Underground Spirits

Chapter 18: I Never Realized…

Wilbur's Point of View:

I sighed as I slammed the door to my locker closed. I'd just broken off from Kat and Kook after our most recent class.

I hated it. I hated it all. Class was boring, it was frustrating. No one cared, no one was concerned about anything.

The frustration built up in my chest from how angry I was. Things at home were making my blood boil. Dad was being his normal asshole self again. Mom was focused on him and the younger ones only since she was only worried about them. MK was so friggin smart that he was building his own pair of arms that took up most of his and what little of Mom's time she had. And fucking finally, Milly was getting ready for middle school soon. She was such a goddamn smarty.

I hated it...

I hated it...

They were leaving me behind... All of them were so good at everything they did! Or fucked up so bad they had to help others. Mom was always the sorry sap that cared about everyone else. And Dad could never hold his temper. I couldn't even think of a time when he was calm and not some fucking basket case...

I hated it...

I hated it... so friggin much...

Why?

Why did me, fucking Wilbur, the first born kid, get pushed to the side?

Why did my feelings never matter?

Everyone was always asking everyone else how they were doing... Why not me?

Why did everyone ignore me?

Kat and Kook... they were really the only ones who cared anymore.

Would anyone beside them... even miss me? What if I was gone?

I sighed, pulling back my first from the locker I'd hit. I'd made somewhat of a dent, but nothing that didn't look like the other lockers that had seen worse abuse in the past. Their pattern showed just as much of a rough idea of life as maybe I did. Teens that were struggling to find themselves and who still cared. Was there even a person who still did for them? That was honestly the question. How many of them felt as miserable or as pain fueled as I did?

Kat and Kook didn't quite feel the same way as me, the two of them were the only kids in their families besides cousins. With that in mind, they still noticed even a slight difference as their parents paid a tad more attention to those other cousins rather than their kids.

Honestly, my parents were disgusting...

"Another bad day, Will?"

I hardly needed to lift my head to know who it was that was talking to me. While I only had two close friends, I had some... other friends, or associates, that I knew through the football team I was on. I couldn't help but roll my eyes when the royalty himself decided to show up that day, Wentri Garnetfoot himself. It was a surprising thing to see him there.

He was a rich guy who joined the team more for fun rather than a goal or to get into a good college, I guessed. His dad was a famous scientist that worked in the botanical gardens and was associated with the head royal scientist, Dr. Alphys Chordata.

Wentri was on an entirely different level from most of us in the school. He had the looks, being a gnome with glittering wings and a draw you in charm, very few people could hate him. Must have been part of his magic or something since even I was able to hold my temper around him. Compared to him, most of us came from middle class or poor families, though there were very few who did horribly.

If King Asgore was anything, he was a cool guy who made sure that no one struggled with financial burden. He gave everyone a chance to plead their case and try to have the king either pardon their financial issues, or give them extensions, most of the time.

But that was here or there...

I let my rampant mind return to Wentri who stood. He still was there, waiting for an answer from me with his slender arms crossed and a more gentle smile on his face. It wasn't a sneer like what I was used to seeing, or an angry glare. It helped me to let some of the tension out of my shoulders when I focused on him.

"I guess..."

"You tend to have a lot of those these days, as a concerned upperclassman, do you mind if I ask what's wrong?"

What good would telling him do? Wasn't like he could do anything about it.

But in the same breath, even if he couldn't do anything, it might have been good to get it off my chest. Or... even maybe part of it. There wasn't much of anything that could get worse, right?

But why would he care? This has nothing to do with him...

My mind roared with battling thoughts of both the positive and the negative. I could see just barely past the inside of my head to see Wentri moving. I flinched when I saw him focusing on the inside of my eyes.

"Color seems fine, no bags, nothing out of the ordinary..."

"The fuck?!"

I flew backward while Wentri stepped back with hands raised into the air and a nervous look to him. "Sorry Will, I was checking for certain signs of being over stressed, malnutrition or dehydration. I don't see any of those features, but when you didn't respond... I'm sorry, I should have asked first."

I paused. I honestly wasn't sure what to say to him. He wasn't a bad person, or at least that's what it seemed like.

I couldn't help the sigh that just... burst almost from my chest when I gave in, and would tell him even the most minimal amount of my suffering. "Sorry. Just... home shit."

"Issues at home? My, I never would have guessed." Wentri paused while a hand covered part of his mouth. "Oh... I think I do even remotely get what you're talking about. I think I remember hearing about your father being... uh..."

"Yeah, I know, he's a royal pain in the ass and gets pissed off at everyone." I rolled my eyes while I could only guess Wentri was trying to spare my feelings. There was hardly any point.

"And your younger brother? He's working on a project that's to build himself some new arms, right?" Wenti was a bit more careful with those words that time. "My sister is in the same club as him, and my mother seems to think she's so special... being part of the football team is nothing compared to that."
I blinked my eyes in the dawn of realization that he did even remotely understand. His mother wasn't there for him? Focusing on his sister?

"Oh, and before I forget, my dad is always in the lab breeding plants or studying. He hardly comes home. I barely see him unless I go to the lab myself."

"Really?"

I couldn't believe it...

"Yeah, I've tried to visit him more recently, especially since I'm gonna be graduating soon... but... yeah." He shrugged, turning away partially from me and looking to the wall across from us. "He doesn't give me the time of day, always dead to the world except for a lens or paper he's focused on. Only time he actually perks up is seeing the royal scientist."

"Dude..."

"Yeah, I know it sucks, but I have found something that makes the pain dim a bit."

That I had to blink at. I wasn't sure what Wentri was getting. "You… found something?"

"You know how there's medicine that can make pain go away, or make you feel better when you're sick? Or a better example, how loopy and happy people are when they have echo flower essence?"

That I knew I'd seen before, during the last holiday, my parents were sharing a bottle with the neighbors of the skeleton household. The older skeleton Sans, and his favorite human Angel, were drinking away happily while Papyrus yelled at them and Frisk played with my siblings.

"Yeah... okay?"

"Well, I found something similar to that in my dad's lab. But it's not a drink! A smoke you inhale." Wentri carefully looked around to make sure no one was watching us before he motioned me to follow him. "I can show you, but the goodie two shoes will tattle. Wanna come with?"

It sounded like a bad idea, but at the same time... it didn't. Wentri made it sound safe. That it was going to be okay.

And... was it almost bad that I wanted this to be... bad for me?

Maybe it would good for something bad to happen? Maybe they would finally notice me? Notice the pain I was in. That I wanted their attention too...

I nodded to Wentri. "Okay. I'll follow your lead."

I just never realized just how bad it would turn out...

Witch's Note:

And here we have the last of the sad chapters! I hope you all enjoyed this little insight into the world of Will and the chaos of his mind that made him accept the kind... eh... maybe a more malicious offer from Wentri. Hopefully it also gives the insight of how worried he was for being separated from his family and how they didn't spend much time with him.

And how vicious under it all that Wentri was when he lured Will into this mess...

Just gives me some shivers up the spine after what happened from that last little mess...

So this little idea was from River! My goodness! We now have only our happy chapters left! Are you all excited? I'm gonna send you guys a really cool one next week that I don't think any of you are expecting!

But anyway, let's move onto reviews!

Shadow8Phantom: Thank you so much for answering my question last week. It really means a lot for you to explain it out in rich detail about your opinion to the Dreemur family. I don't know if this sounds strange, but it was nice to hear from both the perspective of my story, as well as the game and to hear the comparisons for it in your own view. It actually made me quite happy that you said Asgore was possibly ready for redemption in both adaptations, vs Toriel was only in the same way with my story. With the side chapters, and with the main story, I can see how it shows. But never did she do so in the game, and I'm quite pleased to see how it was noted.

I guess the main question is now the last lingering Dreemur, Asriel… Lots of questions, and very few chapters for him. So… lots to discover and figure out. No? XD

Thechaosmaster: Oh Chaos, its not a problem that you left such a long review, but many… took me a while to read that. Mystic said it took her a couple days with how busy she was!

(Mystic Girl nods slowly just a few steps away scrolling through the pages looking a little worse for wear with her eyes spinning.) Did I read that already…?

But that's still okay, we loved hearing such a in depth look from your eyes! If you want to write long reviews like that, go for it! We don't mind, and yes, it did take a bit for us to digest it, but it was so wonderful to read! I loved it! And I guess having another person validate my own feelings on Toriel was absolutely amazing…

And as for the notifications, you're not the only one! This actually has been going on since last year. When I was posting the last story, this happened to. Rose and Mystic Boy's comments/reviews wouldn't be sent to me or notified to me via email, so something is going on where corresponding emails aren't being sent out. As of right now, I'm getting NO emails for any of your reviews. So, I got to the website daily to check.

Yes, it's frustrating. But you guys are worth it, so I check often!

RoseCentury: Nice Rose! Congrats! You making mega millions yet? XD

But its good to hear that things are looking up for you and the little ones! Awe! That's such a cute word! But I bet you are glad to be home. Being away from little ones so small I bet is hard. I wouldn't know yet, but hopefully in a few years…

Oh boy, another chapters down and four more to go! All written! Happy! And eager for stuff to post! Oh how I wish I could just post it all right now, but then we'd be rushing, and that's no good.

Mystic Girl: Oh come on! You can rush a little here and there! I wanna post the second book!

Me: Not just yet, but we're almost there! We're down to the last four chapters and two months to go for posting the next story! It won't be much longer Mystic.

Mystic Girl: Boo… (She's raspberrying me in the face.)

Me: Anyway, love you all and see you next week!

Halloween Witch and Mystic Girl