This...Prison. It was unbreakable. No matter how hard they tried to break free, morph around, and gnaw away at the roots and vines encasing them, nothing worked. The walls were way more sturdier than normal wood, enough for their magic to be unable to puncture it completely. Whatever chunks and splinters they had managed to split off was quickly grown back in a flash of magenta.

Kumu was stuck here, alone, for what they knew was days. They counted. Not specifically the days, but rather their magic reserves. At this rate, they believed they'll die within a few weeks – probably faster if the blob kept transforming and using everything in their power to escape their confinement. They couldn't generate magic, not without the determination portion of their soul. Just one problem: That portion was with Betty. Normally, they leeched off her magic within a certain range, but they were beyond miles from the semi-human.

Magic was essentially Kumu's life force, without the substance, their form and abilities would eventually weaken until they turned to dust. They could feel the minor symptoms already starting; feelings of fatigue occasionally struck them, currently the only thing causing the blob to take short breaks in their efforts to be free.

Eventually they gave up out of exhaustion and stopped floating, puddling themselves onto the ground and heaving. There was nothing Kumu could do and they could feel their own fear well up. Was it going to die here or did those humans – a reluctant title – have a plan for them? Either one scared them. Deathly.

Kumu needed to escape, Kumu wanted to escape, but they couldn't. Even despite the severity of the situation, they just couldn't. Coming to such an awful conclusion caused the creature to scream.

A scream for help.

...

"[You called for help.]"

"So did I."

Pitch-black hands ripped through the vines and roots of Kumu's cage with ease. Breaking apart their prison, an opening was made for the blob to crawl out of – which they immediately would. Their body slinked out from the crevasse and fell onto the grassy, floor below.

Their imprisonment had been in the form of some tree, strangled by vines overlapping it, climbing up its bark before hanging down from many banches. One the vines had been where they were trapped, formed into a cocoon it was freed from. Right next to that cocoon was their jailer.

"You're not floating..." Boukyaku commented. He bent down and picked up Kumu, who was simply too tired to retaliate and just looked at him in disbelief. Why did he break them out? Wasn't he the one who captured them in the first place? "You're not even going to fight back? Kinda expected you to stab me the moment you were free."

Kumu only began to malform themselves by melting, just to reserve their energy.

Boukyaku cringed in disgust. "Eugh... Well, This makes my job easier regardless." He hummed and settled Kumu on one of the tree branches, up to his eye level. "This sounds stupid as hell, but I need your help."

Help? Kumu's pupils shrunk. Why in the world would they help someone like him?! He placed her into a prison she couldn't escape for days, slowly dying, and that wasn't even mentioning the numerous deaths she witnessed him do. Now they have to nerve to ask for favors? A grumble of anger weakly emerged from them. Their body tried to form a blade but failed; The moment they tried to alter themselves, they ran out of energy and deformed once more.

"I know. Crazy, right?" He leaned forward, the swirls of his eyes dying down as he became serious. "I, as well as the other clones like myself, were going to reveal you as a surprise gift-" Surprise gift? What do you take me for?! "But...I can't find any of myselves..." he clenched his fists and gave a wild, angered grin, "Alive."

He punched the tree, the world around them revolving and spinning until they arrived at a new location. From across, there was a giant crystal, surrounded by a sea of corpses stabbed by spikes of corrupted perseverance coming from each dead before the next one. It took Kumu a moment to process what just happened, let alone understand what were they seeing. What am I seeing?

"I have a creeping suspicion I was betrayed by myself. But why?" Boukyaku frowned, then smiled once more, then laughed. "Why would I turn on friendly fire? Perhaps we're getting a little too unpredictable! Or at least my true self is...I have no doubt he did this."

Just get to the point. Kumu began slipping off the branch, their puddled form unable to cling on for long on their seat. Boukyaku caught them, cupping them in his hands. He leaned forward and stared into their eyes. "Of course I need evidence first, but if it's true...I'm going to need you."

Kumu growled. I'm not going to let you use me!

"You must be thinking I'm going to take advantage of you, huh?" Boukyaku read Kumu's mind like a book, baffling the creature. He threw them into the air as the ground below them twisted and manipulated out a tile floor complete with a desk and chair. Kumu would land on the desk as Boukyaku sat down in his wheeled seat. He spun himself around a couple of times as he spoke, "Don't worry, I'm a fair guy. I like fair games too. So, let's make a deal."

An...Offer? Kumu was suspicious but would let the corrupted human continue anyways; It wasn't like they could do anything about it in the first place. "I'm going to set you free. I don't really need you – at least I specifically won't – but in return, you help me sort out a few things regarding myself. A favor, basically. Completely optional."

That...Didn't seem bad. Not at all. The price of freedom for a little favor. Kumu liked how they didn't even have to fulfill the favor. Once they regained enough energy it could strike him down in one blow and leave him to rot too. This could easily be turned into a quick betrayal if they felt like it. Still, this could all be a setup. He was unpredictable as far as they knew, the fact he could essentially toy around with anyone with little to no consequences through his magic was bothersome.

Seeing Kumu's face scrunch up nervously for a split second as he spun, Boukyaku rolled its eyes and sighed. "Oh trust me, if you help me you'll be getting a much bigger reward than your freedom..." He grabbed the table, abruptly stopping his chair from rotating. "I'm changing damn teams if what I find out is true." His eyes began swirling, spinning clockwise with an intense surge of emotion. "You have no idea what I can bring in store for you and your friends. Positively –Just to clarify the terms of service."

What was up with this Boukyaku, talking about betrayal against his own and his willingness to join Kumu's side? Why go against his creator? They didn't really understand the concept of backstabbing yourself, Kumu would never be able to betray Betty under any circumstance, unlike this crazed clone. And what exactly did he have in store for them? 'Positively' seemed like a subjective term.

"Are you wondering 'What if I refused'?" Boukyaku thoughtfully asked. No, I did not. "Good question, good question... Well, I supposed I'd lock you back up out of spite."

Kumu frowned. So this is a one-way deal... It didn't matter, she was going to take the offer regardless. "Fine."

Boukyaku went crosseyed "Oh shit, you speak? Er- nevermind that!" He shook his head and extended his hand out, lacing it entirely in a purple veil of dark perseverance. "Let's claim your prize, shall we? Don't worry, the magic is just for dramatic effect."

I don't really have any other option. Kumu thought to themselves as they reaches for his hand.

Snap!

Hate's eyes immediately opened to the noise, jolting back into consciousness and raising itself upright in a haste. It left off right where it was before it had passed out, in a major panic and fearing for its own life. "HELP!" It shouted out loud to...An unbound Betty and an annoyed Adel? What. What? WHAT?!

It gripped at its chest and took uneasy breaths. Everyone was fine? It wasn't dead? Just to confirm, the humanoid patted around its body and then its neck where it had felt a sharp jab from what felt like seconds ago. If that wasn't enough, it would look at its surroundings. They were all still in the lab's lobby from what it could see, except there was one huge hole in the wall behind its 'friends' – questionable allies at this point. The scent of mildew and sweet lemons were replaced with the smell of iron and gunpowder.

Adel did shoot, despite Boukyaku's threats to kill Hate and Betty, but they were alive regardless?

Relief flooded Hate's soul, but also intense anger. It was glad it was alive and everything was fine, but unbelievably pissed at what Adel did and Pat not helping him – Adel more so than Pat. The moment it realized it wasn't bounded by any tendrils threatening to break its bones, it shot up and lunged for the cowboy's neck. Caught off guard, he would fall under its weight and be pinned to the ground with a pitch-black hand over his neck.

"You bastard!" Hate screamed in fury, applying force into its hands and watching Adel choke.

It couldn't believe that it trusted them for even a second, Betty had been right with her suspicions all this time. To its belief, this guy betrayed him, opting to kill some clone over saving its life. It was all thoughts that muddled in his wrathful state, overlapping one another to the point it didn't care if it was killing him. Even if he was Agni's friend, an ally, what he did was inexcusable. Rationality was thrown out the window. "I was going to die because of you!"

Adel gripped onto Hate's hands, trying to ply the off of him. "I-I...Can...Explai- Hrk!" He was only met with more force on his neck, it had way more physical strength than he did.

"Like hell you can! Was I just expendable to you!?" To think this was all happening to Hate because it took some promise from the officer... If only it denied him, then it wouldn't be in this mess, It wouldn't have been so close to death again with him holding its fate. And he was going to throw Hate away. The being allowed someone to walk over its body again.

"Hate, wait! It was all fake! Listen!" Betty yelled.

"Fake...?" Hate couldn't believe it. Fake? That situation was...Fake?! How could it be fake?! I saw and heard Boukyaku, right down to his actions and voice! There was no way that could be anything but fake, there wasn't any possible way this all could've been orchestrated as a lie. It saw Adel's reaction and his coldness, it saw Boukyaku and his use of magic, and it especially saw Pat's unwillingness to help. How could've she been in on all this? If that wasn't enough to say otherwise, why did it ever feel that dreadful feeling that always plagued its mind in a terrible situation?

"How was any of that fake?!" Adel's aura audibly cracked under the pressure of its hands, currently preventing Hate from outright killing the cowboy. It didn't seem to be registering its actions, blinded by rage.

"Kumu!"

Betty stepped to the side to reveal her formerly-lost friend floating, intact and alive. They looked down at Hate uneasily. "See? It was all an act, Kumu just wanted to test us."

Hate stared back at Kumu, its eyes twitching. What was it supposed to feel? Glad? Happy?

I don't care.

If anything, it was just lied to again. It didn't change the fact Pat and Adel's reactions were genuine, how it was betrayed in a critical moment. "Oh yay! Kumu's back!" It said in a way too gleeful voice, "It's not like that-" The being raised Adel's head up and slammed the human back down, "-Changes what he did."

"I-I thought- erk- killin' him-" Adel began.

"There would've been one more of that asshole! He can duplicate himself! We all saw what shit he could pull and you'd be willing to let us die just to kill one?!" Hate berated, leaning down and glaring hard at him, "Shouldn't you apparently fucking know him?!"

Betty grabbed Hate's shoulder "Enough! This was all a trick and no one is dead!" She tried to convince it to stand down, her voice trying to be calm and sweet but coming off as way too desperate, "You're fine, I'm fine, everyone's fine, and Kumu is back!"

Outrageous. Hate found her statement completely and utterly outrageous. It released Adel and shoved away Betty. Whether this was all lies or not, it still ended up being betrayed in some manner. It was anything but fine after that situation and it certainly knew who else wasn't. " I'm not! My real friends aren't!" it clenched its teeth, grinding them.

"I should've never trusted any of you, especially those empty promises!" Hate saw red, wanting to spill out its rage as much as possible onto the two humans. "You're all just making a mockery out of me, all while the people I cared for are getting fucked over!"

"Hate, settle down!" Betty tried to reach for Its shoulder once more, only for the being to turn around and bite her hand. Hard. She was quick to pull her palm out of its jaws, blood dripping from the bite mark. The pink-haired human clutched her hand, her hair turning fully pink.

Hate wiped its mouth and look down at the crimson staining its palm. For a good second its rage faltered, realizing what it just did. It felt...Good? Like it could finally put its pain onto someone else. Despite that, something gnawed at the back of its head to never pull something off like that again, it felt uneasy knowing it did feel great to do something like that.

That didn't mean It was still angry as hell, it continued to let off its grievances. " You know what's even worse? I thought we were going to stop those smiley trash bags, but it turns out to be a huge waste of time," It placed both of its hands over its head and looked down at Adel, on the ground and catching his breath. It could see red marks of its hands on his neck. Another pang of satisification, then guilt, rang in the being. Did I do that?

The fire in its body died even more. Anger, guilty, hidden pleasure, those feelings were all beginning to mess with its original goal...Wait. Did it have an original goal? A look of conflict twisted on Hate's face. It knew it was trying to get a point across; it was angry for being in a meaningless situation where its life was apparently worthless, how it was lied to once more too, but what was that point? That it hated everyone? Yeah. That was it.

But...seeing how it bite Betty, the being didn't know if it should continue acting mad. It saw consequences.

Betty tried to salvage the situation even though Hate wasn't having it. "But with Kumu we have-"

"F-for me. Betty. For me." Hate added. It ran its hands down its face then backed up, away from the majority of the group. Something told it to leave, subconsciousness most likely. It couldn't bring itself to be around these people right now, maybe even for a while if it held its grudge long enough. There were simply too many emotions and too much happening for it to take. "I'm leaving. None of you fucking follow me. Congrats on finding Kumu or whatever the hell, but I can't do this,"

"Not when I can't find my own friend in all this bullshit... The deal is off, Adel."

No one said anything to the being, just looking at it in fear..? Or was that concern? Or both? Nervously, it fidgeted with the ribbon tightly around its neck.

Pat lightly gripped its fingers with small strings of patience wires. Oh. Right. You. I should be mad at you too. For a second, its temper rose once more in a struggle to use her as a reason to fuel its hatred for everything its been through, but its feelings for the soul were much more complex than Adel and Betty's. Unlike them both, Pat had proven to do more good than harm.

"I'll deal with you later..." Hate wearily pulled away from the fabric and continued its way out of the lobby and back to the long hallway leading to the elevator. It slunked into the lab's darkness, padding down silently, with the wall's monitors turning on as the black mass passed by. It didn't feel like reading the contents of any of them, even as they flashed from green to red; it didn't want to look at anything, especially from behind. Its eyes were on the floor, looking at the tile dimly reflecting the screen light.

I can't do this crap anymore. I was only here to search for Boukyaku then get that damn 'reward' Adel had. Was Hate a magnet to the worst situations a soul can experience? Its current route ever since Betty arrived had entirely consisted of it being thrown around by forces it didn't even ask for, from corrupted beings attacking it and its friends to outright betrayals. Or maybe it was Betty who was the magnet, Hate was still hellbent on blaming her for a lot of the previous incidents.

Well, Perhaps Hate's most recent incident could've been preventable if it had just listened to her, but that's besides the point...Totally not its fault for doing it out of spite. Right? Would the outcome have been different if it did? Adel was a liar and Betty had been the first to notice. It knew something was up with him, but it had given the officer some leeway. He had seemed well-intentioned. Maybe he still was. He barely fought back when it grabbed his throat, he could've shot him anytime with his magic. There could've been a good reason for his actions if Hate had listened, it had heard his choked pleads.

Where were these thoughts coming from? It didn't want to think about it with the current baggage it had, nor did it excuse her other faults either. It was easier just to believe Betty and Adel were entirely terrible people. Or well-intentioned people with terrible methods.

Hate rubbed its head and growled.Just stop thinking about them and get out of here. Arriving back at the elevator, the black mass would slip back inside through the forcefully opened doors. Inside was still deactivated, having lost all its power and none of the buttons on the control panel illuminating. Just to make sure, it pressed one of the buttons. Nothing. Just to add insult to injury, huh?

There was really only one option to get out of here: the hatch.

The emergency exit would budge open rather easily, after a couple of hard pushes. Hate heard something creak then crack in the process, probably having broken the latch with its strength, but it got the job done. Using the side railing to give itself enough height to climb out, the humanoid found itself in the shaft. It glanced up at the darkness that consumed the mechanical surroundings up until a small glint of light at the top was visible. Now it just needed to climb up there somehow...

Betty twirled her pink-colored hair while looking at her bitten hand, worry and concern contorting her face. "This is...Very much undesirable." Maybe her friend – who likely didn't share the same sentiment with that title – wasn't going to want to see her after this. Maybe forever. What had happened had clearly been Hate's last straw. She had to do what she did though, lying to it. It was for the better.

"If I had a nickel for every time my neck was grabbed..." Adel rubbed his neck and took in a rough breath. "Ya know, you should've let me shoot the rat bastard, that way Hate wouldn't have seen us in poor light." he looked at Betty, his eyes darkening. " It wouldn't have harmed us."

The cowboy-like officer hadn't been so happy with the outcome of the situation. He was probably the most murderous out of them; Apparently, whatever happened between him and Boukyaku in the past really made him want that man dead by whatever means possible. Even though the one they encountered was just a clone, the same rage for the smiling figure engulfed him into doing what he did.

It irritated Betty to think Adel still believed his decision had been the best despite knowing the moral circumstances. "You and I know you were betraying our trust just for a bullet to Boukyaku's head. None of us knew Kumu was in on it." She turned away from him, crossing her arms. "We needed him alive, he wanted to make a deal, and you were being no saint."

"It's my judgment." Adel would reply, undeterred by her words.

"Yes, a very poorly assumed one." Betty pressed on. She had learned about Adel's true nature when he tried to defend his actions. He was a man with a heart, but not a very honest one. At all. He had morals, of course, but notably misguided ones – As shown by their previous incident. He was rather genuine when he meant he wanted to kill 'hate' though, wanting to outright blast Boukyaku into his grave, she'd give him that.

"Still," He went on, "Did ya really have to make a deal with that snake?"

The determined human looked over to Kumu. It wasn't an easy decision but... "If Kumu thought it was a good idea, then so do I." Whatever Boukyaku told the pink blob, it was one hell of a deal. She didn't know the specifics, but basically the corrupted human gave Kumu freedom, and vital information, in exchange for help. "I don't think I would refuse anyways. This could be one step closer to eliminating most of our threats."

Adel sighed, unconvinced. "Or just a warning we're a few steps behind. You heard what he said." he reminded.

"Yes, I know. The DT Extractor..." A particular pair of scientists are not going to be happy. She would've asked why in the world would a group of deranged humans need a device like that if the name of the machine wasn't so self-explanatory. Supposedly, it was stolen as part of a 'side mission' those corrupted souls were doing; They dismantled it off the ceiling and pushed it into a portal to some hidden location she was unaware about. Why would they need determination anyways?

On top of that issue, there was the deal itself she and Adel made with the Boukyaku clone. Kumu seemed excited about it whenever she remotely thought about the newfound mission, giving a huge grin. She couldn't read its thoughts but figured there was something drastically beneficial to be gained much more than the freedom it received. The only concern she had was the dark glint in its eyes in the process. Her friend seemed to be wishing upon someone's misfortune rather than the sense of determination she felt.

"Well, I hope you're ready to deal with the consequences." Adel tipped his hat up and forced a grin at the pink-haired girl, "We got what we needed here. Ready to head back?"

Betty looked over at the hallway leading back to the elevator where Hate had headed towards. It was unfortunate she couldn't tell the full truth to the humanoid, but she was pretty sure it would've been even more enraged if she did. It couldn't learn she was helping Boukyaku of all people. "Sure, just don't go trigger-happy." She said with a lighthearted giggle, only to then pull out her scythe and glare at him, "Ever. Again. I mean it." She could not afford another scare, especially at Hate's expense.

Adel went silent for a moment. "...Weren't you gonna stop with the whole 'threatening people with a scythe' thing?"

Betty pinched her nose and turned away "It's a work in progress."

"Same goes for my trigger discipline." Adel responded curtly.

"Tra la la." Said the River Person as they looked out into the long stretch of water, transporting yet another passenger through their favorite spot in the Underground, "You seem...Troubled."

Hate had been looking down at the river, watching the small ripples created by the boat it rode on. It tried to distract itself from reality, from the thoughts of its personal downfall that slowly begun to loom over its mind. The rage had passed and now it was replaced with sorrow.

Its attempts of finding Withern were shattered with Adel's betrayal, the only reason it was here in the first place, nothing went right for it. The other events it suffered previously hung over the being just to add even more pain. Was it worth trying to tolerate Betty anymore if everything it knew was being lost to her existence?

Our Town was a burning memory and so was the group of friends it had learned to care for. Now Hate was being manipulated over and over again with each situation becoming progressively worse, the people it knew succumbing to the tragedies along the way. It desperately wanted to get away from it all. The idea of leaving everything bad behind with its friends, ditching Betty and every issue in its life didn't seem like a bad idea. Unfortunately, it was all just a fantasy, impossible with the current state of things. The best it could do was simply leave everything and everyone behind. The idea wasn't so bad either.

But a heavy sense of guilt chained him from wanting to follow through with that. It was tied to that goofy, cringe club in Our Town. The Mew Mew Club. What happened to those times?

"Nothing." Hate finally responded after a long moment of hesitation.

"Ah, perhaps some words to fill the void then?" River Person offered, their voice echoing softly.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." It replied, paying no mind to the mysterious monster's words as it skimmed its hand over the river. It was stuck in its thoughts. Maybe- Maybe I should give up and focus on the friends I still have. I never needed Betty nor Adel's stupid deal. I'll tell them both to fuck off and leave me alone for good. I won't have to deal with their shit anymore...

"The ones you hate are more innocent than you think. Vice versa." The River Person said, turning their hooded body towards Hate. Unfortunately, it ignored them, its hand still gliding above the cold water with its attention glued onto the reflections it saw. Their words fell on deaf ears. Not so much on one certain individual around its neck, glowing a dim cyan in response. "..."

River Person looked away, just as the boat approached the dock. "Hm. Strange. I was sure this was the path to New Home and not Home..."

"What?" Don't tell me we're in the wrong place! No, Hate was most definitely in the right place. The whole layout was the same as when it had arrived, a plethora of buildings with a giant castle smack-down in the middle of everything to really bash in the idea this was the capital of monsterkind, minus...Well-

"Wha- huh- Why..." Hate stood up, looking in bewilderment at the sight before the being.

"Why is everything purple?!"

A pulse of panic passed Hate at the sight of New Home completely overtaken by multiple shades of magenta and purple. It wouldn't have been such a disturbing sight, being more confusing than anything else, had there not been some strange near-black beacon pulsing out of the castle roof. That definitely wasn't there before.

"Oh well that's just nice." Hate strained out. Shit, that's where the Underground exit is! With the only way back home being next to...Whatever the hell that thing is, it was extremely reluctant to head back into the castle, let alone step into New Home under its current state. It didn't want to deal with what horrors probably lay there. The changes were very reminiscent of that one corrupted human's pocket dimension it had the misfortune of coming across. For a second, Hate wondered if Betty and Adel lied to it about Kumu just acting as Boukyaku...Or perhaps they weren't lying but rather not telling the truth entirely.

Irritation welled up in the humanoid. Fuck this. Ain't my problem. It decided it would wait out the situation until everything blows over. Surely Betty, Kumu, and Adel; any one of them at least, can handle it themselves, certainly without itself being in another near-death situation. It'd take Hotland or anywhere else in the Underground rather than this mess. That said, Hate turned back towards River Person...who already leaving on the boat.

Wait, wasn't it just on the boat? It looked down to see its feet on the cold, purple ground, then back up at the retreating monster. "How?!" It ran over to the edge of the river bank, shouting and waving its hands, "Wait! Come back here!"

"Tra la la. Tri li li. Tre le le." They hummed as they continued drifting away, leaving Hate stranded at the altered capital.

"God. Dammit." Hate clenched its fist. Now what? It looked out into New Home with an unsure gaze. Maybe there was somewhere it could hide. Standing out in the open with the whole place magenta-fied by forces likely way stronger than it wasn't going to be its plan for sure. It felt like there was danger lurking around, dangers it had yet to find.

Its first idea was breaking into some random monster's home and wait out the mess there, but that was just...Wrong. Not worth it. Or perhaps a bridge or alleywa- No. Definitely not alleyways.

It gave a long, tired sigh and trudged forward, down the brick roads. "There has to be somewhere." But there seemed to be nowhere. It walked for minutes and found nothing it thought would make a great spot to wait out this whole ordeal, nothing in particular until it passed by a certain building with its interior glowing extremely bright. Blindingly bright.

...had the lights not been turned off minutes ago followed by a quickly scribbled 'Store closed. Intruders pelleted on sight' on a wooden sign hung on the door.

Hate was a hundred percent stuck in a corrupted New Home, out in the open with nowhere to hide. It stopped in its tracks to look angrily at the closed store, crossing its arms and digging its nails into its skin. Was the world telling it to head to the castle and face was accursed thing was going on there? A low snarl emerged from the being, it became fed up with its streak of misfortune. It had the urge to take out its anger once again, pent-up rage waiting to burst.

Blood drew from Hate's arms once its fingernails pieced its skin. It winced and moved its hands away from its own arms. What's going on with me today..?

Pat's wires slowly slipped out her ribbon's threads, wrapping around Hate's arms much to its surprise. The last time she emerged, she failed to stop Adel in a would-be life-or-death situation. It hadn't even asked it for help when it should've after that, back when the elevator had no power to get back up. Hate had climbed its way without her help, still despising her. Was she trying to make up for her mistakes? Hate knew she was aware of what she had done and it wasn't ready to forgive her, but it'd be a lie if her help wasn't...Nice. The wires wrapped around its cuts like a bandaid.

There was comfort knowing Hate wasn't alone in its situation, allowing the being to calm itself once more and keep its bearings just a little longer. It glanced at its new cyan wrappings then back at the closed store. With a sigh, it turned towards the pitch-black fountain in the distance. It really didn't want to go there, but there weren't many options. A strange fear grew in Hate the longer it stayed out here that was becoming progressively more evident.

As if Boukyaku was lingering around, somewhere waiting to corner Hate, its paranoia grew. Slowly, but it was there. What didn't help was the lack of noise in the entirety of New Home, being desolate and silent, building up tension. What could attack it may not be there at all. There was no evidence to suggest Boukyaku lurked around, but neither was there evidence that he wasn't. The thought was irrational, but the pitch-black mass couldn't shake it off for some reason.

Looking down the empty streets, there was no one in sight, save for a few eyes it could see peering out of some building windows. Swirling, purple eyes.

Hate blinked. The eyes were nowhere to be seen, instead replaced with the eyes of monsters, looking down at it with immense distrust. Moments later, they would retreat back into the safety of their darkened homes. Hallucinations?

Bang! Bang!

"What the hell?!" Hate spun around, taking out its blade and facing the root cause of the noise: The Store Owner, banging his paws and ears on the glass window.

"Psssstt! Hey! Hey! You!" The monster shouted in a muffle.

Hate lowered his weapon and grimaced. "You're not very subtle."

"Shush. Shusssshhh." The Store Owner hopped over to the door and swung it open. He looked up at Hate with a razor-sharp smile, stepping outside for a moment to grab its arm and pull the being inside. "Why don't you come inside, valuable customer?"

Reluctantly filled Hate. Why was he so excited about its arrival? It hardly even knew the bunny outside of being a cousin of some other rabbit it knew. And wasn't the place just closed? What about the sign? "I, uh...never thought I would be able to."

"Sorry, sorry! I was so scared when everything turned upside down and made the sign." The Store Owner explained with an awkward chuckle. "I saw you were pretty frustrated my store was closed. Was there a ware you wanted?" He looked up at Hate hopefully, his eyes widening way too much and sparkling.

"No?" Hate cringed. He resisted the urge to shudder at the strange bunny. " I just needed to hide somewhere."

He didn't seem too disappointed but certainly disheartened as its smile fell. "Let me guess, from out there?"

"Yup." Hate wandered into the unlit store only to be grabbed by the Store Owner's ears.

"Well, in here isn't so great either." He awkwardly laughed.

"Uh...Why?" Hate peered into the nearly-dark aisles of the store, making out the outlines of shelves and random assortments of items by the few shades of color and tone they offered. Everything was scattered and reassembled into some kind of makeshift barrier. A junk pile really. How was in here any worse than out there, where the entire area was infected with purple and a giant geyser of black? Anywhere was better than there, minus a few select places it had been to in its life.

"Hahaha, well- Er- How do I put it? My place is a...mess." The sound of rustling could be heard within the store, plastic being ruffled and items being falling with mildly loud thuds. Something was happening in there, deeper in the dark room, unable to be made out. Hate had a feeling it didn't want to know what nonsense was going on in there.

"And I'm evidently terrified out of my mind. Do you think you could..." The Store Owner paused, trying to find a good spin to his words, "Guard? Guard. Guard my place?"

"Why me?" It asked as it continued trying to get a glance at the store's chaos. And why would anyone break into this dump...?

"I think you'd qualify, you have a good resume going on." the bunny monster noted.

"Resume?"

"Sicko incident, friends with a determined human," I don't know about that one "the interview before it went tits up- you're well known enough. Maybe you could scare trespassers! You're pretty scary!" The Store Owner tried to convince Hate, listing out a bunch of feats that were ironically a load of near-traumatizing events to the humanoid. The compliments weren't helping either.

"What's so scary about me...?" Hate squinted its eyes.

"Uh, have you not seen yourself in a mirror?" The Store Owner confusingly asked.

"N...O?" Was it really that terrifying? Looking down at itself, Hate didn't really think it was that terrifying. Sure it got mad and was prone to snippy behavior, but appearance-wise it thought it was rather tame in comparison to some monsters and humans.

"So no one has ever been scared of you. You?" He asked curiously while nudging Hate into the store. "You're hulking if you haven't noticed. Height, Muscles- You look like you could easily tear apart someone without magic!"

Hate couldn't deny him now that he mention it. There were moments it could think back to where its physical prowess shined; Moments like tearing Sicko's limbs or enduring multiple strong hits were just a few examples of the being's strength. The reflection made Hate feel rather confident in itself...Maybe a bit concerned too. Did its friends feel the same way? Looking back, Agni seemed scared of him when they first met.

Regardless, a smug chuckle emerged at the compliments, "I guess I am a little scary."

"Exactly!" The store owner slammed the door shut, encasing the store in complete darkness. "Which is why I need you for the job! You're perfect! Perfect! You get to protect me and scare off swirly-eyed beings and I provide a roof in return!"

That was a good deal in Hate's eyes, but peering out the display windows and at the purple outside made it wonder if it could really scare someone like Boukyaku away. He himself was terrifying in his own right, more than it. It'd know. "Wait. You've seen them lingering around?"

"Well, no." The store owner struck a match, providing a source of fire and light that would then be transferred to some candles on the front counter and shelves. "I just- just...Feel like that's what's out there," He blew out the match. "Like I'm scared..."

For some unknown reason that made Hate's stomach drop, especially when he looked at it with orange-tinted eyes.

Super Short Story!

Gaster stared at the shard of Tulah's soul captured within a vial, working on its strange magic as Alphys lingered behind to look through the shelves of books nearby. A lot has happened lately, so much so the skeletal monster had his bags filled with loads upon loads of work and research. Filing his studies, researching perseverance, getting the Kingdom's approval for voluntary tests, looking after Sans, there was so much to do and so much more.

He couldn't keep up with the other issues plaguing him and his acquaintances recently, such as Betty and Hate. Especially Betty. He hasn't had time to review the readings of her soul that he got back at the Determino Arena. Someone else had to deal with that, and who better than the soul researcher and former royal scientist Alphys?

The reports of Betty's soul were concerning, abnormal in fact. Sure, Tulah's and the majority of those strange teenagers' souls were abnormal, but this human took the cake. Something was just...wrong. Alphys took a moment to look back at the readings she had in her hands, looking at the two lines intersecting each other over and over again.

Determined souls aren't supposed to have two separate readings.

For a second she had thought she mixed up Mila's recordings for Betty's. For dual traits it was normal since there were two different traits that needed to be recorded by the machines used to get a proper analysis of one's accumulated being, but there should be no excuse for a determined soul. Now of course there were exceptions to that rule, but those reasons were very specific: multiple monsters acting as one individual, a human experiencing dissociative identity affecting their trait, stuff she believed Betty didn't resonate with.

Alphys wished she could ask the teenager about it, but she'd have to resort to other measures such as extensive research. Gaster was a rather avid book collector, hoarding things from dictionaries to complete studies on magic and theories on the world's 'mechanics' such as LV, EXP, MP, HP, concepts that have become quite popular with the gaming industry as much as science nowadays. She tried to look for something that would give a clue as to what was with Betty's soul, going through the catalogs of determinations and human soul manifestation.

Nothing.

Or so she thought.

Scientific research and theories weren't the only things Gaster collected. Much like how Alphys collected manga, the fellow scientist collected human history of all kinds. It has been a good thousand years since monsters have coexisted with humans, so there was a good amount of history their kind had missed out on. It was an unlikely set of knowledge to get her information off of, but the reptilian didn't exactly stumble across it by chance.

The book with her answer just happened to be sticking out from the rest, on the edge of the shelves seconds away from falling off. Alphys was quick to catch the book before she did without disturbing Gaster and his work. She nervously looked at him just to make sure and saw he was still heavily enamored by the soul shard in the vial. A sigh left her while she glanced down at the book in her hands:

The Tale of the Twin Siblings.

Notes: (More like thoughts lmao)

• I'm sorry if Kumu's reintroduction was...Underwhelming. I tried to find a way for it to be brought back in some grand way further in the future, but there was no real feasible way. I don't know how in the world it would be useful for The Helpless, nor did I want them to be gone for so long, so I decided to give the blob an underwhelming and sudden appearance to further Hate's rage as well as Boukyaku's 'plan'.

• Also sorry if these chapters are coming out way slower, I have a job n stuff now. Finally, I'm a functioning member of society. XD

• I wonder If I should add more dialogue and tone down the paragraphs of thoughts and details.