CHAPTER THIRTY SIX: The Beginning Of The End
CONTENT WARNING:
Injury detail/'mild gore'
Gross elements.
Archemedies, standing at a crossroads, waits silently for the others- his face still a mask of cold stone.
He watches gaster slowly catch up to him, Herman walking not far behind, suspiciously quiet. Gaster must've asked her to let him handle it…figures. That's just like him, and just like her. Archemedies feels a pang of guilt despite himself as he watches her trudge on, expression full of unsatisfied worry. Then, Gaster finally glides up to him, and archemedies averts his eyes. He glares coldly at the stone, asking in a blank tone;
"…which way."
Gaster closes his eyes for a moment, then points down the left passage- Archemedies immediately beginning to limp down it, pipe-splint making small clicks on the stone as he strains to replicate his usual walking speed. Gaster, however, lags purposefully behind, until Archemedies finally gives in and slows his pace to match his friends. They walk silently next to each other for a long time, Gaster occasionally glancing down at Archemedies to readjust his pace to whatever new tactic Archemedies uses, the reptilian monster's pace irregular as he tries to walk comfortably with little success.
"[…you know Herman is only worried.]"
Gaster signs eventually, as soon as he knows Archemedies eye is catchable. Archemedies glances up to watch his hands, then sighs. It's not a question, and they both know it.
"…Yes, fine, I know. She was worried, and wasn't doing anything wrong by asking, spare me the sermon..."
"[You weren't angry with her then?]"
Gaster asks carefully, and Archemedies snorts sharply, replying;
"Of course not! It wasn't her fault, she was just trying to make sure I was alright it's…"
Archemedies sighs.
"…it's really my fault, I shouldn't have reacted that way."
"[But you did.]"
Archemedies huffs, and looks away.
"Yes, yes I did. I was just…it bothers me. You can understand that."
Gaster looks down at the pillar of darkness where his body should be, and shudders, feeling the phantom sensations of limbs prickle as he tries to shake the feeling off. The ghostly sensations of arms and legs hang dead by his sides, where he knows there's only empty space, now.
"[Yes, yes I can.]"
He replies simply, Archemedies sighing as he stares at the rock moving by slowly beneath.
"…you shouldn't be here, Gaster."
Archemedies remarks, his spines sinking almost flat to his scales.
"Nobody deserves to have that happen to them, least of all you."
He waves a tail to Gasters…well, general everything at the moment, and his snout curls, looking away. Gaster remains silent for a long moment, then Archemedies hears the familiar click of snapping fingers, and looks up to see his slow, careful signs.
"[You say that like you haven't been through worse.]"
Gaster signs eventually, his gaze suddenly impaling Archemedies through the skull.
"[Why do I deserve it less than you?]"
Archemedies falls silent, the small clank of metal against stone the only sound for a long while as Archemedies limps on. His eyes are cold and expression blank, a deep ice swirling the depths of archemedies soul, his deadened heart too tired to beat.
"…because you still have something to go back to, Gaster."
Archemedies finally mutters, his pace unbroken.
"…I have nothing."
Gaster stops dead in his tracks.
It takes a few steps for Archemedies to notice he's not there beside him anymore, but when he does, he turns- and he sees Gaster standing there, completely still, his eyes burning holes into Archemedies head.
"[Nothing?]"
He slowly signs, hands quivering,
"[Nothing?]"
Archemedies just nods, eyes cold and empty as he meets gaster blazing gaze, the shadowed skeletons hands still clenched where they float as tight fists, not from anger, but from the horrible tragedy of everything. Of what his best friend, once unshakable, is saying right now. What he believes, without a doubt, to be true.
"There's nothing left for me, Gaster."
Archemedies replies in a cold voice, barely more than a whisper with icicles hanging from the words as gaster stares at him with a horrible silence.
"[Nothing left!?]"
Gaster explodes, his hands flurrying to sign the words as they echo out in a burst of static from his own mouth, his face twisted in a mask of hurt and sorrow as Archemedies watches him with a cold gaze.
"[How can you say that Archemedies!? What about Waterfall, and HotSprings, and- and what about your friends? Our friends? Do you think they don't miss you?]"
Gasters hands are barely more than a blur now, his eyes pleading with Archemedies to listen, to please listen- but Archemedies just stares coldly on, the heart in his chest dead and cold.
"[What about the world Archemedies? what about NewHome, your home, what about the kids running in the street and all the people who'd be better off knowing you?]"
Gaster finishes explosively, hands trembling as he stares at Archemedies pleadingly, eyes desperate for him to understand. To stop staring at him with that blank ice behind his eyes. To stop looking, and acting, like he's already a corpse.
"The world moved on without me."
Archemedies replies coldly, voice empty and hollow as a rotted seed. He stands there in the center of the twisting monochrome passage.
"I've been gone almost longer than I've been alive. Those friends don't remember me, Gaster."
Archemedies replies, slowly, and coldly.
"The world has moved on, and the kids have all grown up now- without me and without you."
Gaster flinches, as if struck.
His silence is louder than if he had screamed, and Archemedies probably would have preferred it if he had. Archemedies mouth opens, closes, and he feels horror creep up his spines. His eyes widen, and for a moment the smoke clears- he's an idiot, and idiot, why would he say that to a monster who's been away from his family so long that he-
"I-I'm-"
"[right.]"
Gaster interrupts, eyelights blurred by small, sharp tears.
"[you're right.]"
Archemedies can barely look at him, the expression on his face is so full of pain.
"[he was twelve when I fell, and now…]"
The tears drip down gasters skull now, and he stares down at the ground, interrupting himself to wipe them away.
"[I've been gone more years than I was ever there for him.]"
Archemedies feels hollow inside as gasters hands falter in the air, his static voice breaking slightly.
"[But i still love him, Arch. I love both of them. Even though they don't know me anymore, let alone love me, I still want to see them. I want to tell them I'm…]"
Archemedies stares up at him, as Gaster trails off, wiping away more tears- in vain, because they're not stopping.
"[Maybe…maybe you don't think you deserve to go home.]"
Gaster shrugs, tears still sliding silently down his skull.
"[But I do. And damn it all, Arch, I'm getting out- and you're coming with me, whether you like it or not.]"
Tears stream down gasters skull, and Archemedies knows he caused them, yet all the shadowed skeleton gives him a sad smile as he signs with shaking hands;
"[Because, whether you like it or not, I care about you.]"
Gaster just wipes his face dry with one hand, sighing, his eyesockets tired and weary from the weathering of many tragedies.
"[and I'm not letting you go, okay?]"
Archemedies stares up at him, and sees a monster he's known most of his life. He sees a monster whose face he's watched turn from an inexperienced, cocky college freshman into a father so tortured it's a wonder he still functions. Into a monster so tired, and beaten, and weary, he almost has nothing left to give. But he keeps giving. Even though he died. Even though he lost everything, somehow, he managed to stay sane. He managed to keep himself. He found something to cling to. He found his anchor, in the memory of his children, to keep him from going insane.
And now, he's going to anchor Archemedies, whether he likes it, or not.
"Okay."
Archemedies replies quietly, tears in his own eyes, looking away.
There's silence for a while, as they both turn and walk. Archemedies feels guilt chew at his stomach, and Gaster just stares down at the stone, his eyes hollower than they had been before this conversation. He looks so tired.
"I'm sorry."
Archemedies chokes out suddenly, his voice tight.
"You were only trying to help me, and…"
Archemedies sighs, not looking up.
"And, I seem to have a habit of hurting anyone who tries. I…hope you can forgive me for that."
Gaster looks up, and catches Archemedies eye. He holds his gaze for a long moment, expression betraying nothing, before;
"[There's nothing to forgive.]"
Gaster replies, smiling tiredly at Archemedies, who looks immediately away.
"…Thank you."
"[No problem, old friend.]"
Herman walks quietly behind, too far to hear, but close enough to follow.
She watches her brother talk quietly with Archemedies, but makes no attempt to read the distant signs, her eyes fixed on the limping gray shape that lurches steadily forward, armless shoulders occasionally rising in a sigh or hunching as he looks away. She's worried about him…and about Dings.
She sighs, tightening the ribbon cinching the dress to her spine and flipping up her cloak hood as she walks. Dings has always been better at talking to Archemedies when he gets like this, probably because he knows him the best. He always knows what to say to people, somehow. She wishes she could do that sometimes.
Times like now, when Arch is spacing out and her brother is made of melted tar. After all, Gasters was always the one there to support them in the past- whether it was her, or Archemedies, or even just a random friend, he was always the one who knew how to sit down and listen. Who knew how to help. But now, here, when he's unquestionably the one suffering the most out of all of them, who's going to help him?
Suddenly, she hears a burst of laughter from up ahead, and looks up- archemedies is whacking gaster with his tail, yelling something at him through a barely stifled grin. Gaster is laughing and trying to shield his head from the onslaught, batting archemedies tail away mostly unsuccessfully.
Ah, thank the Angel, they made up…
Hermans face breaks into a relieved grin, watching them for a moment and remembering many other times gaster has successfully dragged archemedies out of one of his sulks. Though, to his credit, that just there was much more serious than a sulk. Shaking her skull slightly to clear out the doom and gloom, Herman flips down her hood and skips up to the two, cloak fluttering behind her.
"Oi! I'm gonna assume the ungodly racket means I'm allowed to come back now?"
Herman asks, strategically coming between archemedies tail and her brother,
"Unless you're still giving me the silent treatment?"
She asks pointedly, raising one nonexistent eyebrow at Archemedies as the trio automatically drifts around a large stalagmite. Archemedies winces, looking away and replying awkwardly;
"A-ah, yes, sorry about that…I just…don't like being reminded about it."
He apologizes, Herman just nodding firmly and replying, her gait bouncing a little as she keeps pace.
"Eh, don't worry about it! I'm pretty sure I can take a little cold shoulder from you, arch."
She reassures him with a smile, Archemedies relaxing slightly and permitting himself a relieved sigh.
Then, the trio slows down, stopping as they reach another fork in the road. Everyone looks at gaster, who's already staring pensively at the three pathways in front of them, one hand on his chin as he tries to pinpoint the correct direction. Herman waits very patiently, for about 2.5 seconds.
"We lost?"
She asks, squinting at her brother with a dubious expression.
"I mean- remember the last time you tried this?"
She reminds him pointedly, Archemedies snorting as Gaster sighs deeply. Why does everyone have to remember that?
'No, we aren't. I'm just trying to discern which path it is.'
Herman makes a suspicious 'Uh huh' noise, raising her nonexistent brow, unimpressed.
"Yeah, sure, you're 'discerning.'"
She mutters, grinning. Gaster can hear the air quotes around the word, and does his best to ignore her, thinking hard. And thankfully, after a moment, he nods, and points down the east path, an upward-sloping curve that narrows almost to the point where Herman has to duck.
As the group follows the winding passage, the light from behind them steadily dims- no fluorescent white beams illuminating their way as the group treads on, two hands and the tip of a tail trailing along the wall for guidance as the group switches to single file. Archemedies short, sharp breaths echo through the passageway as the splint click against the stone, Herman making sure to walk directly behind him should he fall. Gaster has his eyesockets shut, concentrating on following the dim tug that pulls him towards the small shard of his own magic- which is hopefully still with crooks. It's harder since the summon is not broken, no leftover signature of magic burned into the world for him to search for, but the dim tug is enough.
Then, sensing light hitting his skull, he opens his eyes.
The group finds themselves standing at the entrance to a domed cavern- big enough to fit a small house, the opposite wall breaking out into a ledge overlooking the main hotland cavern, the gray rock swooping up around them as the core glimmers distantly. But, that's not what has everyone's attention.
Standing in the center of this cavern, is Crooks.
Standing dead still, long tail curling lazily behind him, his sharp ears flick, back to the group. One hand in the pocket of his lab coat, the tall monster does not turn, seeming transfixed by the object in his hand as his long frame sways ever-so-slightly side to side, framed against the distant hotland view. Gaster's eyes flick to the torn corner of his coat, then back to Crooks hand, where rests a softly glowing bone…his summon. So he found it… Gaster senses Archemedies come up on his left, then Herman on his right, all of them hesitating slightly. They'd expected…well, not this.
Crooks, just like them, is monochrome- his fur a dark ash, a long, slightly crooked tail coiling out from beneath the white hem of his scorched lab coat and becoming almost like smoke where it tapers off by his ankles. Gaster winces, as he sees the pattern of circuitry burned into his back- a permanent marker of the experiment that brought him here, a branding of the clamps that tried to merge determination into his soul. Archemedies too sees the marks, and shivers, the socket in the back of his head prickling uncomfortably as he remembers his own scar.
Then, Crooks left ear flicks- and he turns his head, remarking with unsettling calmness;
"Oh, you're here?"
He observes, letting the words hang in the air for just a second too long before he turns, tilting his head to the side slightly and smiling pleasantly at them as his tail continues to curl behind him, like a snake preparing to strike. Gaster can't help noticing the dull glaze in his eyes as Crooks stares back at them, smile stretched a little too wide as he slips his hand into his pocket.
"Well, that was quick, given the circumstances."
Archemedies, suspicious, opens his mouth and begins to step forward, but Gaster puts out a hand, stopping him and whispering urgently;
"[That is not crooks. Not…quite.]"
He hisses to arch, his static voice carrying a meaning both Herman and Archemedies instantly interpret as 'be careful.' Giving him a small nod, Archemedies backs up again. Herman locks her eyes on crooks, her faint orange eyelights glistening from beneath the cowl of her hood as she tugs it upwards. Archemedies too is lashing his tail, spines just beginning to rise, quivering slightly as he bristles like a cat. Something is wrong, they all know it- and so does he. Crooks ears twitch, and his false smile remains motionless, tail lashing just once.
"Ah, you've guessed, then?"
He sighs boredly, a hint of sarcasm edging his voice,
"You did it so very quickly, too…"
Crooks says, his voice slipping into tones nearly unrecognizable- a hollow tamber ringing through his words, his brow twitching slightly as he locks eyes with Gaster through a sickly smile.
"I'm almost disappointed."
He hisses through clenched too-white teeth, a deranged grin cracking across his face- ears beginning to twitch as his eyes roll back, the trio of monsters watching in shock as his eyes return as black as pools of ink. Droplets of black begin bubbling like tears from crooks eyes- and from seemingly almost everywhere else, too. Drops of black seep from the cuffs of his sleeves, roll down his coat, bleed onto the ground as Crooks just keeps smiling as if this is the most enjoyable thing in the world.
All three monsters collectively shudder, recoiling backwards as Crooks chokes a laugh through the thick layer of darkness bubbling up his throat. Archemedies looks to gaster for some form of explanation, as does Herman, but he has none- he just stares, transfixed by the gruesome sight before him. Something about this is resonating, not with him, but with the void filling the cracks in his soul- darkness calling to darkness, in the depths of this horrific scene.
"Surprised?"
Crooks asks through a bubbling throat, still grinning so wide the corners stretch almost beyond his eyes, pushing them into thin black crescents that bleed down his fur as he steps forwards.
"You shouldn't be."
He hisses, and Gaster can feel Archemedies and Herman bristling, itching to either fight or run, waiting for him to signal which- but he makes no move to either. Gasters mind is whirring, trying to figure it out, trying to make sense of it. Though his instincts scream, he reminds himself that so far, nothing else has turned out to be what it seems- why should this? He hardly looks as he used to, and god knows how he'd act after being trapped in the manner Crooks has- he has to give him a chance.
Everyone deserves a chance.
Herman jolts as Gaster takes a deep breath, beginning to glide forwards. Her hand is on his shoulder in an instant, and Gaster glances back at her, the siblings eyes locking silently. Herman's expression is an essay of fear, and Gaster can tell she's trying to warn him.
Don't you dare,
her flickering eyelights say,
You absolute idiot. Don't you dare.
Her hand has not left his shoulder, and Gaster smiles apologetically, just a little. It's alright. He shakes his skull, and Herman, more than a little reluctantly, lets go.
Gaster continues gliding forward, his cloak-like body moving soundlessly across the stone as he keeps his expression calm. Shadows whisper from the droplets he leaves, and Crooks makes no indication of surprise at his approach. He simply watches Gaster cautiously glide closer, droplets of black trickling down his face and falling into the gray.
'…Are you alright, Crooks?'
Gaster signs carefully, Herman glancing from her brother to the demon standing across from him. She calls up the magic from the depths of her bones, and feels it crackle in her palm, flexing her hand by her side like a soldier reaching for a gun. She takes comfort in its familiar pulse, as she locks her gaze on the new horror that is, or maybe I should say was, Crooks. Archemedies is bristling beside her, his spines crackling with electricity as he itches to attack, tail whipping silently. The pair of them wait, ready, should this go wrong- though both pray to whatever gods may listen that it won't. Crooks makes no move, simply watching, waiting, as Gaster comes a little closer.
'Do you remember me?'
Gaster signs, searching for familiarity in Crooks' lightless eyes, keeping his hands steady with practiced concentration. He feels his soul pound within his darkened chest, but does not show it. Crooks tail suddenly lashes once, and Archemedies begins to step forward, already snarling with electric sparks- but again Gaster holds out a hand, Herman only barely restraining herself as her brother whispers;
"[it's alright.]"
He says as calmly as he can, not taking his eyes off crooks. Archemedies lingers for just a moment, before reluctantly stepping back into his original position.
'…Do you remember me?'
Gaster repeats, smiling as best he can when everything in him screams to run. He reaches back to the him he was when he met this monster last, feeling for the memories, the inflections, the actions, anything that might serve to help this wayward soul remember who he was. He glides a little closer, Crooks staring at him with eyes that bleed a blackness somehow more lightless than gaster's own. It traces its way down Crooks face, the grin frozen sharp and unnatural, like a puppet with no strings. It is an expression of madness that sends ice running up Gasters nonexistent spine, but still, he doesn't show it. He can't afford to.
Refusing to be unnerved by the lack of response, Gaster holds out one hand, spreading it wide so the hole in his palm is clearly seen. He smiles in the same way he might've, so long ago, when he had no cracks and no void to hold him. He smiles over his fear, and signs to Crooks;
'It is me, Crooks. W.D Gaster, the royal scientist- do you remember me?'
He asks again, searching crooks face for anything, anything, that might indicate he could still be in there somewhere- waiting to be saved, wanting to be okay.
But there comes no answer.
Instead, Crooks slowly reaches out, and lifts gaster's hand out of the air- Gaster forcing himself not to shudder as his fingers curl straight through it, Crooks delicately tracing the circular hole with one claw as Gaster tries to silence the internal screaming of a thousand frayed nerves, and the shuddering discomfort of the claw scraping against bone.
'Yes, good!'
Gaster signs brightly, flashing Crooks a hopeful smile. Perhaps he can be helped. Nerves fray, worries spiral, Gaster fighting to keep his mind from fear. A long silence stretches as Crooks stares down at Gasters hand in his claws, held clutched between them like a trapped bird, delicate enough to…
"Yes,"
Crooks whispers, looking up, claws curling in,
"I remember you."
CRACK!
A heart wrenching sound suddenly explodes from gaster, a horrible scream of static swallowing the silence as white shards hit the rock, two halves of a broken hand hitting the ground with a sickening crunch of splintered bone.
Gaster crumples beside them, his scream clawing at the air as Crooks smiles, smiles so hard his jaw should crack- he watches with bleeding eyes as Gaster begins to melt from the pain, puddling darkness onto the ground as his static scream of pain tapers away into ragged gasping. White dust coats Crooks hands, blackness dribbling down his neck as he smiles wide enough to crack, teeth parting, a sick laugh dripping in the horrible silence.
Herman still stands by the cave mouth, watching, stunned, as her brother screams. His skull dissolves into his shoulders, the expression of agony on his face melting away into a shuddering mass of pain as the broken hand shatters on the rock. In slow motion she watches the shards bounce, tumbling, splintering, turning to white dust as the world falls away. The sound cuts out, the screaming fades. The last thing left is Crooks, a singular target in the midst of a pulsing, scarlet rage.
Then, Herman's skull lights.
It happens in a flash, the skeletons' vision consumed by a red haze as she hurls herself forward with all the force of a bullet train, screaming, beyond reason, beyond rage- tackling Crooks to the ground and clawing at him with raw fury as her only weapon. There's no magic, no, she's tearing at him with her bare hands, fighting as she has been fighting for so many years, in this place where using magic is a deadly mistake. Archemedies dashes to Gasters side, standing over him as Herman fights, screaming as she strikes again and again, eyes blazing as she pours pure unfiltered hate into every blow.
Crooks hisses with rabid ferality, sweeping claws aiming for Hermans face as he fights back, writhing under Herman's hands as he cackles black ichor. But the enraged skeleton lands a devastating blow to the gut before he has time to retaliate, bearing down on him with the full weight of her rage, Crooks weathering the onslaught with a sick grin as he strains to land a killing blow.
His chest cracks under Herman's weight as gravity suddenly doubles tenfold, a blue blaze alighting in her eyes as ribs crunch, Crooks just laughing a bubbling ooze as Herman punches him square across the face, his head snapping back with a sickening crunch- but he only smiles as he cracks his neck back into place with a gruesome sound and locks eyes with the furious skeleton.
With a scream of fury, Herman's arm shoots up with a roar of blazing orange- rows upon rows of splintering bones exploding from the ground without aim or precision, splintering the rock as she pours her own considerable magic into the fray of anger. Her magic roars to match her fury, exploding from her in shapeless bursts of pure intent to kill, not even bones anymore as Crooks reassembles his broken spine and leaps back, drawing out Herman's attacks as she fires barrage after barrage- just smiling, like he can no longer stop, or can no longer care.
Herman's skull is afire now, a bonfire of rage, eyes blazing a brilliant orange as tears refract the ghostly light, her bones bearing licking flames of furious magic as she keeps her crosshairs locked on Crooks. anger boiles in the pit of her nonexistent stomach as the red mist persists in her mind, Crooks the only target left, and the one thing she cares most about beating into the ground. Crooks face cracks as void runs down his face, darting away from her attacks, dancing away from her bursts of pure magical rage as dark blood hits the ground, pushing her buttons-
Until Herman snaps.
Suddenly, that grin, that bleeding black grin is in full precision. A HD image, burning into her head as Herman snaps into focus, the rage refining itself into something only describable as incredibly specific bloodlust. Herman bites down on her scream of rage in a sudden, glacial silence, the flame in her eyes enveloping her skull as it licks at the air in rythm. Her own cold, spiteful grin spreads, as Herman summons her scythe in her hands and hurls herself forward- a cacophony of hateful sound bursting back out of her as the burning scythe tears a path of flame;
"¡VAYA AL INFIERNO!"
Her scream echoes to the long-hidden heavens as the scythe hurtles downwards with the force of a truck, a cavernous trench slicing straight through Crooks stomach before he can blink.
The blade cuts through his innards like butter, sending a million sprays of black arcing through the air as Herman twists the scythe into his gut and yanks it back with a savage sense of pleasure, liquid shadow pouring onto the ground from the crippling wound that cuts deep enough to shatter a good portion of his spine. A blow like that would have, should have killed any monster, should have killed them ten times over for all the hatered Herman packed into it, should have dealt more damage than any living thing could take.
But, you can't kill what's already dead.
With a crack of breaking sinews Crooks staggers up, grinning like a madman, Herman breathing heavily as black drips off her burning blade, sizzling like acid on the ground. The pale, magic-born innards many monsters possess are now seen in full view within crooks ruptured midsections, streams of inky darkness waterfalling down crooks clothes, pooling by his feet and seeping from his eyes, the deranged monster locking his gaze on Herman and only smiling.
"I was right."
He hisses through grinning, blackened teeth that dangle haphazardly from him as Herman watches in cosmic terror as hulking shadows crawl from the stone to flank him.
Crooks just grins, through the black blood. His ruptured spine cracks and heaves as he laughs, the shambling shadows heaving themselves from pools of his own blood, snapping at the wisps of orange in the air and sucking the magic from it as he runs a hand over one of the hulking, toothed shapes. Crooks smiles as it shudders below his hand, their eyeless faces twitching at his every command. They follow him, magnetize to him, surround the darkest heart they see as Crooks hisses- almost mockingly- quoting a villain he'll never know;
"You really are an idiot."
He grins through his own impossibly contorted body, and the shadows bristle, their darkness rippling like water as they bleed into and out of one another as if they were one singular mass, bearing their lipless teeth as Crooks moves to point, goes to order. But he is interrupted, hand half raised, by a bark of dry laughter from where Herman still sways, staring at him with wild murder in her eyes.
"Don't kid yourself, cara de culo."
She spits, her skull split by her own cold grin.
"Puta, I know those things better than you do. You think you understand this place?"
Herman demands, her voice raw with hatered as the fractures in her bones bleed their own droplets of white blood.
"Do you know how long I've been stuck here? I knew, I knew you weren't him. You weren't crooks."
Her voice is a hateful sob, now, Herman's face a death mask of a gritted grin, spite dripping from her eyes, from her mouth as she chokes;
"But my brother, my trusting little brother thought he could help."
A strangled laugh.
"You know what would've happened, cara de culo, if he hadn't stopped me?"
Tears of pain and rage stream down her face, her eyesockets ablaze with a raw fire, mouth a contorted mask of grinning spite as she snarls;
"I'd have killed you where you stood."
She hisses through a gritted grin, black blood staining her dress, her cloak, her bones, snapping her head to the side and cracking her neck as she shifts her stance. She smiles coldly, eyes burning as she grips her scythe just a little tighter. Crooks shrugs, something in his decimated body cracking at the motion as he smiles, gruesome and cruel.
"I very much doubt that."
He hisses, grinning, like the madman he is.
Suddenly, hundreds of shadowy shapes burst from the ground- clamoring into a wave of void, spilling into a pounding ring of bodies around Herman.
It's an arena, and she knows it. Herman knows it, as she twists and turns, trying to face a million enemies at once, Crooks standing just outside the ring and smiling through dripping darkness with inky black eyes. She knows that it's very likely these moments will be her last.
Herman twists, her burning eyes flicking this way and that as she tracks grin after gruesome grin, years of experience shaping her every move as her magic pounds, preparing to once again fight for her life. She's lived for this, lived like this, for so long- she knows the crack of shadow-borne spines better than she knows her own voice, and now is different in only one way;
Now, she has someone to fight for. She has her brother, to fight for.
The brother which is still collapsed on the stone, Archemedies by his side, her eyes catching on his motionless body for only a moment. The shattered hand on the rock, phalanges scattered across the stone. The dripping, dribbling melted mess that should've been his body, arms and legs and all those things that aren't there and should've been. Rage boils in the marrow of her bones, and Herman swivels- facing the army of shadows encircling her, a burning scythe still aflame under her grip.
One of the shadows suddenly hurls itself from the ring, mouth agape- and Herman spins, and slicing it in half with a terrible silence as it's body hits the ground. Her face is blank as her fury still burns like the scythe she grips, her eyesockets spilling orange fire from beneath her hood as she spins to dismember another mouth of crooked teeth.
But they just keep coming, more and more, darting out from directly behind her as Herman spins wildly, left, right, back and duck- a dance of death in the center of this ring of shadows. Blood splatters across her cloak, her scythe hissing through the acidic void, the trait of Bravery burning across her bones and smoldering in her eyes as the hiss and crack of shadow-borne bones rings out through the caves.
Then, there is contact. A shadowy body crashes right into her spine, knocking her to her knees, more leaping out and striking her down again and again as she struggles to stand, Crooks orchestrating it all with the smallest of twitches.
His face is a mess of clotting, coiling void, teeth blackened by the acid darkness as he watches Herman fall. She's shaking now, pummeled from all sides, arms threatening to buckle as she fights desperately to keep from collapsing, Crooks raising his hand to signal for the final command. Herman is only seconds from being overwhelmed, seconds from being killed, but then-
Thwack!
- Something small and white suddenly shoots from his pocket, striking Crooks up the face. His head snaps back with a painful crack as the shadows falter, for just a moment. Just long enough for Herman to breathe. Just long enough for her scythe to reform, just long enough for the skeleton to struggle to her feet.
But Crooks isn't looking at her.
Gaster is barely alive, still collapsed on the ground, body melting from pain. His hand is still shattered into dust and splinters, lying dead on the stone. but, he can still only just see, one eye socket unmelted, and he's staring right at Crooks. There's fear and agony in his one flickering eyelight, but fury too. Righteous anger runs in the family, his melted expression reminiscent of a faraway judgment hall. His good hand quivers in the air as what's left of his forgotten attack dissipates, his last desperate bid to help his sister melting away as Crooks' tail flicks once.
Crooks slowly turns his head almost a full 360°, tilting it and smiling wider as his jaw cracks back into place with a crunch of bone.
"So, you can still fight?"
He asks, with a cruel, splitting smile.
"Good."
Herman has hauled herself fully to her feet now, her knees threatening to buckle under her but scythe still held tightly in her hands as she spits;
"¡Oye, hijo de mil putas! it'll be pretty stupid if you aren't even looking at me when I slice you in half, don't you think?"
She growls, venom dripping from her words, shaking with the effort of staying upright but still willing to hurl every last inch of herself into vengeance. He hurt her brother. Her twin. The only family she has left, and the one thing left in this world she would die to protect.
And if she has to, she will.
"I, am the one you should be worrying about."
She hisses, barely able to stand yet still doing so with her head held high, with the pride she has always had and will never lose. Crooks turns his head to face her, and replies in a voice dripping with blood;
"No, I don't think you are."
He observes, almost boredly. His hand clenches then, and Herman is suddenly swallowed by a mass of convulsing shadows- the ghostly skeleton struggling to fight back, screaming with rage as the bodies pile on her, teeth meeting her every effort to escape as her only free hand claws desperately. Her ghostly bones are slowly swallowed by the mass, her rage drowned out as Crooks begins to stride towards the melted Gaster. All Gaster can do is shake raggedly from pain and fatigue, half-vision fading in and out as Crooks grows closer, closer- the bleeding grin wavering in and out, in and out as gaster fights to stay awake.
His HP is most likely far far below zero by now, barely conscious, unable to do anything to save himself as he meets Crooks' bleeding eyes with as much fury as he can muster.
Herman screams in rage and desperate fear as she tries to push herself from the mass of shadows, terrified eyes locked on her brother and the approaching Crooks as she gasps for air, but she is swallowed once more, just as Crooks comes within striking range of her quivering brother.
But he's forgotten something.
Someone.
Archemedies snarls with rage, suddenly appearing in the space between Crooks and Gaster, spines bristling, teeth bared as he growls low in his throat, every inch of him poised to attack. His tail lashes behind him, body held low to the ground as he snarls upwards, electric white eyes glistening with hatred.
"Don't you dare."
He hisses, spines quivering as he radiates fury. His tail lashes even as he still balances on the point of his splint, eyes wide and glinting with the urge to rip the demon before him to shreds. Crooks towers over him, droplets of black falling barely an inch from Archemedies curling snout as Crooks, still pouring darkness onto the ground, laughs.
"What can you do to stop me?"
He asks, eyes bleeding black as his smile drips onto the ground, tilting his head condescendingly and smiling as Archemedies begins to shake. The feline monster barely notices Archemedies snout beginning to ripple, his spines standing on end, or the fact his chest is beginning to puff as he draws his head back, eyes full of fury-
Archemedies stares right up into crooks face, and gives him a glowing, sharp-toothed grin.
KRA-BOOM!
A tsunami of voltage explodes from archemedies with a sound like the earth cracking in half, his spines flashing a brilliant white as Crooks is enveloped by a sudden blinding light that erupts like a flash bomb from Archemedies face. Black ichor is sent up in sprays, the explosion of electricity hurling him back as Archemedies pours himself into the attack, the burst of light forcing the shadows around Hermann to hiss and recoil, the skeleton struggling to escape as the attack blazes like a beacon in the world of gray. Before Crooks even hits the ground, Archemedies snarls and pivots on his good leg, slashing the sharp extended spines of his tail across Crooks face and slamming him back onto the ground as voltage runs rampant through both their veins, pounding like adrenaline in one, burning like venom in the other. His eyes crackle too, electricity dancing around his scales as he stands over Crooks, suddenly haloed by dancing lightning as he hisses so quiet only Crooks can hear him, voice crackling with spite;
"That is what."
Herman tears herself from the tangle of suddenly-disorganized shadows with a ragged gasp, stumbling and nearly falling but somehow staggering to Gaster, barely conscious herself now as she falls to her knees behind Archemedies with a clatter of bones.
The reptilian monster immediately turns to her as she grabs him by the coat and frantically tugs, eyes wild as Crooks begins to recover from the devastating attack.
He's shuddering, but pushing himself up, a broken, bloody laugh beginning to tear its way out his throat like a dying thing as Herman pulls both archemedies and the blissfully unconscious gaster to her, panic in her eyes as she sends out a huge pulse of magic, non reality shivering around them as without warning they are hurled head over heels through pure sensation, tears of fury and pain flying from Herman's eyes. One arm is looped around her melting brother and the other around archemedies, Herman squeezing her eye sockets shut tight as she prays, prays to anyone, prays to everything and all who will listen that this will-
Then, for the second time today this month this year, three bodies hit the floor.
Author note:
I've been trying to work up the courage to post this chapter for a while now. But, I think I've realized something.
My goal here, is not to entertain you.
It's to make something I love, that I need, that i can look back on and be proud of. And I am proud of this chapter. Maybe the future is…uncertain, for both me and for them, but you know what?
I'm going to have fun finding out.
Keep writing my friends, and remember that you should write because you love writing. And, if something isn't enjoyable, It's okay for you to stop! You are growing, and finding your groove as a writer. Make something you love, and take no shit from no one.
I love you all, stay safe out there. 3
