Chapter 13: Camp I-Don't-Even-Know Part One: The Clearing
Disclaimer. **drop mic**
==oo00**00oo==
The first night was actually quite calm and peaceful for the two of them.
"Woah." Flowey, even in his current state, couldn't help but be extremely impressed by the sight before him.
"Yeah. Wicked, isn't it? It wasn't until after I started Hogwarts that I knew how many stars were really out there."
Harry and Flowey had managed to make it down off the mountain over the course of the day after stepping out into the light, but not much farther. As the sun set, they decided that it would be best to stop off for the night, so they set camp on the edge of a clearing in the shadow of Mt. Ebott, setting up the surprisingly sturdy tent and a sleeping bag. After lighting a small fire and cooking some dinner, the two of them just sat up, watching the stars for a while.
"Hey, Asriel?"
The flower remained silent, just looking up with an unreadable expression. Harry reached over and poked him and he started.
"Huh? Whaddya want?"
"I was just wondering if you... if you wanted to... um... stretch your... legs?" Harry awkwardly asked, scratching the back of his head. "I mean... if you wanted, I could take you out of the bag."
Flowey frowned at his travelling companion. "You know, if you did that I could just run off, right? I could just... disappear. There's no way you'd be able to find me now that we're out here."
Harry continued to look up at the stars for a moment before replying. "Well, you could have done that already, if you really wanted to. I know you could probably get out of the bag now and I... don't think I would stop you, even if i could. I get it, being stuck is just... bad." He turned to Flowey, looking back at him from the top of his rucksack. "But... I think you and I are heading in the same direction... whatever direction that may be." He reached over and undid the strap securing Flowey to the top of the bag. "Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I kept you tied up in a sack?" Flowey smirked at this, and after a moment, nodded to Harry, who helped the flower out of his rucksack and onto the ground beside the tent. Flowey slowly sunk his various vines into the ground and settled in, yet another odd look on his face. Harry frowned at that. "What? Ground feel strange here?"
Flowey chuckled at that. "No, it's just... different. It's like... You drink water from the tap in the kitchen for long enough, and then you take a drink from a river. Technically it's all just water right? But... there's always something there that makes it taste different. It's kind of the same... just... new dirt, right? Still, it's something."
Harry nodded, he could understand that very well. The two of them looked at the stars for a while longer, talking about nonsensical things for a while, until Harry decided it was time to turn in for the night.
"So... do you... need to sleep? Not sure if we need to talk about taking watch or not" Flowey rolled his eyes at Harry's question.
"Don't worry about it. I don't really need to sleep much, so I'll keep watch at night. You'll have to keep carrying me during the day to make up for it though."
Harry grinned at his friend. "I can agree to that...long as you don't put on anymore weight." Then he ducked into his tent to the sound of various hurled insults, small stones, and the occasional stick.
==oo00**00oo==
The second day was a bit more trying than the first day.
"What do you mean, you've seen that tree before? They're all trees, how can you tell?"
"Hey, flower, remember? I can tell trees apart!" Harry just raised an eyebrow at that. "What? I can... mostly. Anyway it doesn't matter, what matters is that we've spent the last three hours walking in circles!"
"Well I'm doing the best I can considering the circumstances. Do you have any idea how hard it is to navigate in this forest without a map? Why don't you try navigating for a change?"
Flowey just stared at him. "I'm a flower, idiot, the best you'll get from me is which way the sun is right now. Anyway, don't you have your magic whatever? You found me, it shouldn't be that much harder to find a straight friggin line."
Harry sighed. "I tried this morning while we were walking. It seems that anything I try to focus on... it just gets muddled. It could be that all the landmarks I'm looking for are too far away. I don't even know where we are relative to anything else I know, so it's hard to find a start point."
Flowey frowned at that. "Huh... what about a direction, can you just have it point you North or something?"
Harry paused for a moment, then facepalmed. "Ugh. Of course." Standing up, Harry gathered his will, and focused on the staff like he did in the underground.
Point me, North.
The magic shuddered, and the magic seemed to shift direction, first one way, then the other. Harry had to focus, for some reason, the spell just didn't seem to respond as it should. Nothing in the books he was reading said anything specific about magic reacting like this; a failed point me should simply not work when cast. Pushing just a bit more effort into the spell, finally, something seemed to snap into place, causing Harry to smile.
"So?" Flowey mumbled impatiently from his pack.
"I think we have a direction now." Harry said, taking off North through the clearing.
==oo00**00oo==
Two hours later, Harry wasn't sure if they had a direction anymore.
"You've got to be KIDDING me!" And clearly Flowey wasn't helping. Harry was certainly no less annoyed, however.
"You saw me cast the spell, right? Did I do something wrong?"
Flowey looked like he was going to say something acerbic, but controlled himself. "No, each time you did the exact same thing. We kept going in the direction it was pointing, but we still ended up right back where we started!"
Flowey immediately started to grumble and complain, however Harry frowned. He was certain that, not only did they end up in the same clearing, but they ended up going into the same clearing from the same direction... which was odd, even for Harry's standards. He voiced this to Flowey, who stopped. Looking around, he shook his head.
"I can't tell for sure... Hmmm" He frowned. "It may be just your imagination, or possibly some sort of woodland surface madness, really." He paused for a moment. "There is a way to be sure something fishy isn't going on though. Check for North again." Harry did so, and again, as before, it was pointing towards the center of the clearing, Flowey nodded. "Okay, now check for South."
Harry nodded, turned around, gathered his magic and cast. It took a moment again, but he felt the magic snap into place and point the way.
Right back into the center of the clearing.
"Okaaaay, now that's odd."
==oo00**00oo==
They spent the next hour walking around the outside of the clearing, testing Harry's magic, and nearly every spell he was able to cast, seemed to drift it's way towards the center of the clearing. Flowey's friendship pellets seemed to do the same, much to his surprise. The two of them then tried wandering out of the clearing without the use of magical directions, and found about an hour later that they ended up in the same clearing again. With the sun setting on their second day, however, they realized they couldn't do much else. Lighting a fire on the edge of the clearing, the two settled down for an uneasy dinner. The stars were as dazzling as they were the night before, but neither of them paid much attention. Keeping a watchful eye on the clearing, the two of them sat close to each other, Harry half wrapped up in his blanket on a fallen log, Flowey nearly attached to the log next to him. Occasionally, one or the other would jump from a sound, real or imagined, but nothing would come from it.
After a while, Flowey just sighed. "Ugh, this is ridiculous, we're being babies about this, just shivering in a corner, there's absolutely no reason that-"
==oo00**0oo==
The grim smelled something... New in the air. At first, it was excited, maybe it was new prey? He had been well fed so far thanks to the plethora of animals in this new place, but he knew he couldn't stay long. This wasn't home, or at least it wasn't where he wanted to make a home. There was food, but no real hunting. There was no pack, either, and he longed for pack. This smell, something new, something... that didn't smell like prey. Like a tree, but with... something else. It was worth pursuing. He followed the scent, wandering in circles around the mountain, as the day waned and the sun set. Not long after dark, he finally caught up to his quarry, sitting around a low flame. He could smell the animal better now. The strange smelling animal with the strange smelling plant. The animal would make noises, then the plant, or vice versa. It was odd to the Grim, as plants don't speak, but that didn't matter. The smell from the animal... he recognized what that was. It was the smell of pack! Normally pack is other dogs, but this animal smells like pack, and it's not prey, so it must be pack! Resolved to meet his pack, the Grim stepped out from the woods, and trotted towards the animal and the plant.
"...just shivering in a corner, there's absolutely no reason thatAAAUGHWHATTHEHECKISTHAT!"
==oo00**00oo==
Just a bit of world building, introducing someone 'new,' and setting the stage for the evening's festivities.
A smaller update this week, but an update. I still plan to do weekly updates for the next few weeks, but they will be a bit shorter. First, because the wife and I will be travelling for the next few weeks to visit family, but also because I'm preparing a special surprise for you wonderful readers in celebration of two huge milestones: the 10000 views milestone and the (hopefully coming in the next day or so) 100 fave milestone!
Oh, speaking of. Ohmigosh, I had no idea this would be received as well as it has. I want to thank you all again for listening into this little yarn I happen to be spinning from my own brain, I am grateful that you would continue to listen, and even more so that you enjoy it! I hope that the upcoming chapters are enjoyable to you all as well!
Next week: "Oh no! Absolutely not! I hate dogs!" "That is not a dog. That is a Grim." "I don't care what you call it! It has four legs and pees on flowers!"
