**Author's Note: Chapters 26-29 are explanations of Jewel's past and powers. Chapter 27-29 contain some sensitive material for certain viewers. There are no graphic scenes, but they are alluded to. Trigger warnings include child abuse, child rape, murder and suicide. These chapters are not necessary but they do go into detail about certain events and how they shaped her life. It is still a T-rated fic, just a warning to those who prefer to avoid such topics. All the flashbacks are in italics so if you want to read the summaries and questions from the characters, you can. Thank you.**
Chapter 27 – Storytime: History part 1Error stood beside her, his strings wrapped around her soul as it sat safely back within her chest. He had to release her hand to do this, as he needed the other to control the windows.
"Remember, you have to think clearly on these for me to align the timeline," he reminded her. When she nodded, he stood there, waiting one a moment before asking. "You're sure you want to do it this way?"
"You heard what I mess I was trying to explain my magic… there's so many things I'll just… confuse everyone. It's for the best."
Error hesitated a moment before reaching over to her. His right hand, the one attached to her soul with his strings, increased the slack so he could grab her hand with his own. He glitched, but he didn't care. He wasn't an empath, but he knew this feeling. He didn't even tell everything, just showed Blueberry how he met Toriel, the first time he escaped the anti-void… to show this much, and it was clear she didn't want to, he wanted her to know he was there. Jewel turned her head to face him, and laced her fingers with his, gripping his hand. He could feel her trembling.
"If you need to stop, just let me know," he told her softly.
"Right," she whispered, taking a breath and closing her eyes.
"Let's start easy, okay? Maybe something that's not quite as… important, but..."
"But nearby, got it," she said with a soft breath.
Ink, Dream, Blueberry, Red and Sans were standing nearby, waiting for them to start, silently. None wanted to risk the concentration. Blueberry in particular wasn't certain he should have brought this up to her before. To have her life played out? He knew some of it, she was pretty open about her past with her father… it was horrible to hear just those vague details, but now to see it? He stayed very close to Ink and Dream.
Finally, the pixelated window appeared as Error attempted to pull up the timeline. It was grainy, glitch at first. Not surprising, since he didn't know exactly where it was and this was trial and error on both of their parts. No one complained… but soon it came into focus…
A small child, a toddler, with bright blue eyes wearing a green dress with a big white bow wrapped around her middle at her back was running around. She had thick, wild curls that bounced as she ran from a woman, giggling. The woman had dark blonde hair and faded blue eyes, wearing simple black dress pants and a fluffy off-white blouse. She managed to grab the little girl and pick her up as she happily squealed in delight. However, the giggles died the second a man walked into the room. He had steely-blue eyes and dark orange-red hair that was starting to bald, with a matching mustache and beard that was neatly trimmed, hardly more than ¼" from his face. The little girl clung to the woman and they were soon called back into the room…
"What was that?" Ink questioned.
"A non-important memory… I barely remember it, so I figured it was a good place to start," Jewel explained. "But that was me and my parents."
"That was you? You looked so different…" Blueberry spoke in awe. "Your hair isn't like that anymore."
"Heh, it's amazing what time can do to you…" She then turned to Error. "You doing all right?"
"Yeah… just another one like that. I'm still trying to figure out when all this is."
"All right."
The same small girl in teal pants and a pink shirt sat quietly next to her father in a hallway. Her feet swung under the chair she was sitting in, too high for her legs to reach the ground. She was older, but not by too much. A nurse came out and motioned for the father to follow.
"Don't move," he scolded, almost threatened, once the nurse was gone before rushing after her.
The young child sat there, confused, looking at the door, but did not move… at least for ten minutes. Then she couldn't take it anymore. She managed to climb down and tried to reach for the handle. But the door opened and out came her father. He didn't say a word, simply scooped her up and they started walking down the maze of corridors, following behind the nurse. They made it to another door where they waited for a moment, before they were told they were allowed to enter by another nurse. Once inside, there was her mother on the bed, holding a newborn baby. Her father carried her to the bed and sat her down beside her mother. Her eyes got big as she stared down at the little baby. With her mother's help, she even got to hold it while she sat beside her.
Sans and Red, the only two big brothers, recognized that feeling instantly and both were grinning.
"How old were ya, sweetheart?"
"Hm? Oh, I was almost four then," she said softly. "Just two months away. It was kind of funny, my brother and I were both born on the fifth of our month, on a Saturday in the afternoon. We were very close growing up."
The screen changed to showing a slightly bigger baby brother, being held and carried around by the small child, struggling, to carry him a bit.
Chuckles were had across the room. This wasn't so bad!
"I practically raised him. After about a year," she trailed off as the screen before them started to change again, "Mom gave up, just kind of focusing on work and going to bed when she got home."
The woman who had seemed so happy before just seemed so exhausted. She'd come home and just plop on the couch. A crying baby was in on the floor on a blanket, and a tiny Jewel would go over and try and get her mom's attention to feed her little brother. But she wouldn't get up. Jewel had the most adorable pouty face for such a serious situation, but she went into the kitchen and pulled out a jar of apple sauce and a spoon, walking over and feeding it to her baby brother. It was messy, and Jewel would take a spoonful of sauce for herself too in-between her brother's bites.
"I'd do what I could. I mean, the hell's a five-year-old supposed to do in that situation? He ate a lot of applesauce back then, it's no wonder he grew to hate it," she chuckled softly.
Then her father came into the house. The little version of their friend tensed and grabbed her little brother, who simply gnawed on the now empty spoon, trying for more apple sauce. Steely eyes narrowed and he grabbed the tired mother by her arm and dragged her to the other room where screams and slaps were soon heard. Jewel curled around her little brother, who was oblivious to the sounds, as if trying to protect him from something he clearly didn't understand… but she did.
"And that was our daily life for a while… at least when we were small we were… sort of safe. Well, my brother was. I didn't really care. Heh, I was stupid, I didn't realize my dad actually wouldn't hit my brother when he was that small… as much of a douche he was, at least he had that going for him."
There were various scenes of Jewel purposely antagonizing her father when he was in a mood and approaching her brother, even scenes biting him. They sort of jumped around as the memories all flooded together.
The jumbled memories didn't help Error in pulling up the timelines. Then again, he was also distracted a little by the revelation. And he wasn't the only one. Red instantly knew where this was going the second her father threatened her in the hospital. He hoped he was wrong, but seeing him grab her mother like that… in a second he went and was on her opposite side from Error with a hand on her shoulder. Though, the scene of her biting her dad, well, he had to laugh because, well… that was him in a nutshell. He had done the same, he was just older… and he lost a tooth for it.
"You got what you need, Error?" Jewel suddenly asked.
"Y-yeah, I think so," he snapped back to reality. "Just… try and keep your thoughts clear, okay? Otherwise they're going to jumble like that."
"Maybe skip the beatings from here on out?" Sans suggested. "I mean, if your world wasn't already gone, I'd say let me have a word with him but…" He was trying very hard to not let his eye flare up.
"Heh, get in line," Red added in.
"Well, like I said before… most of this doesn't really matter. There's nothing that can be done about it," Jewel tried once again. "But you want to know, so you can understand… Don't worry, I don't plan on focusing on the violence, it's not a fun thing to relive."
"Did we… have to learn about this?" Ink then asked as he looked back at her.
"Well… kind of… if not now then later… the way my dad treats me and my brother plays a much bigger part down the line… and my mom's absenteeism…" she sighed a little. "Ready for the real stuff?"
"It's not… scary is it?" Blueberry asked.
Jewel hesitated. "Well… you're about to see me get into my first fight and it does get bloody," Jewel warned. "It's quick, but it's important. Kind of started the domino effect. But… Blue… a lot of my life is violent and dark… if you don't want to…"
"No, I want to know," he said, determined. "I want to help you."
"Okay," she sighed, syncing up another memory with Error. "I was in the second grade. There was this lunch program in my school that helped poor kids like me afford hot lunches and my mom just gave me money to bring in whenever it ran out. Apparently I wasn't as careful as I thought because one kid noticed the pattern…
A small, seven-year-old Jewel was walking down the hall from her class to the lunchroom. She had stayed after to help her teacher tidy up and she grabbed her money from her backpack and put it in her pocket. She tried to quickly walk to the cafeteria, without trying to run in the hall when this tall brute of a child, somehow unbelievingly still ten years old, cornered her as she walked by the bathroom.
"Hey brat."
"E-excuse me," the small Jewel said as she tried to get around him.
"Nah, you and I are gonna have a little chat," he said, grabbing her arm. The small girl winced, looking up at him, a knowing fear in her eyes. "You're gonna give me that lunch money of yours."
"B-but I need it."
"Don't care. Give it."
"M-mom said…"
His patience wore thin, and he didn't give her a chance to finish. His fist came down and he hit her hard on her skull. "Last chance."
"P-please," she sobbed.
The bully grabbed her by her shirt and slammed her hard into the wall, a sickening crack rang through them as blood appeared on the brick behind her. The force knocked the money clear from her loose pockets. He simply dropped her and went to scoop it up.
The skeletons all visibly paled as they knew that sound. The telltale sound of a skull cracking under pressure. But then, Jewel spoke.
"And that was when my life changed… he woke up the beast." All eyes went back to the scene.
The small frame of the girl, blood dripping from the back of her head, started to move. She sat up, on her hands and knees, as her curls fell out of view of her now completely blackened eyes… feral growls escaped her throat as tiny little baby fangs appeared on her canines… As the bully bent down to get the money, she lunged and bit his shoulder while pushing against his back. He screamed and threw her. She slid, but with a twisted prize still in her mouth from his shoulder that she quickly swallowed…
"Enough! Please," Blueberry pleaded and the timeline stopped.
"The fuck?!" Sans paled.
"How the fuck did you get away with that? How did no one hear any of that?" Ink exclaimed.
"I have no fucking idea," Jewel kind of laughed behind them, everyone turning to her. "The whole situation is just so bizarre! I barely remember anything about that, seeing it again just makes me wonder what the fuck the teachers were doing. I vaguely remember one in the office patching up my head and calling my mom, but my mom couldn't come get me, so I had to stay in school. I don't know what happened to that kid after. He was the kind to get embarrassed by a little girl taking him down, but I ripped a chunk out of his shoulder, you'd think someone would have noticed… then again, if he just ran out and ditched…"
"Seems ya really like ta bite though," Red teased.
"Really," Dream sighed.
"Heh, I did it a lot too, what can I say. Though… what's with the fangs, sweetheart?" Red then asked. "You seemed to grow sharper teeth right then."
"Heh, I did say he awoke the beast. That was Fenrir, and the reason my eyes went black I'm guessing. They weren't… conscious at that point. It was the first time they ever made themselves known, actually. Even this much, I didn't remember until years later, but chronologically, this was what allowed the rest of the events to have the cascading effect it did. If this didn't happen, the next wouldn't have."
"So if they weren't conscious… what the hell just happened when he possessed you?" Sans asked.
"It was a primal reaction… an unconscious spirit with a sudden need for self-preservation… or in this case… well…" Jewel closed her eyes, chuckling softly. "As Angel put it, they pretty much suck at their job. Too attached to the mortal realm. They were supposed to be wiped clean, just a karmic guide, do the right thing, stay out of trouble, that whole deal. But… between my empathy and the years of abuse… Angel theorizes that, like with all of you, there was just something that resonated with them. When my head cracked, it sent a shock through my soul and Fenrir just… reacted. It was for a split second, but that was all it took."
"Well, fucker deserved it," Red muttered.
"It was a child," Dream protested.
"An asshole child picking on a smaller child that cracked her skull! Not fun to deal with, ya know," he muttered, pointing to the scar on his own skull. "Shit hurts. Besides, it's Jewel. I'd kick the fucker down a set of stairs if this wasn't just a memory," he muttered
"You would," Sans rolled his eyes, but he had a bit of a smirk.
"So… you said the next part was reliant upon this?" Dream asked.
"Yeah," Jewel replied. "The next part is… especially…" she couldn't even describe it, really. "Just… warning all of you, but it's… how and why I discovered my magic."
There were glances between the skeletons, even Error and Red glanced at each other as they were the ones beside Jewel. Error squeezed her hand a little as he pulled up the next memory's timeline.
It seemed to have been another year since the last memory. Jewel awoke from bed, slightly red in the face with a small cough. She literally dragged herself out of bed. Despite it, however, she got ready for school. She pulled out her navy dress. It was a simple style, a white collar at the neck, pinched at the waist with belt made of the same fabric and went to her knees. The young girl moved so slowly, as if her body was filled with wet sand. She came out and noticed that her mother had already left for work… it was her father who was there, which was unusual.
"Dad?" she worked her courage up to talk to him. A small cough escaped her. "I don't feel good…"
"Don't care, get your ass ready to go."
"Can I at least get some medicine?"
The man grumbled as he rose. It was a reasonable enough request. He wouldn't have to deal with her… he went to the kitchen and looked above the refrigerator. He increasingly got more frustrated the longer the search took.
"Your fucking mother doesn't have fucking shit here," he growled. "Just get going!"
"But… you're supposed to take me," she reminded.
"It's right the fuck around the damn corner! Just fucking go!"
"But…"
He grabbed her by her arm and literally threw her out the screen door. It never latched properly and she went right through it. She met the metal porch that was supposed to attach to the trailer in which she lived. She fell with it, the metal stairs falling atop of her. She whimpered as she slowly got out from underneath it. She looked down at her ankle, which was now bleeding. She rolled her socks down, making a sort of make-shift gauze pad to absorb the blood and hopefully not rub against it too badly and hide the injury, the other just to match. She stood up and picked up the stairs, with a little difficulty and pushed it up against the trailer once again. She took a minute to cough against it, while wiping away some tears that had started to fall. She had to calm down before she started moving.
Her father was right. Just looking from her yard, she could see her school, separated by a fence next to the street on the other side of her trailer park home. But she had to walk out of the park first. She took a breath and started walking up the street, taking another at the front of house as there was a sidewalk attached to the front of the trailers. Sort of. She limped as she walked, the cut on her ankle really stinging and bothering her. As she made it to the front of the trailer park, the school in full view from her spot near the street, a car suddenly turned and made a beeline for her. She tried to turn and run, but her ankle hurt. The backdoor flung open and a pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her into the back of the car. She would have screamed, but a hand went over her mouth. She tried to bite the hand, flailing against her abductor, but a knife was quickly pressed against her neck. Fear ran through the young girl and she was pinned to the backseat of the car. The man above her, not too old, at most a young adult, just barely out of his teens, leered down at her with a predatory smile. Tears lined the young girls eyes as the knife pressed firmer against her neck, his hand started to go up her thigh and under her skirt…
The picture stared to distort, luckily for all the skeletons who just stood there, absolutely frozen with a look of horror on their faces. Error slowly snapped out of it first, feeling Jewel tremble against him as she stopped the memory on her own, Error too horrified to even think of it. He glanced over at her as he saw her entire frame just trembling as she was forced to re-watch probably one of the most horrific memories of her entire life.
"Heh, yeah… you don't need to see that," she managed to mutter out.
He was already at his limit, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't physically bring himself to grab her. His hand tightened around hers, trying his best. Though it seemed he wasn't the only one with that had the thought to comfort her.
Blueberry, the second that screen went white, went over and grabbed her around the middle, tears in his eyes as he held her as tightly as he could. "Jewel," he sobbed.
She focused a bit on the skeleton clinging to her and started to stroke his skull. She couldn't stop her trembling to keep it unnoticeable… and she didn't really care at this point. She was sharing it with these people, she was allowed to be vulnerable for a change… right?
"See, this is why I don't like to talk about it. There was nothing any of you could have done. Hell, you weren't even alive at that point. I'm over it, really," she promised, "It's just, watching it…"
Red's hand squeezed on her shoulder, never having moved from before, especially as the memory started with more of her dad's abuse. "Please tell me you murdered the fuckers for this and that's how you discovered your magic," Red seethed, his magic starting to flare.
"Not quite, Red," Jewel responded sadly.
"What the hell is more traumatic than that?" Sans then questioned, horrified. "What the hell more did you need to have your magic triggered?"
Jewel wrapped her arm around Blueberry tightly as she focused on the next part of the memory, her shaking hand holding onto Error as if he was her lifeline.
A gunshot rang out, startling all the skeletons, Blueberry jumping as Jewel pressed him against her, as if protecting him.
"What was… that?" Ink questioned, his hand shaking a little.
"A gun," Jewel explained as the image started to come back.
The two men, the one in the back and the driver, stood with a smoking gun in driver's hand.
"Fucking brat," he muttered as he shook out his hand, having been bit during the struggle. The two then ran off.
They were in a different area than the skeletons saw before. It was a warehouse, dirty, abandoned, and dark. Laying on the ground was the small version of Jewel, eyes barely awake, wheezing, blood dripping from her mouth, a gunshot in her stomach just oozing blood as it poured out… along with the damage done during the assault which left her legs covered in blood with her underwear cut off and discarded to the side. Her breathing slowed and her eyes closed.
And then, nothing…
"N-no, this can't… you're right here, you're all right!" Ink shook.
"Jewel… d-did you…?" Sans hesitated with the question.
"Technically, I did," Jewel said, feeling Blueberry shake against her as he turned to look at the screen. "But… the thing about humans… is we have a window of revival time after our hearts stop. Like a computer, we have a chance to reboot and reload our bodily functions to keep us alive…"
Magic started to pulse from the small, lifeless body, forcing her heart to kick back on. Her eyes opened as magic started swirling around. One eye had a thin red ring around her pupil, while the other had an almost white ring. White and black magic swirled around dangerously, causing the tiny girl to thrash violently as her body couldn't handle the influx of magic. Fangs started to appear as her pupils dilated into slits. Claws gashed the ground, slits being carved into the concrete. It was a violent few moments as Jewel's small frame was ravaged by magic that shouldn't be touching. The monsters would be able to see it in the window, her soul started to crack before the white magic retreated to the background. Jewel's tiny frame began to pant as both her eyes held a red ring around the pupil now, but the fangs remained. Slowly, she managed to stand up, holding a hand to where she had been shot. Black smoke started to emanate and cauterized the wound, stopping it from bleeding as her legs slowly began to work underneath her.
"Huh… guess I did have soul damage before," Jewel offhandedly commented. "I'll be honest, I don't remember this part… makes sense though…"
"Stop, can we just… stop?" Sans asked, looking back at her. He couldn't help it, he walked over to her. "I know I asked you to be open but..." Holy shit, seeing it was on a completely different level. A shaking hand went and placed it on her left arm, reaching over Blueberry. "I… I didn't…"
"I told you I went through some shit," she half joked, still trembling a little. She leaned in, her arm moving from Blueberry to gently caress Sans' cheek.
"That's not shit, that's fucking hell," Ink commented as he also walked over. He couldn't even comprehend… what would make someone do something like that… how to process it…
"They… didn't get away with it, did they?" Dream then asked. "Someone stopped them, right?" he almost pleaded.
Jewel hesitated with the response. "I never told anyone what they did to me," she admitted. "When they found out I survived, they hunted me down. Not hard, considering they snatched me up between home and school. They threatened my little brother's life if I told anyone so, I never did."
Instant rage from the two older brothers, Red and Sans had to calm themselves down. "Mother fuckers," Red seethed.
Error was silent, but inside he was battling the rage that was starting to take him. This was his friend, the person he cared about most in the world. Someone who had endured so much of his bullshit, literally almost dying by his hand… to see her having gone through this and hearing they got away with it? Including harassing her afterward? His hand shook with rage as he held hers as tightly as he could.
"How much… more did you want to show us?" Sans then asked. "I don't know if I can take anything else like that…"
"Well, it…" Jewel sighed a little. "I can…" she rubbed her head, trying to figure out how best to do this. That was really intense… "I didn't really realize Angel and Fenrir were there until after I started learning about magic. "If you rather… I can try and explain it again. I'll probably jump around though…"
Sans sighed a little. "Is anything as bad as… that?"
"A… couple," she admitted. "I mean, they come back, so…"
There was silence as they all internally debated what to do. They were already in this deep, but did they want to see it all play out before them? Couldn't they just take her word for it? But she was struggling to talk now… was it really important to keep going? She'd close up again if they left it now, wouldn't she?
"I… I want to keep going," Blueberry broke the silence. He looked up at Jewel. "You said no one ever believed in you before. Well, I do. You've survived all this before, somehow, and I… I know you're a good person, even after all of this. I want to know. I want to know so I can help you see what a good person you are. To have so much positivity even after that?" Blueberry motioned back to the now black window, "That takes a lot of courage. To think you did all that on your own scares me."
"Well… I wasn't totally alone. I didn't tell anyone about what happened, no… in fact my dad beat me when I got home for skipping school."
Skeletal eyes blackened all around, except Error, his were red.
"He… did what now?" Red seethed. "How the fuck did he miss the gapin' hole in your stomach!?" he yelled.
"It rained after that. Dark dress, hand over it, most of the blood was either washed or hidden. It was a long walk home, apparently… I just went home and… apparently basic first aid was something I knew, or that was Angel or Fenrir's doing. I dug out the bullet and patched myself up and just… fell asleep. Probably their doing. I mean, I was eight, I don't think I knew that much at that point. Plus, it's still all kind of a blur…"
"Please don't pull it up to check, I can't…" Sans muttered.
"How about… I go into what happened next. It's not necessarily important but…it helps explain some things I suppose. And it'll show you some of the support I did have, even if it wasn't much."
Blueberry looked up at her as she gently stroked his skull, before he nodded. "Okay!"
"How about we all sit down though, it's been a hell of a ride."
"Heh, can you fit six skeletons around you?" Sans then asked. "Because, like hell are you not sitting alone at this point."
"Well… as unconventional as it is right now…" Jewel chuckled a little and with her right hand, she snapped a large couch into the Doodlesphere, made out of red crystal. It was just habit at this point to use the red crystal for furniture because of Error.
"The hell?" Red questioned as he turned back.
Jewel, with Error, went back and sat on the end of the couch, Error silently taking his spot on the armrest beside her, still holding her hand. "Come on, it's more comfortable than it looks."
Blueberry instantly went up and curled into her lap.
"Easy, watch the strings," she chuckled a little. But she curled up with the little Blueberry in her lap, leaning a bit more into the couch near Error as they still held hands. Error was a little uneasy with Blueberry so close, but didn't say anything.
It was unnerving that Error was so quiet. Maybe he was purposely doing so to keep focused. The rest of them were losing their minds well enough with what they learned.
Ink, broke the tension and went and plopped down, surprisingly bouncing on the couch! "Oh wow! It's like there's water inside!" Ink grinned as he bounced a little more.
Red, Sans, and Dream all rose brows but went over. Dream sat on the far end, happy to give up a spot closer to Jewel for the other two. Sans moved his way in to sit on the opposite side of Jewel, glancing at her with concern in his eyes, Red sat beside him, pushing Ink off. Ink protested but he had no problem sitting on the top of the couch near her. There was a space between her and Error for his legs after all and he could easily pet her from here.
Jewel glanced up at Error, who took a breath. He then nodded while gripping her hand tightly.
"So, after this… obviously, I wasn't a very happy kid," Jewel started to explain as they all got comfortable. "I was acting out, and people being miserable around me only made things worse. I didn't know I was an empath at this point, but my dad was starting to suspect…"
"Wait, your dad actually knew what you were?" Ink questioned.
"Well, my dad… actually had some experience with magic when he was younger. Nothing like what you guys do, but… he had a friend who practiced and like me she toted the line between white and black. She was hardly what I'd call a good person, but she tried. She had made her mistakes in life, like knowing my dad. It was strange, because to her, my dad was a safe place. The one dude who wouldn't touch her after she had been beaten by other men… But my dad loved her, not my mom, so I suppose that made sense. But she refused to let him "break up the family". Kind of wish she did, I would have been happier," Jewel muttered a little.
"Fuck your dad," Red muttered.
"Agreed, wholeheartedly," Sans nodded as he gently put a hand on Jewel's arm as it was around Blueberry.
"Heh, well, he was still my dad. I actually cared, ya know? For a while anyway. But he did do this one good thing for me. Other than helping make my brother, getting me in contact with his friend was probably the best thing that happened, I started learning."
They were in a restaurant. Jewel's father sat beside her as the ten-year-old girl sat there, anxious. A small woman, about 5'4" with stringy, scraggily blonde hair came up. Her eyes were sunken in and she easily looked twice her age.
"The fuck?" Error muttered, finally speaking.
"Yeah, I know. Don't do drugs," Jewel chuckled softly. "She's actually 9 years younger than my dad, I think it was."
"Shit…" Sans muttered.
"Yeah, I remember thinking she really did look like the witches in storybooks," Jewel chuckled softly.
But it wasn't that kind of magic this woman was there to teach. She sat across from her, giving Jewel test after test, seeing what her magical limits were. Empathy was easy, but there was also mention of mind-reading and projection and variety of other things. It was the one time her father actually paid attention to her in a positive light.
"She utterly freaked me out," Jewel admitted. "She seemed like such a bad person at the time… kids are horrible judges of character," she chuckled a little. "She had been through some shit too, and I think she sensed it in me. But she never said anything to my father. I respected her for that. This became a normal thing for about a year, she helped me with my empathy, tried to teach me other magic for a while. Never really caught on, though."
"I dunno, you kind of act like a mind reader sometimes," Ink grinned. "Sure that part didn't stick?"
Jewel chuckled. "Not like what you're thinking. It's pretty easy to guess at certain things and press enough to get you guys to give me answers with just the empathy. Except you, mister," she smacked Ink's leg lightly.
Ink laughed, snorting a little. It brought up the whole room a little. Getting away from the horrible thing they had witnessed prior. It seemed like Jewel was getting help.
"Seems like your dad was thrilled you had magic in you," Blueberry commented softly.
"I don't know about thrilled… maybe he just finally thought I wasn't useless anymore. Either way, after the training stopped it was never really ever brought up again."
"Why did it stop?" Dream asked.
"Because she had to move. Her own demons started following her, and it became too much to meet with her. We would talk online, but she got so… weird. She deteriorated quickly and it was just too much. I couldn't do it. I could feel everything through the computer screen, weirdly transmitted. Maybe it was because we knew each other and it was just two empaths connecting, I don't know. But I felt like I was getting crazier talking to her. So I backed out of there real quick."
"But you had other people to talk to, right?" Sans asked.
"Well, yeah. My parents were crap but their parents were pretty cool. Heh, my mom's father was actually someone I respected a lot. He was a marine, and if there was anyone I should have opened up to about what happened to me, it was him. He didn't take crap. He put his own sons, my uncles, down all the time, and he stood up to my father constantly."
A memory started to play, the same young Jewel as the previous one. It was Christmas and she was sitting in a chair with a big present that was easily 2/3 of her size. She excitedly opened it up and it was a giant art kit. It was a giant sketchpad with watercolors, oil pastels, crayons, marks, colored pencils and a wide array of colors.
Jewel flinched as instantly her father ripped it from her hands, the joy in her eyes being snuffed out almost instantly.
"The fuck, she doesn't need this baby crap!"
Ink instantly tensed up, his cheeks puffing out and he looked ready to punch the image of the man.
"You give my Missy back her present," a booming voice came from a tall man, about 6'4", pure white hair and beard, bald on the top of his head. He had thick reading glasses and wore suspenders. He stood taller over her father. His grip relinquished and he took the kit back, which had a strap to carry over her shoulder. The grandfather went over and handed it back to her. A large hand gently patted her, mussing her curly hair. "Don't you ever let anyone take anything that makes you happy away, okay? If drawing makes you happy, you do it, no matter what anyone else says."
"She's got no talent," her father muttered.
"Because you won't let it grow!" her grandfather barked. "Now go sit in the kitchen and go clean up or something, I'm not letting you ruin this for the kids!"
Her father skulked off to the kitchen and the grandfather turned, smiling kindly at her. "Sorry about that, Missy. Now, how about another present from Grandma and Grandpa?"
"Okay, I like your grandfather," Ink smirked. "Your dad is a serious asshole! He really said that?"
"Yeah, he was never really into my drawing anything. It was fine as a kid, but as I got older, he said I needed to give it up. He was not thrilled when my grandfather said that. He really backed off when his mother agreed with him, which was rare. Babci hated my mother's side of the family."
"Babci?" Dream questioned.
"Ah, it's Polish for grandmother. She was Polish and the idea of being called "Grandma" made her feel old," she chuckled. "But she was also the only one fluent in it, so I have no idea how that worked."
"What about her husband?" Blueberry than asked.
"Oh, my dad's father died long before I was born. So I only had the three of them. It was fine though, they more than made up for it. I wish I could have seen Grandma and Grandpa more, but they lived further and Babci was only about a mile away. She also started watching me and my brother after school. She was a legend, let me tell you," she chuckled.
"How?" Red asked with a bit of a smirk.
"She's where I got my attitude from," Jewel laughed. "She taught me a lot, including how not to take shit from anyone, even my dad." As the memory started to fade in, she smiled. "She's also the one who taught me how to cook. The frosting and cake recipes I use are hers."
Jewel was in the kitchen with her Babci, an older woman with the classic grandma curls done up. Her hair was a rich golden color, from a bottle, but still. She had this giant smile and even had a golden tooth visible when she smiled. They were frosting a cake while her little brother played in the living room in front of the TV with Legos. A knock at the door got their attention. Jewel went open the door, struggling a little with the solid wooden door as she pulled it open. Standing outside on the porch was teenager, and Jewel started backing up a little.
The grandmother, however, didn't flinch and opened the door with Jewel following, walking onto the porch with her, shutting the door. "Hello, what can I do for you?"
"You can tell this bitch to give me back my backpack!" he growled.
"Excuse me?"
"This bitch stole my backpack with my pencil case! It has all my money in it!"
"Oh, I see. So… you're the one who gave my little Miss the bruise on her ribs, hm?"
"What? No!"
"Oh, really? You didn't kick her down and steal her bag, walk around claiming it as yours? What's so special about a simple black backpack, hm? Or did you want the trading cards she carried to school? The ones you still have?"
The kid started to back up a little.
"You have some nerve, kid! You come to MY house, demanding that MY granddaughter gives you back her property, which she took back from a thief! I should whip you right here for what you have done!"
"You can't do that! I'll tell my mom!"
"Good! You tell her! Then when she comes I'll whip her too for raising such an entitled brat as a child! Now get the hell off my property before I make you!"
The kid stood firm, but she simply pulled the spoon out from her apron pocket and chased him down the steps. He took off running in seconds and the woman just started chuckling.
She leaned in and kissed Jewel on the forehead. "That's my good girl, I knew you could do it. We'll get those cards and your sketchbook back, just wait. I'll talk with the school tomorrow when I drop you off. Now, let's get back. I can't wait to show the girls at work how good you're getting at decorating!"
There was a bit of an uproar of laughter as the grandmother chased the kid off the porch with a spoon.
"Okay, she's epic!" Ink grinned.
"Totally! Old lady got spunk!" Red grinned. "I like her! How did she give birth to such an asshole?"
"Eh, sometimes, you miss things. She worked a lot, and dad worked with his father as he had his own business. Apparently he was an asshole too. Not to mention she always said he was a bit of a mini-me of her father, who was an asshole too."
"I dun buy that genetic bullshit," Red muttered. "Ya learn this shit, yer not born one way or another."
"Dude, our existence kind of proves that," Sans laughed.
Jewel chuckled a little. "I mean, you can see soon that… well…" she sighed a little. "I suppose we should get back on track. More magic learning."
"Wait, I do have a question, though," Ink tilted his head. "Why do they call you Missy or Miss?"
"Ya know, I missed that. Did they?" Sans questioned.
"Because Jewel isn't my real name," she explained "After everything, I decided I needed a new one, and after my world was gone, well, didn't seem appropriate to use my old one. So..."
"So your real name is Missy?" Blueberry asked.
"No," Jewel chuckled. "And honestly I hated that so much. Made me feel like a doll. But you can't tell grandparents anything. That was a nickname too."
"So… you gonna make us guess?" Sans questioned.
Jewel chuckled a little and sighed. "Okay, fine, but you're not allowed to call me this, I'll beat you," she warned playfully. "My name was Melissa."
"Sounds pretty," Blueberry said as he got a little closer to her.
"Eh, well… It's been too long, I don't like it anymore. My brother was the only one who really called me by my real name and with him gone…"
"It's all right," Sans said softly. "You don't have to explain it. I mean, hell, you still call me Classic, and the rest of us have nicknames too. We know you as Jewel anyway, it'd be weird to change it now."
"Besides, Jewel fits you better," Ink grinned. "Look at all the crap you went through, you definitely came shining out like a diamond, not to mention all the jewels you can create!"
"Those are technically crystals," she clarified.
"Still a type of jewel!"
"Type of rock," Jewel chuckled.
"Oh quit arguing," Ink laughed.
Chuckles were had, but Jewel slowly got serious, though her head rested against Ink's knee as he sat there beside her, causing him to reach down and gently stroke her hair. "Well, back to storytime," Jewel took a breath and squeezed Error's hand.
"Nothing bad happens, right?" Blueberry asked
"Well, not for a bit. There's always something that happens," Jewel explained.