Chapter 36
You make your own luckIka pushes the couple out of her tent in a hurry, they are amused and think it's all part of her act. Silly gooses. You don't need to see the future to know they'll be happy together; but she's never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Easy fortunes mean easy money and easy magic. Which is necessary but no good right now. She needs something more complex, something flashier.
Then she sees her, a small fae type monster, a darling little thing; fluttering a few feet off the ground and carrying a shopping bag. She gets her game face on and approaches her with a friendly greeting. What luck it seems, if it were not for fate, that the ravine of this girl destiny flows alongside theirs. The world is not really that small, but the mountain certainly is. Her name is Laiza, partner of Pete and as obvious as it is that her life too will be simple and happy, the same cannot be said for those around her. Ika reaches deep and far, trying to catch glimpses of the two skeletons. One bitter with forgetting, the other bitter in remembering.
They're eating dinner with her, they're at the hospital when her babies hatch, they're visiting for the holidays, they're sharing gifts. They are missing things, they have changed, they are scarred and older if only she could see more...The hunger strains her out of it before she can see anything other than flashes, all useless for now. The young monster is excited, but also concerned for her. It's not as easy to kick someone out when they can fly and you cannot. But after Ika eats the pastry she offered, the girl leaves. Ika slumps to the floor tiredly, shoving the rest of the snack in her mouth and letting the natural tandem of excess magic flow into her.
As the magic drains from all the souls around her, leaving a momentary black hole she waits. She reaches out, absorbing all she can take, just enough to refill her energy to a halfway point. Just enough to pack and run again. Then she finds it, she can see feel it, more than see it. The hunger at the edge of her perception, a ravenous craving so much sharper than her own. Now she knows the chase is on, she can feel the hunter's eyes on her back as she scrambles to fulfill her fate. Even if she knows it is written, her body trembles with the instinct to preserve itself, a meaningless flicker of hope against odds she knows are rigged for failure.
He leans over the human child, her bleary eyes trying to speak, her small hand trying to reach for him.
Don't leave me alone...I lied...I'm scared... I don't want...I don't want to disappear!
...I' d…
Lupan slips his hand into hers, wrapping his other tentacle delicately around her shoulders. The machines are beeping erratically and the nurses scramble to set up the holograms of her parents. Her parents have been working so hard to pay for this, but there's not much else for it. Rather than the falsely optimistic reply the doctor had given them, Lupan chose to be straightforward. He asked them to stay with her in her last, but they, too stubborn to give up, continued to work. He hated the lingering stain sadness and fear left on his soul. But that was the price for helping them find peace, the price for buying back the goodness in his soul. He wanted to help her; but he also wanted to be happy himself someday, so he had much to pay for.
"I'm here. It's going to be alright, Ruthy. I promise you, it won't hurt anymore. All you have to do is close your eyes." Lupan says terribly gentle.
She closes her eyes, or perhaps they slip closed without her meaning to. The beeping is growing erratic and he has to hold her still, the staff is on standby in case they need to resuscitate her. He closes his own eyes, letting his magic flow into her soothingly, thrumming with crystalline clarity. Her shaking hand grips his tight, collapsing the soft fin he calls a hand between her fingers, he doesn't mind.
"Remember when you played Peter Pan? Everyone came to see you." he starts.
The school… play…
...I remember...
"Then you know that when it looked like Hook would win, Peter wasn't scared. Because he believed with all his heart, that to die…"
Would be... an...awfully…b i g ... e...
Lupan holds her a little tighter, for as long as he can, taking in all her fear, all her regret of not seeing enough of the world. He lets it wash over him, trickling over the parts of himself that are similar, staining them the deepest blue. He's not sure to this day what it is he did to deserve this, but seeing the fear melt away from her face makes it worthwhile somehow. He can do this again and again, if even for just a second he can buy back their peace from the universe. The nurses push him away, one of them gives him a knowing look as Lupan's eyes follow the girl's soul leaving her body. They try to revive her and though her heart stutters she doesn't come back.
She's already taken sail somewhere far where fear can't reach her.
Lupan steps out of the room, letting them do their job, doing his rounds as he waits for Ruthy's parents to arrive. Somewhere at the edge of his perception there is a sharp hunger. He's never felt it himself, but he can take a guess at what it must be like. Was that what it was like for all the others? He thinks back on the monster that passed this burden onto him. This power had driven that monster mad, the voices piled up inside his head so that he couldn't hear himself. He held back the hunger until it ate him alive, he all but Fell right in front of Lupan. Lupan's mother tried to save the monster, but he was already turning into ash.
In that last moment, he gripped Lupan's hand so tight. A light extinguished from his chest, but another burned blue, into Lupan's own heart. Unlike that monster, Lupan understood his hunger, was empowered by it. His parents had taught him how to use his magic from a very young age, he studied it incessantly. They expected nothing but the best from him; another doctor in the family, another badge of excellence in their history. Finding this power was a gift, a fluke, that served only to enhance that purpose. This power was the pen and his effort but the ink, to write the story of his life, a story whose purpose was already clear in his mind.
"Is that everything, then?" Papyrus looked around, his usual excitement tempered with politeness. It wouldn't do to act sad when everyone was already so worried.
"I think so." Frisk nods.
"Oh sweetie, I'm going to miss you so terribly! Promise me you'll call me at least once a week." Mettaton wraps them in his arms and rubs his face against theirs. His magic is cloyingly sweet and bright, yet they can still feel his sadness in it.
"I promise."
"It's our last night together for a while, brother. Mettaton and I thought it best we spent it sharing the power of JOY AND FRIENDSHIP!" he threw his arm over Sans' shoulders and pulled him closer to the others.
From the doorway, Jaques and the maids brought in a table covered in their favorite treats. The movie room was lit up with swiveling lights and smoke; and a karaoke stage was already set up on one end of the room. The first movie is Frisk's request, a Jim Carrey classic: The Mask.
They sit together, eating, laughing and quoting their favorite parts. Mettaton could make a mean Tina Carlyle impression and Papyrus could belt out a great wolf whistle, even without lips. The husbands are extra loud that night, as if to stave off the bittersweet goodbye that awaited them the next morning. They sang, ate snacks and played board games. Besides the occasional joke, Sans remains quiet. Frisk on the other hand joins the fray wholeheartedly, more than willing to let the fun occupy the forefront of their mind for as long as they can.
When they wake up the next morning, Papyrus and Mettaton are already up and running. They eat breakfast together, finish loading up the SUVs and stand at the door with them. because of his work Mettaton couldn't see them off at the airport and was teary eyed, which was somehow worse than seeing him cry because it seemed much more genuine.
"We really need to do this again sometime;I had so much fun and I know you did too!" he leans down and pulls them off their feet in a hug. "Word of advice, don't let Sans get away with everything so easily, make him work for it, sweetness!" he whispers before putting them down and fixing their clothes again. They reply with a nervous laugh and another hug.
"We will meet again soon, brother. Though I admit I'm really going to miss our movie nights, they're not the same without you." Papyrus says approaching Sans.
"Uh, me too, Paps. I'll miss yer cookin." he replies awkwardly, letting his brother scoop him up and spin him around before putting him down. He shoves his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, shoulders high to cover his reddened face.
"Oh what the hell, just get over here!" Mettaton extends his arms and pulls both of the shorter skeletons close. He kisses both their cheeks with a loud, metallic smack and sways in the embrace. Papyrus joins the group hug, squeezing them tightly and giving skeleton kisses to the top of their skulls. It's about as embarrassing as it sounds, but it makes them both feel better.
"Your escort awaits! We must be going now! I will see you next week, my love!"
Papyrus sweeps Mettaton into his arms, giving him a long kiss. Sans and Frisk take the chance to slip away before they are pulled into another bone crushing hug. Mettaton waves a handkerchief at them until they disappear beyond the main gates. The drive is mostly uneventful, Antoine and another guard are driving while Frisk and Sans make small talk in the back seat, avoiding the subject of the hosts for now.
Papyrus is waiting for them at the airport, their bags are checked and loaded as they pass security; then they make their way to the jet, followed by Antoine and the other guard. They'd sparred with her before but her name escapes them. She is a small monster whose face was always hidden inside a knight's helmet. As Papyrus was seeing them off, Frisk turns to Antoine.
"Wait, Iet me say goodbye before we-"
"Not to worry tiny skeleton. That won't be necessary; since Mx. Scythes will be accompanying you on your journey!" Papyrus announced.
"Wait, really?...Really?!" Frisk looked between him and Antoine, who smiled wide in response, showing off the pincers in the corners of their mouth.
"Really, really. Being your bodyguard is my special assignment, remember?" they say, putting a hand on Frisk's shoulder. "Ms. Sallet here will also be going with us." he extends a hand to the little knight, who bows before taking off on translucent wings and shaking their hand.
"But isn't that-? What about your family?" Frisk ask as Ms. Sallet and two other guards file into the plane with them.
"My siblings understand it's my job. Besides, I couldn't let you slack off on your training, now could I?" they wink at them with several eyes, Frisk can't contain a smile.
"I will see you both in a month's time! Take good care of each other; farewell and best of luck on your quest! Make sure they are safe Antoine!" Papyrus waved grandly at them, they all waved back.
"Will do, sir!"
"Thank you for everything, Papyrus!" Frisk yelled.
"Yep, yer the best, bro. Plane and simple." Sans did a mock salute with two fingers, wearing one of his shit eating grins. The last thing they heard before the plane's door closed was Papyrus' yelling.
Ika scrambled away, the claws gripped her tightly, plunging into her soft limbs. But her body was too pliable, she shot out a stream of ink. It covered one side of Dahlia's face and the cat like monster flinched, more in disgust than anything else. The claws squeezed harder and she slipped herself past a grate and into a duct. She wasn't cut out for this, Ika thought, pushing faster as the pipe she was in shook with magic. She emerged in another alley, this one closer to the street. Ash was coating her tentacles and the inside of her mouth, she swallowed and ran faster, right into the headlights of an oncoming car.
The car screeched to a stop barely inches from her, she didn't have it in her to be scared, using it instead to support herself. She only had eyes for the two green spots that reflected the light of the cars back at her from the alley. Liquid magic and ash came up her throat, she slid off the front of the car, vomiting over herself. A worried voice, warm and sweaty hands of flesh and bone. A human had saved her she realized, laughing at the strange turn of events before blacking out.
A jolt wakes her. A sparkle of recognition. It is so sharp, like crushed mint, a glass bell ringing. There is beeping, a soothing coolness around her, the smell of disinfectants.
"You are awake then." a young voice says, deep with knowledge and incongruous bitterness.
"Guess...I am." she replies voice coarse with ashes still.
"Drink." Lupan places a cup to her mouth, she doesn't need to be told twice.
"Why did you come here, then?" the young one says, as if continuing a conversation they'd started some time ago.
"I came...here...to find you...silly goose."
"No, you came here to die." He states plainly, she laughs at his precociousness. "So long as you're here, I can't let you do that. It's my job to help."
She creaks her eye open, his eyes are locked on hers, they are so very blue. He clearly thinks he knows everything, must be the gift of youth.
"Then help me...rest, like you do...the others."
Lupan steps off the stool he was standing on to reach the bed.
"I help the ones that need rest. You're not dying, Ika."
"We're...all dying...silly goose." she smiles at him, unable to tell if his expression has changed under all that cloth.
Her thoughts are a mess, but Lupan can see the fear in her clearly. She wants to live. He shakes his head slightly and leaves her be. For the next few days he steps into her room while on his rounds. She tries to strike conversation, but he only stays there long enough for her to recharge her magic by absorbing his. In just two weeks she's back to perfect health, or as perfect as it can get with a ninety something year old lady.
"You are better now. Soon it will be time for you to leave." Lupan says for what feels like the hundredth time.
"I can't do that until I get what I came for, goose, you know that. You have to take my soul to Mettaton and his skele-hubby."
"I will not take your soul."
"You will. I saw it already, it has to be." she responds, like she always does.
"Then you saw wrong. Good day."
Lupan can hear it in her thoughts, he can feel it for himself too. Dahlia is very close, stalking them; she will most likely attack in the following days. In Ika's vision it is late night, they are outside, at the very edge of the hospital's grounds near the woods. He continues to ignore the hunter. So long as she doesn't target his patients, it's none of his business what she does. What he's doing here is too important to let anyone hinder it, something only he can do.
Lupan can't let this power fall into the wrong hands. This was his burden, his retribution for whatever he'd done wrong. Once his price was paid his parents would love him without conditions. He'd build a better life, a meaningful one, where he'd reap the rewards of all his discipline and continue to help others until he died...he'd be happy. He'd finally be worthy of all the good things in life that never came for free.
The old lady was at least right about some things. Dahlia did attack at night, in the exact spot he saw in her mind. The cat-like monster seemed surprised to see him there, but didn't immediately flee. Perhaps something had changed since they'd last met, made her bolder and stupider. She lunged at him, faster than anything he'd ever experienced. He managed to leap over her, seeing her skid to a halt and take aim. But he was in his element, easily dodging all the projectiles she launched at him in mid air. As always, he was too fast, too small of a target.
She is experienced and powerful, but unlike her, he is calm and in control, attacking her with the curious cruelty only a child can muster. He slices at her with his razor sharp fins, spinning this way and that; moving fast, sometimes jumping off her body to dodge and attack. He can hear her viciousness inside his own head, her desperation. She purposefully pushes her thoughts into his mind, as if it to convince him or make him doubt, but he doesn't falter. Just like he won't flinch if he has to deliver a fatal blow.
He has no mercy for monsters like her.
Dahlia is aware of this, her attacks start off strong but she will tire quickly if she continues like this. So now she prowls, slowly assessing him, feeding him a barrage of reasonings and threats in an attempt to distract him while she figures out how to attack. But it isn't her mind that does it, it's Ika's. She rushes out of nowhere, her garbled thought process registering as nothing more than white noise to him until she's close enough for him to hear it, sharp and clear. The thought that drove her to stay here: the complete vision of her death. She stands there, with clarity and purpose, waiting for him to kill her, to use her soul to kill Dahlia. Because it was written, because she believes it is right and she had accepted her fate, long before she'd met him..
-I know you do the right thing, goose. I'm ready now, for one...awfully big adventure.- she projects at him, knowing he can hear her.
"You must truly be crazy...to think I would ever hurt you. Now, go back inside." he states, pausing to glance at her over his shoulder.
"Goose…" Ika is crying with a relief that disgusts her, still standing at the edge of her fear and the desire for freedom.
Freedom from fate.
In that brief moment of distraction, Dahlia throws a golden bullet through his chest. He's flung through the air, landing roughly and skidding to a stop before regaining his footing. For the first time in years the taste of ash fills his mouth; he shudders at the memory of his training before he regains his composure. He leaps over Ika's head, shoving her behind him to land between her and Dahlia. This time he flicks his arms like whips at her legs, tripping her and slashing at her face and tail when she topples. She rolls into a crouch, a huge stinger emerging from her tail to strike at him.
After hitting the floor Ika finally scrambles away, screaming for help all the while, Dahlia tries to shoot after her but he doesn't give her time, flinging sharp slivers of magic at her. She turns her claws on him, he dodges and slashes at Dahlia's flanks again, she hisses in frustration.
"This ain't your business. Get outta mah way!"
"She's my patient." he responds fiercely, blocking her again. She's finally slowed down to a more manageable speed.
"Nah, she a parasite and ya know it. Pretty hypocritical of ya to keep her 'round all yer other 'patients'…Ya know she's gonna suck their magic away, right?" she smiles at him, he ignores her in favor of attacking, aiming to sever her tail. He cuts her deeply, but not deep enough. This close, and with her so desperate he finally hears it. A hint of truth behind the sleek trickery.
- I cAn't Die hEre, nOt UnTiL I SaVe tHem!-
"You're lying to yourself. Doing this won't save anyone."
"Ya don't know what ya sayin'!" - I'm goNnA haVe to KiLL him! FuCK!-
"You don't have to do this." he says simply.
She won't let herself even consider it, not now. Dahlia growls and attacks again, but this time he has no distractions, Ika has finally run away. He has no concerns but to maim this stubborn monster until she stops this nonsense. She dodges, weaving back and forth, using her hands and tail to block his blows, backing into the trees. Sirens start to blare somewhere, she has to retreat but he won't let her, slashing at her legs and tail to slow her down. With one insane rush she runs into his whip-like arm, feeling the damage to her soul, though it passes through her body as she makes a break for it. He tangles her tail in his arm but she speeds off and the momentum tears him from her as she disappears into the woods.
Lupan stares after Dahlia for a moment, hearing the frantic cacophony of her mind fade from his own. He pulls off his cowl and spits a mix of magic and ash on the grass. Guarding his patients came first, but she was a liability, so he promised himself not to hold back next time he met her. By the time he made it back inside Ika wasn't there anymore, she must have escaped in the mess of staff running around when the authorities arrived. The old lady was a fool, but perhaps so was he, for wanting to change her ways when he couldn't even change his own.
Thank you for reading and for reviewing, it means a lot to me. I hope you stick around till the end because it will keep getting better, see ya on the next one!