(AUTHOR NOTE: hey, sorry the last few chapters have been shorter than usual. I'm not sure anybody's actually reading this, but if you are, wow! That's impressive! Also this is the chapter i was telling you to buckle up for, so…Have fun. :] )
She's been watching him for a while now.
Above the reptilian monster, a hooded figure hovers, watching, two orange embers of eyes locked on the reptilian monster that mutters and paces below. He hasn't noticed her yet- she's perched, unmoving, in the tangle of wires and ventilation that makes up the upper level lab ceiling. She'd actually come to the lab in the first place just to hide from him, but the sneaky bastard had suddenly just showed up out of the blue (or rather gray) and this was her only idea. He'd nearly spotted her back by the nicecream cart, but in reality she's been tracking him since he made such a godawful racket falling down that pile of boulders. She tries hard not to snicker, doing her best to stay silent. That was pretty funny…she leans forwards a little, peering down curiously as the reptilian monster below her keeps on talking to himself like a maniac. In her opinion, he's probably gone bonkers…Well, that would fit the pattern.
"Well, I mean, he seems sane enough,"
The monster rambles, then shakes his head and makes a sound the cloaked figure takes to be a nervous laugh, but in actuality sounds more like a nervous squeak.
"What am I saying, I've been missing far longer than him, who am I to judge? But still, but still,"
He continues, his long tail swishing nervously. Is that familiar? She can't really tell, it's been kinda hard to sift through the half shitty brain-barf and the actual real stuff the past few years she's been here, and even more so now she's seen him. The monster- his name, she can't quite remember, something long- continues talking to himself, sitting down with a small thump and sighing as he chews on a battered stylus.
"Complete and utter sensory deprivation- what would that do? That's the question, yes that's what I should be asking, what were the effects? How is he this- this normal? "
He sighs again, and his head tips upwards, the figure freezing- but he doesn't open his eyes, and soon is mumbling again, twirling the stylus through a series of loops on his tail.
"Yes, the effects- would they have been canceled out by this? But what would remain? And is it reversible, the physical side of things…"
His face, it's so familiar, if only she could properly remember. The figure's cloak flutters, and she glares down at the now-pacing monster with growing annoyance. So familiar, but what was his na-
"THINK, Archemedies, think! There has to be something…"
The reptilian monster suddenly hisses, growling at the floor and somehow pacing harder. The cloaked figure starts at the name- Archemedies, that was it!- then immediately freezes in place, as the monster, Archemedies, goes rigid. Did he hear her? Damn, he better not have heard her. The cloaked figure watches in suspense, her orange eyes dimming a little in the sudden wish to become very, very invisible. Thankfully, that's something she's already doing. She debates shedding the cloak to fully complete the look, but eventually decides against it- moving would almost certainly give her away.
Meanwhile, down on the floor, Archemedies is still frozen in place, listening intently. What was that? Was it his imagination? He could have sworn he heard something…
The cloaked figure stays frozen too, wondering to herself why the dumb lizard hasn't moved yet, but not willing to risk moving herself due to the absolute train wreck social interaction would be right now. She is not ready to talk to this guy, especially since she, one, has no idea if she actually knows him, and two, isn't actually sure he's sane. Or if she's sane. He could be a hallucination caused by her going bonkers. It's not like anybody else in this damn place is sane, so it probably wouldn't even matter much if she was. Eventually she can't take it any more, and silently, the cloaked figure slowly glides backwards, retreating further into the shadows- but still she watches the terrified lizard monster, the hood melting into the shadows with two orange glows still glowing away inside.
He's slowly turned around now, peering into the dark corners of the room, but not looking up into the vents and wires as she'd feared. She immediately unfolds from the shadows and floats back up to observes him, the cloak splaying out in its usual frills as she starts gliding silently over the mess of vents and wires to peer at the reptilian monster as he calls out:
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
She very nearly laughs, but stops herself. Why is that funny? She can't remember yet…things are so weird and hazy. She doesn't like it. Though, she does get the distinct impression this monster was…a person? To her? at some point? probably…? Then again, she once got that feeling about a small rock which had, in fact, turned out to be a pebble. She contemplates this for a moment, before returning to her observation.
"You don't have to be…oh great, I'm talking to myself again, just wonderful this is such an amazing situation I'm just so very sane sounding-"
He rambles to himself with dripping sarcasm, and unfortunately, this time the cloaked figure actually snorts, unable to contain herself. She stifles her giggles, on the verge of hysterics- reasonable, since this is the first display of deliberate comedy she's seen in years. Thankfully, the monster seems not to have heard her- too engrossed is he in his sincillicating conversation with himself. The reptilian monster soon resumes his previous cycle of pacing and talking nonsense, while the cloaked figure watches with giddy amusement.
"Now, where was I, where was I…physical effects, yes, that…was he melted by the core, or did his body simply disappear- no, no because then his soul…yes his soul, it must've been effected, but how…"
The cloaked figure watches him pace back and forth, still rambling sciency nonsense. He reminds her of her brother, with all that rambly sci-fi stuff. Did he know this monster? She thinks so, but it's so hard to remember…though, she does remember one solid and utterly unshakably concrete thing about her brother. He's an absolute f**king nerd. They seem alike in this way.
"Oh what to do, what to do- I need more information, yes, that's what I need…more detail, what exactly did he do…"
The reptilian monster mutters, and suddenly turns, walking back towards the inoperable treadmill as the cloaked figure bobs a little in surprise. She didn't expect him to leave. Then, the reptilian monster is gone, him and his mumbling having disappeared down the treadmill to the lower level of the lab. She immediately glides down to the floor, wailing silently through a gap in the mess of wires and vents and floating over to the console, staring at the still flickering screen with her burning orange eyes.
[/SELECT _LOG?/]
she pauses for a moment, staring at the screen. Ding's logs? She huffs suspiciously. What's that lizard doing poking around WingDings old sciency nerd logs? The thought of him looking through them without permission makes her memories prickle uncomfortably. He hated that, right? This just keeps getting more and more confusing, along with her memories…The cloaked figure turns swiftly, and swiftly glides down the treadmill, cloak edges fluttering soundlessly in the air mere inches above the ground. Then, reaching the bottom, she silently glides upwards along the wall and hides among the debris caking the ceiling- once again staring down on the reptilian monster as he mutters away to himself.
He's wrangling with the main computer now, probably trying to activate it- but she knows from experience that probably won't work. She's tried. That thing, is very dead. The reptilian monster makes a sharp growl of frustration, and promptly kicks the console. Yeah, seems like he isn't having much better luck than she did. She tries not to giggle, and for some reason, feels a little nostalgic. After some loud swearing, the reptilian monster somehow manages to unfix a panel underneath the broken down console, and the cloaked figure watches as he dives determinedly into the mess of wires that spill from it. Seems like he'll be here a while…
eh, that's fine…She settles down on a large chunk of debris hanging by pipes from the ceiling, and prepares to wait. It's not really a problem, after all. All the more time to figure out who he is, right? She watches him tug out a long spool of wires, and tilts her cloaked head, shrugging to herself and leaning back against a long plastic tube tangled in the support beams.
Still, she could just be hallucinating.
Somewhere else, snow falls down lazily, twirling as children play happily in piles of the white powder. It's around the end of the morning, and most people are either at their homes or jobs while kids romp happily around in the snow. The skeleton brothers though, as always, are happily enjoying the snow in their own ways- that is to say, energetically, and not so energetically. Sans is sitting in the snow, watching contentedly as Bell and Mk (along with papyrus) attempt to form an obstacle course out of snow, the dog yipping around their heels and generally being a nuisance- as usual. It's actually going pretty well, papyrus having already made several complicated mazes of packed snow, and Bell has just figured out that pouring water on the snow makes it stronger. Needless to say, the course is pretty impressive.
They've been at it for a few hours now- and sans is now wearing a light gray hoodie, due to bells nagging. He can still hear her now… 'sans! I don't care if you don't have blood! You can still get the chills!' He chuckles to himself, Yeah, that kid is pretty dead-set on making sure he stays around. not only do they over-heal everything in him and save him from literal death, but they also make sure he wears something other than a t-shirt. That's one heck of a kid.
"Sans? Do you guys have a hose anywhere?"
Bell suddenly calls from the construction zone, waving to him as papyrus shakes a bucket upside down, yielding little results as Sans blinks in surprise.
"We ran out of water and we wanna spray the whole thing! It's gonna be SO COOL!"
She cries excitedly, prompting a loud groan from papyrus, her cheeks flushed and breath coming on little clouds in the cold air as Mk tussles with the dog nearby. Sans shakes his skull, chuckling at the pun, but still shrugging and replying;
"nope. we don't exactly have a garden, so…"
he shrugs again, bell huffing and furrowing her eyebrows, thinking, the snow twirling lazily around them as the small child taps her chin thoughtfully. Sans is just about to suggest that they do have a bucket, and there's always the tap- But thankfully, Mk pipes up instead, the dog yipping and tussling with his tail:
"Yo! Wait! My mom's have a greenhouse- maybe WE have a hose!"
He suggests in great excitement, and bell immediately perks up, grinning at him as papyrus immediately offers to take MK to go and fetch it, bell of course wanting a ride too. After an amount of scrambling, the tall skeleton is bounding off through the snow, a kid on each shoulder, both squealing with joy as the tall skeleton vaults over confused and baffled townsfolk. Sans watches them go from his little snow-mound, knowing it won't be long before they're back…
Better not waste time.
he sighs, and with that, his thoughts turn to darker tasks. He pulls out a notepad from his pocket, a pencil from another, and continues scribbling down formulas as he has been during every spare moment of the last few hours. He mutters to himself, tapping the pencil against his skull absently as his mind whirrs. He has to figure something out…
"Gwryip?"
Sans looks up, and sees the little white dog staring at him, its head tilted to the side slightly as it looks at him quizzically. Sans sighs goodnaturedly, and pets it affectionately between the ears, ruffling its pure white fur.
"I don't suppose you know how ta' raise the dead, do ya tobes? got any godlike powers hidden in all that fluff?"
He asks the small animal, smiling tiredly as he does. The little white Pomeranian looks at him strangely, its black eyes twinkling with unsettling intelligence, it's usually goofy face taking on some sort of change for a moment…which quickly passes, the small dog nudging at his hand, whining for more pets. Sans just grins, and complies, the little white dog giving him a goofy grin of its own in return as he ruffles its fur affectionately. Eventually though, the dog gets bored of pets, and settles itself in the snow like a mini-snowpoff to watch sans scribble down half-baked ideas and formulas, it's dark eyes watching his pencil fly across the page as its tongue lolls. sans mutters to himself, absently doodling on the page as he thinks- a trick his father taught him, long ago. It might look messy from the outside, but it turns out that doodling actually serves pretty well as a way to clear your brain (or skull) while you think. Of course, his father consequently ended up having notoriously messy notes…at least back when people knew he existed.
Suddenly, the dog barks- an excited yip, the small animal hopping to its paws and yipping excitedly at the page as sans blinks at it in surprise, the snow continuing to swirl down in loops and twirls as the dog's tail wags.
"Eh? what's got you so worked up?"
Sans asks, raising one nonexistent eyebrow at the dog as it continues yipping at the page. He looks down, and sees among the formulas that he's once again started doodling. There's papyrus as always, bones everywhere- even a wobbly half-done drawing of bells apron, but what seems to have the dogs attention is the doodle of his dads skull that rests in the top right corner- slightly smudged- of the page, near some sequencing equations. He pauses in confusion for a moment, then points to the doodle and asks the dog;
"s'this what you're so excited over?"
He asks, and the dog falls onto its front legs, it's tail wagging wildly where it sticks up in the air, it's gaze clearly fixed on the doodle as it yips happily. Sans can still remember when his father found this dog alone in the snow, and took it home for them both- it's been around ever since, even after his fathers fall…but sans had never once checked to see whether or not the dog remembered him. Didn't his father teach it tricks…? If it does still remember him, it'll remember those too.
"oh, uh…toby, dogsong."
Sans commands the small animal after a moment, summoning a small bone as incentive, watching intently. The little white Pomeranian just hops about for a moment, then suddenly sits back on its hind legs and barks out a short, rough tune- sans just watching in amazement. His father had been stupid good at training the little thing- to do pretty much everything but behave itself. Of all the creatures to remember him, it had to be the one dog in snowdin that can't talk…
"SANS?! DID YOU TEACH THAT DRATTED CANINE TRICKS!?"
Papyrus hollers, and sans quickly slips the notebook into his pocket, flicking the small bone to the dog as reward as the tall skeleton jogs up to him, a coil of green hose looped around one arm, MK and bell still perched on his shoulders.
"Yo! That's so cool! Show us some more, skele-dude!"
Mk exclaims, his eyes wide as he grins excitedly down at sans, beaming at the goofy canine face that smiles up at him. The kid has definitely switched gears from admiring undyne to admiring papyrus- a change which sans thinks is long since due. He's been a great friend to Bell so far, and as such sans has decided he's trustworthy.
"yeah! I didn't know he could do tricks!"
Bell adds, looking delighted by the idea as sans blinks.
"uhh…sure, guess I can, 'least while paps sets up the hose n' all."
Sans replies, shrugging agreeably. Bell squeals in delight as she scrambles down papyrus's long frame, Mk close behind her, the two kids thumping down in the snow and running up to sans and the dog as papyrus wanders off trying to find a suitable tap to fix the hose to. Sans gestures for them to sit, which they do, then turns back to the dog, grinning slyly.
"hey tobes, uh…pattycake."
He commands, and watches with satisfaction as the dog sits back up on its hind legs and holds out a paw, sans tapping it lightly before the dog holds out another paw, sans tapping it too- the pair repeating the process again, faster, before sans flicks the dog another bone. MK and Bell practically have stars in their eyes by now- bell clapping delightedly, MK flicking his tail against the snow in what sans naturally assumes is his own version of applause. Soon they are cheering for more tricks, papyrus tangled in the hose nearby, and sans happily obliged.
"heya tobes, funny face."
The dog happily sticks out its tongue, crossing its eyes and cocking its head as Bell mimics, Mk giggling madly.
"tobes, siren."
The dog throws its head back and howls dramatically, MK's tail wagging behind him as he cheers.
"tobes…foxtrot."
Sans commands, grinning to himself, watching the dog begin hopping from paw to paw and spinning round and round, its tail whirling as it spins. Bell claps and cheers, and MK hops up and down, both children delighted by the dog's antics. The small dog finishes with a small bark, and sans throws it a bone big enough to chew on, as bell bursts out;
"sans I love your dog so much he's so cute what's his name and how long have you had him and did you teach him all those tricks and can I pet him!?"
She rambles, MK already petting the dog with his tail, the little white dog loving the attention. Sans holds two hands up, interrupting her;
"woah there kid, remember to breathe,"
He chuckles, and bell obediently takes a huge breath of the cold air, sans snorting at the way her cheeks puff up, MK tussling playfully with the dog nearby.
"there ya go kid. deep breaths. and uh, as for your questions…his name's Toby, we've had him like forever, nah, and uh…sure, yeah you can pet him I guess."
Sans replies, shrugging agreeably, bell squealing with delight and running off to join MK in spoiling the little white Pomeranian. Sans chuckles, watching them play, and glances over at papyrus. bunnabon is (very kindly) helping him get untangled from the hose, and sans suddenly sees an opportunity. if he could just get a bit of time alone to clear his head, maybe he could finish those formulas…
"hey, pap?"
He calls over, and his brother turns his skull as he ducks under a loop of hose, calling back in response;
"YES BROTHER? WHAT IS IT?"
he replies, as bunnabon tugs at a persistent knot around his elbow, the kindly rabbit monster leaning her full weight into the effort with little result.
"I think I'm gonna take a walk, clear my skull. s'long as that's okay with you, that is."
Sans responds, Bell and MK playing fetch with the dog nearby. papyrus gives him two thumbs up, wobbling slightly as he balances on one leg, bunnabon untangling the other.
"ANYTHING TO GET YOU TO EXERCISE, BROTHER!"
Papyrus responds cheerily, still thoroughly tangled, bunnabon tugging on the hose with little success. Sans sighs affectionately, shaking his skull and walking over to his brother, who is now distracted by the hose. He places one hand on pap's shoulder, and with a small 'pop!' He teleports him out of the tangle of rubber. The green hose falls in tangles to the ground, and bunnabon wipes her brow, saying;
"Thankin'y'kindly, darlin'."
as papyrus blinks rapidly, only a couple inches from where he was before, but still rather disoriented from the sudden teleport. Sans shrugs like it's no big deal, and pats papyrus lightly on the shoulder before turning away, remarking over his shoulder with a wink;
"bye paps. see ya in an hour or so."
and with that, sans walks off through the softly falling snow, his slippers crunching through the powdery white as he passes into the woods and disappears into the darkened trees, only footprints left in his wake.
And Archemedies, buried in another kind of darkness, feverishly digs through wires.
He's been here for a good few hours now, and the reptilian monster is completely surrounded by computer guts, his tail plugging and unplugging wires as he flicks switches on and off, testing what current will still run in the degraded systems he's perched amongst. He does all this by the light of a single, dimly glowing bulb- the only thing he's managed to power. In a cruel stroke of irony, he did this by rerouting power from the many, many system failure indicators. The thing that most baffles him is the parts of these computers that are unfamiliar to him- the parts that were designed and installed after his imprisonment. He squints at the complicated circuit like a sixty year old man squints at a phone screen, and once again is baffled by the utter ridiculousness of the thing. Ridiculous, but ingenious. What kind of data does this system even take? Archemedies wonders to himself, chewing thoughtfully on his stylus as he thinks. From the looks of this, it could be something far more complex than binary code…
He huffs, inspecting a large, half burned circuit. it may just be the damage, but it looks to be as if those are AMS conductors…now why would a computer need to regulate ambient magical static? He wonders, frowning and turning the circuit over to inspect the back, a series of wires still tangled in his tail.
he shifts slightly where he sits among the half disassembled console, still frowning at the circuit, and feels something small dig into the side of his leg. Annoyed, Archemedies places the circuit gently atop a pile of wires, and fishes the offending item out of one of his pockets, holding it up in the dim light of the half-powered bulb. The bone…right. Gaster. He should be getting back. Archemedies looks at the bone, then the wires. Bone, wires, bone, wires- oh damn it, it's not like anything's going to happen to all this, I can always come back…he sighs, and gets up, shaking himself off and slipping the bone back into his pocket as he begins to take a step, and hesitates. He can almost feel the problem nagging at him, itching at the back of his brain.
A reasonable scientist would keep going,
He reminds himself, his snout scrunching up as he stalls.
Good thing I'm not reasonable.
And as expected, he zips back. Archemedies does not possess incredible impulse control, as is demonstrated by multiple instances of gaster and him exploding things because gaster also does not possess incredible impulse control. The impulsivity-challenged reptilian monster in question feverishly nudges aside the wires and snatches the circuit back up, inspecting it as he paces in a small circle. He can't get it out of his head…why would a computer need conductors like this? It's exactly the sort of mechanical bullshit Gaster is famous for, and Archemedies is famous for kicking up a notch. Then, it hits him.
What if…
His eyes suddenly make a desperate bid to pop out his head as he suddenly grins the kind of grin you usually see in mental hospitals, crying triumphantly;
"The computer is powered by mag-amb current, Gaster you crazy bastard this is ingenious!"
He cries, shaking the circuit in the air,
"Of course- of course that would be it, that's why there's so little electrical current, it's only meant to power the unimplemented systems- like indicator bulbs and deep-memory log storage! this is perfect!"
He cackles triumphantly, and turns back to the frustrating computer, beginning to rapidly reassemble and swap wires, parts, anything- working at max focus as the lizard monster rapidly repairs the computer, finally understanding what the degrading systems need to operate. This is ingenious- gaster gaster gaster I have GOT to give you a medal for this, this system is incredible! Archemedies thinks to himself, grinning as he snaps parts into place and wipes a thick layer of dust off the keyboard. He coils a large bunch of wires in his tail and begins snapping them back into place, one by one as his mind whirrs. But how to power it? Originally it must've run on the ambient magical current of whoever operated it, but the conduction is far less efficient than it was originally, so…
With a grin, the reptilian monster grabs a large wire in his jaws and heaves it up onto the console, making sure the open end faces him as he backs up a little, still grinning darkly. If it can no longer receive ambient magical current…he thinks, a small shiver of electricity running up his spines and dancing around the sockets burned into his skull, crackling wildly across his scales and dancing along his tail,
Then I suppose I'll have to be more direct!
His scales flash, and a bolt of energy races up his spine, the reptilian monsters mouth opening, his teeth glowing a brilliant white as a cascade of crackling voltage erupts from his jaws and crashing into the wire with such force a sea of sparks rises high into the air, lightning crackles, sparks are flying everywhere, his eyes widen and spines stand on end as a backwash of current hits him square in the chest-
KA-BOOM!
Archemedies is thrown back, hitting the ground hard and bouncing twice as he rolls across the tile, a black scorch mark burned onto his dark gray sweater as current runs through his white blood, the monster severely regretting his decision as the world spins around him. He can barely think, electricity buzzing in his skull as he groans loudly. The computer did not like that…but on the other hand, he hasn't felt this alive in a long while! He sits up with a sharp grin, already planning his next attempt, but when he tries to stand up-
Something snaps.
Archemedies stifles a scream, falling to one knee as pain lanced wildly through him, his teeth clenched even as electricity still buzzed in their cores. Realizing what's happened, panic suddenly bolts up his spine, one leg screaming with pain, twisted at an angle it really shouldn'tve been allowed to twist at. He stays shivering there, kneeled on the ground, as his breath comes hard and fast and his spines stand quivering on end. This isn't happening, this cannot be happening- again, he tries to stand up, and again there is a feeling like all his muscles have suddenly decided to boycott, before the wave pain hits him. Again, he falls to his knees, and again the reptilian monster panics.
How am I supposed to get back!?
Meanwhile, still stationed above, the cloaked figure watches, one hand over her mouth at the two sickening crunches she just heard. That sounded like it hurt. She shudders- that sound of crunching bones…it always gives her the shivers. She watches in concern as he flails around uselessly for a solid twenty minutes, chattering to himself feverishly about things like 'first aid' and 'hp regeneration' before eventually, he seems to remember something.
He slaps his tail to his forehead, then fishes around his pocket, the cloaked figure watching in confusion as the reptilian monster does…something, with a small attack- flinching at the third crack of snapping bone, and sees him carefully lower himself to the floor, obviously in a great amount of pain as he attempts to straighten his leg out. She debates going down and helping him, but decides not to…yet. She still can only remember bits and pieces, and anyway, he might try to run, and running with a bad leg is usually a bad plan. Hopefully he doesn't die- she's seen a few others get hunted down after hurting themselves somehow, and it isn't pretty. she sighs lightly, and her cloak sways in a nonexistent breeze, soul pulsing softly within. The orange glow in her eyes fades out, as she closes her eyes for a moment.
Bits and pieces.
A bonfire. Laughter, friends- the glow and flicker of flame lit from electric sparks. A wide sharp-toothed smile lit by flames, A game of cards? The smell of woodsmoke, so many years…
The hood of the cloak rustles slightly as she shakes her head hard. Why can't she remember properly- and more importantly, why did she forget? She stares down at the reptilian monster below, and tries to focus on his face. Why does he seem so familiar? And what is it about this monster that reminds her so much of Ding? She watches as the reptilian monster badly attempts to perform healing magic on himself, and frowns. Her memories. Those sly elusive bastards can never decide what order they wanna be in, or even if they'll appear at all. Fuzzy and broken, like a really old television…But, she does remember her family.
The glow of gentle flames, laughter at an inside joke, the glint of a ring, the smiles she knows better than her own, a tune, hummed to a song she's sick of, snow ball to the face, words only she understands, two pairs of glasses-
something is missing.
…She has to remember. She feels it, a missing piece of her puzzle. A gap. So many gaps- is this why her memories are always so fuzzy? Because they're...incomplete? Her cloak shifts where she hovers in the darkness of the high lab ceiling, and she closes her burning orange eyes, concentrating. Who is he? Who is he? Whoishewhoishewhoishewhoishewho-
Then, something comes back.
It's not a memory- just a feeling.
That feeling is annoyance.
Her burning eyes suddenly flare, beginning to crackle like flames within her hood as her cloak trembles, memories flashing behind two burning orange eyes. Moments, snippets- songs, sounds, lights and places shuffled as she lets her fuzzied memories rearrange, watching as broken pieces fit and click together. It's as if her whole brain comes snapping back into focus like a camera lens, beginning to whirr smoothly in much the same way a tractor doesn't. She lets out a breath she didn't really know she was holding, and gives herself a moment to adjust.
…Archemedies. She remembers him so, so well now.
Suddenly, she snaps back to attention. What the hell is she doing here, just floating around uselessly? Why- uhg, no matter, she has to help him!
But unfortunately, she doesn't get that choice.
For, then, her burning orange eyes lock onto a shape coiled in the shadows….or, is it the shadows that are coiling? She watches, frozen in a silent horror as the shadows at the back of the lab begin to clot and bubble, slowly bleeding into the physical as her breath begins to come faster. No, no, not now- not now! What attracted it!? She was careful, she didn't do anything, there's no way that-
Oh. Oh no.
Arch, you utter, complete, absolute-
A long string of Spanish insults train through her head in neat bullet-point fashion as she frantically turns towards Archemedies, who is (unsurprisingly) in the exact same place he was before, still doggedly working away at what looks to be a very shitty attempt at trying to heal himself. And, obviously, stupidly oblivious to the beast that drags itself from the shadows nearby. This one is especially nightmarish- ugly, as always, an eyeless and vaguely python-like head rising from a barrel chest that drips shadows as it drags its back legs from the darkness. She can see it smile that gruesome smile now- cloak fluttering as she stays hovering at the ceiling, her eyes flicking from Archemedies to the demon, a million options of what to do flying around her head as she tries to find the one where the least people die.
Then, it hits her.
Literally.
