**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 28 – Storytime: History part 2It seemed another couple years had passed since the last one. Jewel was taller, starting to become more feminine. Her eyes were also colder at this point. Some scars were visible on her upper arms under her t-shirt and the marks on her forearm weren't missed by the skeletons. She didn't even try to hide them at this point in her life.
"You're… how old here?" Sans asked cautiously.
"Twelve," Jewel said. "I'll be thirteen by the end of this sequence," she explained. "I really had a lot of issues," she admitted. "I got into fights a lot, just for the sake of having something to hit. As you'll soon see."
Jewel had hopped a fence to sneak into a carnival. She easily stole some tickets that were used for admission and was just walking around. Nothing really appealed to her… Her attention was on a ride that flung people upside down and spun them before swinging back up, doing the same and just in general seemed to make stomach's flip when she was lurched forward by someone running into her. She turned back and glared, immediately assuming someone was trying to start something with her, when she was taken by surprise. A boy about her age had fallen after crashing into her. His arm was bleeding and he had gotten blood on her shirt, which she seemed rather angry with. But he didn't even seem to notice her anger. He quickly apologized and ran off. She scoffed, debating if he was worth the effort or not… but something in her made her turn her head as she saw a group of five teenagers, sixteen to eighteen walking over.
"Bitch, did you see this little asshole with blonde hair run through here?" one demanded.
"Excuse me?" she snarled. "The fuck do you think you are? Better back off before that mouth of yours tries to write a check your ass can't cash."
"The fuck you say to me bitch?" he growled, trying to size up to this girl who only went up to his shoulder.
"You heard me asshole. Now walk away before you have to leave in a body bag," she sneered.
The second that man threw a punch, it was over for him. Jewel curled her first and met him half way, his fist missing her as hers connected and send him falling back with a crack, his nose broken and gushing blood. She growled, focusing on the other four as they started coming for her. They had no coordination whatsoever. It was easy to trip them up, and then she started stomping on one dude's ribs, not caring if he was down. When another got up, she focused on him, kicking him hard in the knee and breaking it. It soon followed suit with most of the men getting something broken before scurrying off with their figurative tails between their legs.
"Mother fuckers," Jewel growled before hearing someone else coming up behind her. She rolled her fist, ready attack, but it was a security guard.
"Absolutely no fighting on fairgrounds!" he scolded.
"Those fuckers attacked me!"
"Right, and you're not part of that group?" he rolled his eyes. "Get moving." He went to grab her arm and she ripped it from him.
"I'm fucking twelve you moron! Now fuck off, your stupid carnival is fucking lame anyway," she muttered before leaving, the guard following her the whole way. Once she was outside, she flipped him the bird and continued to walk off, kicking a rock on the street.
"Didn't want to fuckin' go anyway," she muttered, throwing the tickets out of her pocket and onto the ground.
"Oh Stars!" Sans burst out laughing, unable to stop himself. "Sorry, sorry, but oh my stars! I can see Red!" he laughed, falling back into the couch.
Ink snickered and snorted, unable to stop now that it was going and Jewel joined in, bursting out with laughter. "Oh god. Well, I did say my world was just like his."
Red had a dusting of red through his cheekbones. "I dun act like that! She's a kid!"
"Yeah, you do," Sans laughed at him. "Every time you don't get your way! Yell and scream and then pout!"
Even Dream and Blueberry had soft chuckles. Error had this small smirk and a bit of a snicker. Red was starting to steam a bit. They were making fun of him! But then he felt a hand take his, and he looked across, seeing Jewel reaching over Sans to him.
"Red, ya gotta learn to laugh at yourself a little. Once you do, no one can make fun of you. You gotta own your actions, then they got nothing. Besides, Sans isn't picking on you."
"Nah man," Sans started to calm down, but he was still grinning with a few tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. "It's just… Jewel really is just like us," he said with a grin. "Just missing the puns," he teased.
"Eh, to be fair, I loved them as a kid, but my range was limited, I was weird. I read the dictionary in my spare time back then," she chuckled. "I didn't start picking them back up until after I got trapped in the code."
"Wait, what?" Sans asked, sobering a little.
"You'll see," she said as she leaned back.
Jewel kept walking around as she kicked that rock down the sidewalk, muttering to herself. She was itching for another fight. And it seemed someone was going to fulfill her wish. Her eyes narrowed as the person following her got closer. She turned and grabbed them by the shirt, only to see it was the kid who ran into her. His big brown eyes happily looked up at her as his blonde hair fell in his face a little.
"Hi! I wanted to thank you for helping me out back there!"
She stared at this kid, confused. Hell, she couldn't punch this! She let him go and rolled her eyes.
"I didn't do it for you. They insulted me and got what they deserved."
"Still, it really helped me out," he smiled at her. "Sorry you got kicked out over it that was stupid."
"Fuck off and leave me alone," she muttered, turning away and continued to walk down the street.
But he didn't. He continued to follow her. He kept smiling. "So… my name's Matt! What's yours?"
"None of your business," she growled.
"Oh come on!" he whined. "I just wanna thank you properly."
She growled, turned and grabbed him by the shirt again, pulling him in within an inch of her face. "I said fuck off!" she barked, before throwing him down and ran down, turning a corner.
Matt followed, trying to catch up, but she was gone. He looked around a little, trying to find her, but she wasn't anywhere where he could find her. He eventually sighed and headed back to the carnival.
"That wasn't very nice," Blueberry commented.
"I wasn't a nice person then, Blue."
"Where did you go?" Error rose a brow. "That was some disappearing act. You couldn't teleport then, could you?"
"Nope," Jewel chuckled. "Look up in the tree."
The group then looked up in a tree that Matt had run right under. She was hiding in the thick foliage, looking down.
Everyone started snickering. "Damn, he's a little dense, isn't he?" Sans laughed.
"Little bit," Jewel chuckled. "But a persistent bastard. Kept running into him everywhere and had to pull similar stunts. He just wouldn't leave me alone."
"And you picked up those bad habits," Error teased.
"Eh, you're glad I did," she said, squeezing his hand.
Ink smiled down at them. He had a bird's eye view of their hand holding and it was adorable. He felt kind of bad for getting between them now like he was, but Error wasn't making a move to get closer. Best not to push it. "I know I am," Ink spoke up. "Wouldn't be able to just sit and enjoy time like this, especially with Error. I actually feel like we're friends like this, Glitchy!"
"Shut it, Squid," Error muttered.
Dream chuckled softly. "It is quite amazing what can bring people together. Even other people."
"Yeah, I doubt would've met Red without Jewel," Sans grinned, elbowing his counterpart.
"Oh, lucky me, meetin' a bunch of morons like all of you," Red drawled, but he had a grin on.
Blueberry chuckled and curled into Jewel. "I'm glad we all got to meet!" he grinned, before he looked up at Error. "I missed hanging out with you, Error."
Error glitched a little and he glared at Blueberry.
"We're not friends," he hissed.
"Come on, boys. Not right now," Jewel interfered. "And you," she said, running her knuckles against Blueberry's skull for a moment, causing him to squirm, "Quit trying to be manipulative."
"Ow, ow!" he whined, but gave a defeated smile. "Okay, sorry."
Error stared at her then at Blueberry. The fuck was his game? But he felt a squeeze on his hand and he focused back on Jewel.
"C'mon, back to the story. Matt's persistence is what helped me figure out my magic more."
"Really?" Dream questioned.
"Well… just watch," she said softly.
Matt had finally gotten Jewel to open up a little. They were actually walking around together and she didn't seem annoyed by him. However, they were walking in a rougher part of town, the sidewalk and the streets were all cracked and broken, houses were boarded up and vines, weeds and grass were overgrown in the yards around them.
"So are you gonna stay for dinner tonight? You said your grandmother has your brother right?"
"Yeah, but dad's picking me up from there, so you know how it goes."
"Right, damn. I was hoping you'd stay, I got this new game I think you'd like."
"Maybe another time. Games don't go bad," Jewel chuckled.
"Yeah, guess not," he grinned.
Jewel suddenly stopped in her tracks and Matt jolted forward as he felt himself get caught by his shirt. He turned and looked at Jewel as her eyes narrowed.
"What?" he blinked.
"Someone's around the corner with bad intent."
Matt blinked, but slowly started to back up. "Uh, we can take another way," he tried, but when he turned back to look for another way, he saw someone walking up with a gun drawn. "Uh, Mel?"
"I know. Just hush and stay down."
"Y-you can't be serious…" he muttered.
"What are you doing in our turf?" a teenager snarled.
"You're not in gang colors, what are you? Few street thugs thinking you can go intimidating random kids? Need a gun for pre-teens?" Jewel taunted.
"Jewel, seriously?" Ink spoke up. "Didn't you almost die the last time one of those was used?!"
"Never said I was a smart kid."
"Fucking cunt!" The leader, who had been the one talking, grabbed Jewel by the shirt and tried to pick her up. Instantly, her eyes gained the red hue, half her eyes filled with the color. Even though she got lifted up, she twisted the man's arm and there was a crack.
The rest started to move, but the cocking of the gun was the first thing that got Jewel's attention. She moved and threw Matt over the stone wall into an overgrown yard before resuming the fight. She got grabbed by another man, all of them were late teens, some high school drop outs or close to it.
A gunshot rang out, and the skeletons tensed. Jewel however, just sat back and watched.
Black smoke emitted from the wound on her shoulder, the bullet having gone straight through. Jewel growled, a faint black aura starting to form, fangs starting to show once again under her snarling lip.
"Wanna duel then?" she growled. A spark flashed in front of her eyes and in a second, the hand on the gun was seared with black flame. The man screamed and dropped the gun, causing it to go off and fire randomly. The man shook out his hand, but the searing pain refused to stop.
"You see this?" Jewel growled, a black ember live in her hand. The men around her started to back up. "This is literal hell fire," she sneered, moving closer to them. "The burns you get from this will never, ever heal. You'll be burning alive for all of eternity. Even in your next life you'll have a mark from this flame, and the life after that. You get me? Now, how about I brand you for whatever gods you believe in?"
She literally summoned black fire and her eyes were turning red more than they were blue. Was it any wonder why they ran off? Jewel scoffed and muttered before putting a hand over her shoulder. Damn that hurt…
"Mel?"
She turned to see Matt standing there, fear in his eyes. Well, there went that. She grumbled and started to walk away before she felt something grab her hand. She turned and saw him looking at her, concern in those big brown eyes.
"Are you… all right? What happened? Why did you..? Why'd you fight?"
"They weren't going to give us a choice, dumbass. Better to beat them first before something serious happens!"
"But you!" he looked to her shoulder, shaking as he saw the blood.
"This ain't shit," she muttered. "I've had knife wounds that bled more," she lied. It was true, she had worse, but not by much. She had only been shot one other time at that point.
"You should go to a hospital!" Matt exclaimed.
"No, I'm fine!" she barked back. "Just gotta go home and wrap it up."
"How are you going to wrap up the giant gaping hole in your shoulder?!" he cried.
"A lot of tape," she muttered like it was the most obvious thing.
"How… how much do you fight that this..?"
"Just… shut up," Jewel muttered. "Now, I need to tend to this."
"Wait, my house is closer. Mom's a nurse, maybe…"
"Ugh fine, whatever, but you're mom's gonna call the cops, and that's gonna be a whole thing. You wanna explain why I can conjure black flames? Cuz I sure as the fuck don't!"
Matt was silent for a moment, before looking up at her. "Is it… true what you said? About the fire?"
"What that? Eh, honestly don't know with most of it. I'm only twelve, like hell do I know if anyone's going to be reincarnated with that bullshit? Who even knows if any of that religion bullshit is real."
"Mel! You know my family and I are religious! I don't care if you don't believe but don't belittle us for it!" he pouted.
Jewel grumbled, and Matt sighed. "The first part was true though," she muttered. "I don't know if it's literal hell fire or whatever, but the burns never do heal. One of my schoolmates found that out the hard way when she slammed my brother's head into a metal pole," she said as her eyes got dark at the memory, eyes blazing with a bit of black smoke.
Matt watched her for a moment, before his eyes got big. "Oh my God!"
"Religious boy saying god's name in vain now?" Jewel playfully scolded.
"No! I… oh crud, I did! But oh my gosh! Do you know what this is?"
"What what is?"
"Your magic!"
Jewel stared at him, dumbfounded. "Dude, I've been dealing with this for almost five years, there's no way you suddenly know the answer to what I've been looking for."
"I think I have an idea though! Come on, we can talk while we patch you up!" he beamed.
They made it back to his house in short time. Jewel growled and hissed as Matt messed with the bandages, pulling at the wound. "Dude, just put gauze on either side and tape it down, it doesn't have to be fancy!" she barked.
"I'm sorry!" he whined, having dropped it again. "Your shirt's in the way, I can't.."
"Ugh, fine."
She ripped off her t-shirt, just revealing the sports bra underneath. Matt blushed deeply at the sudden boldness. He cleared his throat and tried to be mature about it, but he was a thirteen-year-old boy, damn it! Though he was distracted by the few scars already on her young body. He noticed a scar on her arm, the same one he was bandaging.
"What happened here?" he asked, his hand grazing over it.
Jewel pulled back from his touch. "Fucker pulled out a knife during a fist fight. Grandpa almost lost his shit when I started bleeding through the bandage," she laughed a little.
"I really hate that you keep getting into these fights, Mel… why do you do it? You know you can just run away, right? There's no shame in it."
"Fuck yeah there is! You run then those fuckers think they can mess with you! You gotta put 'em in their place! Never let anyone see you as weak!"
"It's… not weak to not fight. I mean, a lot of martial artists practice restraint, they don't go looking for fights like you do. You purposely go into bad areas, you make yourself a target so people come to you so you can pretend like you don't start shit, but you do, Mel! You worry me…"
"I can handle myself. Fuckers can't use magic, I can. No one can touch me."
"You just got shot!" Matt protested.
"No big deal."
He smacked the wound, causing her to shout in pain. She growled as she turned to face him, to see him standing there with tears in his eyes. Jewel hesitated a moment before turning back with a soft grunt. "So… you think you know what my magic is all of a sudden?" she muttered.
Matt sighed. Of course she wasn't going to just give up that easily. He got a new piece of gauze and put it against her back. Now that her shirt was gone it was easier… but he had to really try to ignore the fact she was in a bra right now.
"Well, yeah. I noticed back there… the angrier you got, the more black smoke emitted from you… especially around the eyes. So… I think your emotions can help fuel your power. But, what kind of magic do you use when you're happy?"
Jewel rose a brow, turning back to him. "This kind? It's the only kind I got."
Matt stared at her. "Can you use it when you're happy?"
"Why would I? No one needs to be beat down if I'm happy."
"Have you ever heard about the Two Wolves?" Matt then asked.
"No?" she questioned.
"So, there's this story, I don't exactly know how it goes. But the gist of it is, there are two wolves that are always fighting in an eternal struggle. One is darkness and despair while the other is light and hope. Do you know which one wins?"
"Darkness, duh, there's more of that in the world."
Matt sighed. "The one you feed Mel! And every person has that pair of wolves inside of us. And you're definitely feeding your dark wolf, that's for sure. I bet your poor light wolf is starving," he chided.
"More of your religious nonsense?" she muttered
He smacked her upside the head. "I'm Catholic, damn it, but this is something that my grandfather believed in! He was the last one to be born on tribal land, you know that!"
Jewel muttered and rubbed the back of her head where he hit her. "What do I care about some native legend?"
"Because I think it applies to you, Mel! You get fangs when your powers activate, you have a literal black fire, it sounds like the Death Wolf!"
Jewel turned back to him with a raised brow. "Death wolf? I thought you said my whole thing was the two wolves?"
"They're connected, some say. See, you know how natives generally revere the wolf, right?"
"Well, duh, it's everywhere in media. Wolf is a special spirit, blah blah."
"Well, there was this one tribe that thought different. See, there was a meeting among the stars to decide how our world would be made. They decided which animals lived where, what they needed, where mountains and streams would go, that kind of thing. The Wolf Star was insulted and enraged that it wasn't invited to the council, went down as a wolf to steal a bag that every other creature was pulled out of. The wolf dropped the bag, releasing humans to it. Humans then turned and killed the wolf, creating death in our world. And ever since, we've had our live cycles."
Jewel listened, before laughing. "So you're saying I fucked up the world, huh?"
"Not you," he rolled his eyes. "But, when the Wolf Star was killed, its spirit didn't rest. It was celestial, after all. It would possess wolves to cause trouble, to get revenge on the humans whom it had accidentally released. The Death Wolf was what it was known to be called. You know about totems, right? Spirit animals?"
"The vague concept, yeah."
"See, the Death Wolf would come and gift its power to those born under the false Wolf Star. Either you were born under it, or your dark wolf was."
"Wait, what?" she rose a brow.
"Spirits live within everything, even other souls," he laughed. "The two wolves inside each of us are generally other souls, who are supposed to be guiding us. They fight for dominance to see who will win in the eternal struggle of good versus evil."
"God, this religion shit is messed up."
Matt chuckled a little. "Hey, you never know! You got some crazy power, and it fits!"
"Humans have magic, it's just not as common. I mean, hell, you remember the Witch Trials from school, right?"
"Yeah, but they were just mistakes."
"Maybe the majority of them, but humans can still use magic. I just happen to be good at dark magic."
"Please, don't say that," Matt pleaded. "You're a good person, Mel! You just got dealt a bad hand! I know you can turn your life around, you don't have to be so angry all the time. Come on," he offered her his hand. "I'll let you borrow one of my shirts and I can show you that new game before you go home!"
"Ugh, fine," she muttered a little, taking his hand.
"I like Matt," Blueberry spoke up. "He believed in you."
"Well, not me, but he believed that I could be a good person. We didn't know each other that long," Jewel explained.
"How long did you know each other there?" Dream asked.
"Oh boy. Well, we met in April, so… that happened during summer break, so July-ish?" she questioned. "So about three months at this point. He was my only friend at that point, but we didn't last too long."
"Why?" Sans questioned carefully.
"Guess you should see when I really lost it," she muttered softly.
Jewel stood there in a dress looking uncomfortable. Why had she agreed to this? It was long, past mid-calf, but she still hated it. She felt so exposed! She squirmed as she shivered as they walked down the snow-covered street.
"Come on, you look great!" Matt grinned
"Fucking hate dresses," she muttered.
"You're the one who wanted to wear it."
"And now I'm regretting it, shut up."
Matt chuckled, smiling warmly at her. "All right, all right. But just watch the potty-mouth when we get to my church, okay? You know how some of the older folks can get, especially in religious institutions."
"Yeah, yeah. So long as they don't piss me off. Don't want them trying to convert me."
"Well, you were already baptized and everything in the Catholic church, right? They can't really do anything except pray and recite scripture, which they won't unless you act out or they're wishing you well. It's not a bad thing, ya know."
Jewel muttered a little as they walked.
"Ya know, I wish you'd tell me why you don't believe in God anymore. I can tell it's sensitive but…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "I know I can't change your mind or anything, I just… wish you'd tell me."
Jewel's eyes darkened at that. "Hell of a thing to ask on the way to a Christmas party," she muttered.
Matt hesitated a moment. He realized he put his foot in his mouth. "Sorry, I know… I'm stupid. But… hey, ya know Santa's going to be there right? Maybe you can ask him for something," he teased.
"Oh fuck you!" she shoved him and he laughed. She couldn't help but smile a little at him too.
They continued to walk and Jewel continued to shiver. "Fucking hate winter," she muttered.
Matt pulled her to the side and tried to warm up her hands. She was really freezing, neither of them wore gloves or even more than their winter coats. But he saw a gas station just around the corner. "Wait for me here, okay? I'll go get us some hot chocolate," he grinned before bolting across the street.
Jewel blinked. It was a seedy spot, she supposed it would be weird to walk in together. It was just a tiny little store section anyway. She stood there, shivering, breathing on her hands to try and warm them up. Hell of a thing to do when she could literally summon fire when angry… but she couldn't even do that right now. Her powers were annoying…
She felt this tingle in the back of her mind. Bad feelings… they always appeared at the worst times. But they were going to a church… nothing could happen right? She looked up and saw Matt starting to come out of the gas station holding two cups. She smiled a little. Right, nothing was going to happen. She was just a bundle of nerves. She was in a dress, it was cold, going to a church. Nothing was going to happen…
As she got ready to cross the street to meet him, a car skidded through, hopping the sidewalk and completely mowed down Matt, the drinks flying from his hand as he bounced and rolled off the car before it crashed into a fire hydrant, causing an eruption of water. In a second, Jewel ran straight over, going to where he crashed down. He had blood all over his face and one of his arms was just limp, broken in several places. He wheezed as she slowly picked him up.
"M-Matt…" Tears began to flow. "H-hang on, okay? I'll get help!"
"M-Mel…" he managed to mutter out. "S'okay… don't… don't let… this d-drag you down… okay?" he tried. Blood just poured from his mouth more.
Jewel held him, but she heard car doors open. The driver was finally getting out after crashing the car? But that's when her blood ran cold. Two familiar faces popped out. No, she… hadn't seen them in months! It…!
"Mel…" he gargled his words, "Run… run…" he slowly closed his eyes, "run…"
Matt went limp in her arms and when she looked back up, she didn't see them anymore. Where did they go? She felt her arm grabbed and she yelped, looking back. Her eyes were wide and for the first time since, her fearless façade was gone. She was scared, and it showed. She struggled as they held her arms tightly.
"We told you, pet," the taller one hissed, "You can't play with anyone but us. Look at you, getting all dolled up for someone else? I don't think so."
Hands snaked their way around her, grabbing her backside and going the inner parts of her thigh. That was it, she was done! Her eyes flashed red and she kicked one hard in the leg, making him limp and then she managed to free an arm and slug the other one. She wasn't in any shape to fight right now. She listened and ran. She ran as fast as she could with the two on her heels. Stupid dress! Why did she think to wear this? She hated dresses for this reason! So vulnerable!
The sound of sirens wailed. Someone from the gas station must have called it in. The two men turned and ran in another direction and Jewel disappeared down an alleyway. She should have gone back but… she just… couldn't bring herself to. What was she going to say?