**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 29 – Storytime: History part 3Eyelights were out among the skeletons. Error gripped Jewel's hand tightly. "That was not your fault," he managed to growl out.
"Really?" Jewel questioned, "If I didn't let him in, it wouldn't have happened," she sighed, leaning back more.
Ink put his hand on her head. "I'm with Error, that was hardly your fault."
"You're allowed to have friends," Blueberry chimed in, still holding her.
"If these fuckers don't get their comeuppance…" Red muttered.
Dream honestly didn't know what to say. He could see her point of view. He always felt like he pulled Nightmare into worlds he visited, it was his fault that he couldn't save them… who was he to say otherwise? The fact was Jewel was right, but so were the others. There were a million ways to look at this scenario, and there was no real point to argue it.
"Jewel, you were a kid. Magic or not, that's fucked up, you can't blame yourself for that!"
"I don't blame myself, not anymore," Jewel said softly, though it was clear the memory still bothered her a bit. "They did it, that was it. But it still happened because of me. Matt wouldn't have been put in the line of fire if I kept myself at a distance like I was supposed to in their weird, fucked up game. If I had better control of my magic at the time…"
"You had magic for five years with no one to help you. It was amazing you could do any of that before," Sans praised.
"But… what happened?" Blueberry asked. "With the police? Did they get caught this time?"
"No. Stolen car, gloves, no prints… I burned that dress and the coat," Jewel said softly.
"So, weird question," Red piped up. "What do humans do for their dead? I mean, it was… he didn't dust or nothin'."
"Yeah, ya know… as many times as I kill Frisk, with the resets, I never thought about that. I know the souls persist, but…" Sans thought about it.
"Oh you two are morbid," Jewel teased.
"Humans don't dust," Error rolled his eyes.
"Dude, you steal their souls," Ink pointed out. "Have you ever actually killed one?"
"Humans need their soul as much as monsters do," Jewel explained. "Except maybe you, Ink," she teased. "Technically we can live without a lot of stuff, souls included, provided medical intervention is given. We would be in comas, unable to communicate. Our senses could still theoretically retain everything, but our conscious mind is split between our bodies and souls so… it'd be weird and highly dependent on the circumstances. But as for what we do with our dead… that varies depending on religion and culture. Some bury the bodies in the ground, either in shrouds or coffins, where the body will decompose over time. What lasts longest is the skeleton, actually, but even that can decay and turn to dust eventually. Others just kind of… just speed up the process and burn the remains and turn us to ash. Then the ashes are kept in an urn or spread about, depending on the person's wishes. Humans have a variety of different rituals. It's mostly left up to the individual. But in the end, we do technically dust, it just takes a lot of time or intervention."
"So, for Matt?" Dream questioned. "He mentioned… catholic? And you are too?"
"Heh, that's a story for another day. But for Matt… well, I honestly don't know. I wasn't allowed to attend his funeral."
"Why not?" Ink blinked. "You were his friend!"
Jewel sighed and motioned Error to not play this one. "His mom and brother blamed me for his death. Apparently, he mentioned me being related to the Death Wolf and despite them not believing in that stuff, his mother bought into it in her grief. I went by to try and offer condolences. I was still pretty messed up by the whole thing and… I hated the fact I hid instead of told her. The police had to try and identify him and came knocking on her door. I could have…" she shook her head a little. "The two of them blamed me as I stood there, unable to really argue… she told me she sent Matt's body back to her family's old tribal land to be buried and I was never allowed there… then she and Matt's older brother told me I had two more deaths on my hands. They had taken Matt's father's old guns and killed themselves in front of me."
Silence overtook them all. What the hell could they say to that? Well, Red had an idea…
"That's fucked up," he muttered.
"Yeah, well…" Jewel sighed a little. She took advantage of the fact Blueberry was there and squeezed him a little, along with Error's hand.
"So… how accurate was Matt's theory on your magic? It sounded similar to what you explained before," Dream questioned.
"Not quite accurate, but it helped give me some research materials. And after that I went through… well…"
"What?" Sans asked worriedly.
Jewel sighed a little. "That was probably the biggest period of depression. I gave up on a lot. I went from straight A's in school to barely passing in ninth grade and failing half my 10 grade year. I just didn't care anymore. I focused more on my magic than anything. I was so angry I couldn't just… use it that day. Matt was right, I could only access it when I was angry, and I was more scared than angry at the time so I couldn't…" She shook her head a little. "So I started doing what I could to be able to summon it on command… including using other people's emotions to trigger it. That's when I realized how easily influence-able I was with people around me. My brother was happy, so I'd perk up almost instantly, which, I suppose was okay, but it was really annoying when I was dragged to places I didn't want to go. My grandfather had died before what happened with Matt, and I started to realize what happens to empaths when in groups of large people with a powerful emotion. Death never bothered me, and he died in his sleep. He was old and it was just his time. Yeah, I missed him but I wasn't going to just start bawling over it. Pissed my mom off, but the feeling in the room was just… I had to leave, which only made the situation worse with her, I think."
"You said you… cut yourself off before," Dream mentioned, everyone turning and looking confused.
"That was still afterward, when I… learned something after another event."
"Which was?" Ink questioned.
She laughed a little. "Well…" She thought about telling them. But… She squeezed Error's hand, and he nodded. He started syncing up the timeline as she continued. "This was about a year and a half after what happened with Matt. So I was fourteen going on fifteen."
Jewel was walking around the trailer park, headphones on, music blaring from a CD player stuffed in an inner pocket of her light jacket. As she turned the corner, her eyes narrowed at a girl obviously a bit younger than her. She was chubby, but she had a serious bitch-like face just constantly. She was walking with another girl, about as short as she was, but she was dressed pretty provocatively. Low-cut tank top that revealed far too much cleavage, short-shorts and heels. Jewel rolled her eyes as she ignored them. She lowered her music, however. She could hear the chubby girl talking smack about her, as per usual.
"And stay away from that one, she's an utter freak!" she said.
In all honesty, it was probably true. She wasn't the nicest person around, but she wasn't the worst either. Not as far as school was concerned. She kept those lives pretty separate at this point.
But what surprised her was the second those words were uttered, the girl in the tank-top stopped and went right over to her. Jewel blinked and pulled down her headphones as the girl clearly started talking.
"Hi!" she repeated again. "My name's Lisa, but everyone calls me Cat! What's your name?" she asked in this high-pitched, almost too chipper of a voice.
Jewel scanned those big brown eyes of hers, wary. "Uh… Melissa," she muttered.
"Hm," she pondered. "I don't like that!" she then declared.
Well, fuck you, ran through Jewel's mind.
"From now on, your name is…" she put a finger to her chin, thinking. "Jewel!" she grinned before grabbing her arm and wrapping her own around them. "Come on! Let's go do something! I'm new around here, maybe you can show me around!"
"Hey, I was doing that!" the chubbier girl growled. "I told you to stay away from that fucking freak! She'll climb through your window and murder you!"
"No, just you," Jewel quipped back and flipped her off. She started to walk off, but she had this new thing attached to her arm.
"Oh, nice. So you are a bad girl~" she teased.
Oh great, not another one! "Listen, I'ma tell you this once. I don't do friends," Jewel snarled.
"Well, too bad! We're buddies now, Jewel!"
"Ugh, that's not my name! It doesn't even make sense!"
"Well, too bad~" she grinned. "Now, where are we going?"
"I'm going home, you can go wherever."
"Well, I'm going with you!" she grinned.
"Never said you could," she growled.
"Too bad~ I'm here to stay!" she smiled up at her. "C'mon, you know you love me~!"
"I barely know you. You're lucky you're not part of the pavement right now."
"Ooh, yay! I could use a body guard~ And you'll do much better than that other bitch!" she smiled.
"Fucking manipulative, aren't you? What, do you bat those puppy eyes around everywhere and everyone just listens because you're a tiny girl with big boobs?"
She blinked, looking up at her with those eyes, but as she stared her down she burst out laughing. "Damn! You're good!"
"And you're not."
The two then started laughing and Cat shoved Jewel lightly. "Oh, I do like you! Now, really, can you show me around? That bitch was just talking smack! I need to know where I can get some shit!" she grinned.
"Fine, just let grab some cash in case something catches my eye," she said and they headed back home. As they approached the trailer, Jewel's little brother, ten at this point, was getting on his bike outside. "Yo, Bo!"
"Oh, hi sis!" he smiled.
"Did mom say it was okay?" she asked.
"Uh, dad did," he hesitantly replied.
Jewel blinked and looked around. His car wasn't nearby… that meant he parked by the office and had to walk. Oh, he was pissed then. Great… "Okay, thanks for the heads up. Just stay around the one stretch, okay?"
"Okay," he grinned and started to pedal off.
"Dad issues, huh?"
"Yup, not getting that money. He's in a mood if has to park near the office, lazy fucker," she muttered.
"S'okay, I gotchu!" Cat grinned and they started to walk off.
Blueberry couldn't help but snicker and everyone turned to him. Jewel was laughing a little with him too as she stroked his head. "So it's not just your brother I remind you of, huh?"
"Yeah, nah, apparently not," Jewel chuckled a little. "I honestly forgot that part, wow."
"People seem to cling to you," Blueberry smiled.
"Power does that," Error muttered. "Weaker people always cling to those who are stronger."
"Well, you're not wrong," Jewel agreed. "But in Cat's case, it was more the abusive dad thing that we bonded over. And she really did need protection, she attracted trouble like no one's business," she muttered. "And I probably didn't help with that."
"Oh fuck, seriously?" Red growled.
"Jewel… they didn't…" Sans paled. Jewel simply motioned to the screen.
It had been about a week since they met. Jewel was showing Cat the corner store now that Cat had some money again. She looked around, and tried to slip some candy in her pocket. Jewel rose a brow and grabbed her hand, causing Cat to jump. She paled a little under her makeup. She forgot how eagle-eyed Jewel was, and this was never brought up before.
"Girl, your pants are too damn tight, what are you doing?" she muttered a little. "You wanna steal like that you gotta wear something a little less form fitting."
Cat blinked a little.
Jewel simply chuckled. "Let the master show you how it's done," she smirked.
Jewel would go around and slip things up sleeves, even in pockets, nothing obvious. She was so casual about it, if you weren't paying attention it seemed like she just looked at something and put it back. Then she went and paid for one thing with Cat before leaving. Once they were outside, having gotten a bag for the few items they did legitimately buy, she slipped the rest into the bag out of her sleeves and pockets.
"Damn!" Cat grinned. "You gotta show me how to do that!"
"Then you gotta start wearing things with pockets and sleeves."
"Fine~ But I gotta make it cute," she protested.
"That's fine, but you don't need skin-tight shit to be cute," Jewel muttered as she bit into her candy bar.
"Says you. We need to take you shopping one of these days," she said. "Get you some cute dresses—"
"No," Jewel shot that down in less than a second.
"Fine~" Cat whined, but opened up her candy bar and continued to walk.
As they approached the trailer park again Cat didn't even bother to look in the street. Jewel didn't need to as she simply went and grabbed the other female before yanking her back, just barely being missed by a brown station wagon style car who started to speed up. When Jewel looked up, however, a familiar face flashed passed in the driver's seat.
"Crazy bastard!" Cat shouted at the car before starting to go across the street again. But she stopped when she realized she wasn't being followed. "Jewel?"
It was weird to see her face so pale. She stared as they drove past. They knew where she lived, she knew that… at least the area… they had harassed her before… but already? She had barely started to know this girl and already?
"Yo, earth to Jewel?" Cat waved her hand in front of her face.
"The fuck was that?!" Jewel then barked, "You don't just randomly run in the street! You almost got hit!"
"Not the first time," she casually lulled. "I don't really watch where I'm going."
"No shit," Jewel muttered. "I… I gotta go home."
"Oh, let me come over!"
"No, I… I need to be alone. I'll call you later, okay?" she said as she handed her the bag of candy she had pilfered. She wasn't in the mood anymore.
Jewel crossed the street and went back to her home. When she got there, she noticed her brother crying on the couch with her father looking angry.
"And where the fuck were you?!" he barked at her.
"I was with Cat, like I told you I was going to be."
"You were supposed to stay nearby in the park!"
"I just went the corner store with her, she wanted a candy bar. I wasn't far."
"Too damn far! Because of you your brother almost got hit by a car!"
Jewel's face paled and she ran over to her brother, ignoring her father's ranting and just looked him over. He had a scrapped knee and a small scuff on his face. He looked more scared than anything.
"Bo, what happened?" she asked, gently wiping his tears from his face.
"I-I was riding around, the normal loop like always. Th-then this car just… I dropped my bike and hopped to the curb. I tripped and fell, and they ran over my tire and left…"
"What did the car look like?"
"I-it was brown, l-like dad's car… but lighter…"
Like dad's? A station wagon? She paled as the implications hit her like a truck. They had just left the scene from trying to run her brother over and almost hit Cat! It wasn't intention for her… but her brother was! She started to shake but she felt small hands on her arm. She looked down at her brother with his big blue eyes.
"Sis… a-are you okay?"
"Just worried about you little bro. I'm so sorry I wasn't there," she said as she sat down beside him, holding him tightly.
Her father was about to say something, but her eyes flashed red at him, and even he knew when to back off when she got like that. It had been an ever escalating thing with him… Jewel then turned and focused on her little brother for the rest of the day.
That night, however, after her brother was asleep, Jewel laid atop of the bunk bed with the light on as per usual. Stupid little clown lamp he loved so much… She slid down the ladder and quietly threw on some normal clothes over her pajamas and headed out. Her father was snoring away on the couch and she just silently left. She needed a walk, she needed to clear her head. She had pushed the rage down for the sake of her little brother but it just kept building. They went after her little brother! After she spent all these years silent!
She walked, and walked, rage just building with every step until she heard something familiar.
"Damn it, why are we walking?"
"Because that damn bike did a number to the suspension remember? Cracked a tie-rod. Gonna get it fixed tomorrow."
The mother fuckers were there and complaining about her brother's bike breaking their car when they tried to run him down? Oh that was it! Her eyes turned red, for the first time, there was no blue left in them. They were pure blood red. Each step seemed to emanate black smoke as she continued to get closer. They were simply laughing until the felt the malice surround them. Slowly, they turned.
"Oh, look who it is, our little toy," one smirked.
"Come to say hello to your owners?" the other taunted.
"Did you get our message today, pet? We're getting quite annoyed at your lack of attention to the rules, so we're adding new ones, and harsher punishments for when you break them."
"Oh, I'll breaksomething all right," she growled.
The taller of the two pulled out a gun, pointing it directly at her. "Can't say this hasn't been fun. But if you are so eager to die, we'll gladly find a new toy to play with. Finish what we should have years ago. Then, we'll go put your brother out of his misery. Stupid boy."
Black smoke started to hiss from her frame, causing the men to stare at her with something other than that predatory smile for the first time. The smoke started to twist and twirl around her body, coating it in shadow. The man fired his weapon but it didn't seem to faze her. The black smoke seemed to flicker like small flames before she rushed at them.
Jewel covered Blueberry's eyes as the men were literally torn asunder. The horrifying screams were enough for the smaller Sans to twist into her and hide his face in her shirt and she continued to shield him. Once it was all over, there was nothing but a pile of ash that started to blow away in the wind. Silence reined over the group again.
"Bout fucking time!" Red broke the silence. "Fuckers got what they deserved!"
"Hate to say it, but even I can't argue that," Sans said softly. "I mean, I do it to, during the genocide runs. But that was… wow, brutal…" Sans had lost some of the color in his bones from that scene. He thought what he did with the kid was harsh…
"That… reminds me more of Nightmare than I'm comfortable with," Dream spoke up, looking over to Jewel. "You said you…"
"Well, remember, Fenrir's power is focused in negativity too," she told him. "And… yeah, I was feeling pretty dark and negative right there. Rage, self-loathing… I'm not going to lie, I wanted to rip them apart… and I did. And it felt… good," she looked down at Blueberry who turned to look up at her with worried eyes. "I finally broke free. They weren't going to hurt me or my brother anymore. I wasn't in danger of losing anyone else to those assholes. I finally wasn't the prey anymore, I was a predator. I could tear apart anyone I wanted. And… that's what became of my life at that point."
"Wait you…"Ink blinked.
"I told you I was like Error," she reminded. "Heh, Cat even got pulled along for the ride for a bit. I was a horrible influence. She got to learn about my magic. We mostly stuck to petty thievery but as we got older, I started getting bolder. She found a boyfriend who didn't like me and as I started doing more dangerous stuff, I couldn't really argue with him. I had tried to pull back but Cat was stubborn. It wasn't until he started voicing concerns did she start turning her life around. I actually liked the guy, he was good for her. Protective in a good way. So we eventually drifted apart and I went full on criminal life. I robbed banks, I killed people… got bored of doing it on my own and got a small gang together. Didn't really care about them, but…"
"You really are sounding too much like Nightmare," Dream paled.
"But… you're not like that now," Blueberry interrupted. "What made you decide to change?"
"My brother was killed," she said softly. "I was twenty-five, he was twenty-one. After that, I just… lost it. He hated me at that point so I wasn't around much, but he was still the one thing I gave a damn about. What was the point of all the power I had if I couldn't protect the only person that mattered to me? I lost control, and apparently I broke through the walls of my world, shattering it and opening up the code. I fell through and I disappeared from my world. I woke up in this black void of nothing and just… well, freaked out. I was trapped, my brother just died and I… well, I broke. I cried years' worth of tears and frustrations out before I just… slept until I couldn't do that anymore. I cut… a lot and just… well, willing yourself to die in a place without even time-flow is kind of hard. But it also gives you a lot of time to reflect on your choices in life. At first, I didn't think much of it, but I started to regret what I had done. All the people I killed that didn't deserve it. Still don't regret killing those two assholes—"
"Ya shouldn't," Red agreed, wholeheartedly.
"But the people at the banks, the officers who I killed trying to stop me… all the people I traumatized… Heh, probably why they turned on me again when I went back."
"Wait, you went back?" Sans asked.
"Yeah. Eventually I figured out how the code went. The powers that came with it after being exposed for so long. That's where I got the teleporting. I couldn't do that before. It's just a quick shift in the code, I can teleport between points easily. Having a near photographic memory helps. That's why I just have to be somewhere once and I can go back."
"So, what happened when you went back?" Ink asked.
"I was homeless for a while. Old skills came in handy, had to pickpocket some basic money unless I wanted to whore myself out for enough to try and get a job. Slept under a bridge, found a cat who liked me. Eventually got enough money between working and stealing to get an apartment to try and just go straight from there. I honestly tried to be a better person. Started going by Jewel at that point since it was the only other name I had. My old one was too attached to what I had done before. Hell, it was still around in media. They called us the Magic Mafia if you can believe that," she laughed a little. "Should have charged royalties but then I would be outing myself. But I did that on my own."
"What happened?" Dream questioned carefully.
"Eh, it had been six years. Pretty easy going life. But as I was walking around doing errands, I came upon a bank robbery about to go down. I couldn't help myself, that used to be my whole life. I didn't even bank there, I just… was curious about it, honestly. But someone, a mother with her infant, was shot during it all because she tried to quiet her baby. Babies always make robbers nervous, it's stupid. They kid's not going to do anything! I should know," she muttered, holding her head. "I reacted. During my time in the code, I learned a lot about my powers and learned about my white magic. I used it, I couldn't help it. I put a barrier around the robbers to keep them from shooting and ran over to the mother and started healing. People utterly freaked out. I suppose I could understand but… damn it, I was literally healing the mother's wounds, if you spent two seconds looking you'd notice the wound was getting smaller. But no, some dude comes and literally stabs me with a knife in the back. It went so deep, it punctured my scapula and I still have the knife tip wedged in the bone. Obviously, I threw the guy off and they all turned on me. Cops got there and guns were pointed directly at me. Forget the people that just tried to rob the bank, somehow I was priority. Guns pointed at me again, I just fled. I teleported out and went back to my apartment."
"Shouldn't you have just explained yourself? Running probably looked worse," Sans pointed out.
"Probably did, but I had just literally been stabbed in the back with guns in my face. I was trying not to start something."
"You know, if this is hard, I could have just pulled it up," Error offered.
"And why? Literally, you'd just see this one bit before the cops come busting into my house, stomping my cat to death because of stupid witch lore and beating me with clubs before I reverted back to what I used to be and killed them all," she said darkly.
"Jewel…" Blueberry tried, but she didn't acknowledge him.
"I ran back into the code after that. This first time it was over a hundred years… I don't know how long the second time was, but it felt like it was at least double the first stay, so… I dunno. I kept myself locked up until that day we met in UnderSwap. That was some fluke chance if there ever was one, not that I regret it." She finally looked down at Blueberry who had some unshed tears lining his eyes, and gently wiped them from him. "I'm… actually pretty happy now with all of you. I know I haven't been fair and bringing my walls down hasn't been the easiest for all of you but… there it is. All the crap that led up to this point, minus a couple of unimportant details. And I understand if you don't want to be around me anymore."
"Why the hell would you think that, Jewel?" Ink suddenly spoke up. He hopped down and looked right at her. "No one's perfect and you got dealt a pretty crappy hand, but you're hardly any worse than this bozo," he pointed to Error, who huffed. "And I'm still trying to convince him to be friends with me. You really think I'm going to abandon you now? No way! I finally got to learn more about you! You finally opened up! I'll probably forget over half this stuff, but I know I'll never forget seeing your face light up with your grandfather gave you that art kit! I'm so excited to try and create with you! Don't care what you say, Error!" Ink challenged.
Sans chuckled a little. "Jewel, I know I gave ya a hard time, but… Ink's right, this isn't going to change anything, at least with me. I get why you were so angry now, and I wished you would have opened up to me beforehand, but I'm glad you did now. I'll admit, it's going to take me a while to comprehend everything. I mean, you did just drop a skele-ton of info on us, but tibia honest, I think I can roll with it, no fibula."
Blueberry groaned a little, but Jewel chuckled so he let it slide. No shouting this time. Blueberry stood up finally, looking down at the human he had been cuddling this whole time. "Jewel, I told you before, I, THE MAGNIFICENT SANS, believe in you. You've already proven that you can change. You're not that person anymore. You openly admitted you hate using that power now. And I'm proud of you! And I'll always be your friend, no matter what!"
"Ya still a corny little bastard, ain'tcha?" Red said as he stood up, walking over and putting a hand on Jewel's shoulder. "Sweetheart, yer exactly like me. Can't hate 'cha 'cuz I'm pretty amazin' if I do say so myself," he chuckled. "Though ya got more of a sweet side than I do, and it just makes ya all the better. I ain't gonna leave ya hanging."
Error squeezed her hand, having never let her go through that entire thing. "I already told you my piece." He was never leaving her, no matter what. And that? That was nothing. He was horrified by what he learned in her early years, but her later life? That was nothing. There was nothing she could do that would be worse than what he did.
Dream was the one with the conflict. She was very much like his brother… He barely knew her, and she was this open with him… he felt her soul, felt her positivity… but he couldn't feel what his brother had. Logically, he shouldn't trust her. She was like Nightmare… but she fought him to protect Blueberry, she had been honest with him throughout, didn't hide anything, just asked to keep it for when she told everyone.
"Dream?" Blueberry spoke up.
He glanced over to her as he looked into those blue eyes. He could feel his soul swell. But Blueberry was right. She was different than that person. Everyone had their struggles. He shouldn't trust her… but… deep in him, he wanted to get to know her more. He got up and walked over to Jewel, his golden eyes looking into her blue ones.
"All day, you've reminded me so much of my brother… and I think it's clear why. You two had such a similar struggle… but you do seem to have changed since then. And maybe… that means there's hope for my brother." He held out a hand to her. "I don't know… what to feel yet. We barely know each other. But I would like to get to know who you are now, Jewel."
Jewel reached out and took his hand, before pulling him in and giving him a hug as she sat on the edge of the couch. Dream's wide eyes softened as he couldn't help but smile as he hugged her back. He didn't know what to feel about what he had just learned. But right now… this felt right.