Robecca Steam had been through a lot in her unlife.
Well, perhaps just limiting to that was too little. A lot had happened that was good and a lot happened that was bad. There were hard times and there were good times. It wasn't always easy but she loved her life. She loved being able to play sports and she loved being able to be herself without any shame.
It had been hard to be a ghoul ahead of her time.
Somebody had to take the first step, though. It wasn't like she was the first ghoul ever to do so in hisstory, well, she was the first ghoul in Skulltimate Roller Maze, but that was hardly much compared to the other ghouls out that were making changes all over the place.
She admired them and wanted to keep working hard to be as brave as them. Now in the present day, she was in a world that was more accepting of her kind. She may have left behind her life back then, but she wasn't upset about how things had turned out.
Robecca quite liked the life that she leading now in the present day with all of her new friends and goals. As haphazard as it could be at times since she had the tendency to be clumsy when off the field playing games, she was starting to get the hang of things.
It took a little help from her ghoul friends to learn the ropes but she was a quick study.
It helped that she was the daughter of a smart inventor.
She had inherited many of his great traits even if some of her screws were loose after all these years; Be it from the time passed or from the hack job those gargoyles had done back in the day to her parts.
She wasn't angry about that anymore.
Forgive and forget. You learn some and you lose some as you go on.
It could be frustrating at times but she knew that she couldn't be steamed when those who had done what they did were all long gone from her grasp. She supposed that those mansters hadn't even really thought about the weight of their actions.
They wanted to win for the sake of their school, and they didn't stop to think about what it meant to dismantle somebody.
It wasn't just putting them away for a few days and solving the problem later. She was totally taken apart and spread across the field where nobody could find all of her parts. Well, no one until Ghoulia and Frankie.
Imagine going to sleep one day and when you wake up you find out that more than a few days have passed, as it turns out, days, weeks, months, years, and decades had passed since she had walked the halls of Monster High. It was quite a shock to realize that she had been apart from herself and the rest of the Monster World for years, decades even.
One day she had been minding her own business and getting ready for the next match and the next… nothing.
Years and many months had been ripped away from her life. She thought that only a few moments had passed but as it had turned out, she awoke in a much more modern world with more ghouls than ever playing the sport that she loved so much.
It was both a delight and a bit of horror.
She had been glad to be awake again and happy for the chance to finish the match that she should have done years ago against the Gargoyles. She and the rest of the ghouls came out on top in the end and it was liberating to feel that rush of winning.
They needed a bit of luck and teamwork on their side but they pulled out on top. To win fair and square against those that had done wrong felt great. They really pulled together and made a win for the hisstory books.
To think that more ghouls were able to do things now that they couldn't do in the past really left her in a stupor. Ghouls had to go through a lot of extra hoops throughout history to ever stand where mansters could, and now they were able to play Skulltimate Roller Maze without any problem, and even more than that, ghouls were in charge of places they hadn't been before.
The headmistress was lovely. She was far more tolerant than some of the mansters she had known. There were ghouls in charge of running classes, debates, and even clubs. It was a bit of a shock to see but her cogs and gears were turning in delight at the idea!
As Ghoulia explained to her as she resettled into life in this familiar to her but still somehow new Monster High, the world had changed a lot in the time that she had been gone.
Progressive and forward-thinking Monsters had been able to accomplish a lot and while there were still plenty of those that thought differently, things were starting to look up for the better.
There was so much to discover out there. Her cogs and gears were delighted to hear about how much electricity had grown, how much technology had advanced, how the mansters and ghouls were more accepting of change, and how more vibrant and lively the world seemed.
She wanted to explore it all.
But, first, she wanted to be able to continue her time at Monster High. There was so much more to learn about the world. Those ghouls really saved her bolts and she couldn't imagine straying far from them and her new friendships. They had shown her that even in a place like Monster High, change could happen anywhere.
It didn't just come from her choices.
People always could be the first of something and make themselves known to those that needed to see and hear their voices. Others were stepping out of the lines and making new circumstances to make a better, and brighter future.
It was so different than how it used to be. Robecca loved it though, and she always would.
All and all, the future looked bright. Today, Robecca was making her way to the creepateria to rest her aching bolts after a hard morning practice with the rest of the team. She stopped before she made there though because she caught a glimpse of a ghoul tinkering in the science lab.
Robecca put the brakes on her steam engine and peered into the room. She saw that Ghoulia was staring at a chalkboard, tapping her hands against it as she seemed a bit frustrated with what formula she was looking at.
There seemed to be a map of some kind on the board as well as a bit of nonsense and numbers that didn't make much sense to her but it would to Ghoulia. It seemed like it was really was important, though. She wouldn't be this involved in something if it wasn't something that seemed pertinent.
She rubbed at the side of her head and grumbled, "Uhhhh…. Ugh…."
Perhaps Ghoulia had reached a fork in the road and she wasn't sure where she should go next to find her answers. Well, it wasn't like she had all that much to do this time of day and she loved to help her friends when she could.
Robecca decided to make herself known.
She opened the door and walked into the room, chiming in, "Oh, hello there, Ghoulia! You look to be the throws of another great discovery, what is it you're working on today? It looks as if it's very important. Homework, perhaps?"
Ghoulia looked over at Robecca.
Her brows were lined with a bit of confusion but she seemed to be looking through her thoughts for an explanation that would make sense to someone, "Ugh… unh…. ugh... hm. Uuuuuuh? Ugh… unnnh…!"
Ghoulia's explanation seemed to make sense once she broke down the knitty-gritty. Something had been found due to a bit of cracking in the Earth. There was a gap in the ground that seemed to lead to something more but not much could fit in at the size that it was now because it was only the wide of one's hand.
Although, someone had found something odd.
Robecca pressed her hands together, "Huh. So what you're saying is, there was a fissure in the garden that Venus noticed and stumbled across some bolts that shouldn't have been there? That's odd. There shouldn't be anything down there… unless…"
She stopped talking as a thought occurred.
If she remembered correctly that portion of Monster High hadn't been tended to in a long time, well, it had been left alone until Venus McFlytrap came to Monster High and took it upon herself to breathe some light in the ground.
Her efforts to restore the Earth must have triggered a reaction underneath the ground, and there was only one place that that fissure could lead to, and that was the catacombs. When she thought of the catacombs, there was a nervous pit in her stomach.
The long and winding tunnels that existed underneath Monster High that not many ghouls or mansters took the time to explore unless they were really invested in the amount of solitude and cool chambers that were ghosts of Monster past.
"May I see the bolts that Venus found, Ghoulia?"
Ghoulia nodded her hand and placed the scrap metal that she had found in Robecca's hand and that seemed to confirm the sinking suspicion in her bolts. She didn't want to believe it, she didn't want to admit it out loud but she knew these parts. She knew exactly where they had come from and who they belonged to.
As she eyed it over, inspecting it closely as she could, Ghoulia seemed to see the shock and fear written across her face.
"Ugghh… unh….?"
Robecca gave a grim nod of her head in confirmation.
The two ghouls spend the rest of their afternoon going over what information they had and once they pieced that together, the two of them headed out to where Venus had pointed them to see where this hole in the ground was.
When they arrived, Ghoulia, who had the smaller hands of the two, slid it and her iCoffin into the chamber so they could get a look at the tunnel. While she searched for a good view of what they were looking for, Robecca checked the ground for any other signs that may have been revealed to the world.
It was a team effort!
By the time Ghoulia brought her phone back out, the two of them reviewed the footage and shared a look. It was dark down there but the light from her phone had illuminated the ground and there was a bit of parchment laying on the ground.
They had to investigate this further to know for sure!
So, they called Venus over, who came in a hurry with both Frankie and Lagoona in tow. The news had spread fast. Venus helped opened up the ground a bit more with the help of her vines and once it was open enough for a ghoul to slip inside, Robecca went down to retrieve the paper from where it was left laying.
She got a look at the chamber she was in and let out a gasp.
This was unlike the rest of the catacombs. The etchings on the wall weren't the same and it seemed like it predated anything that she had ever seen in all of her years at Monster High! She looked back up at everyone who was looking at expectantly.
"What is it, Robecca?"
"Yeah, what's written on it, mate? Is it important?"
She was holding this paper so tightly in her hands. She knew that words that were printed on the corner of it. That was his name printed on it. His name. It had been such a long time since she had seen his writing, it almost made her steam up.
Robecca couldn't believe it but she was holding the very thing in her hands that would have helped her all those years ago when he went missing in the first place.
If she had this back then, she might have been able to find him. She clutched the paper, it was worn and faded, pieces were missing, but it was proof. Proof that Hexiciah Steam existed and his status as missing confirmed. This was the very thing that proved that he really did lose his way in the underground.
She lifted her head up and looked at her friends, the weight of emotions heavy in her chest as she spoke up, "This is the map that marks out the part of the path that my Father took on his trip into the catacombs before he went missing."
Gasps resounded throughout the garden.