Chapter 2
After befriending the frog and blaring the ears of the jelly monster (which resulted in me getting at least 10 gold coins from them), I went forward some more and saw something that confused me. There was a sign that promoted something that sounded odd. "Come to the spider bake sale! Made of spiders, for spiders, from spiders," the sign said.
"Um... odd... maybe I should give them a visit..." I frowned as I went to where the sign mentioned and saw a bunch of small spiders around a web area and them having some cookies, donuts, and a cider that happened to have a dead spider inside of it... at least now I knew what the 'of spiders' part of it meant.
"Oh, hello there, mister human! Would you like to donate to the spider bake sale? All proceeds go to getting us spiders out of the ruins!" one of the little critters said to me as I saw that there were probably twenty different spiders and a whole lot of egg sacks that would hold tons of baby spiders.
"Um... question... why not just ask someone else to get you out of the ruins?" I asked.
"If only it were that easy, mister," the spider frowned. "See, the only area that you can get to outside of the Ruins is Snowdin, a frigid place that would kill any spider within minutes! So, our mother and boss, Miss Muffet, made this bake sale so that we can raise enough money to rent out a heated mode of transport for us to get to Hot Land to meet up with the other spiders."
I then thought about that and then, an idea popped to mind. "Well, I have an idea that can work out for all of us," I smiled as I presented something I had on me just in case I came across anything chilly in the Underground. It was basically a heated bag that could keep things warm no matter the temperature. In fact, it converted cold air to warm for anything inside of it! "This bag can keep all of you warm and it's big enough to fit you all in there. If you'd allow, I think I could have you travel with me, as I'm going to go meet with King Asgore. And from what you say, it sounds like Hot Land is on the way there past Snowdin," I smiled at them, the spiders looking at each other with confusion before some of them started to smile and agree. And then, eventually, they all cheered at that.
"You got a deal, mister! What is the name of our cabby, just curious?" the leader spider asked.
"Name's Crow. And uh, don't tell anyone this, but I'm actually a human," I said, the spiders smirking at that.
"Pfft, we knew that just from your looks. You look a lot like that one girl that came by here that one day. Her name was... Shove or something..." another spider said.
"You mean Shiva? That's my sister. She and my other siblings are being held captive by Asgore and I need to get to him and free them," I said.
"Well, that sounds like a fun and dangerous adventure. But you promise that this bag is safe, right?" the spider leader asked.
"Incredibly safe. I just need to take out a couple of things that I kept in here and move them to the side pockets..." I said as I pulled out a couple of my rations in the form of a sandwich, a cookie, and a soda pop and then I held the bag open for the little spiders to enter. "There we are," I smiled, the spiders cheering and entering it while also carrying in all of their different pastries and egg sacks as well. I then zipped up the bag and smiled at them. "So you know, you guys can get air in there, since the bag is insulated and uses outside air and converts it to warm air," I said to them, the spiders not even bothering to respond as I then went forward some more through the ruins, encountering no enemies anywhere until I came across... another odd sight.
There was a ghost on the ground, blocking my path, and pretending to sleep. "Um, excuse me? I kind of need to get past you, here," I said to the ghost. He simply turned over on his side and I frowned. "I'm serious, mister ghost. If you don't move in the next three seconds, I'm blowing E flat above high C into this trumpet," I said, the ghost finally getting up off of the ground and looking at me with a small, very underwhelming smile.
"You... like music too?..." he asked, me looking at him in confusion.
"Uh, yeah, I do. I'm able to blast notes that high and lower for 30 minutes without a break and I can use the flute and piccolo too," I smiled.
"Heh... I see... you wanna see something?" he asked. He then started to produce some tears from his eyes and, get this, they turned into a top hat on his head. "I call it... Dapperblook... but my real name... Napstablook... sorry for getting in your way... I'll go ahead and leave now..." he said as he then flew off into the distance after putting headphones on his head.
"Hmm..." I frowned as I saw he left behind 20 gold coins. I then went on my way some more and, after doing a couple more puzzles, I got a call from Toriel. "Hello?" I asked into the phone.
"Ah, hello there, young one... apologies, but I believe I neglected to ask your name before," Toriel said.
"Crow. Crow Burr," I smiled.
"Well, I wanted to let you know... I have found the soul that we can use... but it unfortunately won't be easy to deal with... I've had to lock her in her room for now until she behaves... I still can't believe it..." Toriel said, me wondering what that meant.
"What do you mean by those last two things?" I asked.
"Well... I'll explain more when you arrive..." Toriel said, me being even more confused. "But before that, I must ask... do you prefer cinnamon or butterscotch on your pie?" she asked.
"Um... odd question... but I prefer butterscotch. Nothing against cinnamon, but I just like butterscotch more," I smiled.
"I see... thanks for telling me," Toriel said, me wondering what was going on with her as I got through a couple more puzzles and then got to the next part, which was a bunch of button pressing until I got to an area that I smiled at. I was finally at Toriel's house. And when I got near, I looked at my cell phone and saw that all those puzzles and all the distractions after Toriel called me was roughly 15 minutes worth of walking. I knocked on the door and waited, getting Toriel to answer afterwards with a smile on her face.
"Oh, hello, Crow. Come inside, quickly," Toriel said as I only then noticed something to the side of the house... there was a grave that had been dug up and there was a name on it. Chara.
"Um... I'm guessing the secret soul you mentioned is this Chara person?" I asked, Toriel nodding at that.
"I'll lead you to where her room is, but just be careful. She's a little bit disturbed right now and she's not nice when disturbed," Toriel said as she led me to a room on the right. And it had the name Asriel on it. Toriel unlocked the door, which was more than enough time for Chara to try and barge down the door, but Toriel proved she was tougher than she looked when she took the blow and managed to hold Chara back... and when I saw Chara? She looked like a mess. Her face was covered with dirt, her outfit was all but ruined, and her hair had bugs, dust, and dirt all through it.
"Um... Chara?" I asked, that making her stop and look at me in an instant, her frowning at me.
"You..." she frowned.
"Um... yes?" I asked. She then stopped trying to shove the door and I looked at Toriel in confusion.
"Come in. But leave her outside," Chara said coldly, me looking at Toriel with a sigh.
"I'll... just... go and see how the pie is doing," Toriel said as she went to the left part of the house and I entered the room, seeing it was a bedroom and it had a very cozy feel to it... there was also a small family photo on the bed stand that showed a picture of Chara and a family of goat people, one of them being Toriel. And I had to admit, her trying to hide her face behind a bunch of flowers looked adorable.
"Might as well not even trying to think of any lies, human," Chara said as I looked at her and I saw that her eyes also looked almost bloodshot... but other than that? She stunk like high heaven. "I can see all of your thoughts... but thanks for the compliment, I guess... not so much the part about me smelling bad," Chara said, me gawking at that with my mouth wide open.
"H-How can... how can you see my thoughts?..." I gawked at her.
"Don't you get it?" Chara frowned at me as she did something unexpected. She let out her soul and forced my soul out as well... and I saw that both our souls were red and looked identical. "The moment you entered the Underground... all that Determination in your body. It merged with my soul and revived me from death... when I woke up, it was dark... cramped... I couldn't see a thing. And then I felt a bump and then the lid opened... and I saw... her..." Chara said, me frowning at that.
"Um... so... what exactly happened to make you dead in the first place? Like, no joke, literally dead so the only thing left of you was your soul?" I asked, baffled at what I was hearing.
"It's a bit of a personal reason... I'm not really one for talking about it... let's just say, I accidentally poisoned myself when trying to make butterscotch cinnamon pie because I was an idiot and though two cups of butter meant two buttercup flowers," Chara said, me frowning at that and knowing that'd be a terrible way to go for anyone. "I then tried to have my only friend take my soul to the surface in order to get the necessary souls to destroy the barrier... but the humans up top saw him carrying my dead body... and thought he had killed me... he didn't have the heart to fight back... now he's as dead as I was... but your Determination brought me back from the dead... no other human down here was able to do that," Chara said as I looked at our hearts and frowned.
"Has your soul always been the same color as mine? Because, if so, then I think it might be just from that reason alone that my presence here revived you," I suggested, Chara gasping at that.
"Y-You might be right about that! My soul was red before... but you and me are total opposites other than that," Chara frowned.
"How so?" I asked.
"Well... I hate humans..." she said, me looking at her in confusion. "And don't even think of saying that I'm a human so it doesn't matter, because frankly, I don't give a rat's ass. My parents on the surface... they were sick people... and so was my town... I had no one and they stripped me of all dignity... I jumped from the cliff of that mountain to try and kill myself... but then, Asriel appeared... he and his parents adopted me into their family... and for the first time in my life, I felt like people cared for me... but I don't want to stay here anymore... I don't deserve to still be alive... not after I got Asriel killed from my plan..." Chara said as I saw she was going to cry, which I didn't want her to.
"Hey, it's okay, Chara... listen, I don't know how rough it must've been for you... but I need your help," I said, her looking at me with a frown. "My six siblings were captured by Asgore and he plans on using them to destroy the barrier once he gets a 7th soul. If you say that my Determination was tough enough to resurrect you from the dead, I'd bet you anything that I'd be able to talk to and pacify Asgore, rescue my siblings, and, with your help, exit the barrier to find unoccupied souls to demolish the barrier instead," I said, Chara sighing and nodding at that.
"Fine... but you mustn't tell a soul that I'm traveling with you unless they are close friends. Especially that Flowey character. Don't tell him I'm with you. He scares me," Chara said, me nodding at that.
"Don't worry, Carrie," I smiled, her smirking at that. "I'll protect you with my life, just like these spiders I'm helping get to Hot Land," I smiled.
"Okay... I'm going to turn into the soul now... and I'm going to hid myself in one of your bag's compartments," Chara said, me nodding as I opened up a secondary zipper that held a lollipop I got from the surface and Chara then turned into a soul only and flew into it... despite all laws of nature going against what I saw, now I knew I had to be wary. "Oh, and so you know, I can communicate to you telepathically when I'm in soul form, as our souls are intertwined. Just think what you want to say and I'll hear it and respond if I want," Chara said, me nodding at that. This adventure, that started out strange... just got even stranger. I had a feeling the further I went down this rabbit hole, the deeper in Wonderland I'd be.