Cold sweat dripped down his face while gasping to catch his breath. Riddled with the new energy boost he's acquired since leaving his home, he had forgotten that resting was a thing. Jasper wrapped his arms around the Snowdin banner post, keeping him from falling over.
Ugghhh...heh-huh...ahhh...man, I'm so tired of running! Whoo!
Coughing a bit, he let go of the post in favor to looking around his surroundings.
Nice, a small village. Wonder if they had any first aid kit lying around.
Not that he would admit to anyone, but he might of caught a couple of bruises here and there from battling the monsters. Nothing too big of course. But still, he rather not leave them unchecked, the last thing he wants is to get an infection and dying off too soon. How pathetic would it be to not have the ability to save his own sister because he died off from some a small boo-boo. He could heal himself no problem, except it takes alot out of him. Rather save it for emergencies.
Huh, a store called Shop, cool.
Entering the store, he was greeted by a purple bunny monster who stood behind a counter that featured different assortment of items. From edible items to clothing. "Hello tiny traveler, do you need anything?"
Cute...
With a playful grin, he gave the shopkeeper a small wink. "I don't know, do you have anything as sweet as you?" The purple bunny's cheeks warmed up as she drew closer towards Jasper. Body leaning over the counter, the bunny monster's voice changed in tone.
"Now now, settled down tiny traveler. Just tell me if you see anything that catches your interest." Jasper wiggled his brows, suggesting that he was looking at something or someone that interested in him. The bunny only laughed before going to the back of the store. All alone, Jasper glanced around at the different items.
Bisicle, Cinnamon bun, a pair of gloves and a head band? What strange wears you have here lady. Hmm? What's this?
Looking at the different labels on the items, he found that they had different information. Different from what he usually saw on food and clothings.
Defense? Nah I'm good. Attack? Pff, I think I'm all set there. But the food...they help you heal? Kinda reminds me of the stuff mommy gave us on our sick days.
Jumping up to grab the top of the counter, Jasper held on while he reached towards the small bell. Hearing the bell ring, the purple bunny came back.
"Didja find something you want?"
"I'll buy the cinnamon bunnies and the bisicle." Jasper dug into his pocket and took out a couple of gold. Having received his purchase, he left the small cozy store. Back into the chilling air of the town, he wondered if there was anywhere he could sit and rest. Just when he thought of that, he saw a small Inn. Going inside, he saw another bunny monster who was currently hanging up the phone that sat ontop of her desk.
Cute...
"You must be the little charmer my sister called me about. Welcome to Snowed Inn! Snowdin's premier hotel! Would you like to stay, it's for 80g."
"Who can say no to an offer made by such a pretty bunny like yourself." The peach bunny placed her hand over her burning cheeks.
"Oh my, aren't you a cutie." Jasper took out the rest of the gold he had picked up.
Sigh, great. I thought I had more money than this...
The peach bunny seeing his current predicament, leaned over the desk to pat Jasper's head. "Don't you worry, you can stay for free." Jasper rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Being short in cash is not the best way to impress someone.
Taking his key, he went up towards his room. Finally having found a good resting stop, he threw his bag onto the bed before flopping onto it himself.
"Ughhh..." His aching muscles and bones relished the comfort. Eyes closed, he soon heard the symphony of snores from next door.
Musical neighbors...
Sitting up, he took his trench coat off and folded it neatly to the spot next to him.
Ughh! That stings...
Right away he saw signs of his newly obtained bruises turning dark. Carefully lifting his shirt up, he could see a few more littered across his stomach. Putting his shirt down, he took out the cinnamon bun and started munching away. Right away he could feel the effects healing his wounds.
That's much better.
Laying back onto the bed, he listened to the sounds of his neighbors.
Sigh, I really hope mommy isn't too mad at me. I don't really think straight when I'm rattled like that. But...I really wanted to find Bonbon. I just wish I knew where in this strange place did she fall into...
Eyelids getting heavy, he found himself unable to stay awake. The steady beating of his heartpulsed in the dark.
Beat...beat...
The beating sound attracted a couple of wondering souls. His small body finally asleep, you were able to regain your senses. Looking around your surroundings, you found yourself floating inside the Inn. Since the failed attempt to do a full reset, all you could hear from your unconscious floating state was the thoughts of what seemed to have come from the young boy infront of you.
{So, this little kid is what's keeping you out huh...}
《Chara... what...am I...》
{You're not dead if that's what your thinking. But close.}
Seeing both you and Chara floating near an extremely small human child was unnerving to say the least. One being that you don't have a solid body anymore and the other, seeing another human. If you even want to call him that. He was just so ...small. Seriously, it was like looking at a lean baby wearing cosplay. Getting a closer look, you could see him smiling in his sleep and a faint sound passing through his lips.
《Is he... is he humming a theme song?》
You thought it was pretty funny but Chara kept staring...with her smile growing wider and wider...
《What are planning?!》
{Can't you tell?...this small boy's soul is quite powerful. Oh but all so weak at the same time. He makes easy pickings, don't you think.}
《Leave him alone, it's not rig-》
{WhAts not riGhT is you ruining the chance of us ever getting out of here!! We were so close!! So if this kid is our only chance to being free, I say we tAKe it!}
Chara plunged her hand into the young boy's chest, curling her fingers around his soul.
《No!》
You quickly grabbed her hand. Try as you might, you couldn't make her loss her grip. Chara tightened her hold onto the soul until she saw Jasper's eyelids flew open. His eyes were pitch black and his soul began to glow brightly, lighting the whole room in one blast.
In one loud gasp, Jasper jumped out of the bed. Looking around, he tried to see if there was anyone else in the room. Hand resting over his heart, he could feel his heart pounding erratically.
What was that!
{Damn it! So close!!}
"Who's there!?" Jasper turned around, but couldn't see from where and whom the voice came from.
{Oh, what's wrong? Can't find me...hehehehehe...to bad.}
《What did you do!?》
{Well, it's not what I wanted, but it's something I guess. At least now he knows we're here.}
"Great. Just what I needed, a couple of voices haunting the inside of my head." Jasper scratched his head in frustration. Blinking a few times, his eyes reverted back.
{When you are at your most vulnerable, your body will be mine!}
"Possessing voices, oooooh scary. Ha! I'm the amazing Jasper Daniels, I never show weakness towards my enemies!!!" Chara cackled as if relishing on the young boy's ignorance.
{WelL...YoU havE tO slEeP sOmetiMeS...dOn't yOu...}
Jasper went quiet...and it concerned you for he was never quiet. Not from what you've heard.
《Jasper... don't listen to her, I'll do everything I can to ma-》
Jasper climbed ontop of the bed, hands to his hips, with his head held high. "Ha! Don't make me laugh! If it's something as sleeping that can bring me to my down fall, then I will win you!! For I, Jasper Daniels does not need sleep!! You will not best me on something as weak as sleep! I will win my way until the end, being a true hero by not slaying my enemies but defeating them fairly and rescue my sister all before needing my nap time! Ah-ha-ha-ha!!!" He really didn't want any unwanted problems. But nothing is too much for the amazing Jasper Daniels.
Seeing the mess that he made, he quickly climbed of the bed and started cleaning everything till it was just how it was before he entered. All his items all packed up, he was ready to go. Walking out of the Inn, he continued to walk through the small town. A town which he thought revolved around Christmas, seeing how there's a Christmas tree in the middle of the town. It was strange to him because it was still spring from the last time he remembered, but listening to conversations he found that they called it Griffmas for some monster that the kids liked to pick on. Everywhere he looked, he saw random monsters of different sizes all happily talking to each other. Made him think on how they could tell apart the kids from adults.
Passing a few houses he came across what looked like a library, except it was spelled wrong. Standing infront of the building, the young boy didn't move.
《Jasper? Are you okay?》
He didn't respond.
《Do you... do you want to go inside?》
Jasper snapped out of his daze, looking a bit guilty. Folding his arms, he turned his back towards the building. "W-what me? Pff nah, why would I...hmmm..." side glancing towards the building, he tapped his foot against the snowy floor. "Maybe a little won't hurt." Walking into the building, his eyes quickly began to sparkle. "Hee hee hee! Books..." he whispered. Running to the very end of the bookshelves, he picked the first red book that captured his eye.
"A school report about monster funerals?" Sitting down on a chair, he placed the book ontop of the table and began reading out loud to himself. "Monster funerals, technically speaking, are cool as heck. When monsters get old and kick the bucket, they turn into dust. At funerals, we take that dust and spread it on that person's favorite thing.Then their essence will live on in that thing... Uhhh, am I at the page minimum yet? I'm kinda sick of writing this..." Jasper turned to the next page, but it only contained a few doodles before ending with a bunch of blank pages.
Is...is that it?
《The books here tend to end about the same way.》
What really?
{You know...you seem pretty calm with us hanging around your head.}
Shh shush! I'm busy!!
Jasper returned the book and went to the next shelf. Not bothering with sitting down, he picked up a blue book this time. "While monsters are mostly made of magic, human beings are mostly made of water. Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us.
But they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'll never get a bullet-pattern birthday card...hmmm..." Jasper went on to the next.
Jasper is displeased...
"Because they are made of magic, monsters' bodies are attuned to their SOUL. If a monster doesn't want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueler the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful SOUL struck with the desire to kill... Um, let's end the chapter here..." Jasper slammed the book before returning it gently back to its shelf.
《Are you okay? That was a hard slam and...》
Of course not! It said with the desire to kill! I never wanted to kill that old lady, but she just started dusting away after a few hits! I'm just lucky I knew how to heal! Oh and you must always respect books.
{Oh you pathetic human, what the book is talking about is if you really wanted to kill Toriel, you could have done so with only one hit.}
Oh... well that's a creepy thing to know.
{Know? Hahaha, I've done i-}
Okay, enough chatting from you.
Jasper picked up a green light book. "Oh...a monster history book, nice. But where's the other parts, this says it's just the 4th one?" Not finding it, he resigned to reading the book out of its attended order. Which kind of irked him. "Fearing the humans no longer, we moved out of our old city, HOME. We braved harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat...
Until we reached what we now call our capital. NEW HOME. Again, our King is really bad at names...?"
Monsters are scared of humans?
{Of course th-}
Shush! No. Chatting.
《Humans weren't the nicest...》
Hmmm...
Not wanting to waste more time, he picked up one more book. The dark green book he picked up had a couple of drawings of hearts in different colors and among them stood out a pure white upside down one. "Love, hope, compassion... This is what people say monster SOULs are made of. But the absolute nature of "SOUL" is unknown. After all, humans have proven their SOULs don't need these things to exist."
Souls huh...
All finished, he left the library and back into the cold outdoor. Warming his arms with his gloved hands, he wished he had brought a coat. Out of all the random stuff he brought, bringing a coat was not one of them. He'll try to remember next time he decides to accidently drop into a new world by the help of some unknown magical residue that was floating in his room while he's having one of his shatter inducing panic attacks. Passing a Christmas decorated house, the air around him started to thicken. Having trouble seeing what's infront of him, he carefully walked the unseen path infront of him. His heart pounded with an eerie anticipation.
Papyrus waited for the tiny human on the edge of Snowdin. His soul begging him to find the young human instead of just standing around; waiting for him. The thought of capturing the small human was all gone. He couldn't even think of it, his soul wouldn't let him. His brother wanted to wait with him, but he felt as if he needed to see the boy by himself. So he sent his brother away, leaving him to wait. He grew more anxious as the time continued to crawl by, until he heard it. The sound of footsteps against the snow, that single sound caused his soul to pulse painfully once more.
"TINY HUMAN, I DO NOT WISH TO PRY BUT YOU SEEM TO BE CARRYING A HEAVY BURDEN ON YOUR SHOULDERS. I ONLY WANT TO HELP. PLEASE TELL ME TINY HUMAN. I WILL NOT CAPTURE YOU, BUT I WILL ALSO CAN'T LET YOU GO ANY FURTHER." As the fog lifted from the scene, the tiny human stood before him. Papyrus magic coiled around him, summoning a long bone, he stabbed it to the ground. "HUMAN, I AM BEGGING YOU TO LET ME HELP YOU! PLEASE!"
"Sorry, but I have a mission I must do alone and no one will stop me from completing it. Not even a monster as great as you, will convince me to stop." Papyrus' soul pulse painfully in his chest. He didn't want to hurt the child, but he will do all he can to stop him.
"I'M SORRY TINY HUMAN. BUT..." Papyrus lifted his hand towards the young boy, ready to pull his soul out, "I WILL NOT FIGHT YOU, BUT I WILL STOP YOU!" Pulling the young boy's soul, Papyrus eyesocket grew wide. "Y-YOUR SOUL!!" His voice quivered. Upon the sight of the young boy's soul, he finally knew why his was always in pain. Seeing it, his soul wanted nothing more then to protect it with everything he had. The world around them grew dark and Jasper's eyes turn dark as he summoned his weapon. "WAIT! I-I DONT-"
Before Papyrus can finish, the young boy ran towards him. Papyrus holding the long bone up as a shield, the young boy jumped forward, slamming his weapon against his own. The magic between the two weapon sparked violently before pushing them both back.
"I-I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!!" Jasper noticing the bones popping from the ground around him, ready to trap him, he powered his sword before giving it a powerful swing around him; destroying the them in the process.
"Doesn't look like it." Jasper busted forward once more. Again and again Jasper continued to swing his blade while Papyrus kept blocking it. Seeing that the boy was not going to quit anytime soon, he sent a wave of blue bones after him. He didn't want to hurt the boy, but at least this way the human might stop and listen to reason.
Seeing the color of the bones, Jasper stood still with his arms covering his face. As the bones passed through him, he could feel something wrong. But it was already too late, his body was weighted to the ground. Unable to adjusted to the sudden weight, the young boy collapsed to the ground.
"TINY HUMAN, WILL YOU PLEASE ACCEPT MY MERCY?" Papyrus kneeled before the young boy with his hand stretch before him, waiting for the young boy to accept it. Jasper lifted his face from the ground.
"You know...that's...that's a cool trick you have there... If I accept your mercy, will you let me go?" Papyrus hand quivered, before his face filled with fear.
"NO...I...I CAN NOT..."
"Then..." Jasper gritted his teeth as he forced his body to stand. Before Papyrus could help him, Jasper jumped back, ready to attack once more. "I will keep fighting until the Great Papyrus grants me the honor of leaving!" Screaming out, Jasper went forward to another attack. Much as Papyrus wished to stop, he could not let the young human leave. Not after seeing the boy's soul. Continuing their battle, Papyrus found himself holding back. More so then usual, which gave the young boy a chance to attack him through his defence. Struggling through the weight of Papyrus' blue attack, Jaspernever stopped charging. Papyrus' soul unable to bare it any longer, he fell to his knees with his arms wide open. He couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't fight knowing who the boy really was.
Confused by the sudden action, Jasper was unable to stop in time and collided against Papyrus armor. Papyrus quickly closed his arms over the young boy's body before he could escape. Having the tiny human's soul so close to his own, orange tears ran down the side of his skull. Jasper stiffened at the sudden embrace and tried his best to break free. But the tall skeleton continued to hug him through muffled sobs. Feeling the monster's body rattling, Jasper stopped his struggle and dropped his arms to his side.
No longer struggling, Papyrus gathered the small boy's body closer into his arms. Unable to stop the string of tears that dripped onto the white snow, he let them fall. "P-PLEASE... Please... D-Don't... Don't Make Me Fight You Anymore...I Don't Think I'll Ever Forgive Myself If I Had Accidentally Hurt You..." Feeling the young boy's body begin to sag in defeat, Papyrus let out a sigh of relief. The world around them returning to normal, Papyrus could feel his soul pouring magic all around the young boy's soul. He wasn't quiet sure what he was doing, all he knew was that his soul did. A soul that once was pure white, started to glow a warming orange light.
Noticing the warm orange glow surrounding him as it seeped into his chest, Jasper shifted his head to look at the monster who continued to hold him close. "What are you ...?"
"I-IT'S O-OKAY! DON'T BE AFRAID...O-OKAY? I'M NOT HURTING YOU. I..." Papyrus tightened his hold, "I WILL NEVER HURT YOU...BECAUSE...Because..." Papyrus struggled to talk through his cries. He needed to say what his soul painfully wanted to convey to the young child in his arms. He had to calm down...but he couldn't. The only thing he could do was continue to hold the child in his arms as his soul continued to pour magic into the small body.
I MAY NOT KNOW FROM WHERE YOU CAME FROM OR HOW YOU GOT HERE, BUT I DO KNOW THAT NOW YOU MEAN MORE TO ME THEN ANYONE ELSE. SO... DON'T LEAVE ME... LET ME PROTECT YOU
.... PLEASE... STAY...
Jasper could see the lights shining bright coming from his own eyes.
What's happening?
During the whole battle, he ignored the voices in his head as they tried to give him different ways to go about the battle. Until he was in Papyrus arms, did the voices leave him alone.
Mommy...why do I feel so...warm...
Finding himself sinking deeper into the embrace, he could feel a warming light deep within his heart.
I can't stay...but...
The thought of letting go brought his eyes to water. Not wanting to cry, he raised his hand to stop, but his eyes widen in shock as he stared at his arm.
Oh no! Not again!! I promised mommy I wouldn't!!
He started to panic as he saw his pale skin becoming more translucent. Papyrus soul spiked when he felt the young boy's fear. "JASPER?" The tiny human pushed away from his hold and started rubbing his arms aggressively. "W-WHATS WRONG?" Jasper stopped what he was doing before looking up.
"I-it's nothing." Clearing his throat, Jasper secured the straps of his backpack. "Well, seeing how the fight's over, I'll be going now."
"WHAT! NO YOU CANT!"
"It's been nice meeting you and a greater honor on fighting you! You truly are great! Bye bye!" Jasper ran passed him before he could get a chance to grab him. Left kneeling on the snow and having the small connection of his soul teared away from the boy, left him feeling unbearably hollow.
NO...N-NO! I HAVE TO STOP HIM! I CAN'T LET HIM LEAVE!! IT'S NOT SAFE!!
But no matter how much he told himself to get up, to go after the small human...his body wouldn't respond. All he could do was watch him run off. Having his soul abruptly linked away from the small human as it was trying to give the much needed magic that it was missing, caused his body to go into shock.
"You...You Can't Go...Because...Because... You're My..."