. What kind of line of work was worth pursuing if you couldn't even afford the time to drink?

Fuck, what did Sheik want with her, anyway?! No way they were suddenly going to cut her loose, not after a day like that. What if they were upset with her somehow...? What if-?!

Breathe.
Olivia needed to breathe. Calm down. Relax.
Hit 'pause' on everything.
She clutched her phone against her waist, closed her eyes, and tried to meditate.

That delightfully organized chaos of Flynn's Arcade was soothing to Olivia's ears not unlike a campfire or the ocean's waves might be to others.

Buttons clicking.
Joysticks clacking.
Compressed audio clips,
familiar chimes and jingles,
whirring and bleeping,
all mixed together in a smoothie of chaotic sound for the earholes.

A few moments of peace through chaos were interrupted by a 'whoosh' of air against her – some punk had whipped right on by, but she'd kept her eyes shut, eager to avoid any unnecessary social contact, struggling to focus on the forest, not any single tree.

Things were going to be fine.
Olivia was still on track.
Sombra could still do this.
The Sheikah still needed Sombra.
FutureGadget still needed Olivia.
Los Muertos was a solid crew.
The Plan was sound.
Juggling this double-life was still going to work.

She just had to keep it together a while longer.

But there was so much shit going on in Arcadia that night. Whatever had happened with that 'power source,' the root component all of those crazy scientists were tinkering with – the 'Anomaly,' they called it – it had caused some problems. There'd been a brownout during Olivia's trip from the research facility to the arcade. Some kind of insane thing had happened at City Hall – the building was a mess, and swarming with the fuzz. Her phone service was being spotty, and apparently the Internet was down at their house, based on how Hana had been bitching to her about it, like it was on her to fix it some how. Liv couldn't get a hold of Sandra, or Gabe, or any of the Personality Cores, artificial or otherwise. She couldn't tell if this was deliberate or just a side effect of whatever was going on. If she was willing to bet, though, Makise had probably done a system-wide recall, roped in all of the Cores and isolated them on the local network to prevent corruption or data loss.

Liv had gotten a whiff from Alma that something bad at happened at the Ebony Station, too, but her colleague was likewise too tied up trying to keep things under wraps that she couldn't say much on it. It was the same the other way around – Liv could only hint at what had gone down on her end with the Ivory Station.

Speaking of, Liv received a reply from her boss regarding the 'workplace incident' that she was still recovering from a couple hours prior, not even.

( From: Christina )-
( They'll be fine. )-
( It's a good thing Moira sent Gabriel with you. )-

At this, Liv noted,
-( Almost like she knew what was coming... )

Chief Makise replied,
( We had our suspicions, given Alphys' reports. )-
( Moira was being prepared, like she always is. )-
( Still, I didn't expect the anomaly to react the way it did... )-
( The CORE is slightly damaged, but that's being worked on. )-
( Regardless, Vaswani and the others are safe. )-
( Representatives from CyberLife are already flying them to Detroit. )-
( They'll be taken good care of.)-

Right. Their limbs. Vaswani had lost an arm, and that field agent had lost both arms.
No doubt CyberLife would get them fitted with artificial limbs quickly enough.
Based on how Alma had made out with those prototype hands, they'd all be fine.
Maybe even better than fine, depending on your perspective.

The girl, though – Winston's starry-eyed protégé – she seemed to have lost her voice. There wasn't really an easy fix for that one. Sure, one could theoretically look into vocal chord implants under normal circumstances, but based on what Sombra had dug up, these were not normal circumstances. And the girl's brother? According to the report Dr. Hiyajo had recently filed – which Sombra had intercepted – Robin Tournesol, a mechanical engineer on the scene and the one who'd lost her voice, had described what had happened to her brother Elro as 'being devoured.' Creepy shit. Liv hadn't been able to follow up with Gabe for his own account on the situation, as their connection had dropped after the return portal had gone live, but Liv had received confirmation from O'Deorain that good ol' Gabey was safe and well – as 'well' as that old grouch ever was, at least. Still, though – 'devoured?' By what sounded like some sort of creatures...Liv did not envy being on the other, safer end of that entire mess. Her curiosity was eating at her, but better to be eaten by curiosity than some fucking mad science experiment gone wrong...

And what about dear 'Symmetra,' hm? Satya Vaswani was vital to the plans Los Muertos intended to set in motion, the Plan Sheik had orchestrated. Vaswani being incapacitated could put a dire wrench into things...

( You're not worried, are you? )-

Olivia's nose wrinkled at Chief Makise's implication after Liv's lack of response.

Liv replied stingily,
-( Little shaken up, I guess. )
-( Just making sure nothing gets held up over this. )
-( Vaswani's work is necessary to keep up our schedule. )
-( Aren't we on a time table here? )

Makise said back,
( We are, but we'll manage. )-
( Give yourself a little bit of credit, at least! )-
( I know I was rough with you earlier, but ask Kyouma: )-
( I was rough with EVERYONE today. )-
( The software you acquired might have some kinks to work out, but it DID work. )-
( Even if things malfunctioned today, prior tests this week ran successfully. )-
( The data both parties have collected is invaluable to figuring out what's going on. )-
( Not to mention, your translocator prototype protected Alphys. )-
( Plus, you managed the portal reuplink under pressure.)-
( You helped save some lives today! )-

Liv's chest tightened, a pang of ache rippling through her.
Kurisu had NEVER showered her with praise like this.
And praise from Kurisu Makise entailed expectations.
Olivia was trying to stay under her radar, maintain the status quo, not exceed it, not be asked to take on any more responsibility than she already had weighing her down.

And besides, Olivia didn't deserve praise.

That software they'd used to get the transmat units running?

Sombra had stolen it from Black Mesa.

That prototype that had 'protected' Alphys?

Sombra had stolen it from Dr. Winston Harold.

Even Sombra's intentions to resolve obstacles before her, they were always sorted out by favors bartered and exchanged with stolen information, stolen goods slapped with her branding and name.
Sombra was a thief – a damn good one – and Olivia Colomar was the fraud who benefited from it.

Olivia didn't appreciate being praised for nothing more than petty thievery and bargaining.

Especially:
'You saved lives today.'

It was a nice thought. It was. Maybe, if Olivia squinted at it, she could believe it, for a moment. Her younger, more optimistic self might have indulged in such revolutionary self-propoganda. But it couldn't overshadow all of the other things her alter-ego had done. The lives she'd gunned down just to save her own skin, to escape a jail cell, only to end up stuck in a bigger one. The lives she'd jeopardized just that very evening – and the life lost – just so she could maintain her position of influence.

And it wasn't like she'd laid old habits to rest. It wasn't like she was pursuing redemption.
What about that girl with the dreadlocks, strapped to a table, shrieking her lungs out...?
Senua was still there, within the FutureGadget facility. Still locked up. Still trapped. Still suffering.
And that other girl – the 'moon-touched' one, as she'd been described – who knew what Zaibatsu was doing with her...

And Sombra had put them both there.

Well, Sombra and...-

"Oh, hey. There you are. Got here as soon as I could, and then you've been a no-show, didn't even reply..."

Liv was startled out of her guilt-ridden thoughts when Ellie sauntered on out of the back office and to her usual spot behind the glass prize counter of the arcade. Huh, wasn't even wearing her uniform, so she really must've shown up on short notice. Liv simply tilted her chin up at Ellie. Things were still kind of awkward between the two of them. Nothing had really been sorted or settled, but...it was Ellie. It was Liv. They just kept on keeping on. Enduring. Surviving. That went smoother when grudges were set aside at the door.

"Agh, yea...-" Liv waggled her phone a little. "Signal's been acting up 'cause of whatever's going on."

"Oh, yea?" Ellie didn't seem to quite believe her excuse, which was fair.

Sombra got yet another text from Makise, distracting her.

( What I'm trying to say here is that you did good, Colomar. )-
( I'm proud of you. )-
( I'll have Ruka rearrange the schedule so you can take a proper paid break. )-
( You try to relax, and we'll handle things from here. )-

"So what's the, uh, good word tonight?" Ellie asked, bobbing her head up while glancing at Liv's phone over her shoulder. "What's this thing that's you needed to ask me about?"

Sombra shrugged, shaking her head a little as she typed out a reply.
-( Are you sure that neckbeard of yours can handle it? )

"Shitty day at work," Liv responded to Ellie's inquiry as eloquently and simply as was possible.

Makise texted back,
( Daru is many things I'm not proud to admit, but he ISdependable. )-

Sombra nodded thoughtfully, reluctantly, and admitted,
-( Yea, that's true... )

"Damn," Ellie blurted, obviously off-put by how Liv wasn't giving her full attention. "R-Right, yea, you mentioned that in your text. Something went down? 'City wide,' you said? That, erh, man. That sucks."

"Yea, well-..." Liv shook her head, letting a pent up and exhausted breath escape her.

Sombra followed up in text,
-( Let me know if he screws anything up, at least. )

Olivia concluded, "Dealing with this city's problems has become my fucking job, whether it's a shitty day or not..."

When Sombra went to check her Beyonder app, she realized that her wi-fi had cut out.

"Been having a lotta days like that lately, though. Huh?" Ellie was clearly desperate to try and level things out between them. "You seem...pretty tired." It was unnecessary, her attempts at sympathy.

Sombra's phone began lighting up with notifications from her Beyonder app, but...something was wrong. The notifications weren't displaying text and the app wasn't starting up, what the...-?
Bahhh. Her cell service wasn't working, either. And the wi-fi wouldn't reconnect! She was already low on data for the month as it was, why couldn't...-?!
Urgh!

Sombra groaned, tapping at her cell phone with some disgust.

Olivia grumbled, "What the hell? Why is your wi-fi on the fritz so much lately...? Tch..."

Ellie chuckled softly, scratching an itch on her nose as she shrugged.

"Oh, that. Well, uh...I think my boss broke the Internet, so...-"

Still glaring at her device, Liv grunted, "That big meat-sack, right? He's a real knucklehead, isn't he?"

"You, uh-..." Ellie nodded, glancing upward thoughtfully. Grinning bemusedly, she acknowledged, "Yeeee-ah. Yea, you could say that."

Catching the odd tone Ellie had unintentionally dropped, Olivia gave her a sideways glance of suspicion.

"He still the same kinda knucklehead you can be sometimes?" Liv pondered quietly, with a twinkle in her eye.

Ellie sniffed in a sharp breath of air, tightening her lungs up as she contemplated whether this was her place to say. Eyes wide and nose scrunched slightly, Ellie's hands crossed over her own elbows and she shrugged.

Ellie couldn't form a sentence. "Er, I mean-...I dunno, he, uh...-"

Fuck. Liv's giving me that look...

Olivia's eyelids lowered and a smirk crawled over her face.

Mocking Ellie's stammering, Liv goaded, "Er. I mean, I dunno, I, uhhh, might have a job for you two, if you're interested..."

"Oh. N-No, he, um-..." Ellie shook her head, trying to be subtle about this when her boss was literally right about to come back from his break any second. "I'm your gal with that kinda stuff, Liv, you know that. Joel and I, we can handle that shit. My boss? He's-...Nah, he's not...about that scene anymore."

Liv eyed Ellie with doubt, but El was telling the truth, to the best of her knowledge. Her boss had made it pretty clear that he wasn't keen on being involved with any of that sort of thing.

"You should maybe check with him," Olivia skeptically suggested. "No offense Ell. You're good at what you do, but, ah-...I need someone with a heavy duty kind of touch for this one, too. This is sort of a two-or-nothing type of deal."

Someone did indeed spring to mind from a gig Ellie had done maybe a year or so back...Broad shouldered, purple haired, liked leather and spikes. Couldn't remember her name, but Ellie should've still had her number somewhere...Susan? Was that her name...? Shit, couldn't remember...

"Know what I mean?" Liv followed up on her remark when Ellie didn't reply. "We need a one-two approach with this one...The jab and the hook. And I mean...-" Olivia gestured her fist out in a curve, slowly, leaning herself into the motion. "-...a hook."

"And...Joel doesn't...count?" Ellie presented.

Liv's eyelids lowered. "No, Ell. And you know why."

Ellie did know why. Olivia was fully aware of Ellie and Joel's...'situation.' Because of course she was. Somehow, Olivia had known without Ellie breathing a word of it. At least Olivia kept it secret, and didn't give her shit over it. Ellie didn't know how, but she could tell that Liv was able to do the kinds of strange things Ellie could with Joel's help, but it was...somehow different with Liv. They made a good team, with Liv handling the delicate things and Ellie handling the...not so delicate things. Ellie wasn't proud of the work they'd done together, per se, and she suspected that neither was Liv, but it was going to get done by someone, right? Might as well be them who benefited from that.

Olivia followed through, "I need somebody with presence, you know? And your boss could fit that bill. Twice over."

"W-Well, yea, that-...OK, sure, I hear you. I mean, look, I'll...ask him, but, like...if that falls through, I think I might know a girl who could, you know...-" She nodded vaguely, brows furrowed.

"Do I know?" Liv checked. "Who is it?"

"N-Nah, I don't think you...know her, you haven't met. But trust me, she's good at...that."

The two read each other's vague, dancing-around expressions.

"What's her name?" Liv asked dryly.

"I-I don't know, I'd need to...look her up, she-"
"Haghhh, Ellie, you're killing me, here."
"Hey, look. Liv. Do you trust me, or not?"

"Oh, I trust you, El," Liv assured with a waggle of her divided eyebrows. "But do you trust this 'girl?'"

Ellie was honestly not sure, but she'd much rather take a gamble if she had no other options. She could really use the money, and aside from that, if this was contributing to this 'Plan' Liv seemed to have her sights set on, then it would ultimately contribute to speeding up her process of unloading her own baggage. Baggage that she hoped that stoner Mae wouldn't go making a fuss about.

"Gimme a couple days," Ellie asked. "I'll figure something out."
"I need to know who I'm dealing with, Ellie."
"Right, I get that, I totally get that, I will...get a name to you tomorrow, just...give me some time to reach out, get my bearings..."

Liv contemplated this request, then tapped her knuckle twice against the counter before pointing at Ellie with a pair of fingers.

"Two days," Liv said. "You get me a name tomorrow, and then you've got another day to touch base with them. We don't have a lotta time to dick around, here."

Ellie nodded solemnly. "Gotcha."

The uneasy duo scanned each other's eyeballs yet again, and Ellie felt a shiver tip-toe up her spine. Doing 'jobs' with Olivia always proved to be thrilling in a way, didn't it?

She was certain Joel was going to throw a bit of a fit, or at least grumble about her making this kind of call without consulting him first. After all, she'd need his help to maintain Liv's expectations of her, right? Couldn't let Liv down when it really counted. And besides, Joel wasn't here – he always tuned out when Ellie went to work, but that was about the only time she ever saw Liv, so...yea. Whatever. Joel could fucking deal with it. He didn't have a choice, but in a way, neither did Ellie. They needed the cash, sooner rather than later.

The back entrance doors of the arcade were ripped open, and in stomped Ellie's boss – the seemingly reluctant owner of the arcade. He was finishing off what Ellie assumed was a slice of cherry pie from that Burger Time diner he frequented downtown.

Ellie acknowledged him with a wave, as did Liv, and he nodded his chubby chin up toward them, stuffing the last chunk of pie into his mouth. Dunking the plastic fork and to-go container in the garbage bin beside the doors, he dusted his hands off on his overalls, jammed his enormous knuckles against his hips, and surveyed the slow scene around him with a lamentable hue to his expression.

He was was a giant of a man – nine feet tall, with really big hands. At least, that's always how it felt when he was standing right in front of you. He was the most massive person Ellie had ever laid eyes on, though, that was for sure. His rounded chin and wide nose sat on a perpetually grumpy face that had its fair share of wrinkles from years of stress. His rowdy-rough eyebrows and sideburns were set below a mangy mess of brown hair that never seemed to be in order. He almost always wore a pair of mud-colored overalls, and he favored plaid oranges and reds for his shirts. His wardrobe was particularly worn and weathered. Ellie was considering maybe trying to get the guy a decent shirt as a holiday gift if she could swing it, but then she wondered where the hell she'd find something in his size...

It wasn't surprising that the arcade wasn't doing well as of late. And by 'as of late,' Ellie meant 'ever, at all, since she'd been hired.' A symptom of the changing times, maybe. It was only one night a week the place really lit up with activity due to some retro-themed club always showing up. It made Ellie wonder how and why the guy kept the place running, but she wasn't going to say 'no' to such a mellow job. Easy work was easy work, and it proved a reliable location for arranging connections to her real work, as it once had for the Boss himself, when he had been into that kind of thing. Not to mention that it ensured Ellie kept a low profile, all the same. Flynn's Arcade didn't attract the type who kept eyes on themselves. Both Ellie and the Boss-Man appreciated the low-key order of things.

The lights and machinery of the arcade suddenly flickered, catching the attention of everyone present. After a few seconds of uncertain power levels, the place lit back up to full strength.

The Boss swapped looks with Ellie, as if seeking an answer to this phenomenon.

"Brown-outs have been going on city-wide tonight," Liv pointed out matter-of-factly, but in a tone too quiet for Ellie's boss to hear from halfway across the arcade.

"Apparently it's happening all over Arcadia," Ellie called to her Boss.

"Aw, great," he groaned back.

His massive girth trudging over to the counter, the Boss' face scrunched up with confusion as his eyes met Olivia, who was more or less ignoring him, still frustrated with her phone.

"Hey..." he said plainly, furry brows set low. "Don't I know you?"

"Not really," Liv replied, not yet looking up. "I usually stay out of your way."

"This is Olivia," Ellie blurted out. "She's that friend of mine who hangs out here? Sometimes? I, um-..." Ellie swallowed, adjusting the collar on her shirt with a cough. Flicking out a nervous hand at the length of time in her pause between words, Ellie blurted in a mumble, "She's my side-hustle."

It had come out kinda wrong.

Liv raised a brow and cast a sideways look at Ellie, who felt her cheeks burn right up.

"I mean, not like...that," Ellie spat through a laugh, not even entirely sure what 'that' would've been derived because yeesh yikes nothing like that was going on WHY had her mind even gone there NO ONE ELSE'S had right? because- "We just work together. Jobs. We do-...My side jobs? She, um...-"

BAIL ME OUTTA THIS, LIV! FUCK!

Ellie was wriggling a desperate and useless hand in no direction in particular.

Her Boss was rubbing her chin, studying Liv with a suspicious look.

"I think he gets the picture," Olivia groaned softly, still avoiding eye contact with the brutish arcade owner.

"Yea." Ellie's boss nodded slowly, swapping puzzled looks with Ellie, who just smiled awkwardly. His chunky arms awaying at his sides, he mused, "Rrrriiiighhhttt, the infamous 'Olivia' I keep hearing about. You're that tech witch, right?"

"Tech wizard?" said Liv. After a pause, her brows lowered as she mumbled to herself, fingers on her chin. "Although, I do kind of like the sound of 'tech witch'..."

"Well, uh, either way. We appreciate your patronage, Ma'am." The boss stuck out one of his colossal hands her way, staring intently and waiting for any kind of reaction. "Nice to meetcha."

Olivia muttered a "Yeah, you, too," as she continued to tap and swipe at her device.

Ellie could see the impatience bubbling up on her boss' face.

"Erh, sorry, Ralph," Ellie squeamishly said with a nervous laugh. "Liv here, she's...not very social, so...-" She trailed off with a shrug.

"I don't do handshakes," Liv spat pointedly, un-moving.

Ralph's eyes darted to Ellie, then back to Olivia. He let his hand drop, planting it back against his hip.

"Uh...huh," he replied, not amused. His nose seemed to twitch a bit, and he closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. Re-opening them, he assumed a reinvigorated pleasantness, asking, "So, Ell, you seen V around?"

Olivia's eyes slowly slunk upwards as she observed their exchange.

Ellie drummed her fingers on the table, recollecting the past hour's events.

"Ehhh, I think she showed up?" Ellie began leaning up and peering around the arcade. There was a pair of goth teens off in a corner duking it out in The Turning game, but...huh. Where was V? Ellie was, like, 95% sure that kid had turned up...but she'd disappeared just as quickly. Wasn't on the Sugar Rush machine like usual, either, so...-

"You think?" Ralph groaned, his head tilting back. "Did she show up, or didn't she? Not like she's hard to miss..."

Ellie spat out defensively, "Dude. She's not my niece, man...If you want me to babysit, like...you can hire me to do that, but...-"

"Another side-hustle for you," Liv teased in a flat, quiet tone.

Ellie's face pinkened briefly, but she rolled her eyes at Liv and shrugged at her Boss.

Ralph sighed loudly, melodramatically scrabbling his massive fingers around his face as he tried to dig out his phone from his overall's pocket. He groaned through his nose as he tried to call up his wayward niece. Ellie was grateful she didn't have some rebellious, crazy runt to look after. And yes, she was self-aware of the irony there, given her past circumstances. She could practically hear Joel making a joke about it in the back of her head...

The big guy was clearly not as comfortable with his phone as his peers as he struggled to use his honkin' hands to navigate the thing. Olivia gave Ellie a slightly worried look on the down low as they both watched Ralph's cheeks redden with frustration, grumbling words under his breath.

Just as it seemed like Ralph would chuck his phone into a wall out of aggravation, the door to the restroom was booted open, and Ralph's weird niece came strolling out, the sound of the toilet flushing behind her still evident.

"Hey, Ellie," the bold teenager cried out with her nasally, raspy tone of voice. Sauntering toward them, she was thumbing behind her as the door closed itself. Readjusting her skirt with the other hand, she smugly cited, "Yer gonna need to fumigate this place after the number I just did."

Ellie felt her entire face stiffen with unnerved paralysis as she glanced at Liv, who stifled a snorting laugh that was equal parts 'wow OK' and 'omg wtf is wrong with these people?'

"Oh, hey, Ralph," the teen greeted, stuffing her fists in her hoodie pocket as she sauntered over. "Was wonderin' when you'd show up..."

"Did you wash your hands?" Ralph critically questioned, glaring down at her, no nonsense.

Ellie grabbed the air freshener spray can from behind the counter, right next to the garbage bags, and cautiously approached the bathroom. Tucking her face into her shirt, she swooped in to give the place a quick spraying down before evacuating ASAP.

"UNCLE," the girl gasped, laying on the drama thick as she clutched at her chest. Squinting at the man multiple times her size, she bellowed, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

"Answer the question, Vanellope."

"Uhhh, of course I did?" Vanellope insisted incredulously, letting Ellie scoot past her and back to her place behind the ticket counter. Flicking her wrists out, V said, "What, you think I'm gonna just flaunt poop-hands around wherever I go?"

Ralph flatly countered, "I wouldn't put it beneath you."

Shrugging as she dropped her hands to her sides, Vanellope conceded, "Yea, that's fair."

Olivia proclaimed, "Am I the only one weirded out by the conversation going on, here?"

"Right?" Vanellope agreed, thrusting open palms in Liv's direction, which she then redirected to Ralph, whining, "You'd think he was my dad, the way he-"
"Legal guardian," Ralph pointed out defensively.
"Yea, yea," Vanellope sighed, her head rolling around on her neck. "Doesn't mean you gotta act like it."

Ralph's expression soured with disbelief at this remark.

"Hey," he piped up irritably. Flapping a massive index finger at her, he threatened, "Look, kid, if you wanna go back to-"
"Come ahhnnn," Vanellope shooed her wrist at him, "I'm just messing with you, my dude!"

"I'm not your 'dude,'" Ralph sighed.

"Psh, OK," Vanellope scoffed at his reaction, wobbling her head from side to side as she approached the group at the counter. "Missturr Surruss over here...I mean, ev-...ev-...everyone...is my dude. Come on."

"That right?" muttered Liv dryly, clearly so done with this.

"It is right," insisted V. Strutting up to Olivia, she held up a fist. "Top shelf," she cried out.

Liv just glowered at the child with dull disinterest.

"Eh?" V lifted her brows expectantly, wiggling her fist around. "Gonna leave me hangin', here, Liv?"

V waited a few more seconds, fist still held out.

Olivia...always seemed to clam up around V. Maybe she just had no patience for teens?
Come to think, Ellie figured that she herself only knew how to deal with teens because of her work with Frank...

"Livvvvvv," Vanellope buzzed, her tone only half as obnoxious as she was capable. "My gurl. Mah gurrllll. Come on. Kemmm ahn."

"V, stop," Ralph half-heartedly tried. She ignored him. Ellie was too amused to intrude, herself.

"Fist-bump. Bump to the fist. Gimme some love. Gimme some o' that sweet, sweet love. Kemawn."

"¡Aye! Can't you see I'm busy, kid?!" Olivia snapped, kicking up from her leaning posture. "Why don't you go-?"
"My arm's getting tired," Vanellope huffed, grabbing her extended arm's elbow with the opposing hand to support it.

"You should drop it, then!" Liv testily replied, fixating on her phone again. Huh. Something seemed off with her, she didn't lose her lid like that in front of people...

Vanellope took a step closer, her hand a few more inches near to Olivia, reaching upward. She began groaning out a strained noise, stretching and shaking her fist.

Ralph palmed his face tiredly, mumbling to Liv, "You should just...give her what she wants. Trust me, it's easier if-"
"Hey, Ellie," Vanellope spat passive-aggressively,"I think your friend's broken."

"Link's sake," Liv huffed, her eyes wide and...almost freaked out? Soemthing was definitely up. Shoving Vanellope's hand away, Liv started to walk off. "Ell, I've got work to deal with, you have fun with...this. Get back to me about that thing, huh?"

"Oh, uh, yea, sure-...sure thing," Ellie called back, watching her friend head for the front door in a stomping rush. "Uh, later, Liv!"

"Yea," Liv called back impatiently, disappearing back into the city.

Shaking his head slowly, fists on his hips, Ralph lamented, "You really gotta cool it, kid."

"You really gotta cool it, kid," Vanellope deflected, irritably sticking her hands back in her hoodie.

"Aghhh, I do, sure," Ralph confessed with a wild shrug, "Which is why I'm going to my meetings, so maybe you should start going to-"
"Not gonna happen! Nothing's wrong with me, Ralph, it's not m̷̛͜y̢ fault everybody's...-" V trailed off, flicking her wrist out in the direction Liv had went off in. "...Psh."

Ell could detect a quiver in the kid's voice when the 'my' in her sentence had squeaked.

"Hey, V," Ellie offered, sliding her fist out across the edge of the counter. "Top shelf."

Dusting her dampened eyes and shaking off her nerves, Vanellope smirked bashfully and hopped up, pounding her knuckles against Ellie's.

Vanellope was quite a unique kid. Ellie did not envy Ralph's position of obligation. She didn't know the details, but somehow, Vanellope had ended up in his care. Normally they got on really well, but within the past few weeks, something seemed wrong with the two of them.

A chipmunk-faced teenager, Vanellope's size and stature was as opposite to her 'Uncle' as one could get. Vanellope had bright eyes with an edgy streak beneath the child-like glow. A tiny nose, dimples, puffy cheeks, and two front teeth that seemed to take over any smile she laid to bare. Her dress code was a bizarre mix of flashy neon highlights against gothic blacks and browns. That evening, she was wearing minty green eye-shadow with turquoise nail polish – half worn off at that point – but had a thinned layer of black lipstick going on. A ragged ponytail of black hair, tied with a red scrunchie, was paired with a tattered green hoodie and a wide denim skirt of black, with green-peppermint-striped tights and sturdy black boots to complete her...'look.'

The way Ralph talked about her, made it seem like she had some kind of, like...special circumstance he had to be cautious about. Other than a bit of stammering here and there, though, the kid struck Ellie as just another rebellious, typically dysfunctional, desperate teenager. But then again, Ellie had to assume her experiences were probably less than 'average.' Like, what had happened with Ellie and her best friend as kids? Probably pretty different than most kids' experiences growing up...Probably pretty different than Vanellope's, for that matter.

"I'm not saying anything's wrong with you," Ralph tried to assuage, "but the way you keep going about things is...maybe a little intense. Didn't you scare that other kid off?"

"What? No...Not yet, anyway," V said with an uncertain shrug, her eyes rolling around with self-doubt. "But, I mean, she keeps cancelingon me whenever I try n' make plans, so-...Anyway, yea, thanks for the confidence, Unks."

"Ugh, again with the 'Unks,' huh? We're back to 'Unks'...?" Ralph was blathering with dissatisfaction under his breath. Bringing his tone back up, he said, "You just need to learn to take a breath, step back, and...ya know, maybe dial down the intensity. Take it from me, kid, I think I might know a thing or two about being too intense."

Ellie nodded, trying to help back her boss up on this while also trying to hold in a laugh.

Ellie pointed out, "Yea, it, uh, takes a...subtle touch to get the ball rolling with people, you can't just dive in face first, you gotta go through some shit to-...stuff-!" She corrected her language, given that Ralph was present. (yep, he'd shot her a hard look) "You go through stuff together before things really...-"
- Chop. Chop. Chop. -
The warmth of blood splashing against her cheeks, the sight of steel carving through human flesh.
"-...uh, before they really-..."
- Chop. Chop. Chop. -
'̞E͈̲̼l͕̠̭͕̥̱l͉͍̲͓i̖e̞̻̖̩̖͔!̠͙̬̠̝̺ ̮̪̙͖͇̥͎S̱̞͍͓͉͚t̗̞̙o͖̘̟̹̠̺p͓̙!̟̤̖͙̝ ͎S͔to̦p̭̼̺̗͔̱!͕͎̹͚̣̫ͅ'̥̪̖͇̼̻͉

Ellie's chest tightened up, her hands clenching involuntarily. She cleared her throat and regained her balance, nodding absent-mindedly.
'̣͖Do̖n̙'t̻͉̻̩̪̲ ͉f͎̠̬͇̘ͅu̞͍͙͖c͎̦̘̠̪͕͓k̳i̲̟͓̬n̻̦̖̱g ͚̞̭̦t̞̮͈͎̳o͎̗u̜̲̘̩͙c̱͔̝̗̖̱͚h ̲m͈͇e͈̖̗͉̳̞!͙̖͈̮̮̱͔'̳̗̳

"Y-You know," she vaguely tried to conclude her point, wading through her traumatic memory like muddy water up to her ankles.

"Uh...Goooo onnn?" Vanellope prodded, wriggling a curious hand in a circle with a confused look.

Having found enough clarity to bring herself back to the present, Ellie said with finality, "What I'm saying, um, is that, well, it...takes work. It takes time. To really get along with someone. You can't...force it."

Ellie's hands were trembling a little, so she tucked them inside her elbows as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Vanellope looked less than convinced. She countered, "Look, uhhh, no offense? But I don't see neither of you getting all...buddy buddy with everyone, either. So." She tilted her head to one side as she began to wander off into the arcade.

Ralph let up an extended palm of concession at Vanellope, shaking his head with some defeat as he looked to Ellie, as if waiting for her to join him in his disappointed frustration.

"Aaand I guess that's...how we're ending conversations now," he grumbled disparagingly.

"Eh, she's a teen," Ellie dismissed his worry. "She's gotta work through things."

"Sure, but nothing I do gets through to her anymore," he lamented. "We used to be two peas in a pod, thick as thieves, and now, she...-" His nose spewed a disgruntled sound. "Anyway. How's the new girl doing?"

"Oh, uh-...Sakura?" Ellie had at least managed to remember the chick's name by now. "Yea, she's, ya know, she's...fine."

"Picking things up quick?" Ralph checked.

Ellie nodded plainly. That college kid Ralph had hired was...fine? Yea. Ellie had nothing much to say about her for the time being. She was too...'peppy' was probably the word for it? Too 'peppy' for Ellie's tastes, but that didn't make her a bad employee. Just discouraged Ellie from getting to know the woman. So, yea, for the time being, she was 'fine.'

"Good. Good." Her Boss nodded just as simply as Ellie had answered. He watched his niece hover around the two other kids in the corner of the arcade. "Well, uh, once she's trained up, that should take some pressure off you, whenever you're ready to...ya know." He gestured his fist vaguely forward, insinuating Ellie's desire to 'move on' to a new job, which she'd casually brought up now and then.

"Ah, yea, still...workin' that shit out, no, uh-...No rush on that, Ralph." Ellie creased her sweaty brow nervously before starting up, "Though, actually, so, about that, I might...have a gig I need to take care of soon, and, so, we could use...like...some muscle, if you know what I mean..."

Ralph's face withered at Ellie's sheepish, fumbling words as he posed, "A...'side-hustle?'"

Ellie mumbled, "Yea..."

The two of them watched over the arcade for a moment.

"Ell," Ralph said with a slow sigh. "You know I'm trying to stay outta that racket, now that...-" He gestured one of his brick-like hands in Vanellope's direction.

"No, no, yea, I get it," Ellie spurted, instantly backing off. "I just-...I mean, we do what we gotta do, Ralph. This place ain't exactly gonna pay that kid's way, is it? So, like-...We endure and survive."

"Like you're always saying," Ralph sighed, all gloomy about it.

"Well, I mean-...Well, yea! What you did-...What I did? Doesn't make you a bad guy. Doesn't make us bad people, it...-"

"Yep, well," Ralph grunted dubiously, lifting up the back of his palm to interrupt her train of thought. Leaning back against the counter, his elbows perched up and forced Ellie over a couple steps. "Tell me, Ellie, shoot straight with me: do you think your old man was a 'bad guy?'"

Ellie froze up, keeping her memories at bay. She'd kind of brought this on herself, huh?

"I-...I, uh...-" She scratched at her cheek awkwardly. "That's...sorta complicated, I can't just...-"
"Because lemme tell ya, sister: the thought of that kid, right there-" Ralph pointed at Vanellope in the distance. "-lookin' at me, thinking about me, the way you talk about your pops? I don't-..." He shook his head, tight lipped. "Not sure what I'd do with myself. So maybe it is complicated for you. Fair enough. I think I'm gonna try to keep it simple with Vanellope, if you catch my drift."

Ellie fluttered her lips as she let out air she'd held in.

"Yea, I getcha," she mumbled after a moment. "That's-...No, that's good, Ralph. It is. But, like-...Some day, she's gonna be livin' her own life, probably away from this town."

"Agh...-" Ralph grimaced with unease. "Not so...sure about that, but...-"

"Look," Ellie insisted. "Just don't go...making that girl your 'everything,' all right? Whatever, like 'redemption' it is...that you're looking for? Don't, like, make that her problem. OK? Your happiness? Your...'redemption?' It's not her responsibility, dude."

Ralph twisted his head toward her earnest, wary expression. After reading her glance, his eyes shot to one side briefly before coming back. He nodded sagely, seeming to understand the weight of what Ellie was trying to convey, and the place it was coming from.

Giving the massive man a slap on the back to try and temper the solemnity of their interaction, Ellie assured, "Keep on doin' what you're doin', ya big lug. Keep goin' to your A.M.I. meetings, keep trying to steer that wild child in the right direction. I'll keep my personal shhhhstuffff outta yours, n'...we'll be fine. Right?"

Nodding with an amused smirk, Ralph concluded, "Fine enough, sister."

Across the arcade, Vanellope's attempts to spectate some rounds in The Turning (Angel Knives FOR LIFE) were going poorer than she'd hoped. Without so much as speaking a word to her, both kids had kind of given her the stink eye over their shoulders when she'd said she was gonna play winner. She'd went to go put a coin down on the cabinet and they'd bulliedher out of doing so. Er͠h-͠ ̴N-̵N͢-N͏a̷h, no way, not, like, 'bullied,' just...just some banter. Ya know? Playful banter. It was a teenager thing. Banter.

Really annoying, mean, jerky banter.

Well, screw them, anyway.

She had plans. So...yea, she had bigger stuff to do than some stupid arcade game.

Speaking of...she checked her phone for a reply on that.

( From: Clem )-
( Sorry, I just can't. AJ's come down with something. )-
( It's not like I can take him to a doctor so )-
( I gotta stay with him tonight. )-

Vanellope replied,
-( want me to babysit his grumpy butt? )
-( when's the last time you took a break anyway? )
-( i could get something to help. maybe swing by? )
-( just shoot me an address and like what kinda soup you want )
-( soup's always good when your sick )
-( or i mean whatever you want whatever helps )

The response she received was about what she'd expected, though.

( That's nice of you and all, V )-
( But you know I can't let you come here. )-
( Please stop asking. )-
( We have to figure this shit out ourselves. )-
( Violet will be back in town soon. )-
( That'll give me more room to breathe. )-
( Give me some time. )-
( Sorry. )-

Her chest aching with rejection, Vanellope decided that her desires to socialize could fuck right off for the night. She didn't really have any friends – none her own age. Wasn't like she could just, what, ask Ellie to come 'kick it,' right? Pff. Nah. Well, V decided she'd get some work done, then. Money couldn't buy happiness but it could buy...stuff. Stuff that, like, warded off sadness a bit. It was the best she had, anyway.

Starting up her Warp Whistle app, she scanned around the GPS map to see if there was anyone in need of a ride across town. Wandering toward the back door with her head buried into her phone, she saw one job that looked like it'd be a cinch.

[[ Crateria Bus Terminal - Valhalla ]]
[[ Passenger: StrawberryWings (Madeline) ]]

The bus terminal was close, at the edge of the city, and this 'Valhalla' place wasn't too far. Rush hour was over, so it'd be a quick and easy job. Vanellope had earned a bit of a high status as a driver with Warp Whistle, given her consistent record of getting customers to their destinations ahead of schedule. Did she cheat a little with this? You could look at it that way...But she was just using what she had to work with. The very thing that made social stuff hard made driving easy. Either way, it meant she could charge the higher end prices for the quick-and-speedy service she was capable of delivering.

Meeting new people and doing what Vanellope did best – drive – would at least help stop her mood from spiraling again.

"You meeting up with your pal?" Ralph checked with her as she walked by.

"Huh? Oh, nah, I told you, she keeps flaking on me."

Ralph posed the idea, "I keep tellin' ya, Kid, you've gotta find yourself a reliable social network."

oh my nayru RALPH could you shout it any LOUDER how I don't have any friends?
In front of Ellie and everything?
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

"Yea-yea-yea, whatever, can we notgetinto this right now? In fronta...-?" V flapped a flippant hand out at Ellie. "...Psh." She trailed off, shaking her head as she felt her face flush with heat. Last thing she needed was people as cool as that thinking she was just some lame, lonely, pathetic kid!

Ralph scratched behind his ear and offered a reluctant nod.

"All right, all right. To be continued," he tabled the discussion. "So, where are you going, then?" her not-actually-uncle Ralph prodded.

"Gonna run some Warps," she called back. "I'll catch ya at home."

"Hey, hey, whoa," Ralph marched up to her, spitting out in a patronizing way, "What're the rules?"

Throwing her head back to emphasize how uncool this was, V recited dully, "Don't leave town, hit speed-dial #3 if there's any danger, be back by midnight."

Ralph flashed her a thumbs-up and gave her head a ruffle as he saw her out the door.

"Go do your thing, Missus President."

"Catch you later, Mister Fart-Feathers."

\/\/+0+1+0+/\/\

[[ Singing a song to call you a Warp. . . ]]
[[ . . .3:24. . .3:23. . .3:22. . . ]]

Agonizing over the wait for a ride into town, Madeline gently whacked her phone against her palm, meandering around the edges of the bus terminal. She'd already taken a Gogoat Bus from home to get to Arcadia. She was not in the mood to deal with more bus-riding after an eight hour trip, and it'd be worth the extra cash to just get herself right into town and to the bar, which was close to her reserved hotel. She sorely needed a drink, though a bit of guilt drizzled itself down her back as she reflected on this fact.

The night sky was strangely bleached of stars, save for the outer edges of the horizon.

She checked her phone again.

[[ Singing a song to call you a Warp. . . ]]
[[ . . .2:52. . .2:51. . .2:50. . . ]]

Wrapping her thumb against the side of her phone, she hoped someone would take her request.

From this distant edge of town, there was breathing room to gaze off across the city at the perfectly triangular outline of the mountain's silhouette towering against Arcadia's back. The mountain nestled the city between its foreboding formation and the ocean beyond.

That...damned mountain.

It wasn't going to win again. She was going to overcome it this time.

She'd spent all year stressing over this, gradually waning and whittling that stress down into bitterness, then to anger, then to fear, then to determination.

But now?

Now that Celeste Mountain was there, looming before her once again...
Madeline was beginning to feel doubts.
Fears.

She knew what was waiting for her.
She knew this wouldn't be easy.

And while she had been so sure she was ready, now that the day had nearly come, she was swiftly realizing that maybe she was not ready.

This is it, Madeline.

Just breathe.

Why are you so nervous?

You can do this.

Her Warp Whistle app notified her that a driver had taken her request. The map zoomed out to show her via GPS a little tornado making its way to her.

[[ We've found you a Warp! ]]
[[ Connecting you with: ]]
[[ Prez_von_Schweetz (Vanellope) ]]

Breathing out vapors with some relief into the cold winter night, Madeline headed toward the parking lot of the terminal, its pickup strip dotted with street lamps. Wading through puddles of bright light in the dim bluish black, Madeline untied the bun her massive mess of crimson hair had been done up in, shook it loose, and retied it into a ponytail. Maybe she'd try brushing it on the way to the bar so she looked somewhat presentable, but in her puffy blue winter coat, black jeans, and hiking boots, she...probably wasn't going to really win over much attention, regardless. Not that she was looking for any, right? She just would feel weird rolling into a bar she liked going to looking like a cold mess, was all.

Unslinging her heavy backpack and leaning it against one of the street lamps, Madeline suddenly realized how tired she was. She hadn't even really done much of anything all day – just sat on a bus – yet she felt so exhausted already. And the real work hadn't even started. She'd lost sleep the night before agonizing over this impending journey.

She pulled her phone out to check on her ride's progress, and...-

Oh, whoa. Her ride was nearly there already.

Maybe the GPS had been lagging or something? That was fast! Not that she was complaining!

Before Madeline knew it, she could hear an engine whirring in the distance, growing closer and closer. A red car was making its way toward her – it matched the model depicted on Warp Whistle, although...-

As the car skidded to a stop before her, Madeline was a bit stricken by...the gaunt green color of this oddly sporty vehicle. And it was a convertible? In this weather? And the tacky decal on the side depicting zagging lines and...skulls? And...-? Blech.

The chick in the driver's seat looked a bit young to be handling such a beastly looking car, and her reckless approach made Madeline worry a bit – still, whoever this 'Vanellope' was, she had a five-star rating on the app, with hundreds of reviews, so...-

"You Madeline?" the driver called out from her car. Madeline could make them out through the passenger-side rear-view mirror from the angle they were at. The driver fidgeted with the sunglasses propped up on her forehead. It was dark out, why'd this girl even need sunglasses? "Hello?" the girl called out when Madeline had frozen up.

Madeline, still in shock at the bizarre sight of all this, nodded and awkwardly went about scooping up her backpack, which was almost as big as she was.

"Go ahead and chuck yer junk in the back seat," 'Vanellope' advised, contently drumming her hands against her steering wheel. "Pop a squat, n' we'll be there in two clicks of Sonic's sneakers."

As Madeline carefully opened the nearest back door and set her back down in the cramped seat – flipping it sideways so it would fit – she worried about this whole...no roof thing.

"Uhh...-" she started, gesturing vaguely upward with her finger.

"Gotcha covered, lady," the driver said casually, pressing a button on her dashboard. Her car's trunk whirred to life, unfolding itself in an elaborate fashion as the roof of a car emerged and locked itself into place. "Get it?" said the girl with a bright-eyed, buck-toothed grin. "'Covered?'"

"...Aheh. Heh." Madeline smiled as politely as she could muster and nodded, her teeth grimacing forcefully as she made her way around the vehicle. This was going to be a bit weird, wasn't it? But she'd arrive at her location pretty quickly and (hopefully?) painlessly.

"By the way, is it 'lady?'" the driver checked as Madeline worked her small stature into the passenger's seat, finagling with the chair to get comfortable.

"Huh?" mumbled Madeline, a bit confused.

"I mean, like...-" The driver shrugged at her, hands still at the ready on the wheel. "Are you a 'Miss?' Or...somethin' else...orrr...-?"

"Oh, erh, yea, 'Miss' is-...I mean, actually, no. Just call me Madeline. But, yea, 'Miss' as in, 'lady,' as in 'she?' Yea. Yes. That is-...That applies. Yea."

"Cool-cool-cool," the driver said, nodding to herself as she waited for Madeline to buckle up. "Same here, same here...Name's Vanellope, by the way." She stuck out her shrimpy little arm, and Madeline at least felt some slight connection in their mutual...shrimpiness.

Madeline accepted the girl's hand with some hesitation she tried to hide. Vanellope shook fairly aggressively and firmly, but Madeline's grip was rigid and kept up without difficulty.

Rolling up the windows and putting her pedal to the metal, Vanellope checked, "Heading to a bar, right? Valhalla?"

"That's the place," Madeline confirmed.

"Gotta go fast!" cheered Vanellope, switching on her radio and pulling them out of the bus terminal. She dialed up the volume a little and boosted the car's speed as soon as they were on a main road.

As she navigated traffic like it was second nature, Vanellope talked over her music.

"So Madeline: what brings ya to Arcadia? Just stoppin' by?"

"Um, I guess?" Madeline disliked that she had to raise her own voice, as well.

"You look alllll geared up for some kinda camping trip," observed Vanellope.

"Something like that..."

"What's up with all the gear?"

"I'm, uh...going to Celeste Mountain."

"Ah, yea? I hear the Mountain's real neat this time o' year."

"Y-Yea, it is."

"You been before?"

"Actually, yea."

"Had to come back for more, huh?"

"...Yup."

"Wait, wait, hold up." Vanellope tweaked her volume down a bit, allowing them to speak in normal tones. She then asked skeptically, "So, what, are you...like...gonna try to climb that thing?"

At this question, Madeline swallowed the lump in her throat. She took a breath.

With resolve, she answered, "I am gonna climb that thing."

"No foolin'? Well, dang, Miss, I hope yer ready. That mountain's a real bitch – pardon my Inklish."

Madeline laughed a little at this odd girl's demeanor. How old was she? She seemed a bit too young for this line of work. Or, well, any line of work, really, on her own.

"Ha, no, I'm-...I am definitely ready for it," Madeline insisted.

You can do this.

"Yea? Nice. Nice," encouraged Vanellope."Better keep yer wits about ya, though – been ages since anybody's topped that thing. I heard the last person who tried to climb that sucker ended up in the hospital."

Madeline's chest froze. She couldn't breathe for a moment.

The thumping synth of the car's music pounded against her ear drums as the painful memories rushed across her like a subzero wind. Each bass bump mirrored a blow against stone, against wood, against dirt, her body tumbling down, down, down...

"I mean," Vanellope said, "I guess they almost died, or somethin'?"

"That...-" Madeline cleared her throat. She had to face this. "That was me. A-Actually."

Vanellope's mouth hung slightly agape as she glanced at Madeline briefly.

Wait, hadn't there just...been a red light? It was gone. Madeline could've sworn there'd been a red light, but even glancing in the rear-view and it was like that street hadn't existed...Sheesh, Madeline was tired. She was spacing out now, huh?

"What'd ya say?" Vanellope double checked, lowering her radio's volume to an even a gentler level.

"That person," Madeline explained, her hands shaking against once another. "Who died? A-Almost? Trying to climb the mountain? That was me."

The fall had been the single most painful thing Madeline had ever experienced.

What had come after? The most strange thing she'd ever experienced.

"You?" Vanellope balked. A pause, then her eyes narrowed and she skeptically said, "You screwin' with me?"

Madeline shook her head, her expression having stiffened severely.

"You," Vanellope repeated. "Lil' ol' Madeline, here, tiny Miss Mads. You fell down that mountain?"

"Yes," Madeline growled, quickly uncomfortable with this conversation. "Why, you think I look too 'small' to-"
"That's so bad-ass, Mads!" Vanellope's voice was quivering with awe. "You're, like...a wounded warrior, scars across ya, comin' back for vengeance. Redemption! That's rad, lady! You are a rad lady! The guts you gotta have to be doin' this? Holy Triforce, Mads, do it to it!"

As Mads – er, what? 'Mads?' Huh. She kinda...thought it was OK, but maybe just from this kid. Actually, didn't like it, no. Well, yea, she was pretty full of 'mads' these days, but-...She'd sit on such a nickname and decide later if she liked it or not. For now, she was leaning on 'not.'

Anyway, as Madeline felt a rush of warmth sprawl across her cheeks from this girl's reaction, she realized they'd...seemed to have skipped ahead on their route? They hadn't hit a single red light this entire time. How? Was Madeline nodding off to sleep, here? Getting too lost in thought?

"Wow," Vanellope breathed out, shaking her head a little with respect as she turned them around a corner. "I mean, I didn't know a kid was the one climbing that thing. A real inspiration for me, ya know?"

"Oh, I'm...not a kid," Madeline grumbled, her expression souring into a pout she tried to contain.

"Enh?"

"I'm twenty-five," Madeline blurted. "I'm not a kid."

"...Oooohhhh," Vanellope spouted. "Sorry, I th-...th-...thought you were, like...maybe my age? Or s-somethin'? I did-...didn't-..."

"No, no, it's fine, it's-...I get that a lot," admitted Madline. "I am...a small person."
People always underestimate me...It's gotten pretty damn old and I'm not even that old yet.

"I'm a small person, too, sister."
Hm. I get the feeling people underestimate you, too, huh, Vanellope?

"So you probably can relate," theorized Madeline.

"Sure, sure..." Vanellope shoved stray hair behind one ear with a forlorn nod before readjusting her grip on the steering wheel. "Ahhh, dangit," she sighed out as an impending wall of traffic seemed to suddenly emerge before them. "Oh, man, what's goin' on here?" She was leaning around to try and scope out what was ahead. Cop cars and sirens could be heard.

"Some kind of accident?" Madeline theorized.

Through the mirror up front, Madeline could see Vanellope's expression stiffen with determination.

"Some kinda somethin', all right," Vanellope acknowledged. She jammed her hand around her shift stick and pulled a sharp and sudden right turn. "We're takin' a detour. Hold onto yer butt."

"Sh-Sure," Madeline mumbled, her body flopping to and fro a little from the sudden start-stop nature of Vanellope's driving. A few seconds of near-whiplash later, and Madeline's stomach suddenly felt extra queasy. Coming to, she noticed that they seemed clear from the traffic jam that had blocked up their path ahead.

Madeline suddenly noticed when she tried to survey the right side of the car that a rear-view mirror was missing. Had that been missing before...? Why did that seem odd? Of course it had been missing before, why was this even a question in Madeline's head? Was obviously a safety hazard, though...

"Oh, um, y-your...-" Madeline went to gesture toward the missing mirror but...the driver was driving, so...-

"My...-?" Vanellope came back, focused on the road.

"Your right-side mirror, it's, um-..."

"Huh? My r-...Ahh, what?! Flippin'...-!" She seemed annoyed. How had she not noticed something like that? Madeline was getting very mixed signals, here. A super talented driver who didn't notice when pivotal pieces of her vehicle were broken off? "That-...Y-Yea, I'll...have to see my mechanic, n'...get that-...Don't worry about that, we're almost there, anyway, so...-"

Madeline was eager to calm the girl's stress back down, so she tentatively asked, "Um. So, anyway, you seem like you've been doing this a while. How...old are you, then?"

"Seventeen..."

"Oh..."
So young! Her profile said she's done thousands of rides for people!

"Yeeee-epp..." Awkward finger-drumming on her steering wheel as Vanellope nodded self-consciously. "Wanna guess how many conversations I've ended in this very car by telling someone my age?"

"Well, um...-" Madeline cleared her throat. She in fact did not want to guess. "W-Wow, seventeen, though, and...some big-shot Warp Whistle driver, huh? That's...pretty impressive."

"Heh. Thanks. I already ran my first car into the ground, though. Hence the...fancy-pantsy new ride, here, courtesy my Uncle. And a year's worth of savings. And some favors for my mechanic. But, eh, it's nothin' compared to the crazy stuff you're getting into. I mean, I can't even leave town, let alone go on some, like, soul-defining, introspective adventure where I face my own demons, climb literal mountains, head-on, and all that."

"Ah, but-..." Madeline squeamishly shrugged. "I mean, I failed. Utterly. At least you have a new car to show for it. I've just-...Well, I've got problems. So...is it really all that impressive? What I've done?"

"Uh, yea? Seriously, that was some accident you musta had last time, but here you are, huh? Every reason to stay away but here. you. are. Back for round two? That's some hardcore determination, Mads! I hope you climb the heck outta that Mountain this time."

"Oh, I'm going to," Madeline said firmly, nodding with her arms crossed stoutly. "I can do this..."

"Yea, you can! All the goddesses gonna be backin' you up with that attitude," Vanellope cheered on enthusiastically, wheeling them down into a cramped parking lot. Wow, fast service, indeed... Glancing at the bar's back door, Vanellope cited, "Looks like you gotta get yer drink on first, though, huh?"

"O-Oh, uh...Yea, I guess. I'm just...trying to take the edge off first, get a good night's sleep, then maybe take-...take a day to prepare, before I...-"

"Well good luck, Miss! Not that you need it – sounds like yer all rarin' to go."

"...Right."

"Soooo, uh...-" Vanellope switched her ignition off. "I've heard about this place from people – had to pick more n' a few up from here, actually. Never been, though. Mind if I, like...join you?"

"...What?" Madeline was alarmed. And suspicious.

"Ya know." Vanellope sniffed, brushing her thumb against the edge of her nose. With a shrug, she clarified, "Hang out with you a bit. Looks like you could use more pep-talkin', to be honest."

"But, I-...Aren't you too young?"

Vanellope defensively cited, "Nothin' illegal about being there."

"I guess, but...-" Madeline wasn't actually sure. Something was tugging at her gut to say 'sure!'

"I'll get a Chuckola Cola, or somethin'. Don't worry about it! Not tryin' to get hammered, no way, just...ya know...tryin' to spend a bit more time with my new buddy Mads, here."

Madeline was...not sure how she felt about this. Ugh, but she...just wanted to say 'yes!' somehow?

Vanellope went on, "I mean, you don't look like you're goin' in there to meet up with somebody, and, like...I dunno if drinking by yourself sounds like such a good time. Trust me, drinks are always better with a buddy."

But something about this kid was sort of reminding her of her past self?
If her friend Theo had helped her survive her last trip to Celeste Mountain, surely Madeline could help some wayward teen survive an evening of loneliness, right?

"So, whaddya say?" Vanellope asked, sticking her hand out.

"Um...-" Madeline pushed hair strands behind her ears and nodded simply. "Sure, that sounds OK, I guess. Just...No alcohol for you, and no more 'Mads.' Please. Miss is...all right, I guess, but really, just 'Madeline' is best."

"...Oh. Yea, yea, n-n-...no problem." The kid looked a bit dejected at this, and at Madeline's declination to shake hands again, but...Madeline needed to make sure certain boundaries remained in tact. This kid was a stranger. And a kid. After all. "So, erhh...-" Vanellope unlocked the doors of her car. "Let's head on in, then?"

"Mm."

The bar was just as ambient as Madeline remembered, with dark walls accented by brightly colored lights and posters. The counter was adorned with neon bottles of vibrant liquids, and the bartenders were spic and span. The place was pretty busy, though. There was a bit of a crowd gathered around a flatscreen hanging up on the wall.

"Goddessdamnit, another kid?!" One of the bartenders was stomping over to them. She had short white hair, was dressed very sharply, but looked...even rougher than Madeline felt. She gripped a coffee cup in her hand like it was a lifeline, and Madeline could relate, just...sort of on the opposite side of beverages. She was glaring at them with wild eyes and flared nostrils. "These two runts belong to anybody?!" the lady cried out, cutting through the bar.

No one claimed ownership, and Madeline felt her face bubble up with irritated embarrassment.
The white-haired lady in the vest and slacks straightened her tie, which all loose, and glowered down at them. Yeep, she looked mean, her eyes were all bloodshot, and just-...Yea, she did not look so well.

"Look, you little punks," growled the woman, waving her coffee cup around. She coughed – it sounded bad. "I dunno what woodwork you kids're all...crawling through, but...-" Her voice got weak and she trailed off into a whole round of raspy wheezing.

"What's she talkin' about?" Vanellope murmured, glancing at Madeline.

"I don't...-" Madeline shook her head and shrugged back.

"Wh-Whoaaaa there, Boss," eased the purple twin-tailed bar tender in the tights and miniskirt. Man, she must've been a little cold, wearing stuff like that in this weather. She placed delicate hands on 'the Boss'' shoulders, wheeling her around. "You need to take it easy," she was advising. "Go sit down."

"You siddown!" squealed the white-haired lady, sucking on some coffee with one hand and stabbing out her finger with the other. "Tell'n me to sit down, I own this-...hugh-!" More coughing.
"R-Right, I know, Boss, I just-..."
"Fuckin' kids, this ain't an orphanage, this look like an orphanage? 'Cause we don't-...bluh-CHOO!"

Ough. Their 'Boss' seemed pretty sick. She'd sneezed into her hand and was warily wiping it against her pant leg, to the dismay of her purple-haired companion.

"Dang, you don't look so good, lady," Vanellope blurted.

The 'Boss' just glared at Vanellope.

"Hey," Madeline pleaded with her driver-turned-trouble-maker.

"What? She doesn't," Vanellope insisted.

"You're not wrong," mumbled the purple-themed woman irritably. "Dana," she whimpered, rubbing her Boss' back with a worried tenderness. "Did you take that medicine I got you?"

'Dana' held up three fingers with one hand, rubbing her snotty nose with the other wrist – which was still holding a coffee cup.

"Three?" the twin-tailed woman was baffled.

"Is she OK, Jill?" came the other bartender – he had shaggy hair and deliberate stubble on his face.

"She's not," groaned 'Jill.'

"'M good. Toog three uhvem," Dana said proudly, her nose clogged up.

"Three pills?" Jill scoffed.

"Yuh-huhhh-...huhhh-...bluh-CHOO!" Dana sneezed again, into her sleeve this time.

"Three?! The dosage is one! Dana, you...-!"

"Thuhree times-uh dose, three timez-uh gedd bedder." Dana nodded to herself, coughing into her sleeve.

"That's not-..." Jill was smiling with her mouth, but her eyebrows were angry. Looked like her forehead would burst a blood vessel... "You idiot..."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," muttered the stubble-faced bartender with a flat tone, his eyes half-closed.

"Fuhrorr damm RITE 'mna idiot..." Dana went to drink more of her coffee, but it seemed empty. She chucked the empty cup on the ground. "Cleannit up, Jill." She thrust her finger down at it, giggling like a drunken school child.

Er. Speaking of which...-

"We should...go," Madeline said to Vanellope, trying to make her way for the door.

"Nahhhh, nah-nah, we're stayin'," Vanellope insisted, yanking at Madeline by her hoodie's hood. "C'mon, we just got here!"

"Hey!" Madeline shooed her hand off. "Watch it..."

"S-S-...Sorry, I just...-"

Madeline avoided the kid's face, her voice already shaky enough to waver Madeline's resolve.

Part of her was almost, like, twisting at her from the inside, daring her to stay in this place and see what happened. It was a familiar sensation, and one she didn't like – and yet all the same, she couldn't ignore it.

"Sed cleennit up. Yeaaaa, huhuhuh...!" Dana was nodding, clapping her hands together when her worker bent down with both knees to scoop the trash up. "Ahmm the BOSS."

"Yes, you are," Jill said with a polite tone, but her face looked quite annoyed.

"Not acting like one tonight," said the masculine bartender.

"'M SICK, Gil!"

"That's our point," Jill asserted.

What was their Boss doing at work like this? Shouldn't she be home, or...-?

"So can we sit down or what?" Vanellope pestered.

"Wh...-?" Jill stared at them like they were crazy.

"I got this," groaned the more masculine of the bartenders, nudging Jill to look after Dana.

Jill took the angry sick lady off toward the back. "Chief, why don't you go take another nap? Huh?"

"I don' needa NAP, Jill, need-uh...fuggin' more coffee."

"Yea. Yea, I, uh-...Mm...That's maybe not...-"

The purple-haired woman was being called from the counter, and she flagged out a finger, requesting a moment as they disappeared out back. Turning back to Madeline and Vanellope, the masculine bartender hesitantly smiled and nodded.

"W-Welcome to Valhalla, I-..." He scratched at his neck, glumly staring at the two of them. "Look, this isn't a place for kids, all right?"

"I'm not a kid," Madeline grumbled, fumbling her little fingers through her coat and presented her ID card.

"I'm just here for a soda," Vanellope pre-emptively threw out there, offering her own card.

The bartender seemed surprised when Madeline's age checked out. He did a double-take on the ID, probably trying to make sure it wasn't fake. And then he noticed that Vanellope was of course not old enough...

"Wait, Vanellope? Von Scweetz? Aren't you...-" He snapped his fingers, handing their IDs back. "You're Ralph's kid."

Madeline shrugged, but Vanellope nodded.

"Yea. You know my Uncle...?" Vanellope sounded suspicious.

"Yea, we, erh, we used to be work buddies a while back." The guys shrugged.

"And who are you?" Vanellope asked, before he could say anything else.

The man's finger scratched at the edge of his nose as he shrugged, replying, "Just a bartender. Like I said, you can't-"
"No, I mean, what's your name?" Why was Vanellope giving the poor guy such a hard time?

"John. It's John. But hey, I, uh-...You can't be here, kid, especially with what's going on right now."

"See?" Madeline sighed to her Warp driver turned sudden acquaintance.

"Whaaat?!" Vanellope balked. "Come on, I swear to hylia I won't touch a drop o' booze, just-...just hook a gal up with some Chuckola Cola, n' shove us in a corner, we won't cause ya any trouble!"

This girl had 'trouble' written all over her, though, as far as Madeline was concerned. Why was she even here, doing this?

She was kind of...liking this, in a way? Deep down. It was unnerving. It was...weird, it that odd 'something' that was nudging her toward making decisions like this – decisions she normally wouldn't second guess at all.

"I can't decide which is worse," bemoaned the bartender with the shaggy hair. "Another kid trying to come in here, or the adult bringing her."

Madeline felt her stomach lurch. But part of her felt angry about being accused like that.
So what? The kid wasn't asking for alcohol! She was trying to do someone a good turn!
Why was this such a-?!

"She's really not looking good." The purple-haired bartender had returned, and looked pretty worried.

"Huh?" 'John' turned to face her.

"The Boss?" said Jill, nodding her head back. "We need to get her to a hospital."

"Was like she was gonna puke," said Vanellope bluntly.

"She didn't look well," Madeline backed up the notion.

'John' tossed a hand, citing, "Ahhhh, no, I don't...really think she's that bad."

"What?" Jill said sharply.

"Trust me, Jill, she doesn't want to wake up in a place like that. Hates hospitals. She...just needs bed rest."

"...OK, sure, fine." Jill looked displeased. She flung out a hand, pondering, "And where is she going to get bed rest around here?"

There weren't really any places for a person to sleep. Not comfortably, anyway.

"Let's call her a cab, then," John sighed.

"What's her address?" Jill panted.
"I don't know."
"Neither do I!"
"So just ask her."
"She's barely conscious."
"What do you mean, barely-"

As the pair of bartenders bickered, Madeline noticed the bar-goers seemed to be getting a little annoyed. Out of the corner of her eye, Madeline caught the television, which was playing some kind of breaking news story with a fancy, old building that had its roof collapsed in. Yikes.

Broken glass everywhere.

Broken.
Pieces.

Madeline could feel her breathing get shorter, tighter, the arguing bartenders and the crowd and the girl whose feelings she was hurting, it was piling up and it was just too much aND SHE COULDN'T

"I-I-...I can go, it's-..." Vanellope was mumbling into Madeline's ear, but Madeline was...feeling quite suddenly intent on staying. "It's fine, f-forget I-I-...bothered ya, n' I'll...-"

Madeline held up her hand, prying her attention from the screen.

She imagined a feather, just like Theo had taught her: floating in the air, rising and falling with her breath.
In.
Out.

In.

Out.

"Uh...Mads?"

"No," Madeline said firmly. "You don't have to leave. We'll stay."

"You-...You sure?" Vanellope's eyes looked a little damp, her tiny hands shaking and fidgeting with each other at her waist. "I-I just...got-...got a bad...-"

Madeline's held up palm whipped itself into a held up index finger, and she refocused on the two bartenders.

"She nearly fell down trying to get to her desk!"
"OK, OK, so she's...really tired. All the more reason to-"
"Someone needs to look after her."
"Jill, she's-...She's just got a fever, or the flu, or something, it's not-"
"I need to get her home."
"And how are you going to do that?"
"I-I don't-...!"
"You gonna carry her on the subway?"
"I'll get a ride-share, or something."
"Can you even afford that right now?"
"Wh-...-! No, but...-!"
"You can't just leave on a night like this."
"I know, I'm not trying to ditch work, I'm-"
"Dana can call her own ride."
"She's too stubborn for that, and you know it."

"Just so happens," Vanellope interjected, lifting up a finger at the two of them, "I could give yer girl a free lift, and you can still hold the fort down."

Jill and John stared down at her like she was crazy.

"She's...actually a really good Warp driver," Madeline backed her up.

Jill and John...gave each other suspicious looks.

"And why would you do that?" John wondered aloud.

"Why are you even still here?" Jill groaned.

"'Cuz ya'll are gonna give-" Vanellope smacked Madeline on the back, flattening her bushy ponytail and giving her quite a startle. "-my buddy Mads here a free drink for the trouble!"

Madeline was confused. So were the bartenders.

"We got a deal, or not?" Vanellope demanded, thumping her boot down on the concrete floor.

John tossed up a hand, shaking his head.

"Fine, if it'll get Jill to shut up, Dana to go to bed, and you to get your underage ass out of this bar, then fine!"

"It's a deal!" Vanellope thrust up her little hand to John, who shook his head and starting walking away, hurrying to help out angry customers. "A deal!" said Vanellope again, shifting to Jill.

Jill, who looked kind of embarrassed rather than relieved, knelt down – bending both knees, on account of her uniform – and warily took Vanellope's hand, nearly being tilted over from how harshly the kid shook it.

With some pride, Vanellope declared. "Bring me this sick lady and I'll get her where she needs to get got."

"Please don't say it like that," Jill sighed through her palm, standing back upright. Jill started walking back to wherever that white-haired sick woman had been brought to, grasping at her forehead as she disappeared down the hall.

"Um...-" Madeline was twiddling her thumbs together. "I thought we were going to hang out?"

"Ahhh, don't be sappy about it, Mads." Vanellope was digging around in her hoodie. She pulled out a tattered wallet with a cookie-wafer theme and slid out a pair of business cards. "You'll just owe me one."

"Oh-...Owe you?" Madeline was off put.

"Yea," Vanellope said, like it was obvious. "You owe me a drink?"

"You're not old enough."

Vanellope's mouth went agape, puffed out some air, and she rolled her eyes, saying, "A Chuckola Cola, lady."

"...Oh." Madeline stared at the card with hesitation.

"Just take the card. Jeez, Loo-eez, hell-da, zelda, you really need to unwind, or yer gonna end up all sick and grumpy like this lady I'm drivin'."

Madeline accepted her own copy of the business card and tucked it away without even looking at it.

"Can't go climbin' a mountain if you're sick, right?"

Vanellope's eyes flickered with an intriguing mixture of hope and encouragement and desperation, all rolled into one.

Madeline remembered awkward combinations like that.

"No, I-...Thanks." Madeline's chest was feeling tight again, but not the same as before. It was sort of a good kind. Like putting on armor. "Sorry things didn't go like you wanted..."

"No problem. So plans didn't work out," Vanellope conceded, shrugging both shoulders with her hands in her hoodie. "I'm used to it, ya know? It's about how ya get back up, and stuff."

Madeline nodded, and reciprocated the kid's uncertain but hopeful smile.

"Yea, I guess it is," she agreed.

They watched as Jill brought 'the Boss' to her co-worker, the trio argued for a minute, and then Jill started walking the sick woman over. The bartender gestured Madeline to come up, likely to order her free drink.

"There ya go, Mads. Enjoy." Vanellope gave Madeline a light fist bump on her arm. She didn't like it, but endured the gesture for the sake of pleasantries. "You gimme a call when you're ready to pay me back, huh? Maybe I can be your ride back outta town after you climb that big rock?"

Madeline nodded, trying to keep up her smile, though the reminder of why she was even here in this crazy city was...scary.

"Welp," said Vanellope when the two bartender women reached them. "To be continued!" she said simply, trying to look all cool as she did a two-finger salute to Madeline. Madeline chuckled softly and wriggled her fingers inward and outward in reply.

"I'm ffffine," growled Dana. "You're treating me like I'm some lost babe in the wood."

"You're acting like a baby, all right," Jill grunted, pulling her Boss along with an arm slung across her shoulder.

"Let us away, ladies," said Vanellope theatrically, twirling her hands and directing them toward the door as she pranced into it, nudging it open for them.

Madeline and Vanellope swapped one last farewell glance, and Madeline somehow knew they'd cross paths again.

She approached the counter, overhearing some of the news coverage as she did so.

[ "-itor in Chief of the popular news site 'The Augmented Eye,' has come under fire due to allegations made by Marine Ida during a live stream from the gala tonight. Ida, also known as 'Marina,' one half of popular music duo 'Off the Hook,' has accused Mr. Dawson of-" ]

"So how do you know that kid?"

"...What?" Madeline had heard the bartender's question. But she hadn't processed it.

John was pouring a beer for someone. He tilted his head toward the door.

"The kid – Vanellope. What's the big idea, trying to bring a kid like her to a place like this?"

"O-Oh, I didn't-...It was her idea, actually..." Madeline's cheeks lit up with some shame. She should've known better, how'd she let a kid convince her to do something so stupid?

"Fff, yea, I bet it was," John said, handing the beer off to a customer.

"I actually don't really know her," Madeline confessed, watching the tender prep another beverage for the person sitting next to her. "She was my Warp driver into town."

"Wow," said John, tossing liquids around in his tumbler. "Taking a minor you just met into a bar. Sounds...real sensible."

It wasn't sensible. It hadn't been sensible at all.
Madeline wasn't that kind of person!
Swear to goddesses, she wasn't!
It was like something had...-!

Oh, no.

Was it...even possible?
Madeline wasn't even at the Mountain yet...

"Nothing to say for yourself, huh?" sighed John, pouring a cocktail.

- Stop being such a fucking wimp. -

"I, um-..." Madeline hung her blushing head, avoiding the man's gaze. Her breathing was starting to feel off again.

- Woman up. -

She didn't like this. She recognized this. She did NOT like this.

John shook his head at her, pouring another beer, saying, "Just don't do something stupid like that again, all right? Here ya go." He handed the beer off to someone else, and accepted the cash they'd given him.

"Of course." Madeline nodded solemnly, watching his take out change. "Sorry, I, um-...I'm from out of town, and...-"

John asserted his advice on her. "Arcadia's full of people who're gonna look at someone 'from out of town' like a resource to suck dry."

"...Wow." Madeline was struck with unease by his cynical words. "Sounds like a nice place..."

John propped up one shoulder, grabbing a rag and wiping down a damp part of the counter top beside Madeline. Hm. Come to think of it, where had his help gone off to? Had she left with Vanellope, too?

Turning up one wrist, John pointed out, "At least you lucked out – you had someone show you kindness when they could've just taken advantage of you, right? Vanellope, I hear she's a good kid. But you got lucky. Not everybody from around here is gonna treat you so well if you just let them walk all over you."

- He knows what he's talking about. -

"Right," Madeline breathed out tiredly.

"Just something to consider," said the bartender, backing off of his soap box. He left Madeline another moment to contemplate over the menu, helping out a couple more customers, until he returned, asking her, "So, a deal's a deal: what can I get you? On the house."

Hm. A Blooming Light sounds like it would really hit the spot.

- Need a Bleeding Jane. Triple-shot. -

"Bleeding Jane, huh? Comin' right up..."

"...Wh...-?"

Damnit.
No, no, no, it's already...

Madeline felt her intestines crawling.Writhing. Like something was alive inside her.
Something 'other.'

She felt like she might throw up.

Madeline waved a wobbling arm out at the bartender, attempting to cite that she'd be back in a bit, and fumbled off down the cramped hallway to her right, past the bar counter. She could see the bathroom labeled plainly with a neon light, and she tried to enter – locked.

- hurRY YOUR ASS UP I GOTTA GO! -

-BAM BAM BAM!-

"Gimme a fuckin' minute!" growled a voice from the other side of the door. Madeline felt faint.

The side of her fist was still on the door.
She'd slammed it against said door just a moment ago.
Only she hadn't intended to.

Oh no! Oh no!
That wasn't me I DIDN'T MEAN TO sorry I'm SORRY I

- FWOOOOOooossshhh s. . .- A Toilet flushing.
-SSSSSSSSSSSS- A sink running.

- Can you go ANY SLOWER?! -

"N-No, I, um...-!"

The door swung upon, but Madeline was too terrified to look the stranger in the eyes.
"There ya go, impatient prick! Link's sake! Where's your daddy at, huh? Fucking children..."

Madeline, gasping for breath, shoved past the figure who'd emerged and locked herself into the bathroom. She caught just a milisecond's glance at the mirror and was instantly horrified at the state of herself. She turned away from it, her head suddenly throbbing with a pulsating ache.

Feather, fuh-feather PICTURE THE FEATHER MADELINE
in and out
in and out
picture it, BREATHE, just

.

.

.

.

-RRRRNNNN!-

Phone. Her phone was going off.
She couldn't
had to breathe
CALM DOWN IT'S

-RRRRNNNN!-

ahh hhahahaha...-?
just
th th th
THEO it's just Theo right it's just Theo

-RRRRNNNN!-

yes ok right yes fine i'm fine breathing just breathing

I CAN DO THIS it's going to be OK, I'm-!

Madeline's hand was trembling, but she answered the phone, leveling it in front of her.

-beep!-

[ "- Look at me. -" ]

It was her.
OF COURSE it was her!

[ "- Oh, come on, don't act all surprised. -" ]

Oh, no
No, no, no, not yet, she wasn't ready for this yet, not ready no
oh no oh no noooooo nononono
not ready
not ready

[ "- Look. At. ME. -" ]

can't
breathe
. . . -!

[ "- I SAID, 'LOOK AT ME!' -" ]

Madeline spun around and pounded her fist forward!

She'd shattered a chunk of the bathroom mirror. It had cracks all over it now.
Her fist was on fire. Shaking, her hand was suddenly shaking so much.
Bleeding, she was bleeding. Not as-...! Not as bad as it could've been!

[ "- Ha. Now, that's more like it! -" ]

Had she meant to do that? Had it been accidental?
She honestly wasn't sure. She just wanted the voice to stop.

[ "- Oh goddesses that feels SO GOOD! Now LOOK AT ME, already. -" ]

Madeline did what she had been told to do. She looked into the mirror.

Staring back at her from the other side, peeking through multitude of fresh cracks in the mirror's surface...was Madeline's reflection. Only she was off. Her coat was purple instead of blue. Her hair magenta instead of red. Gaunt-faced, eyes blood-shot. Where Madeline was sure she was frowning with fear, her reflection looked excited and calm.

It was like Madeline was looking at her own ghost.

The assessment probably wasn't too far off, given the circumstances...

"No," Madeline panted, taking a step back. Her reflection remained where it was. Clutching at her chest, which was stinging with pain with every shallow breath, Madeline wheezed out, "No, no-no, I'm not...ready for this, not yet, I haven't...gone back to the Mountain, you can't...-"
[ "- YOU'RE not ready?! -" ]
[ "- OH GOOD. -" ]
[ "- I'm glad that my suffering here ALL BY MYSELF -" ]
[ "- for the past YEAR -" ]
[ "- is all because YOU haven't been ready! -" ]

"It's not like that!" Madeline tried to defend. "I didn't mean to leave you behind!"

[ "- Like HELL you didn't! -" ]

Madeline's eyes were already filled up, dripping tears down her cheeks.
The guilt was overwhelming her.

[ "- It was ALL too convenient for you to abandon me! -" ]
[ "- Leave your worst side behind... -" ]
[ "- Turn a blind eye to me... -" ]
[ "- And how'd THAT work out for you, huh?! -" ]

". . ."

[ "- Are you your 'best self' yet? -" ]
[ "- Was abandoning me WORTH IT? -" ]
[ "- Has life been going so much better for you? -" ]

"No." Madeline sniffled and coughed, spitting out phlegm into the sink. Wiping her jacket's sleeve over her face, she confessed, "No, it's been worse..."

[ "- That's because YOU NEED ME. -" ]

"No!" Madeline whimpered, shoving her weight against the tiled wall beside the door. "I don't NEED you!"

[ "- YES YOU DO -" ]
[ "- GODDESSES you won't even admit it! -" ]
[ "- DinDAMNIT you won't admit it!" ]
[ "- Here you are -" ]
[ "- in some dark, dingy bar -" ]
[ "- getting manipulated by some creepy mall rat -" ]
[ "- all because you just can't say 'no' -" ]
[ "- You've been in this city for no more than an hour -" ]
[ "- and ALREADY I would've steered us out of this. -" ]

"WHAT?! That girl did something NICE for us! F-For me!"

[ "- Like that barboy said – which, by the way, you KNOW 'John' is NOT his name, right? It's all over his face. But like he SAID: you got lucky. -" ]

"I tried to...show kindness to someone! And they returned the gesture!"

[ "- Just as naive as ever...Kindness to a stranger but not ME?!-" ]

"You think you can do better, huh? You think it's so EASY being me?"

[ "- It's easier than being HERE, where you left me! -" ]

"I'm-...Look, I'm SORRY! I didn't mean to leave you. I was scared! I was...lost, and confused, and...-"

[ "- You KNEW I was missing! You could FEEL it.-" ]

Madeline had indeed felt it.

She nodded, sobbing through her shame.

"B-But I came BACK!" she pointed out, wavering. "I came back, when I could've just...-"

[ "- So I'm supposed to believe you came back for MY sake? -" ]
"I-I don't know, but here I am, OK? What do you WANT from me?"
[ "- I WANT YOU to make this right! You owe me! -" ]
"How? How do I make this right?"
[ "- You could set me FREE, for a start. -" ]
"Wh-...?! Set you 'free?' How am I supposed to...-?"
[ "- You know EXACTLY how...-" ]

Madeline's heart skipped a beat. She could feel those cold, clammy fingers clawing at her insides. Scratching at the edges of what made her who she was – who she wanted to be, anyway.
Who she thought she was.

"I can't do that," Madeline stated, her voice cracking and dry, like a piece of wood splintering in half from the heat of a campfire.

[ "- I can't believe this. You're just as selfish as you always were... -" ]

"I need to climb Mount Celeste. That'll fix this."

[ "- Oh. Right. SURE. Yeaaaa, right-right oooookkkkkaaaayyyy~! -" ]
[ "- Just. Gonna CLIMB Mount Celeste. -" ]
[ "- Because that went SO WELL last time! -" ]

Madeline's face was starting to feel sore from wiping tears off of her skin.

"It'll be different this time! I promise..."

[ "- HA. Yea, IT WILL, because this time, Theo's not here to SAVE YOU. -"]

"I-...I can do it on my own..." A tingling, uncomfortable stinging ate at Madeline's neck.

[ "- NO, Madeline. No, you can't. YOU NEED ME. -" ]
[ "- And I'm coming with you. Whether you like it or not. -" ]

Madeline's head was on fire. She felt dazed. Nauseous. For just a moment – like a sharp bite of a slice of frozen pie – could feel herself. . . g. . .And a strange voice bounced through her head. It was...probably just this other part of herself messing with her...Making her feel little again.

I am thou.
Thou art I.

Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become thy beacon in the dark storm,
lighting thy path toward freedom.

-I am you.-
You...-
Um...-
-I AM YOU.-
You are me...

She awoke, unsure of how much time had passed. Crumpled in a heap on the bathroom floor of a bar in a town she didn't know, Madeline was shivering, shuddering, heaving dry sobs into her hands – the knuckles on her left fist were caked in a thin layer of dried blood from punching the mirror.

The part of her that she had lost when she'd fallen from Mount Celeste had - reconnected - .

And Madeline was terrified.

\/\/+0+1+0+/\/\

"It's fine, guys. I got this." Undyne was shooing her gloved hand at the brothers. They were just LOOMING there behind her! She was TRYING to dig, here! Why couldn't they just leave family business up to family? It wasn't like she went all snoopin' in when they had to deal with each other's bullcrap...

"Ah, yes, but...-" Sweet, darling Papyrus, always wanting to be helpful. "-...shouldn't you have some kind of...reinforcements? In case something dire occurs?"

"Something 'dire?'" Undyne scoffed, bursting out a laugh as she re-gripped her shovel. Stabbing it back at the ground and continuing to dig, she posed, "You mean, like, if she tries to pick a fight?"

"Yes, precisely. She was rather cross, wasn't she? Sans? When you last spoke?"

"she ain't gonna pick a fight," said Sans, with that always-creepy way he seemed to know stuff. "she lost. knows it."

"You would think," Undyne grunted, lifting her eye-patch to scratch an itch. "But trust me, you don't know my sister like I do. She's stubborn as hell."

"welp. got a point there. little determination can go a long way huh?"

"Sure does," Undyne huffed, shoving her eye-patch back down and shoveling out more dirt from the ground. "Anyway, shouldn't you two doofs be out there tryin' to find the kid?"

"ain't gonna find 'em."

"Tch-!" clicked Undyne. "Not with that attitude..."

"I searched high and low for them," Paps pointed out, pressing a dramatic palm against his broad chest. "I consoled poor Miss Toriel as best I could."

"she's a tough lady. she'll be fine."

At this, Undyne and Paps gave each other looks. Undyne lifted her brows and rolled her eye. She was not getting into this. She just kepppppt digggggin' her hole in the ground. Any moment now...-

"Now, Brother, given the, erhm, ah, delicate and rather intimate nature of your relations with Miss Toriel, don't you think it might be, urh, prudent, dare I say, appreciated, were you to, ah...comfort her? During such a tumultuous time as this?"

Sans shrugged.

"eh. too much work. ain't gonna change that her kid's missing."

This made Undyne stop for a moment. Wiping sweat from her forehead, she leaned on her shovel as she contemplated.

"Wait-wait. You think, uh-..." She stared Papyrus squarely with her one eye. "You think Alphys maybe needs...like...-" Undyne swapped glances with Sans, the two of them both grimacing slightly. "-...comfort?"

"Having not been married," said Paps, "I cannot say! Why, I've never even been snared by the wild vines of rrrrrROMANCE." He'd rolled his 'r' and everything. Heh. What a cool dude.

"You went on a date with Frisk that one time, didn't ya?" Undyne taunted between shovelings.

"Ah-, bbb-! SO DID YOU!" Papyrus flailed a pointer finger at her.

Undyne nodded and smirked, shrugging up one shoulder as she re-gripped her shovel.

"Yea," she conceded, striking the earth. "Haven't we all?"

There'd, uh, been a time when Frisk had started living with Toriel when they'd, like...been trying to 'understand' how to, like...'date?' Or something? They'd asked everybody on dates. People had played along, 'cuz that seemed better and more, like, 'educational?' Than just saying 'no?' Although, like, Undyne's attempt at showing the kid what a 'date' was like had ended with a call to the fire department...But yea. Frisk had learned the ins and outs of dating because the folks in their life had tried to show 'em. End of the day, Frisk seemed to kinda lose interest and move on to the next thing, like always. What HAD been the next thing...? Cooking, maybe? Or was it karate...?

"i never took 'em on a date," Sans said. In a weird, kinda creepy way.

Why was it creepy that Sans had not like, had a pretend-date with the kid? Wasn't it supposed to be creepy the other way around?

"CLEARLY," said Papyrus, "the child was so thoroughly impressed by my and Undyne's cooking skills that they deemed any and all future dates utterly unwarranted. They had learned all they needed to from our prowess." He'd said it like...'prow-ESS.'

"Yea. That." Undyne snapped her fingers at Paps inbetween shovels of dirt.

"sure," said Sans. In that annoying way where like, he totally knew somethin' he wasn't saying.

"And anyway," said Undyne, continuing to dig. "If we can just get a hold of my sister, she can tell what the hell happened tonight, and maybe we'll have an idea of where Frisk went."

The Brothers fell quiet, staring at the small hole Undyne had dug up.

Undyne struck at the hole yet again, this time feeling her shovel jolted by that familiar sensation.

"Ah. There it is."

And right on queue, Undyne's phone began to ring. Slipping off one of her gloves, she yanked it out of her pocket and answered it with her ear piece.

"Yo, Sera. You ready?"

[ "...No." ]

"Ha. Don't sound so excited."

[ "I'm not. I never am. I hate doing this." ]

"Yea, yea...Well, look, you know I sure appreciate it when you do it for me..."

[ "You only ever need my help when you're trying to protect people." ]

"I mean-...OK, but, Lil' Sis here is, ya know...helping people? Probably? In her own way?"

[ "Maybe. She's gotten reckless. Just like I was." ]

"Wellll sure, so that's why you gotta steer her right."

[ "Why don't you steer her 'right'? Huh? Maybe I'm fucking sick of pretending I even can..." ]

"...Dang, Mom."

[ "Why can't she follow your example? Why do you both keep coming to me, like I have any answers for you?" ]

"Uh...-"

Damn. Undyne did not know what to say to that. Usually this process was all, like, quick and painless.
The hell happened that night to make Sera get all...weird about this?

[ "Let's get this over with, Undyne," ] Sera groaned.

"Uh, sure. Yea, sure. All right."

"hey, uh...ask her if she saw 'em."

"Now, Sans, this isn't the best time for...-"
"the kid i mean."

What the...-? SANS, asking a...relevant question? Trying to be RESPONSIBLE?
Was he, like, BROKEN, or something?

[ "What's that? What are you weird friends saying?" ] came Sera, all annoyed.

"NGAH, nothing!" Undyne gave the two Brothers a hard glare. "They're saying NOTHING and shutting UP now."

Papyrus nodded, and Sans shrugged.

[ "All right. I-...I can see her now." ]
"You ready to pull her back?"
[ "I said 'no.' I'm never ready for this shit." ]
"Uh-...OK. So, let's...do it anyway?"
[ "You couldn't even be bothered to wait? She's only been dead, what, an hour?" ]
"Our friend is missing – the one you said killed her? Kind of a problem."
[ "I don't see how dragging her back out so soon is going to help with that..." ]
"It'll help me feel better, at least...It's not like this whole 'res' thing is a guarantee, ya know?"
[ "You see? That's exactly what I mean, you're not reckless with this. You should've heard her tonight, should've seen the kinds of things she did. Your sister's becoming unhinged." ]
"A-All right, so...how do we...re-hinge her?"

"Oh-oh-oh, they taught me how to install hinges at my workshop class a couple months back, mayhaps-"
"don't think it's that kinda hinge, bro."
"Oh?"

Undyne frowned at the two of them as she shuffled a bit more dirt off of the blue tarp. She carefully peeled the tarp back, revealing a dusty deer skull.

"Look, Mom, let's just bring her back, and you can...get on with...-" Undyne paused.
[ "Oh? Get on with what? With what, exactly?" ]
"Ngahhhh,sorry, I'm sorry, all right?! The hell d'you want me to say?!"
[ "Nothing! Say nothing! I'll bring my ungrateful daughter back and you can get on with whatever you do, and you can abandon me again until one of you needs me." ]
"Dude. It ain't like that, I call you every week."
[ "Almost every week." ]
"Almost every week."
[ "You want to know how often your sister calls me?" ]

Sans was yawning. It spread to his brother.

"Uh, n-not...often?" Undyne grumbled, hating being put on the spot. "Look, can we...-?"
[ "Fine, I get it, it's time to be useful..." ]
"Mom..."

Undyne hated when Sera did that. The guilt tripping and all that.
Sera wanted to know why her other daughter didn't want to spend time with her?
Maybe that was why.
Maybe when you fucking killed yourself and left your kids to fend for themselves, you didn't literally haunt them from beyond the grave like you were mad about them not coming across the country for the holidays or something.

Undyne scooped up the deer skull with care. Damn thing had some cracks in it, but it was still doing OK for all the wear and tear. Undyne didn't understand why her sister insisted on keeping this thing here of all places – buried in a junk yard? But, hey, it was her damn ritual. And yea, at least it was probably pretty safe, right? No one would go looking there for it.

Undyne stared at the deer skull in her gloved hand for a few moments, entranced by it. She could feel her sister's presence. Sure, they were only half siblings, but there was still a weird blood-connection there, you know? Through Sera, of course. Probably the same reason they could do any of the weirdo stuff they could do between the two of 'em.

And it was time for the biggest, weirdest thing they were capable of.

In a sudden flash of red flames, the skull bounced from Undyne's hands, falling back into the small hole she'd dug up. A whirlwind kicked up around the group, and Undyne's call with Sera fizzled into a mess of static. Undyne's ponytail whipped around in a frenzy, its red-dyed mange slapping against her own face as she watched a cloud of gray dust burst from the skull's eyes.

Within moments, the dust cloud, carried by the small tornado of air and embers, solidified into the form of Undyne's younger sister: Rachel.

She was in a tattered red dress, with a glowing chest wound that seared itself shut, her newest scar to join the collection. Undyne's scars were much more frequently added and varied – including her missing eye, of course – and she was quite fond of them. Each scar represented not a time she'd failed, but a person she'd saved, the way she saw it. She wore them proudly.

Her sister, meanwhile, seemed to abhor the scant few she possessed.

"Arrghh," Rachel snarled down at her own chest, lamenting the clear and apparent red mark that had formed over her heart. The whirlwind around them calmed itself, and the fiery glows of embers flickering through the air faded back into the dim moonlight and cell phone flash lights. "You took long enough..."

"...Wowie," Paps uttered, having never witnessed this process properly. "So that's how the magic happens..."

Rocking from his toes to his heels, Sans puffed out, "it's how the hot dogs get made..."

There was a weird, rough second of quiet. Rachel and Sans were glaring.
Ahhh, right, Sans had said he'd met her, apparently...? And she'd pointed a broken bottle at him?

"And you brought them?!" Rachel balked, thrusting an irate finger at Undyne's buds. "You brought him," she specified with disgust, calling out Sans, whose expression Undyne couldn't detect, but whose toothy smile was reflective amidst the dark.

"tried tellin' ya lady. had a bad time. didn't ya?"

"Ohhh-hohohh..." Rachel's head shook a bit, her jaw hanging loose. She was shuddering from the cold. Had enough heat in her to be pretty pissed, though. "Fuck you."

"Oh, dear..." Poor Paps. Those innocent ears...

"that expression..." Sans said with a small laugh. "that's the face of somebody who messed up a few times...ain't it?"

"No one asked you!" Rachel snarled at him, steam hissing from her mouth with how cold it was. Walking up to her older sister, Rachel swatted a hand against Undyne's chest, shivering. She was barefoot. Her feet were gonna freeze in this damn weather. "Wh-...U-Undyne," she chattered, rubbing at her arms. "The ffff-fuck're these idiots do-..doing here?!"

Undyne sturdied her face. Had to look tough. Keep Lil' Sis in line. Couldn't let her see the soft spots.
Not anymore.

"Moral support," Undyne pointed out, making her words cold like the snow at their feet. "Besides, it's their friend who killed you, I guess."

Rachel did a double-take at that, then shook her head wildly. Shoving her messy gold hair behind her head, she wrangled her precious deer skull back into its blue tarp and began burying it again.

[ "-...how ungrateful she is?" ] Sera's signal had come back. [ "I make her undying and still, she acts like this is normal. Expected. Owed to her. The world owes you nothing, Rachel. I owe you nothing." ]

Undyne made an uncomfortable grunting sound – she was listening to Sera through her headset, so no one else could hear.

Papyrus had waddled his enormous self up behind Rachel, who...looked like some crazy person? Kinda? In a ripped up dress, no shoes, a total mess, standing in a junk yard, burying something in a hole.

"Erh...Might you...need assistance?" See? Papyrus. Real sweetheart. Softie. Made Undyne worry sometimes...

"Back off!" Rachel roared, hitting the poor dude with the backside of the shovel.

He stumbled back, falling flat on his ass in some snowy-dirty slush.

"NGAHH!" Undyne roared, stomping toward Rachel.

She wanted to check on Paps. Make sure he was all right.

But she couldn't do that, not in front of Lil' Sis. Would show weakness.

So she marched right up to her sister's back. Undyne ripped the shovel out of Rachel's hand, stabbing it into the dirt. She lashed out, "The fuck is your problem, Ray?!"

Rachel just stared over her shoulder with this stomach-shriveling look, man. Yeesh.
Made Undyne's hair spike up on her arms, back of her neck.

[ "That right there," ] Sera hissed into Undyne's ear. [ "You see what I mean? Unhinged." ]

Sans checked on his bro, poking at him with the tip of his toes – he was in sandals and shorts,so it was a wonder he wasn't freezing his ass off...

"ya good bro?"
"Ah. Just a scrape. An adequate test of my durability."
"...you're pretty durable."
"Aren't I?"

Rachel gawked with disbelief at the brothers. She thought they were idiots, clearly. What did she know? She didn't make herself a part of Undyne's life. Had no reason to judge. And man, though, that look in her eye, it really was like something was cracked...

"The hell happened to you tonight?" Undyne pleaded.

Rachel looked back down at the pit, and her half-buried deer skull. Rubbing at her arms and shivering...She actually was freezing, eh? The cold usually didn't affect Ray that much, but...well, she had just come back, heat probably wasn't all there yet. Undyne kinda worked the opposite way – cold she could handle, it was heat that really did her in.

[ "Didn't you warn her? I thought you tried to make her keep away." ]

Sera didn't get answer from Undyne, and Undyne didn't get an answer from Rachel.

So Undyne took Sera's words and said, "Thought I told you to stay away from all this."

"I c-c-can say the same," Rachel seethed, twisting her head toward Sans.

He winked back at her, grinning with a shrug.

"Hey," Undyne grunted, giving Rachel a shove on the arm. Not, ya know, not too hard a shove, but, like...had to show dominance, you know? "Forget about those two, I'm talking to you! I heard you tried to abduct my wife tonight? Huh?" Another shove. "Wanna tell me what that's about?"

Rachel laughed, her shoulders popping up and falling down.

The winter wind had been pushing her hair around. She shoved it out of her face to look her big sis right in the eye.

Rachel replied, "My boss wanted me to...'recruit' her to our side. We weren't going to hurt her...But we'd be making better use of what she knows."

Undyne frowned. She didn't exactly know what that...meant? What 'boss?' Thought Rachel didn't have a boss? That she worked for nobody but herself? And Alphys, she was a scientist, doing good for the world and all that, why'd it matter who she was even working for, huh?

Trying to get what this was about, what her Lil' Sis would be doing trying to work against her like this, Undyne watched Ray pick up the shovel and go back to burying.

Rachel – her little 'Ray,' her estranged half-sister – had tried to hurt her wife.
What the hell?
Something was wrong with her.

"You're lucky you failed," Undyne snarled through clenched teeth.

Scooping snow and dirt over her artifact, Rachel scoffed and laughed. "This is what 'lucky' looks like."

"heh. sure is."

And there SANS WAS, saying shit like that like he knew somethin' he wasn't going to explain!
Undyne hated that, but nothing she did ever got him to budge...

"Well, ah...you COULD be dead," pointed out Papyrus. "In the forever sense, I mean."

"Aren't I just the lucky lady?" Rachel huffed under her breath as she worked.

[ "Ungrateful little...-! You see what I'm dealing with? What my sacrifices has brought?" ]

Not sure how leaving us all to clean up your crap is such a noble sacrifice...

Sans poked at his brother's back again. Papyrus finally got up with a groan, dusting off his butt.

"You are lucky," insisted Undyne to Rachel, all pointed-like. "What if I hadn't sent Sera to help your dumb-ass?"

Rachel sighed loudly, but didn't look up from her burying.

"Lot of help that did, I still couldn't stop that fucking demon you all act like is...some innocent child."

At this, Sans shrugged.

Papyrus lifted a finger, citing, "I-I mean...Frisk is a child. Aren't they? A Human Child? I remember quite clearly that we'd made quite a thing of this upon meeting them." Paps tugged at his brother's hoodie when no one knew what to say. "Frisk IS a Human? Child? Yes?"

Sans pat his hand delicately on Paps' shoulder.

"sure is, bro."

"A good child," Paps insisted, more to himself, apparently. "A lost child!"

"we'll find 'em. sooner or later. maybe more like later."

Undyne...wasn't sure what all that meant. What either of them were talking about.
But she had seen something pretty creepy stuff back at Valhalla earlier that night...
The way that kid's eyes had lit up, the way they were acting...-

"You can stick your heads in the sand all you want, just keep me the hell away from that thing," said Rachel with a bitterness, her back still at them.

"Dude, Frisk can protect themselves," Undyne reminded. "You knew that. And you still messed with 'em? After I told you what they can do?"

"THEY GOT IN MY WAY," growled Rachel. Dang, she was real salty about this, huh? Sounded like she was warming herself back up, too. All that anger...

"Good! I'm glad they got in your way!" Undyne said, annoyed. "You went after my wife. Frisk could-...They did that thing they do, where they, like...see things?" Undyne snapped her finger, pointing it at Rachel as she started thinking about it. "Yeaaa, they sawyou doing a bad, they made it right."

"HA! Oh, is-...Is that what we're calling it? 'Made a right.'" Rachel wiped sweat from her forehead between swings of her shovel, shaking her head. "By fucking murdering me, they 'made it right'?"

"better than the left you woulda made," said Sans.

"Oh, are we going over our favorite directions? Because mine is most certainly going straight ahead."

"i know it is, bro. good choice. mine, too. right after not goin' anywhere."

"Guys," Undyne grumbled, even herself getting a little off track by them. She damn well could tell Rachel was hating every minute of listening to them. But maybe this was for the best – her two families mingling? Maybe, like, woulda been better over a barbecue or something...

"If you wanted me to fail," said Rachel between shovels. "Why'd you bother sending Mom in the first place?"

"Because screw you,you're still my damned sister! I ain't gonna let you die just because you're a stubborn...-" Undyne's nose wrinkled and her lips shut tight as she glanced back at Papyrus, who seemed alarmed at her tone. She stopped and sighed and started again, her Soul like an engine ready to tear it up. "I was worried you were gonna get caught, which almost happened! I can't send Mom to you if you're stuck in jail, can I?"

[ "Maybe we should've just left her. Let her learn the hard way." ]

"So you didn't want me to do my job," said Rachel with that saucy spite. She was slapping the ground flat. "But you did want to bring me right the fuck back, so you could yell at me?"

Rachel whipped round, walked up to sis, and pushed the shovel at her.

"I don't get you, Dyne," Rachel whispered darkly.

"Fucking same, Ray..." Undyne whispered back.

The two stared at each other all angry like. Rachel's hands were shaking. Undyne's teeth were grinding.

Rachel huffed and walked past, grumbling, "You all can stick with Los Muertos, if you want. But they're falling behind, guys. The Nightwings, we've got the real power around her."

"Dude, you don't even know those guys," Undyne winced, slinging the shovel over her shoulder and following. She gestured the brothers to come along. Calling to Rachel's back, she suggested, "And anyway, why does there have to be sides to this? Aren't we all after the same thing?"

"Ha, isn't everyone always after the same shit when war breaks out? Isn't that-...?" Rachel stopped on a dime, swiveled around. There was steam rising up from where her footsteps were. She tossed out her arms at Undyne, saying, "Two sides both want the same thing – that, that to me, that's what starts a war in the first place."

"You're quite a pessimist, aren't you?" stated Paps in one of those rare moments of blunt clarity he could have.

"Puh-! These fucking...-" Rachel's head slanted back a she gave the brothers a disgusted look. "-...weirdos, man-babies, that depressing teacher, that creepy as shit 'child,' your pathetic coward of a wife? Even the Din-damned Mayor you worship like he's your fucking dad. He's the biggest coward of them all, you know that?"

"You shut your mouth," Undyne spat out.
Wasn't liking her family being smack-talked like that.

Rachel's eyes narrowed. "They're all making you weak, Dyne. Fucking weak."

Undyne's eye was ready to roll out of its socket, and her jaws were shut together with rage.

"Not this shit again..." she growled.

"There's losers, and there's winners, Sis." Rachel turned back around and kept stomping off. "Maybe you stopped caring about that, but I haven't. And I am not gonna be on the 'losing' side anymore. I'm fucking done with losing. My whole life has just been losing, losing, losing."

"oh. speakin' of losing..." Here came Sans again, talkin' his shit! "where'd that buddy of yours go? huh? the annoying one...?"

Rachel stopped dead in her tracks. Erh. Well, alive in her tracks.
Erh-! Well, she stopped.

She bared her teeth at him. And he bared his back, only flipped in the opposite direction.

Rachel stuck up her middle finger at him and spun back around. It wasn't a walk so much like what a war drum does? Only with her feet.

"good seeing you, too, lady. nice talk," Sans said to Ray as he walked up to Undyne's side, giving her hip a nudge with his elbow. "heh. family, right?"

"Yea," breathed out Undyne tiredly. That hadn't gone so great...

"Family truly is the best," Papyrus wedged in. Not just with words, he literally shoved his massive body between the two of them, bringing them in under his beefy arms. "Don't let her bring you down, Undyne. For you...are an all-star."

"ain't this guy just the coolest?" said Sans behind his brother's back, leaning at Undyne.

"AW THANK YOU! AND YOU ARE! AS WELL!"

"Were you being sarcastic?" Undyne wondered aloud.

Sans' face was the same as it had been for most ofgthis whole deal.

"course not. can't you tell?"

Undyne literally couldn't.

[ "At least you have...a support network," ] Sera said into Undyne's ear. [ "You certainly try, Undyne. I'll give you that. I hope this was worth all the trouble, though..." ]

With Rachel out of earshot, Undyne leaned her head down a bit, replying to Sera, "Sorry, Mom. I, erh-...I'll get through to her, just not tonight. You know how sore she gets when things don't go her way..."

[ "You used to be the same way..." ]

Undyne laughed gently, grinning with nostalgia.

"Sure did. But, eh, I grew up a little."

[ "You at least let someone look after you." ]

Yea, well, you sorta forced that choice on me, didn't you?

Can't really blame Ray for going her own way...

[ "You've got grit. Determination. You'll get through to her." ]

"We'll see," Undyne mumbled. Watching her Lil Sis' shadow disappear into the night, Undyne was suddenly feeling much more worried about this than she had for a long time...

Sera - disconnected - the call.

"Hey, Sans."

"yea, bro?"

"Why does Undyne keep talking to her shoulder? Is there a small person there she's not introducing us to?"

"...something like that."

"It's just that I don't like being left out of the conversation."

"you're always part of the conversation if i'm here."

"Yes. Quite right! Thank you, Sans!"

"any time, paps."

\/\/+0+1+0+/\/\

Ralph and Vanellope originate from Fix It Felix Jr. and Sugar Rush, respectively (Disney)
Madeline originates from Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
Sera originates from Life is Strange: Before the Storm (DeckNine Games)