There was a feeling like falling. Slipping away, and into nothing. Then, a flicker of something. The shattered pieces of the soul shining, pulling somewhere. Grasping at something that had been...forgotten.

The duo sat outside of the ruins, Mychal leaning his head against the door. A cigarette in his lip, his switch blade on the ground. Dust on the weapon, his hand placed against his forehead, the teen looking conflicted.

The phantom girl floated beside him, his eye scanning her over. The phantom in the green and yellow shirt looking distressed to say the least. He didn't want to have this conversation, but knew it couldn't really be avoided.

"She'll be okay...kid." Mychal finally said, breaking the silence.

"You almost killed her." Chara noted quietly, with an expression of dread on her face.

"I know..." He brushed his hand through his dark hair, letting out a heavy breath. "I...I know. I'm sorry...I just..."

The phantom looked like she wanted to cry. Shaking her head for a moment, before trying to strike at his arm. Her hands simply phasing through him.

"You almost killed her!" She yelled.

"I know I...stop, stop it, kid-" He got annoyed. "I know!" He yelled back, as she swung at him. "W-what are you doing?"

"Y-you jerk." She sobbed.

Mychal shifted, her strikes simply couldn't do anything. Yet, she didn't relent. Leaving him feeling a mixture of things, none of them pleasant.

"I ughhh...god, damnit kid." He got up, huffing. "Stop it." she kept swinging. "You can't hit me, it's not...gonna work, just-" He sighed, taking a long drag. "Chara, kid, you literally cannot hit me. No matter how hard you try, it's not gonna do anything, okay?"

Her face was twisted in a mixture of sadness and anger. "Y-you promised you wouldn't."

Mychal shifted his posture, frowning while flicking his cigarette to the side. Letting it hit the snow, smoke still rising from it. The expression she had inspired him to feel infinitely worst about everything.

A hand covering one of his eyes, as he pressed against his forehead. He was already far from okay with what he'd done. It lacked integrity, and defied most everything he wanted to be. And now, he realized, he made a dead girl cry.

"I know." He replied, quieter, calmer this time. "I'm not...gonna make an excuse...okay." He knelt down, to be eye to eye with her. "It was a super shitty thing of me to do. And I'm sorry. And you-" He tapped the phantoms arm, or emulated doing so. "you have a right to be pissed at me, alright?" He said. "No excuses."

"Why did you attack her?" Chara asked, scanning him.

"Cuz, I didn't know what to do, and I got stupid, and reckless, and scared." He remarked. "I coulda...done a dozen other things, but I got scared, and when you get scared...you get desperate." He explained. "You let yourself do...bad things you shouldn't have done. And justify it with weak excuses."

Chara didn't relent. "She didn't...want to fight you." She frowned. "Why can't you just...stay?"

That was the million dollar question, in his miind. Thinking on it, if things were different, he might let himself. But as it was, he couldn't.

Mychal examined her and sighed some. Starting to walk down the path. The phantom girl floating along with him. Clearly curious for the answer.

"Cuz I have to get home." He noted, with a half-smile. "Don't get me wrong...home's, well, awful. But, I've got someone waiting for me. And I'm all they've got."

"Your...parents?" She asked.

"Family, yeah." He replied quietly. "I don't wanna get into it, kiddo. Just...I'm sorry, about everything." He apologized. "I can't go back, and it'd feel...cheap if I did. But, I'll try to do better."

"You mean it?" She asked. "You won't hurt anyone else?"

That request was a big ask, and Mychal was loath to make such a guarantee. Afterall, the way Toriel was talking, some people were going a bit crazy. Getting a little violent with one another.

This meant, they'd probably be violent with him to. Leaving him to wonder what might happen if he meant a relentless killer, or someone merciless. However, looking at Chara, reminded him of someone. Reminded him that he already broke a promise to her, and he couldn't take that back.

He sought to be honest, to have integrity. "I can't promise to never fight. But, I'll do everything I can not to hurt anyone. Alright?" He offered his pinky. "Pinky promise."

The girl appeared a bit doubtful, but took his finger, or tried to with her own. "Pinky promise."

He smiled. "So...you still comittin to stick by me, through this?" He asked. "Until we find uh...what did you call him?"

"The Doctor?" She asked.

"Yeah. You really think he can help?" Mychal inquired, snow crunching beneath his feet.

"Well, he's super smart. So...he should be able to. Right?" Chara asked worriedly.

Mychal felt doubtful. "Here's to hopin, kid."

The pair continuing their adventure through the vast, tangled forest, making their own path for the most part.


The dark path tangled, and coiled, coming to a place that resembled a small clearing. Overlooking the vastness of the underground, along a cliffside. The teenager staring out, taking in everything.

"Hot damn." He muttered quietly.

"It's a pretty view right?" She said, floating nearby. "Oh, hey, over there is where we all went fishing once."

"You and your family?" He inquired.

"Yeah." She smiled, having pointed to a river in the distance. "Azzy caught a fish, but it pulled him into the water." She giggled in amusement. "He looked like a wet dog."

"Heh. I mean I've done before." Mychal admitted, getting a curious look. "Falling into water." He explained. "Took a school trip to a town called Podunk. I thought it'd be funny to push my buddy in, and tripped over my own shoe-laces." She snickered at him. "I looked like a wet mop the whole day."

The phantom floated up, and poked at his head. "Cuz you're hairs all floppy and long?"

"Yup." He replied, turning. "And hey, don't know the curly locks. Chicks dig em."

"Chickens?" She asked, confused. "Cuz it's...like a worm?"

"N-no, I, geeze kid." He chuckled, continuing on. "Like, chicks, like, ladies, gals, women, girls, that kind of thing."

Chara seemed perplexed all the same. "O-oh, yeah, t-that...makese sense?"

Mychal continued along the partially uncovered path. "Which part are ya having trouble with?"

"No I get it." She lied.

"C'mon." He weaved through the trees. "Was it...the dig?" She pouted. "So uh, when I say dig. I mean like. It's...so, it's like when someone digs something." He then added. "I-I mean like...huh, never had to explain this before."

"So, you don't even know what it means?" She asked.

"Course I do. It's uh...oh, hey I got it." He took something out of his pocket. "I dig these cigarettes. You dig chocolate." She raised a brow. "Like, they're things we enjoy. That's what it means to dig something. Ya dig?"

"I...enjoy?" She half-asked.

"It's.." He paused, and admitted. "Language is like, real complicated kid."He chuckled. "Just, when I say 'chicks dig it' I mean they like it. Or, eleqent-like-" He cleared his throat. "I have discovered that there are many among the female body, who have an apprec...appreciation for my curly hair."

He gave a little bow of his head at the end of his explanation of things. The girl clearly still considering it as their path brought them to a clearing with what appeared to be a large golf course. Bearing a rather large snowball, llike the bottom half of a snowman near the start.

"Okay. I understand." She told him, before taking note of where they were. "Oh, it's the golf game!"

He examined the big ball of snow. "Golf...game?" He raised a brow. "So, this golf thing is uh...another puzzle, eh?"

"I think it's just a game people play." Chara replied, looking around. "There's...usually more people out here playing."

"They're probably busy with somethin." Mychal considered it. "Tell you what, why don't we give it a go?"

"Really?" She asked. "I'm not that good at it."

"Heh, I'm awful at golf too. Maybe you can come up with some witty humor while I fail, eh?" He offered, sliding some on the ice, while moving to the snowball.

She did her best to oblige, while Mychal gave his best effort to trying to complete the game. Resulting in numerous falls, slips, or dives. Alongside a few resets, due to being unable to hit the snowball in the right directions.

"Careful, you're on a slippery slope to success." She tried to pun once, as he slid and smacked the ball of snow.

"Oh snow, what will you do?" She giggled, when he fell, sliding past it once.

When he dove at it once, giving a fierce roar, only to overshoot it, she said. "Is that what they mean, when they say taking a dive?"

Mychal responding with. "Har, har."

"I know, it's an ice pun." She snickered back.

Eventually, the duo found themselves back at the start. Mychal taking a moment to brush the snow from himself. A bit battered from the various falls, seeming rather unbothered all the same.

"We can move on, you know?" She offered.

"It's okay. I have an idea of what to do." He suggested, sighing some. "I just uh...no judgement, okay?"

"For?" She asked curiously.

Mychal readied himself, while digging deep into his memory, and soul. Taking a second, to let out a breath, unlike the other attempts, he composed himself. Then, he dove out, and landed with a surprising amount of grace. Arms moving to the side, leg moving back behind him. Sliding over, hitting the ball of ice.

Hopping up, he spun, landing and turning with the momentum. Albeit, with a clear bit of strain. Knocking the ball across once more, bouncing it against the high snow sides.

Chara watched each little shift, and spin. Each twirling movement, and intentional step. It was beautiful in her estimation, if a bit clumsy at some points. The whole thing lasting, only about twelve seconds. Before the large snowball was knocked into the hole.

The final graceful spin, resulting in him falling, landing on his butt. Sliding over and bumping against a blue flagpole that rose from the hole. It had, with it, a little jingle.

It spoke. "Hopping and twirling, your original style pulled you through" In a monotone voice, that sounded recorded. "You are awarded 2G."

Two coins were belched from the hole, landing on his lap. The teenager giving a confused expression. Placing them in his pocket.

"Thanks?" He half-asked, the pole retracting.

"That was amazing~!" Chara declared enthusiastically. "How'd you do all that?"

"Oh, that?" He hummed. "I uh, did a little ice skating...some hockey, and uh...ballet." He muttered the last part. "Ya know, just cuz my mom wanted me to go, so."

"You were majestic." She declared with sparkling eyes.

"Heh, eh, well, thanks kid." He replied, pulling himself to the snow. "It's...I ain't done it in a while. Admittedly."

"We should get you a tutu." She suggested, with innocent enthusiasm.

Mychal looked aghast "N-no way kid." He got up. "I am...no, not a chance."

"B-but they're for ballet, right?" She asked.

He sighed and spoke. "Y-yeah, some ballet. But like, I'm not gonna run around in one." He then added, with a smirk. "Ain't even none around, anywho."

"We could buy one?" Chara suggested.

"From?" He asked.

"I dunno." She admitted, making him chuckle.

The teenager once more cleaned some snow from himself, and continued on the road ahead. He regretted in some fashion, that he had inspired enthusiasm in his phantasmal counterpart, for his past enterprise. He brushed at his dark hair, noting internally that if he wore something like that, his friends would NEVER let him hear the end of it.

Chara floated through his chest and suggested. "What about the shoes?"

"H-hey!" Mychal made a quick brushing motiong, as she moved to the side. "Don't do that. It's creepy. And uh...what, shows, like, ballet shoes?" He asked. "I really doubt something like that'd be round here either."

"B-but we could...maybe find some?" She said, sounding fairly hopeful.

He shifted his posture. "Tell you what. We find the shoes, I'll...maybe, wear em. But only once, okay?" He offered, as she beamed. "That said, I'm not wearing a tutu."

"Heck yeah!" She declared with enthusiasm, before covering her mouth. "S-sorry."

"Sorry?" He glanced. "Why ya sayin sorry?"

"I'm not meant to say heck." She admitted.

He stiffled a laugh. "Don't worry about it. I won't tell anyone." He smiled. "And you know I say worst."

"You really do." She commented.

"Eh, hell can ya do?" He chuckled, as she rolled her eyes. "Alright, back to the adventure. Right Chara?"

"Right!" She replied, her spirits visibly lifted

The future seemed bright for the pair. Their destination, the fledgling settlement of Snowdinn. Assuming the signs they'd seen earlier were actually real, or current.