When I finally slipped through the cracks, another dark room greeted me. Not nearly as dark as the abyss though; I could actually see the walls. It resembled a cave, except it looked like it had been carved out by hand. The unsmooth, rugged walls told me that. Chara stood ways down, staring at me. She took a few steps forward. "Where the hell were you?"

Her presence made me jump a little, but I quickly focused back on her question. I pointed behind me with my thumb. "I was just checking out the view. It's pretty out there." I was worried she'd sense my lie, but went with it anyway. Plus, it was partly true.

She squinted at me; every time she had done that, she knew exactly what I was thinking. As quickly as I could, I tried to blank out my mind. After she gave me a good, long stare, she eventually stopped squinting. A sigh came from her mouth as she rubbed her face, eyes closed. "Look, Jack, I'm really trying to give you a chance here. I really want to believe what Frisk says about other humans, and I'm really trying to give you the benefit of the doubt..." Her eyes suddenly opened and looked at mine. The red orbs seemed to pierce my soul. "But you lying straight to my face is doing quite the opposite."

Part of me was speechless; what did Frisk say about other humans? I scrambled for something to say, a justification for lying. I knew why deep down. It was the reason I always hid away the strange events that had happened to me. I didn't want to make anyone worried, including a ghost I just met. "I-"

She turned around. "Don't bother explaining." There was a moment of silence before she began following the carved out cavern. "I already know." I stood frozen as she continued walking. Did she actually know, or was she just coming up with her own reasons? Eventually, she froze in place and looked back at me. "Well? Are you coming? I personally don't care if you die, but I know Frisk certainly would." My eyes remained wide as I reluctantly began following her.

The cavern didn't go for long; you could actually see the end not too far in the distance. It just didn't look like it lead anywhere. Chara's breathing had gotten a little faster, making me worry if she actually knew where she was going. She'd constantly glance around us before gripping her head tight. A little feeling was starting to appear in my mind too, one which didn't feel like my own. Could we also share emotions? The feeling was similar to panic. Despite that, I continued to follow her; it's not like I knew the place better than she did. My mind slowly drifted back to what had just happened. Don't trust... the man from the other world, who's that? The possibilities were truly endless. Gaster was the first that went into my mind, but I quickly dismissed it when I realized that he was in this world, just not apart of it. The demon was my second guess, but I barely knew anything about it. I didn't even know it's gender. That left... every other man I had met. Finding "The man from the other world's identity was not going to be easy, that was for sure.

I was in deep thought when Chara suddenly stopped in front of me. I focused back on my surroundings; we had reached the end of the cavern. "Shit," Chara said as she frantically looked around. After a little bit of panic, she turned to me. "It's a dead end." She sighed as she scratched her chin. "How will we get out now? We'd die from jumping that gap outside.

I gave her a little shrug. I was even more clueless than her. After looking at her think for a moment, I decided to inspect my surroundings more closely; maybe there was some sort of switch I could flip. It sounded like a ridiculous idea, but so did monsters living underground. I started examining the walls; it was hard to see, sure, but I'd be able to make out a switch. Even though I was feeling the walls, the task proved to be a complete waste of time. Okay, I thought, making sure I would only hear it. Maybe it's on the floor. Almost like a baby would, I began crawling on all fours. It was far harder to see on the floor, so I only had touch to rely on. I kept feeling around and, right when I was about to give up, a cold, metallic object brushed my hand. I gripped onto the object, it certainly wasn't a switch. Feeling it was getting me nowhere, so I stood up with the object in hand to get a better look. It was a lot lighter than I was expecting as I lifted it up to my face. Just barely, I could make out the thin, bent frame of a pair of glasses. The cloudy, almost shattered lenses stared back at me. "Um... Chara?" The girl stepped away from her thoughts and turned to me. "I found these glasses."

Chara squinted at what was in my hand before her eyes lit up a little. "Oh! You found the Cloudy Glasses!" She stepped closer to me and took them out of my hand. She lightly inspected them. "I wonder what they're doing down here..." Her voice trailed off before coming back. "Anyways." She put them back in my hand. "If you put them on, it'll raise your DF."

I gave her a weird stare. "What now?"

She sighed. "It'll make you stronger, okay?" She faced a random direction away from me. "You clearly can't understand simple acronyms."

I was going to comment on what she said, but I decided it was best to say nothing. I quickly inspected the glasses, making sure they'd fit my head, then put them on. I don't even think the lenses worked because my vision didn't change at all. For a few seconds, nothing happened; I felt no different. Then, a little thought appeared in my head. ...Kate... I was a little surprised that I heard anything. My eyes noticed something. It's wasn't anything obvious, but something had ever so slightly changed. I got... to find her. The voice continued, louder than the last time. I noticed what had changed now; my vision had gained a slight hue of purple. My ears felt... hot. I put my hand up to them to confirm and the glasses' frame was... hot, not my ears. I got to find Kate! The voice suddenly shouted, making me jump. Most of my vision was filled with purple and the glasses were burning my skin. I quickly threw them off and onto the floor, then took a few steps back. My vision hadn't changed, the glasses were just glowing purple. Chara turned to them with wide eyes. "Well, that's never happened before."

The purple became brighter and brighter until it was an almost blinding white light. I didn't get a chance to shield my eyes before it all stopped. Once my eyes readjusted to the darkness of the room, a purple figure stood in front of me. Their body was in an almost identical state to Grace's, except they were purple instead of green. They resembled a boy around my age and had long hair, almost going past their ears. They wore glasses and their eyes were firmly shut. "Wow," Chara said. "I guess all souls are doing this now."

The boy's eyes slowly began to open. At first, he looked almost calm, but when his eyes locked on to mine, he jumped back with fear across his face. "Where the hell did you come from?!" he shouted at me.

I tilted my head and squinted at him. "I, umm," I pointed behind me. "I came from down there."

"No the hell you didn't! I was just looking down there!"

Chara shook her head. "You actually weren't." She pointed at the mostly broken glasses. "You came out of that."

His head tilted down before his eyes became wide. "My glasses?!" He darted back up to Chara. "How would I come out of my glasses?"

"Cause you're dead," Chara responded, as blunt as ever.

"Dead?" He stayed silent for a moment before shaking his head, a smile forming on his face. "No, no, no." He took a few steps back. "You two are just monsters trying to take my soul. You're trying to trick me using some sort of magic..." He suddenly stuck his finger up in a similar matter to Papyrus. "But it's not gonna work! I'm too smart to be fooled by silly little tricks!"

He gained a triumphant face, telling me he believed every word he said. I sighed, trying to come up with a way to prove that he was just a ghost. Eventually, something popped into my head. "Hey... purple dude." His eyes instantly looked at me. "Could you look at your body for a second?" He squinted at me but, surprisingly, he listened. Slowly, he moved his head down. When his eyes made contact with his chest, his jaw dropped. I imagined that if he was one of the skeleton brothers, it would have fallen off.

He kept staring in silence before his mouth eventually closed. His hand came up and rubbed his face. "N-no, I... I can't be dead." He looked back up, but not at me; he was more staring off in space. "If... if I'm dead, then that means... Kate is..." His head almost instantly went down as he finished. He began rubbing his eyes, a purple liquid appearing on the corners of them. "... oh no..."

I felt terrible as I watched the scene unravel in front of me, barely understanding what was happening. I had to do something; my brain just wouldn't let me watch someone break out in tears without trying to help. "Hey," I said, trying to put on my best smile. I got a little closer to him. "She might still be alive, you never really know."

The boy slowly looked up at me before a small grin appeared on his face. "Yeah..." He straightened his posture. "Yeah, okay. Maybe you're right."

Chara gave me a weird stare as I felt myself relax. Silence began filling the room as the purple boy just stared at me. "So..." My eyes darted to the side. "What's your name?" Before he could answer, I continued speaking. "I'm Jack..." My head nodded over in Chara's direction. "And that over there is Chara." She eyed me down with aggression behind her eyes as I finished; what's wrong with sharing her name?

He gave me a weird stare before his eyes got a little wide. He slightly shook his head. "Oh, my mistake." He did a little bow in a similar way a king's servant would do. "I'm William."

I couldn't help but smile. "Well William, you certainly have manners I'm lacking." I looked around the room for a moment before focusing back on him. "Welcome to the group, I guess." I felt surprise shoot through my face as I realized something. "Oh wait! There's someone you should meet." I raised my arm with the bracelet up to my face, still looking at Wiliam. "She might help you with the entire 'you're dead' thing." I watched William raise an eyebrow before my attention turned towards the bracelet. I stared at the little emerald heart and thought about it exploding, hoping it would signal to Grace to come out. When I saw her face in the heart, I knew I had succeeded. The heart snapped into tiny pieces before flying out in front of me. It began spinning really fast and then... POOF; Grace had appeared. It was so abrupt that it felt like a jump cut. I shook my head slightly before presenting her like she was a grand prize. "This is Grace!"

Grace's eyes darted around the room before making contact with William's. She nearly jumped up in excitement when she did. "Whoah!" she said as she rushed over to him. "Someone else is like me!"

William cringed as he slowly waved at the little girl. She attempted to stick her hand through him, but it stopped when it make contact with his skin. "Umm, hi?" he said as he backed away from her a little.

Grace scratched her chin. "So we can touch each other without trying..." Her smile got wide. "Cool!" She eliminated the distance William had added and stuck her hand out. "I'm Grace. Been dead for..." her eyes looked at the roof for a moment. "Give or take 200 years."

William relaxed a little as he returned the hand shake. "I'm William, but people usually call me Will." He sighed. "I don't know how long I've been dead for."

"That means that it's your first time waking up, then." She looked to the side for a moment before focusing her attention back on him. "Do you remember how you died?"

He shook his head. "No." His hand stuck out and pointed at the cavern we had come from. "The last thing I remember was looking down that hallway, then..." His head nodded over at us. "Those two appeared."

"Ah, amnesia too? Don't worry, it should fade." It stayed silent for a moment. "Well, don't you worry! You're in good hands!" Her eyes darted over to me with a smile on her face. "Jack is one of the nicest people I've met, and the other one..." She squinted at Chara, and in response, she rolled her eyes. "...I don't know about her..." She continued squinting at her for a few more seconds before shaking her head. "But, Jack wouldn't let anything happen to us, so we're fine!"

Will gave her an even more confused stare. "Umm, alright?" he said with a slight grin.

I approached the two when silence had entered the room, only taking a few steps forward. "So, umm, this'll sound a bit strange..." I rubbed the back of my head, still not quite sure how to phrase it. "How do I get him to stay with me?" I really need to ask Chara the proper term.

Chara sighed as she leaned against a wall. It's soul bonding, her voice echoed through my mind. I turned to her with wide eyes. What? Did you think I could only read your thoughts or something? I continued staring at her until she eventually closed her eyes. "You could just put on the glasses," she said aloud.

"He could..." Grace said before reaching down and picking up the cloudy glasses. She gave them a quick inspection. "But these things barely look wearable. It'd be far more comfortable the other way."

Will raised a finger like a student would when asking a question. "What's... what's the other way?"

She gave me a smirk before facing him. "You saw the bracelet I came out of, right?" I raised my hand up so he could get a better look at the loose string. He slowly nodded. "Well, that used to be a frying pan!"

His jaw once again almost fell off. "What?"

Her smile got even brighter. "Yeah! Since my soul is connected to it, I can make it do anything I want, really." She held the glasses in front of her. "I assume it's the same for you and these glasses."

Will have her a good, long stare, then rubbed his eyes. "Look, I may be dead, which that alone breaks a lot of the science I had learned, but I refuse the believe that I can change the matter of an object. I don't care how much magic you sprinkle on it, that just shouldn't be possible."

Chara shook her head before approaching the boy. "Well, could you at least try Mr. Scientist? I'd rather my partner be able to see two feet in front of them." He was about to say something (judging by his expression, it wouldn't have been pretty), but Chara thankfully continued talking. "Remember. We're helping you find your sister. The least you could do is try and make things easy on us."

He kept his mouth open for a few more seconds before sighing. "Fine." He turned to Grace. "So, what do I do?"

"Well, you just..." her voice trailed off as she scratched her chin. "I guess the best way to describe it is that you just... close your eyes, and imagine the object turning a piece of jewelry. That's what I did, at least."

He shook his head. "The entire thing sounds like a child's game," his eyes closed. "But I might as well give it a shot."

Grace smiled. "That's the spirit!" Literally, I thought, not caring if Chara heard my masterfully crafted remark. She walked over and put the glasses in his hand. "But you might want to hold this since you've never done it before." Will nodded before she came over next to me. "Now try it!"

For a moment there, nothing was happening. I was worried the boy didn't know what she was talking about. It got to the point where Grace was about to head back over to him, then, like a light switch was flipped on, the glasses began glowing a bright purple. Grace took a few steps back, jumping up and down from excitement. I felt mesmerized as the glasses broke apart in an almost identical fashion to Grace's frying pan, although they were a lot smaller. The metal frame floated away from the lenses and began bending into some circular object. Then it suddenly grew in width, making it look like a ring of sorts. A black line went around the circumference and the metal appeared to be a stainless steel. To top everything off, the lenses came together and morphed into a sphere of sorts, changing into a solid purple, then floated next to the ring before firmly implanting itself into it.

The purple light disappeared as the ring fell into Will's hands. He slowly opened his eyes which became wide when he finally saw it. "Woah!" He said as he brought it up to his eyes. "I can't believe it actually worked!"

Grace smiled as she walked over to him. "Pretty cool, huh?" She let him inspect it for a bit before eventually turning to me. "Now just give it to Jack and you should be able to stick with us."

"Oh." He sounded a bit disappointed as he looked to me. "Alright."

He slowly walked over to me, almost like he was dragging himself along, and dropped the metal in my hands. It was a little heavier than expected, but still pretty light overall. "Sorry Will, wish you could keep it but..." I slide the ring on my index finger; it was a bit too tight for my ring finger. "It's kinda required I have it if you want us to find your sister."

He slightly nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm aware. Just wish I didn't make it look so cool."

A smile crept up on my face. "What?" I did a little pose, making sure the ring was entirely visible. "You don't want me to look fashionable?"

A giggle came from Grace while William gave me a... strange stare. I was about to say more when Chara walked past me, making me jump a little from the surprise. "Enough with the banter," she said, not even bothering to look back at us. "We got places to be and people to find."

Just before she would have begun walking down the man-made (or monster-made?) cavern, Grace spoke up. "Well, hold on lady." Chara followed her directions surprisingly well and stopped in her tracks. "There is one more thing Will should know."

Chara slowly looked back with a sigh. "What?"

She stared at her a little longer, then turned to Will with a wide smile. "Powers!" she said with excitement in her voice, jumping up and down.

Will raised an eyebrow. "Powers?"

Grace continued jumping up and down, but suddenly stopped. "Well, not really powers, but something close." She came over and presented my arm like it was a prize. "For instance..." A few seconds passed when my shield popped out without any of my input, which surprised me... to say the least. "Jack can have a shield anytime he or I wants." She returned to him. "I'm pretty sure you can do the same too."

"Umm... okay?" he said as silence filled the room. It stayed like that, the two of them just looking at each other, then he finally continued. "How do I do that?"

Grace shook her head. "Oh, I don't really know. You just kinda think about it and he should have it.

He looked even more confused but was seemingly trying to hide it. "Alright?" He turned to me. "I always really liked telekinesis, so..." He paused for a few moments before smiling. "You have it now?"

I stared at him for a few moments before looking around, almost like I expected something to be different. "How do I tell?" I asked.

"Just, try picking up one of the rocks with your mind, I guess."

Following his instructions, I turned to a random rock; it was quite big. For a moment, I just stared at it, not entirely sure what to think; it wasn't like I did this every day. Then, using what I did with Grace as a reference, I stuck my hand out in classic movie fashion and imagined it going up. Nothing happened at first, and it made me think I had done something wrong, but then I felt a slight shake in the ground. It got stronger and stronger the more I concentrated on the rock, then... a loud bang went through the cavern as the rock went flying into the ceiling. "Whoah!" I shouted as I put my hand back down. The rock went flying back to the ground in response, making the ground shake. "Guess I don't know my own strength."

Will had a bright smile while Grace looked impressed. No more celebration was held though because Chara stopped it before it began. "That's great and all, but could we go now? We aren't getting any younger."

I looked at the other two to see if they had anything to say, but, judging by the silence, they were out of words. Seeing as I didn't have anything to say, I walked after her; they were short to follow. Once we were all together, we began walking down the cavern and to the exit. Not much was said though, so it was quite a boring walk. When we finally exited the cavern and saw the blue and black surroundings once again, we were met with the same challenge as before. Chara sighed as she turned to the gap. "We still don't have a way across, do we?" She turned to us. "You guys see a way around?" Grace looked around while Will shook his head; I did the same.

I walked to the edge and glanced around. Nothing obvious was in sight, minus the ruined tower. I could see a bridge towards it in the not so far off distance, almost intact compared to where it lead. But, after seeing that figure, I had no intention of going anywhere near it. Which left us with nothing. Then my eyes lit up when I realized something; My telekinesis! I could move a boulder so it could act as a bridge! I looked around my surroundings and, sure enough, a boulder sat firmly in the water. My hand went out and with nothing more than a glance, it began dragging itself over to us. It felt much heavier than the rock, but still easily movable. When it finally stopped in front of us, I spun around to the group. "Tada!" I said in an overdramatized pose, similar to what Papyrus would do. I made a "go forward" gesture with my hands. "After you."

Will was the first to go, his smile evident; Grace was shortly after, giddy with excitement. And, of course, Chara was the last. She looked at me. "Guess that power will be useful after all."

I nodded as I went across. "Well, all powers are useful, unless you consider turning into a zombie some sort of power." She shook her head before following after Will and Grace. I decided that it was best to do the same; wouldn't want another voice whispering at me.

The walk was filled with much more chatter than before. Stuff like Will's past and Grace teaching him what he's capable of. It was very informative, even for a non-ghost. Chara, on the other hand, stayed almost entirely silent throughout the walk. It almost startled me how cold she had gotten. Any attempts of having a conversation with her were met with a death stare. I just hoped that when we got back to Frisk, things get a lot better with her.; from the little she told me, it sounded like they were good friends. We ran into a few more of those gaps along the way, but they were solved easily now that I could pick things up with my mind. I always thought telekinesis was overrated, but now that I had it, I could see how cool of a power it was.

Will and Grace were still talking when Chara stopped in her tracks. I was confused, but then I realized why. We had reached a river. The liquid wasn't anything like the blue stuff we had been walking by. No. It was definitely water. The sound of it flooded my ears, calming me down. Chara looked around the room. "We're here."

Grace squinted at her. "What now?"

She looked back at her before sitting down on the ground. "We wait."

"Well, if that's the case..." She spun around and faced me. "I'll be going back to sleep." Her body began to break down and zoom onto my arm, just like before. She yawned as she rubbed her eyes, right before they broke down as well. "I'm exhausted."

I gave her a wave as the last of her body landed on my arm, forming that familiar heart. Will gave my arm a wide stare before looking at me. "How do I do that?"

I shrugged with a chuckle. "Do I look like a ghost to you?"

Chara looked back at us before he could answer. "Just think about going into the ring. It should work fine." Will stared at her for a second before sighing, closing his eyes in the process. A few seconds passed and, unlike the grand spectacle Grace offered, he simply vanished into thin air; no POOF or cloud of dust, just nothing in the blink of an eye.

I stared at where he was, a little shocked. It took me a few seconds but I eventually shook my head. "Well, that was unexpected." I walked over next to Chara and plopped down as well, hanging my feet off the edge. "Why don't you give me my soul back and head to sleep? You look tired too."

She sighed as she faced me. "I'm not."

"Oh really?" I chuckled as I pointed at her eyes. "Those eyebags tell me otherwise."

She turned back to the river. "I can handle being tired."

I rubbed my face as I yawned. "Well I can't, and we share feelings, remember?"

She squinted at me from the corner of her eyes. "I never told you that. How do you know?"

"Felt you panic earlier." I put my body in a more comfortable position. "You thought we were lost.

Nothing was said for a few moments, then she once again sighed. "Okay, fine, I'm exhausted." She snapped her fingers and my soul came flying out of my chest; the missing pieces thankfully hadn't gotten any bigger. "Probably from dealing with you and the other two's bullshit." She made a few gestures in front of her chest before her half of my soul came out as well.

I shook my head. "What did we do that you'd classify as bullshit?"

Both pieces of my soul came up and hovered only inches away from each other. "You guys talked way too much." The pieces came together, once again forming my full soul, and floated back in front of me, Chara regaining her transparency from before. She gave me a small wave. "So goodnight."

Her body began disappearing, but not breaking down into pieces like Grace. "I mean, I'm not going to sleep, but goodnight." And with that, she had completely vanished. I turned to the river with only the sound of rushing water to accompany me. I prayed to whatever god was out there that nothing strange would happen and waited for god knows what to come along.

A/N

Hey! I'm back! I guess I lied in the last Author's Notes. Sorry for the wait; things happened and I also got really lazy. But, I'm back now. Updates might take a little longer than before, but shouldn't be too long. I'm working on a few other fanfictions at the moment because, if I only focus on one idea for a very long time, I'll eventually lose interest. Haven't gotten there yet with this, but I'm just doing that so it doesn't happen. Check my profile if you want some more info; haven't released any chapters for them yet though. I think people who like Undertale will like those fandoms, but I'm not really sure. Don't have a lot more to say, so bye, I guess.