Archemedies suddenly blinks.
His body shivers, a quiver running up his spine as he suddenly comes back to himself, the reptilian monster seeming to suddenly wake from a trance- has it been hours? Minutes? Days? He can never tell how long it's been when he wakes up, and it scares him. He sighs, and looks up at the newest arrival to the void, flicking his tail as the stiffness slowly drips out of him. Crooks is exactly where he left him, his sides rising and falling in a rhythm that eases Archemedies worries…kind of. He turns, expecting to see gaster staring off into space like he was, but…
"…gaster? Hey, gaster?"
Archemedies asks quietly, tilting his head. Gaster seems…shorter. Not really, of course- he's not physically any smaller, but his skull is on eye level with Archemedies, which is unfortunately quite unusual. His darkness has retracted itself, almost as if the shadowed skeleton is kneeling, his dark body slightly liquified and pooling a little around him like a melted candle, dripping upwards in tiny droplets that hover in the air. His eye sockets are clearly closed and, though no breath comes from him, it seems that unlike Archemedies, gaster can still sleep.
Archemedies chuckles quietly, and shakes his head, turning back in the direction of crooks. He trots over, his long tail dragging behind him, until he stands over the crossbreed monster that lays crumpled on the ground. He bends down and nudges crooks in the shoulder, causing his shadowy face to roll limply to the side, the feline monsters dark face replaced by gray ears that stick at Archemedies's snout. There's no response apart from a slight twitch, and Archemedies steps over crooks so that he can look into the face of the mixbreed-monster, bending sideways until his head is almost upside down to do so.
"Crooks? Are you awake now? There is a lot to catch you up on."
Archemedies asks quietly, not wanting to wake one friend, but wanting to stir this one. There's no response apart from a small ear flick, Archemedies huffing a little in dissatisfaction when crooks doesn't stir. He prods crooks hard in the forehead with the tip of his tail, and this time the only response is a small noise of pain, the feline monster wincing slightly and shivering. Archemedies hesitates, then sighs. He doesn't have the heart to properly wake him up into this confusion yet. And anyway, it is cold here… Archemedies shivers. He misses hotland, especially the warm lakes that rest on the border between hotland and waterfall. Though he lived in newhome, those warm, humid caves always felt safest to him. The dock was the closest he could get to that…he shakes his head slightly and sighs.
"So I am guessing that's a no…"
Archemedies mumbles, and this time there is no response from the unconscious Crooks.
"Giving me the silent treatment, eh?"
Archemedies asks, and chuckles, sitting on the gray ground and sighing.
"Gaster must've done a number on you I suppose…"
Archemedies wonders aloud, his musings gaining no response from crooks.
"Heh, you and me both…"
Archemedies adds, wincing. That damned headache is back…he looks over at crooks, and huffs.
"Really? Nothing? Not even an ear twitch…?"
No response. Just dead silence as Archemedies waits, before he sighs and admits;
"…I'm talking to myself, aren't I."
He sighs again, and tilts his head, noting how much discomfort still lingers in crooks expression, even now.
"That must not be very comfortable, laying on the ground like that. I mean…"
He observes aloud. Archemedies looks over at gaster, who is still deeply asleep, and who now looks vaguely like a lump of darkness with a skull poking out of the top. His expression is for once peaceful, but Archemedies sees the exhaustion there too. His friend must've expended such vast amounts of energy to save them all…he wonders, how long was gaster alone? And if he can still sleep…how much of that time did he really experience?
"Gaster is…sleeping upright, and, well…I don't sleep."
Archemedies adds, and looks towards the door.
"I suppose I could get something for your head to rest on, at least. But what…"
He thinks for a long moment, crooks still unresponsive where he lays. Suddenly, Archemedies grins, and his tail whips in the air, making that sharp cracking sound that is Archemedies equivalent of snapping your fingers, the reptilian monster having thought of something at last.
"Ah yes, the sweater! I could just…fold it up or something, yes, that will work…"
Archemedies mutters to himself in satisfaction, pushing himself back to his feet and trotting over to the door, shooting over his shoulder at the unconscious crooks;
"Don't worry, it won't take me long to find it."
Archemedies tells him, wrapping his tail around the doorknob and attempting to twist it open. His tail slips off, and he tries again, the doorknob rattling as-
"Oh how I hate these ones…so hard to open…"
Archemedies mutters, and sighs. There's a reason the lab has handles instead of knobs…He clasps the frustrating doorknob in his mouth and turns it that way, the door clicking open slightly as Archemedies gags on the metallic taste. He gags a bit more before reluctantly closing his mouth, grimacing, then nudging the door open and-
"HOLY ****ING DREEMURR-!"
Archemedies leaps back, staggering backwards as brilliant beams of light hit him in the face, the reptilian monster squinting and spluttering as light shines in through the door and seems to burn at his eyes. Archemedies hissed in pain and stumbles backwards until his spines meet gasters side, the two monsters colliding with identical noises of pain- Gaster yelps in surprise, Archemedies still hissing from the light, his back spines digging into gasters darkness with tiny hisses of static as they break the surface and sink into the tar-like void within.
Gaster jerks back in alarm, Archemedies crashing to the ground, curling his tail over his eyes and hissing with pain as the light blasts in through the door like a cannon of pure pain for the poor monster. Gaster chokes for a moment, then swallows his pain and turns his attention to Archemedies, gliding around to block the light as best he can, whispers of shadow coming from the points punctured by Archemedies spines.
Archemedies wipes his watering eyes with his tail and blinks hard, still breathing heavily, gaster casting a welcome shadow over Archemedies as he bends over his friend in concern. Archemedies stumbles to his feet, waving away any of gasters hurried questions, just narrowing his eyes to slits and darting out of his friends shadow- flinching, but braving the light as gaster turns as well. They stop for a moment, staring, one with eyesockets wide as dinnerplates, the other with eyes narrowed into slits to block out the very light that has them both in such awe.
Gaster, being a skeleton, could look into the fires of the sun- or core- unflinchingly, and so is unbothered by the light, instead almost hypnotized by it. Archemedies too squints into the glare, frozen in place by the brilliant light that pours in from the rectangle of brilliance that is the open door. You see, in comparison to the normal level of light you or I would know, the void and gray room have very, very little light at all. After a while, any eye will grow used to that…and thirty years, or even thirteen in solid enough darkness, is well enough time. Slowly, Gaster glides forward, as if in a daze. Archemedies starts, then follows- trotting after gaster, almost afraid the light will burn the shadowy skeleton away as he glides into it. The squinting reptilian monster sees only blinding light where the open door stands, nothing more- but gaster, he can see clear as day what's beyond it.
and so, a delighted, disbelieving grin spreads across his skull.
Gaster darts forward, shooting out the door and grinning so wide with happy disbelief it seems his skull might crack in half, darting around excitedly like an overexcited ferret as Archemedies just…stares. His eyes have adjusted some by now, and though he still squints, it is very clear to him that this is not the fuzzy void he has been trapped in for thirty long years. He stares out, awestruck, at a monochrome version of Hotland.
It is a familiar cave- one of the side entrances to hotland, every inch of it a shade of muted gray, yet somehow brighter than the grays he knows. As if the rock still remembers the color it should be, the cave walls swooping up as rougher boulders collect around the gray door, joining it to the wall less than smoothly. The cavern is completely devoid of any life he can see, but still lacking of the darkness he has been surrounded by so completely for so long. Every stalactite and stalagmite, every rock and crack- it all seems familiar to him, it's an exact replica, It all matches up with what he's missed, save for the color…
….But Gaster certainly doesn't seem to care. The skeleton darts around the cave in wild excitement, testing the walls and making sharp rappa-tap-taps as his hands knock against them. He winds through a small cluster of stalagmites, and exclaims excitedly over every one of them, fascinated and excited by everything he's seeing. In fact, he's stopped now- waving wildly to Archemedies and pointing into a large tunnel that joins smoothly into the side wall of the cave.
'Arch! It leads somewhere! We are somewhere!'
Archemedies sees him sign excitedly, the shadowed skeleton beaming at him from across the cave as archemedies just keeps staring blankly at his blurring hands. He opens his mouth, shuts it, looks behind him, then back at gaster-
'How did this happen, Where even are…we… arch? Are you alright over there?'
Gaster asks, gliding forwards a little, stopping in the center of the cavern and waving around as his shadows lick against the ground.
'Look, arch! We are someplace new!'
Archemedies still does not move, staring blankly, not even batting an eye at Gasters fairly decent attempt at comfort.
'Arch? Are you having a stroke? Look around you! It's Hotland!'
Garter signs excitedly, only half joking about the stroke, his shadows gliding seamlessly over the rocky ground as the skeleton glides a little closer, beginning to become concerned and tilting his skull at the stunned archemedies.
'Arch, are you okay?'
He asks, and Archemedies blinks. The reptilian monster looks down at the gray rock outside the door, and hesitantly steps out.
…nothing happens.
His claws click gently against the ground, and there is only rough rock beneath him. He blinks, staring down at the ground, and Gaster smiles, signing;
'See? It's perfectly fine! Isn't this wonderful? Just look!"
Gaster signs, waving around at the rock walls that curve up above them, the spikes of rock that hang down…all of it a thousand shades of gray, apart from the fluorescent lights that illuminate all caves in the underground- new to Archemedies- which shine a brilliant white. Void-black wires run from them, and down the walls where they disappear into the stone, part of an invisible network that was the pulse of the underground…and still might be, far away beyond barriers of static, back in reality.
'Arch…? Are you feeling alright?'
Gaster asks for perhaps the sixth time, becoming seriously worried now, Archemedies just staring down at the stone with huge white eyes.
"What…just happened…?"
He asks in a distant voice, and Gaster blinks, tilting his skull in confusion at the unexpected question.
'You…left?'
He signs, and Archemedies looks behind him back into the gray room, muttering; 'right, right…' under his breath as he does so.
"SO WHERE THE HELL IS THIS!?"
He abruptly screeches, and Gaster jumps back, only barely managing not to yelp as Archemedies begins darting around the cavern, sticking his nose into every cranny, winding around every stalagmite, all while chattering away at top volume. He's yelling something about quantum disposition and photons, his tail lashing windy as he scurries around furiously examining everything and anything he can find. Gaster just watches in mild alarm as Archemedies scurries about in a bewildered, furious sort of panic, then glances back towards the open door. …In the shadows, he spots the limp shape of crooks, who still lays collapsed there on the gray ground, unresponsive to the light that pours into the gray room. He seems far, far too still for his liking. Gaster frowns worriedly, and suddenly grabs Archemedies by the collar as he passes, the reptilian monster yelping in surprise as gaster releases him and turns, signing;
'Crooks has not woken up yet?'
He asks worriedly, his hands moving quickly through the motionless air. Archemedies blinks, ruffled by the yank to the collar, then nods, replying;
"No, he didn't seem to want to. He responded a little at first, but it didn't last."
Gaster frowns harder, and glides forward, stopping at the door to the gray room and leaning in to better see crooks. Nothing seems wrong with him- but nothing seems particularly right with him either. He's completely limp, undoubtedly unconscious, his chest rising and falling steadily, but still weakly. There is not even a twitch from his large feline ears, and his long tail is a mess of crooked loops on the floor. Gaster looks back over his shoulder at the monochrome hotland, then back at crooks, his brow furrowing. He yearns to test every corner of this new layer of his prison between worlds, to find the boundaries of this new freedom and break them - but he knows that someone must stay by crooks. Should he wake, there should be someone there…he spends a few seconds considering this, staring at the door as Archemedies gives him a Look.
'Alright. I have a plan.'
He signs suddenly as he turns back to Archemedies, who blinks, surprised, having been in the middle of examining an odd series of markings on the wall.
"It must not be very good if you thought of it that quickly."
He comments, and gaster frowns, signing sharply;
'Just listen! It's a very good plan.'
He signs, and continues regardless of whether or not Archemedies mouth is open (it is) or whether he was about to speak (he was).
'We obviously have to investigate this place, and I think you should go. You are faster than me after all, and you know hotland better. It would make more sense if you were the one to follow that passage over there rather than me.'
Gaster signs, waving to the large tunnel that leads to honestly who-knows-where, Archemedies turning to look as well. The entrance to the passage is fairly normal looking, but there's a strange sense of finality tied to it- perhaps that is the effect of being trapped in a place without places, but suddenly the possibilities of where that passage might lead weigh heavier on Archemedies mind than they should.
'I will stay here with crooks, in case he wakes up. Anyway, I don't think I would get that far, at least not like…this.'
Gaster continues, hesitantly gesturing at the pillar of void that he now calls a body. Archemedies brow furrows, and he glances behind him at the tunnel before asking;
"Hmm…good concept, but what will you do if I don't return? Not that I don't think we should explore, we definitely should, but there are many things we don't know,"
Archemedies gestures to the gray cave around them.
"For all we know this is an alternate dimension of some sort and there are…"
Archemedies shudders.
"...humans wandering about. how will you know if something…well, happens to me?"
Gaster snorts at this, then shakes his skull and raises one nonexistent eyebrow as he replies;
'Archemedies, you're a tough monster. I doubt anything is going to happen to you- and anyway, I already thought of that.'
Gaster signs, then reaches one hand into the air, summoning a small bone with a crackle of magic. He catches the thumb-sized bone in one hand and offers it out to Archemedies, the small summon floating just above the hole in his palm.
'Just take this with you, and I'll be able to sense where you are.'
He signs, as Archemedies winds his tail around the small bone, examining it as gaster continues;
'All you have to do is break it, and I'll come find you.'
Gaster signs proudly, as Archemedies squints at the tiny summon.
"I remember you tried something similar in that fairground mirror-maze in college…if I recall, it didn't work."
Archemedies reminds him, and Gaster winces. Not his proudest moment, being rescued two hours later by a tired employee…it didn't help that he was greeted by a hysterical Archemedies and a crying-with-laughter grillby, either.
"I was the first one to think of just closing my eyes and going by touch."
Archemedies reminisces smugly, and Gaster resists the urge to sigh, instead signing hurriedly;
'That is not the point! It will work this time, I swear.'
Archemedies makes an unconvinced 'uh-huh' noise, and looks back up at him, asking;
"…even in the unlikely event of you needing to 'come find me', what about crooks? You'll just…leave him?"
Archemedies asks, and Gaster shrugs.
'Best case scenario, I will be able to wake him up, and both of us will come aid you. Worst case scenario, I'll just…carry him, I suppose.'
He signs, and Archemedies squints at him.
"…you? Really?"
He asks, unconvinced. There's a long silence, each monster staring down the other, until Gaster promptly picks Archemedies up by the collar, easily yanking him into the air. The reptilian monster yelps, and struggles wildly, held off the ground by one of gasters hands as the shadowed skeleton just watches with a deadpan expression.
"Okay, okay, point made! Now put me down, this. instant."
Archemedies hisses, glowering at gaster, who sets him down with only minimal smugness. The reptilian monster shakes himself, rolling his pearl-white eyes as Gaster tries not to laugh.
"Never do that again."
Archemedies orders, and gaster shrugs, signing a smug 'maybe…' before archemedies whacks him with his tail.
"I mean it!"
The reptilian monster cries, not at all amused, and gaster darts to the side, just barely dodging another whack from his friend.
'Okay, okay, I promise I won't. Apologies, arch.'
Garter signs, with as much sincerity as he can muster. Archemedies huffs, but seems to accept the apology, relaxing slightly. Soon though, he can't resist poking other holes in the plan- and the two monsters talk for a long while, smoothing over the finer details until everything is crystal clear…you know, like the meticulous scientists they are, the two monsters acting something like a cross between doc brown and a micromanager as they plan. It's comforting to them, repeating the process they've gone through so many times- Gaster having an idea, archemedies poking holes in it, each covering the others weaknesses as they form their idea. But in the end, with their plan made, they eventually part.
After going through it one last time, making gaster promise that it will work this time, archemedies trots towards the tunnel, Gaster watching him go while silently weaving as much strength as he can into the connection between him and the small bone. Just before the reptilian monster enters the tunnel, his tail wound around the small bone that gaster concentrates on so intensely, he looks back and exchanges a small nod with his old friend. A silent acknowledgement that they will meet again, that everything will go to their now-perfected plan. they won't end up trapped alone again, in separate prisons.
Then, he is gone, darting off down the tunnel as gaster stands alone amidst gray stone. Gaster stays there a moment, then sighs, gliding back to the gray room and settling down beside the unconscious crooks, staring into space. Time to wait…
…He's good at that.
(AUTHOR NOTE: hey, remember when I told you to buckle up? Do that again but x2. Also, I'm giving up on the whole 'not letting characters swear' thing. Some words will still be censored, but like…don't expect much censorship, kids. I need sleep. and wine. and a third portal game.)
