The other side of seventy-eight Chapter 81
Flowers unbothered as she rose, the little, shadowy phantom stared upwards, transfixed. Big, obsidian eyes peered through a thick, flowing mist, mesmerized by what little light peeked down to meet her. A silent, black stream dripped from above, flowing off through the colourless grass and beyond the ever-present haze.
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She wondered where the light was coming from. How high up was it? Why did it made her insides plummet just to look at it?
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She folded her arms against her chest, though it did nothing to abate the numbing cold that permeated every note of her being.
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A whisper of a breeze brushed her face as it spiralled downwards along the stone. The scent of flowers lifted upon it in a gentle puff, carrying with it sweetness and nostalgia.
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The phantom's cold soul ached. Her memory swirled with the images of a white-furred creature with pale horns and floppy ears and a warm smile.
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She needed to go home. Follow the breeze and go.
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She turned and meandered along languidly, following the black stream as it flowed, guiding her to a cool, dark cavern. The little phantom paused in anticipation, ears pricked, and waited, dark eyes probing the mist. Wasn't there supposed to be a voice calling to her? Someone telling her where to go and what to do?
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But nobody came.
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She continued onwards, her soul sparking dimly with grey as it guided her along. She trailed the black river as it joined other streams and flowed calmly upwards. Everything ran together and her thoughts vanished off into clouds, returning only to remind her of home when she halted to stare at the wall for too long.
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As the mist finally abated enough to see the path ahead, the little phantom found herself in the blindingly bright snow. She couldn't recall arriving there at all. She turned curiously to see a towering wall of stone behind her, its heavy door left ajar. The dark river flowed from it, up and over the rock and off into the forest. The phantom didn't follow it this time, the tug in her soul pulling her elsewhere. Home was somewhere ahead, and she was so tired. It would be nice to rest.
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There were dogs out in the hills. A big one and a little one. A little warmth sparked in her chest at the sight of them rolling snow through the fog. She stuck her hand up to greet them, but neither of dogs returned the gesture.
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Before she knew it, the little phantom stood in the centre of a snowy road, nestled between shops, forest, and fog. Town was quiet, strings of white lights gently pulsing on the sides of bland buildings. Forms lurked in the mist, passing in and out of view. The phantom watched curiously, her mind cranking as she squinted to try to see them. She could not and, after a moment, drifted on, unbothered.
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The house at the end of the road glowed, different from the others. The phantom's soul pulsed gently until she came to a halt right in front of it. She stared up at the looming place as dark water poured silently out the window. Even so, the little phantom was struck with déjà vu. She knew this place. It was hers, wasn't it? Home?
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She cautiously slipped forward, reached out a hand, and found herself in a monochrome, grey room. Mist pooled at the doorways, even here, and the phantom clenched her hands together, looking around with big eyes.
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Wasn't there supposed to be people here? Where was everyone? She opened her mouth to call but the idea of what to say whisked away and her words got lost down her throat. Her chest ached. She desperately wanted to sleep, but she fought the lethargy back.
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Something about this didn't feel right, but she wasn't sure why. She did know that the ceiling unnerved her. As she looked up, she almost felt as if it might just crumble away.
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The little phantom shook her head. Looking to fill the void in her chest, she flitted up the stairs and passed through the first door into darkness.
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A place to rest lay before her, but she was taken aback by a little spot of colour. Purple. She blinked in puzzlement and leaned over the stained form of a small creature, tucked into bed. She saw a long reptilian snout and shaggy hair. A face she didn't know. She stared unblinkingly as she tried to commit the creature to her memory, her mind spinning with questions.
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Perplexed; transfixed, the little phantom reached out to touch the colourful soul of the creature. Heat ran through her limbs the moment she made contact. She drew back in shock, the sensation all new and wonderful.
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W a r m.
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What she would have given to just latch onto that feeling and melt into it. The phantom leaned forward again, aching to grasp that heat and never let it go.
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She stalled. That wasn't right, was it? Something in the back of her mind kicked her. Like she was forgetting something important.
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Stiff as stone, the phantom's mind cranked and teetered on the edge of a thought. An eternity in one spot cracked with a small shift of movement beneath her. She twisted her head to peer down into the blankets as the purple creature slowly snuck them up above her head.
"S'a dream," the little creature muttered in a quiet, rough voice. "Dumb dream."
The phantom cocked her head to the side and she drew back slightly. The creature jolted and cautioned a peek above the blankets, big, yellow eyes shining out past her sheen of purple. Her heavy-lidded gaze settled on the phantom and they stared at each other blankly for a few long, silent seconds.
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The purple creature grimaced, gritting large, sharp teeth. She dragged the blanket up over her head again. Like a curious cat, the phantom flowed closer to the bed, catching soft, muttering sounds beneath the covers.
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When the glint of tired yellow eyes broke the shadows again, the phantom was lured a little closer. The purple creature pulled back against the headboard, blinking heavily. She rubbed her head.
"Dang. You're not… going away, are you?" she muttered. "You real?"
The phantom blinked big, black eyes slowly. That was a strange thing to ask, she thought. Was she? She was pretty sure she was.
The purple creature sighed quietly. "What do you want?"
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That was a good question, the phantom thought. She clasped her frigid hands together. Rest. Warmth. Something else. Somebody else. She wasn't sure. She opened her mouth and the idea of words dribbled away again, so she stared blankly in response.
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The purple kid frowned. She leaned forward a little. "You aren't here to try to take him, too, are you?"
The phantom had no idea what that meant. She raised her shoulders lightly and turned her head in a slow shake of no. That seeped to placate the purple girl.
"Okay, well… You better not cause any trouble." She hunkered down into her blankets. "I'm going back to bed." She pointed vaguely into the air before laying down and rolling over. "You should go home or something, I dunno."
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The phantom blinked slowly. Was this not home? Was this not where she was supposed to be? Her mind tumbled around in her head. She watched the purple creature for a little while longer, sinking into a sludge of bewilderment. Was this the wrong place?
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She slunk in a slow, cautious circle around the room, picking little grey details out of the dark. A chair. Some action figures on a table. A bed shaped like a car on the opposite side of the room.
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Hands grasped tight onto the bed frame, the little phantom lost her breath to an ache deep in her chest. Her eyes welled up cold and she had no idea why.
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She pulled away and circled again, and again, and again, until movement and the stark light of purple caught her attention once more.
"…What? You're…?" The creature in bed yawned loudly. "Still here?" She sat up awkwardly and fumbled with the blanket, then stumbled as she raised up and toppled to the floor with an awkward thunk, dragging the comforter with her. She flailed lethargically as she tried to detangle herself from it.
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The phantom was still lost in an overwhelming cloud of confusion. Nonetheless, she drifted to the grumbling creature and bent forward, offering a hand. The purple kid emerged and squinted at up her incredulously. The creature grunted and stumbled to her feet, then grabbed her blanket up into a rough wad and shook her head.
"Room's yours," she said groggily. She waddled halfway to the door before turning back to the bed.
The phantom slid silently out of her way again as the kid flopped her arm around in the dark. A little plush lizard was her prize, and she tucked it under one arm and slung the blanket over her shoulder as she trudged towards the door and left.
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A sudden loneliness frosted over the shadowy phantom and she stood, frigid and thoughtless for a while, until a question flicked her between the eyes. There were still some people she was looking for— she was sure. She'd hardly searched at all. A passing notion reminded her that she didn't know exactly who those people were, but that didn't bother her terribly.
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She flitted to the next room. It was all grey and mist, save for a golden statue of a dog, shining like flame burned within it, and strange flecks of black and purple suspended in the air. The phantom brushed her hand through them. They carried some lingering, quiet magic. Somehow, they felt worried.
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The final room contained nothing particular of note. A foggy bedroom, with silent black liquid slowly bleeding through the ceiling. The phantom gripped her hands together and waited— half-expecting someone to arrive. She looked around curiously.
"H…?" Her voice creaked and seeped out in the smallest of whispers. "Hello?" She gulped and tried again, but she felt heavy with torpor and, even as she opened her mouth, the words wouldn't come.
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Silently, she pulled herself from the room and paced towards the stairs. She caught a sheen of purple down below and felt a little reassured. There was also someone sitting on the couch beside the purple girl. Someone tinted ever so slightly with blue.
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The phantom moved closer and the light began to strip away the fog so she could see a little clearer. Her dark eyes widened.
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A skeleton. Rounded skull and a tired, grinning face. Blue light dyeing his form through the grey. Slumped in a cozy heap, asleep.
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She leaned in to stare. Her mind rushed with a torrent of clarity.
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She knew him. Missed him, desperately.
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She raced to the skeleton and clambered onto his legs, sitting close and holding his shoulders. He pulsed with a faint chill and a song that pulled up the dregs of a memory she couldn't quite grasp.
"Hey." Her voice creaked out and seemed to go nowhere. She tried to shake him, but he was like stone to her touch. "…H… Hey."
He remained still.
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Wincing, the little phantom reached up and held his smooth cheeks with her deep grey hands and leaned in, peering against his eye sockets. She knew him. The longer she stared; the more his soul churned its melody against her, the more sure she became. This was someone she'd been looking for.
"Please," she said quietly, staring holes in his head, hoping that he'd open his eyes. "Please." She waited in painful silence, time aching as it dragged by. "Please!"
Nothing. She pressed her brow to his, her eyes welling up.
"Please…"
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He didn't budge. She clenched her jaw and slumped against him, cold tears dripping down her face. She listened to his soul and tried to slot the notes into her memory as her fingers dug into his shirt. She could see his face in her mind, the blue in his eye; a reassuring grin. He'd fed her and kept her warm. He lifted her off her feet and called her sister. She curled up and pressed against his ribcage, tucking herself in under his chin. His arm shifted closer and she forced herself beneath it and imagined he'd done it on purpose.
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The phantom closed her big, black eyes and confusion began to set in again. She tried to force it down— she wanted to sleep, she wanted some warmth, she wanted the skeleton to wake up and see— but that only made questions sing out louder.
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Hadn't she been far from home? How was any of this even possible? Why did she feel so lost? Why was it so hard to hold a thought in her head?
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She blinked, then knuckled the tears out of her eyes. She looked up at the dozing skeleton and was overwhelmed with an ache in her chest. Something was wrong but she wasn't sure what.
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As time slumped onwards. it crossed her mind that there might be someone else in the house. Maybe someone she could ask for some help, at the very least. She didn't really want to leave her spot, but a nagging wonder in the back of her mind kicked her upright.
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She gave the skeleton's cool hand a squeeze, then slid back onto the floor. A heavy exhaustion washed over her. She forced it away as best she could and began her slow drift around the grey house. Her thoughts wandered as she did, and for a long while, she discovered nothing. The mist was too thick and what she could find didn't mean anything to her.
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Underground, down an unusual set of stairs, the phantom came upon a structure marked with golden dogs. A framed photo of a cute little creature with pointed ears gleamed at its centre, a beacon blistering the fog away. The phantom stalled before it, some memory of fire and a giant canine raising a red orb sparking within her. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on it, but it slipped away, leaving her with a warmth tingling in her fingers and nothing more.
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Curious, she reached out towards the portrait, but her hand stalled at a deep rumble and crack from above. The phantom twisted and stared upwards in bafflement. She flitted back upstairs, peeking through a door's threshold to see the little purple creature, wearing a blanket like a cloak, staring up at chunk of rock that stabbed down through the ceiling.
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The purple girl looked nervous, her soul pulsing its colour with irregular beats. She raced to the window, and the phantom drifted closer, looking up at the huge, pointed stone. The creature whirled and scampered to the second floor on quick feet. She headed for the first door, only for her bright yellow eyes to gleam as she twisted back over her shoulder, catching just a glimpse of the dark-eyed shadow that had trailed her to the bottom of the stairs. The purple girl grimaced and rushed ahead into the bedroom.
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By the time the phantom joined her, the purple kid was up on a desk at the back of the room with most of her front half out an open window.
"What's going on?!" she called out into the cold. She paused, face scrunched up. "I think the ghost is back!"
The phantom blinked slowly. She turned back and forth, peeking around the room. She froze as the purple girl turned to fix bright eyes upon her, squinting at her suspiciously.
"You up to something?" she asked.
When the phantom gave a tentative shrug, the girl peeked back out the window.
"No?!" she called. After a moment, she nodded to herself. "Yeah, got it!"
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The purple kid pulled back and slid the window closed with a solid thunk. She scooted off the desk and onto the chair beside it, eyeing the phantom up and down as she settled in her seat. "Why're you still here, huh?"
The phantom blinked. It hadn't really occurred to her to go elsewhere.
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The purple girl's mouth twisted in a pout. She hopped back onto the floor and prowled around the shadowy form, taking her in. She stalled in front of her and folded her arms to her chest.
"I'm Suzy. You got a name?" she asked. "I'm just gonna call you Ghost if you don't."
The phantom simply stared. It seemed so obvious, but once again, she had no answer. Her mind danced through lingering memories but pulled on nothing of use. The purple creature, Suzy, made a little scoffing sound.
"Okay, Ghost it is," she said. "If you don't wanna take him and you're not an oozing weirdo, why're you stickin' around here, huh?"
Ghost was flummoxed. It was her home, wasn't it? She tried to say so, but at the first, weak sound she made, Suzy winced and put her hands over her ears. The little phantom clammed up and raised her hands apologetically.
"Jeez, what was that?" Suzy grumbled. She rubbed her head. "Okay, look, you gotta be lost, right? Maybe you… Uh. Came in through the light upstairs, too?"
Her confusion only growing, Ghost simply stared. She pointed slowly back towards the door.
"Oh, uh. Hm." The scowl on the purple girl's face softened "Well. Seems like we're sorta busy here with rocks and junk, but maybe Miss Toriel could help you?"
Mistoriel. The phantom ran the name over in her mind; tried to lock it in place. There was a familiar ring to it.
"She's really good at like, helping people and junk like that," Suzy continued. "She's, uh, not here now but maybe she could help you figure out, uh…" She gestured to the phantom's body. "Y'know, whatever's going on with that."
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The little phantom looked down at herself and took in her wispy, deep grey form. She wasn't sure what the purple girl was referring to, but if any sort of help was offered, she would certainly take it.
"Or, uh, maybe at the lab? They're nerds, right? But they might be busy since the world's kinda being a freak. So… Um. That's about all I got," Suzy said. "I dunno where Miss Toriel is, exactly, but you definitely have to go through Waterfall, no matter what. Um, east, I think, though a big cave."
The name Waterfall didn't mean much to Ghost, but she gave a slow nod, then turned and drifted back the way she'd come, down the stairs and below the big gap in the ceiling, sans rock. Snow was tumbling through already leaving a little mound on the rug.
"H-Hey, wait, you're not supposed to—!" Suzy rushed out of the bedroom, almost slipping on her blanket cape and the carpet. She grabbed the wall to steady herself and raced to follow the little phantom down. "You're not supposed to go into the living room!"
Ghost paused for just a moment to look up at the hole, snow dusting her head, shoulders, and the floor like powdered sugar.
"No, dingus, I just said not to go in there!" Suzy said from the stairs. "Ugh!" She darted in, skirting the edge of the hole. "Don't you care if some crap falls in? Like, dang, look at that."
The little phantom eyed the door, then turned to give Suzy a wave, but the purple girl's attention was fixed on the ceiling.
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In a blink, Ghost was outside in the snow again. Slipping around a massive rock in the way, she glided down the road, on the path she hadn't taken before. Just a few feet and the confusion began to set in again and she froze. She frowned to herself and forced the information to run again in her head.
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Suzy. Cave. Waterfall. Mistoriel. Sister. Ghost.
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Repeating the words like a mantra, she pushed herself to continue and soon came upon a cave that gleamed dark in the white and mist. A river ran through it, and Ghost did her best to follow.
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For the first time since she'd awoken, the mist began to fade just enough to leave her in a deep darkness. Still, she wandered onwards, hardly registering shadow from light until the water itself began to shine softly. The little phantom leaned over curiously and, for the first time, caught sight of herself.
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A dim, mostly featureless shadow with a set of short horns on the top of her head and huge eyes, black like the void, stared back at her. Her little form went rigid, chill rushing from head to toe. She reached up to brush the points on her head to make sure they were real, then bent over the water to look a little closer. For some reason, she hadn't expected a single thing she saw. She stretched her arm out and broke her reflection with her fingertips, though the water shone brighter around the wake.
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Just as she was about to draw back, the river surged and the water pushed farther up her hand, almost to her wrist. The little phantom retreated to the bank. With a cold feeling in her gut, she imagined the water coming up over the path and washing everything away. She did her best to push it down and continued on her way as the flow of the stream began to rush.
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As she recited her list in her head, the sound of water grew louder, the river swelling at her side. It was rhythmic and lulling, and Ghost's tracks slowed again as the urge to rest set in. She put a hand to her head, squeezed her eyes shut, and knocked gently against her temple, urging herself to focus.
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When she looked again, she noticed a light far down the path— light gold, stark against the monochrome of the rest of the world. Ghost blinked and a second light peeked out near the first one. Violet.
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The memory of warmth surged through her, though she knew the colour was not the same as Suzy's. Still, she was a moth to a candle, and soon picked up two relaxed, cheery voices bantering back and forth. Ghost headed straight for them, the golden glow brightening until she could make out the two forms more clearly.
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A tall, blazing skeleton, with a scarf trailing over his shoulder. An even taller, pale-furred, floppy-eared woman with a kind smile on her snout, chest shining with lavender. Ghost's breath hitched. Shards of clarity pierced her thoughts — smells of nostalgic meals, the warmth of comforting flame; the joy of a playful battle. As with the blue skeleton, she knew these people intrinsically. Her family.
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"Hey." Her voice cracked as she reached out to them. "H-Hey."
They didn't stop— didn't even look her way, and passed right by on either side of her as they chatted. Even so, the warmth of their souls tingled through her, and she whirled around to follow them.
"…and so, when things go back to normal," the floppy-eared, goatish woman was saying, "there are certainly some things I am excited to see. Perhaps a trip to… Hmm. Oh! The ocean would be nice. Unless you have all already seen your fill of it, that is."
"Oh, I don't think so! Undyne c…" The skeleton faltered for a second before putting on a fond smile. "Undyne can't get enough of it! And I'm sure Suzy would love it."
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The little phantom perked up at the name she recognized and looked up between the two. She cautiously latched onto the skeleton's gloved hand and warmth coursed through her, knocking some of the fog from her thoughts. He didn't slow, or even look down, but his fingers curled ever so slightly. Ghost's void-black eyes gleamed, despite welling with tears again, and her soul flickered brightly.
"Hey," she said again.
"So you plan on finding her again once this is over with." The violet woman's ears lifted slightly.
"Well, yes, of course! Why would we not?" the skeleton asked. "She's got a freakishly large amount of that black void stuff in her soul, so she's definitely going to remember all this! It would be weird to pretend like it never happened." He scratched his chin. "And also pretty rude, probably. I'm, um, not fully up to date on time travel etiquette. But I'm ninety-nine percent sure it'd be rude."
The woman smiled warmly and let out a little chuckle. "I agree."
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She paused, causing the skeleton— and the little Ghost— to halt as well. Her brows bending in sympathy, she cupped the side of his skull and leaned in to bump the tip of her snout against his forehead. His soul brightened and a small burst of magic swirled from where she'd touched, drifting off into the cave in thin, mote spirals. The phantom turned to watch curiously, but her eyes caught upon the river again. She could see the glow seeping up over the bank with the rush of the water and a chill of dread came over her. She looked back up at the skeleton.
"…The water," she said quietly.
"You are doing so well, my child," the woman said to him.
"Nyeh! I-I know. Thank you!" the skeleton said.
"I know all this is weighing on you," she said. "Especially after yesterday."
The little phantom looked up at the skeleton worriedly, squeezing his hand tighter. His cheekbones flushed.
"W-Water," she said again.
"Once we're home," the woman continued, "we can talk with your brother, I'm sure he can—"
"Oh! No no no, wait, please don't go out of your way to—! I mean…" The skeleton sighed and rubbed the back of his head with his left hand. "Sigh. He has so many other things to deal with. He's already worried enough about me, I don't want to make it worse."
"You know he would not see it that way."
"I know, but—"
Ghost squeezed his hand in both of hers and gave it a useless tug, the grey in her chest sparking with the faintest hint of colour. "Water! Th-The water!"
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The skeleton's spine stiffened. He turned to look at the river, his brows raising. "…Does the water look wrong to you?"
The little phantom gawked, and the huge woman leaned around the both of them to look. Her violet eyes widened.
"Goodness, you're right. Maybe we should discuss this back at—?"
The river pulsed like a wave and was up on the path in an instant. Before either of the shining people could react, more water came from behind, overflowing everything in a raising torrent.
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The skeleton let out a little yelp and the group pressed against the wall. Though the water wasn't very deep on the violet woman, it was sloshing up the skeleton's tibia, and Ghost was soon to be lost in it.
"What in the world…?!" the woman asked. "Is this the refresh? Now?"
"It sort of feels like it, doesn't it?!" the skeleton said said. "…Home or backwards?"
The woman scrunched up her snout. "The tunnels are narrow and curved up ahead," she said. "The water is still rising, is it not? I fear it may be a little dangerous with the current."
"Back it is, then!" He grabbed onto the violet woman and they turned; in doing so, released the little phantom into the water.
The current didn't effect her, but the volume of water did, scrambling her vision almost as much as the fog had before. She took a few steps back to get her bearings as the glowing people moved farther away.
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"Hey, wait a second!" the skeleton called. "Are you alright?"
The little phantom felt a hit of panic and looked towards the violet woman as best she could, but she was taken aback when she caught the skeleton's worried eyes fixed firmly on her. She cautiously turned, but there was nobody behind her.
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"Wait, where…? Mom, did you see that?!"
"What, honey?"
"I thought there was someone…?" The skeleton squinted. "Right there?" He levelled his finger directly at the little phantom.
"…Me?" Ghost voiced quietly.
The woman gently held his arm. "There is no one here but us."
"Hmmmm." The skeleton rubbed his chin. "It might just be from another time, then?"
The woman nodded and grasped to him, urging him onwards. "Come, before we have to swim back."
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The glowing people left. The little phantom tried to follow their light, but as the water level rose above her head, everything became muddled grey. She soon lost them completely, hearing nothing more than the blurbling of the water as she walked below it.
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She felt lethargic. Lost. She couldn't swim, she reminded herself. But, somehow, she could walk along the ground beneath the raging river without a care. However, that just made her even more confused. She paused and turned her head upwards, wondering how she might get back up. Maybe if she laid back, she would float. Someone had told her that, at least.
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Closing her eyes against the endless grey, the little phantom let herself drift, though the water could take her nowhere and she simply sank for a while. She tried to remember what she was even doing.
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Looking for help, right? Mistoriel. Maybe that had been the name of one of the glowing people. Her family. How pathetic that she couldn't remember— not their names, nor her own.
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She pouted and her heart ached deep in her chest. Besides the questions, there was something pulling her. Something she needed to… She frowned. She still couldn't recall. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.
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In the silence, she could have sworn she heard a young boy's voice ringing deep in her ears, but she couldn't make out any words. Somehow, she felt like it beckoned to her. She didn't know how to follow something that was just inside her head. She supposed she'd just have to keep moving forward until she found out.
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When she opened her eyes, Ghost was drifting in pitch darkness, as if she'd been dropped into starless space. She sank, and sank, and sank, with only the numbing of the mild discomfort in her stomach as any sort of clue to how long it went on.
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A note or two of magic drifting in the water gave a little glow of energy back to her. They were so quiet at first that she thought they might be like the voice she'd heard inside her head but, soon enough, more joined them. A melody formed, echoing in the deep.
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Her feet lightly hit sand and stone and she settled and tried to look around. Though she still saw nothing, the music cajoled her onwards. She hummed the tune softly. She was sure she knew it, as if it was a lullaby she'd heard years ago.
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She followed the notes until she gently bumped into what felt like the face of a cliff. Tracing it with her hand, she chased the trail of the melody until she passed through a gap in the rocks.
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Inside, the little phantom was greeted with an odd sight. Even so deep under the water, this place was dry, a little pocket of air set aside. The only things here were a large cushion, a chunky, brick-like object, and a hole of darkness on the ground, so deep it made the rest of the space around it look grey. The song came from within it. Ghost was transfixed. She bent and stretched out her hands to touch the bizarre space. A hum of energy surged through her arms and it certainly didn't feel like water in the beyond.
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She fully immersed herself in it and every note of magic shocked her soul, forcing its pulse out in red. Then, it stopped, and the silence was all encompassing. With that, Ghost's head felt lighter. The intense chill of her whole being began to subside, if only a little. She took a deep breath and tension she'd held in her shoulders loosened.
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Carefully taking stock of her surroundings as she floated in the void, Ghost drifted in a tight circle. "Hello?" she called. "Is, um…? Is anyone here? Was there… someone playing a song, or…?" She felt foolish even saying it. "Do you…? Um. Do you know where that song comes from? I think it's… important?"
The dark stayed silent and utterly unhelpful. She floated a little deeper in and took a moment to rest and listen, just in case. She quietly hummed the song to herself and her heart swelled.
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She might have stayed longer, but something in the back of her head kicked her forward. She turned and faced upwards to find the hole she'd come from.
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Instead of seeing the dim of the small cavern above, what confronted her was the fleeting image of that friendly, golden skeleton, peering down into the hole in the world. Perking up, the little phantom rushed to him, only to have her hand completely pass through his when she reached for it. Baffled, she waved at him.
"Hey. Hello?"
He didn't acknowledge— simply continued on as he was, seemingly talking to someone she couldn't hear.
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A tingle ran up and down her spine; a strange feeling like eyes boring into the back of her head. It was almost painful.
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The little phantom scrambled out of mysterious gap in the world and back onto solid ground. There was no skeleton here at all.
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She noticed her arms were now indistinguishable from the void she'd just left. Curious, she ran her fingers across the back of her opposite hand, then touched the top of her head. Those unexpected horns were still there.
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She looked around again with clearer eyes. The cushion was definitely an unusual thing to find at the bottom of a lake. She took a careful seat on it and, to her surprise, now recognized the odd brick as a very old cellphone. She tried to touch it, but nothing she did registered. She couldn't even pick it up.
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From the corner of her eye, movement. Ghost bristled and sat up, and caught just the edge of some shifting in the void. It sent such a chill through her that she didn't wait a second longer to even consider what it was before bolting out into the dark waters again.
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Just as soon as she'd left, the little phantom was taken aback to find that she was no longer wandering in grey, but standing atop an endless, inky lake. There was barely any way to differentiate it from the cave.
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Trying to put aside that she had no clue how she'd done that— and also that she had basically no clue about anything— she turned in place, looking out for even the faintest of landmarks. Though she saw nothing like that, she did catch sight of a glimmer of purple out on the lake. The little phantom's eyes went wide and she headed right for it. Simply thinking about it, and she was there, standing on a platform of ice behind that little purple creature, Suzy, in an oversized sweatshirt.
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Suzy's tail was swishing and she was shifting back and forth on her feet— she looked a little bored. Even so, Ghost was happy to see her. She carefully reached out and and tapped her on the arm. A shudder ran up the purple kid's neck and she whipped around, then let out a loud yelp and stumbled backwards. Her foot scuffed on the edge of the ice and Ghost quickly reached out, taking her by the hand and holding as tight as she could. Suzy righted herself swiftly, but still yanked back, her yellow eyes wide.
"Wh—?! Oh no, there are more of you?!" she demanded.
The little phantom was puzzled for a moment— until she recalled that she looked an awful lot more like the void than she had earlier that day. She put her hands up and shook her head.
"Wh-What do you do, huh?! You the other one's boss?" Suzy clenched her fists and braced her feet.
Ghost shook her head. She pointed to herself.
Suzy squinted. "Wait. What, it's you again?! From the house?!" she demanded. "H-How…? What do you want? What're you doing here?"
.
Ghost could have asked her the same thing. She had no idea why the little purple creature would be suddenly out in the middle of a flood on an ice flow. She did not ask, though, since her voice seemed to have hurt Suzy's ears the last time she tried.
"And why're your eyes like that?" Suzy continued. "It's freaky."
The phantom tilted her head. She leaned over the water to take a peek, and found that her eyes now blazed red. She almost laughed and gave a wide, easy shrug. Suzy's shoulders dropped a little.
"O-Oh. You don't know." She sighed. "Fine."
Ghost stared at her intently. She pointed at her, then gestured to the cave and made a confused face.
"Huh? Uh. Oh." Suzy grimaced. "Yeah, most of the town flooded, I think. We left."
.
Ghost jolted with worry and put a hand to her mouth. Suzy shook her head.
"It's fine for now, I think. But this is all crap, you know," she said. "The whole world's weird. Then things like you keep showing up." She squinted suspiciously. "You know anything about that?"
Ghost could only stare with confusion. Suzy scoffed.
"Whatever. Sans is gonna deal with it," she said. "He went underwater and everything."
The little phantom's eyes went wide. Sans. Was that the blue skeleton's name? Circuitry connected and the lights turned on in her head. She began to beam.
.
The skeleton who had taken care of her. Sans. Her brother.
.
He was smart. He knew about all kinds of strange things. Maybe he'd see. Maybe he'd help.
.
Barely catching a faint yelp of protest from Suzy, the little phantom vanished back into the water to search for a blue light.
.
Despite her best efforts, the little phantom found nothing in the depths. By the time she returned to the surface, Suzy was long gone, as was the ice she'd been perched on. The water level had dropped, and the sodden docks were visible up above the inky black lake.
.
She took a breather on the docks, wondering about a great number of things— the first of which being her family. It seemed like everything was so hectic. She hoped they were alright. She also had the fleeting wonder if she was safe. In moments of quiet, the faint voice of a boy called wordlessly in her head, and every time, she felt a spur of urgency to… she still wasn't sure. Whatever it was, though, she felt much closer to it than she had been when she'd awoken. It hadn't been that long ago, but that almost felt like a dream. She'd been so groggy she almost couldn't believe she'd made it to the lake at all.
.
She held to the side of her head. What was going on with her, anyway? She didn't even recognize her own form. She still didn't know her name.
.
She set out across the water again, hand to her soul, trying to let the faint, red pulse beneath her fingers guide her.
.
She wandered across the black water until she came to a rocky dock illuminated by the light of vertical vents. There was a strange, wooden shape and a dark, cloaked figure there, humming softly. Beside them sat a pile made up of large shards of wood, and though it was in the edge of a stream of pitch water that flowed down some stairs and over the dock, nothing seemed effected in the slightest. The little phantom stopped to watch as the hooded creature dutifully snapped each piece back together with a little glimmer of magic, like assembling a puzzle in 3D.
"Tra la la," they sang softly, "sometimes things change a little too fast, don't they? One little hit and suddenly you're not even the right shape anymore." They chuckled softly. "You've done so much to help so many people. And now it's hard to even recognize you. Mysterious. But…"
A couple more shards slotting into place formed the start of a curved wall.
"All it takes is a few shards in the right place," the hooded person continued fondly, "and you will be shipshape again in no time."
.
Ghost blinked. And, just as the person had said, a few more shards on the sides and the front and the form they built was clear — a boat. The little phantom couldn't help a little giggle. It really was ship-shaped.
.
She hoped the hooded creature would have good luck, and she stepped out of the water and onto the dock. Up the stairs, she found the black stream was oozing from something that looked like a pale star, hovering above a path of stone. The little phantom wasn't sure what to make of that, but she felt like she was closer to where her soul was tugging her.
.
The ground rumbled. Ghost jolted with surprise and looked around. Something in the air changed, like a sudden shift in the wind. The phantom looked around with big eyes uncertainly. Something's wrong, a voice in the back of her mind warned.
.
The starlight seemed to beckon. She hurried to it and touched it without hesitation. Her mind boiled over with visions— a big white building, creatures she'd seen before around her; a stark, dry heat. Curiosity, optimism, worry— all feelings of some other time, of some past self embedded in the echo of the star.
.
She drew back, her eyes like fire. Everywhere she looked, she saw layers of the world peel back. She saw crowds running, knights, empty paths, magma bursting across the stone, complete calmness with a line of vendors on the road; a buff fish girl sprinting up the way with an intense look in her eye.
.
Ghost whipped around but everything was different behind her— a white building towered, but its sign changed a dozen times a second, as did the colour. One moment it was there, the next it was in ruins, or overcome with the flow of magma. She saw flashes of skeletons, lizards, a huge goat, a little flower. Too many people to count, in and out, all the time.
.
The little phantom shut her eyes tight. She put her fingers to her temples and took a deep breath, telling herself to focus over and over again.
.
When she looked again, the visions had cleared. All she saw before her was a big, pale building called LAB.
"Okay," she muttered to herself. "Ooookay." She rubbed her temples again.
.
The world is moving randomly and chaotically through time.
.
Someone had told her that, not long ago. Her heart sank. Could that have been what she'd just seen?
.
Suzy had said maybe someone at the lab had answers for her. Ghost didn't even know if she'd be able to talk to them, but maybe it would trigger some memory. She'd take what she could get at this point.
.
When she slipped inside, the little phantom was instantly overwhelmed with voices coming from everywhere. The place was packed. Though most of the chatter was from above, before her were two huge goatish people talking to each other. The violet one from before, and one much larger with huge horns and a big mane of hair and a beard. He was stained a deep red.
.
Ghost rushed to them, staring up with big eyes. "Hey. C-Can you hear me?"
Neither of them reacted. The phantom drooped despondently, but before she could slump into a heap, she reminded herself that the golden skeleton had seemed to react when she'd touched his hand. Ghost couldn't reach the violet woman's hand— her arms were folded to her chest. Instead, the phantom latched onto her robe. Warmth rushed through her fingers and clarity hit her so hard she instantly felt foolish and let out a little laugh at her own expense. Of course. Dumb to have forgotten. Family, yes— but not just that. This was her mother.
.
"Mom?" Ghost asked.
Though the phantom stared up hopefully, her violet-souled mother still didn't react. The woman looked like she was full to the brim with her own troubles.
"… Even Alphys seems to have been going non-stopped," she said to the large, horned man, "and with this problem with the CORE, I can't imagine she will be in any state to deal with much more than that."
Ghost frowned in confusion? A problem with the CORE? The CORE was… important, wasn't it? That didn't sound too good.
.
The huge, crimson man took a small step back with a thoughtful look weighing his brow. Then, his ears perked and his eyes glimmered. "I know."
"…You know," the violet woman repeated.
"Yes! Exactly!" He headed towards the other side of the lab, then doubled back quickly. "Bring everyone to my home soon. Give me, perhaps, half an hour."
The woman looked puzzled. "Asgore, what on earth—?"
"I have an idea," he said. "We can all take a little rest to prepare for the next step, and I'm sure…! Well! You'll see." He smiled brightly and walked away swiftly with a little bounce in his step.
.
The violet woman stared after him, as did the little phantom. As her mother dropped exhaustedly into a nearby chair, Ghost tried to process the information. Asgore was the large one. There was some sort of next step. Some problem in the CORE. What was the CORE, exactly?
.
She was born there.
.
Ghost put a hand to the side of her head. Where had that come from?
.
Her father had created it. Died in it. Created her. And then, she had—
.
She pressed against her temple. Focus, she told herself for the umpteenth time. Whatever was going on here seemed dangerous. Important. More so than her own silly memories.
.
A sudden, cold dread welled up in her again. She gulped and looked around for any sign of danger, and her attention was stolen by the ground beneath her. She hurried to her mother and reached out, grabbing her leg.
"Mom, there's something wrong," she said.
The woman didn't hear her. The phantom pouted for just a moment before she shook it off and began to search. Maybe if that golden skeleton was here, he might hear—?
.
There was the dread again, deep and freezing, jarring her from her train of thought. It still came from below. There was a large computer nearby, a jagged line on the screen— it jumped a little right after she'd noticed it. She rushed over and stood on her toes to get a better look, just in case. It assured her that there was NO EMERGENCY DETECTED, but still, she—
.
"You?!"
The little phantom turned and was face to face with Suzy again. The little purple girl looked completely incredulous and wide-eyed, sharp teeth showing. Ghost was happy to see her and raised one hand in greetings.
"How did you—?!" Suzy looked around frantically. "What are you?! Why do you keep finding me?! Are you like a weird stalker or something?!"
"Suzy, what is going on?" the violet woman asked, turning in her seat.
Suzy's jaw dropped for a moment, her eyes bugged out and she pointed to the phantom. Toriel's brows raised.
"Has something happened on the screen, dear one?"
"I—! But…? Can't you…?!"
One of the lines on the screen did a little jump and Suzy let out a yelp and whirled on Ghost.
"What are you doing?! Did you mess with it?!" she demanded.
.
The phantom pointed at the computer and gave a shake of the head.
"Suzy?" The large woman got to her feet. "Are you alright?"
The little purple girl's eyes were frantic. "Are you screwing time up?! What are you?!"
Ghost wished she had a good answer. She didn't have time to figure it out, however, and the strange feeling was getting stronger. She apologized in her head for scaring the kid, made a heart with her hands and then pointed to the door, hoping Suzy would get the hint.
.
She was out of the lab again before she meant to be, startling herself. She turned around to get her bearings and caught herself out by the front again, near the oozing star. So be it, she thought. She had to get to the CORE, wherever that was.
.
All ambient magic flows from the CORE.
.
The phantom nodded to herself. In that case, she bet she could feel the flow in the air somewhere.
.
The ground grumbled beneath her and she froze up, fixing her eyes worriedly on the lab. However, it stayed solid and steady. She let out a little breath of relief. At least, she thought, all the emergencies she'd been detecting were relatively harmless ones.
.
Come to think of it, though, why was she detecting emergencies? She scoffed at herself. She still didn't even know who she was, why would she know why she could do that, of all things?
.
She put a hand to her chest, closed her eyes, and focused her soul on all that was around her. The energy of the world felt… warped, somehow. But, there was a bit of direction to where the more solid magic was coming from. That was a good start.
.
She traveled the stone walkways above the magma, following her soul as it lead her. She passed through a busy hotel completely unnoticed, and soon found her way to the base of a great tower, swirling with mist and magic.
.
There were some warning signs outside, but she ignored them and headed in anyway.
.
Inside looked calm, but it certainly didn't sound it. The tower's internal structure itself was vibrating oddly and it sounded like a great, snoring beast was sleeping down below.
.
Ghost paused to get her bearings. Up or down, she wasn't sure. If it was shaking the world, down was the best bet, right? But maybe it was the magic that was coming out of it that was drawing her to it, and that would be upwards. She flitted around, trying to decide.
.
She chose underground first, and hurried down a square stairwell until she came to an elevator. That it was locked was no trouble— she could simply pass through. However, she couldn't interact with a single button. Her heart sunk.
.
She tried the other way, up and up a huge flight of stairs, going as high as she could, only to be stalled by dead ends and more buttons she could not push.
.
Lethargy began to creep back into the little phantom. How was she supposed to find out where to go? How was she supposed to help the CORE?
.
She gathered up her energy and began to search again, but the misty platforms up the CORE tower refused to hold place in her mind or in real life— accompanied by unusual, discordant flickers of magic every time they changed before her eyes. However she could shift between places, it didn't seem to always work.
.
Panic began to take her and her thoughts started to spiral. There was so much she didn't know and couldn't grasp, and it seemed like the world was tumbling away beneath her.
.
She took a seat on the floor and tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes and covered her ears and, in the quiet, that boy's voice returned in the back of her head. She still couldn't understand it.
"What do you want?" she asked softly. "What do I need to do?"
It beckoned, the same as it did before. The voice wanted her to join it, wherever it was, but how was she supposed to do that? What about this CORE, wasn't it calling to her, too? She squeezed her fingers against her head and clenched her jaw.
.
She withered. What could she even do? She was a weak mess who didn't even know her own name.
"H-How do I… get to you?" she asked softly. "How do I… h-help…?"
.
Of course, no answer came, and she still sat alone with just the distant vibration of earthquakes and the groaning of metal.
.
Aching loneliness settled into her soul and she choked, cold tears dribbling down her face. She covered her eyes and wept quietly for a while, feeling sick through every note of magic in her body.
.
She'd screwed everything up, hadn't she? She was so dumb and small and she'd went off and let them be on their own and everything was falling apart, and she was so weak and slow that she'd gotten shot and now she was stuck here and she didn't even—
.
Her head jerked up. She'd been shot? Where had that come from?
.
She sniffled through the tears and put a hand to her soul. It flickered beneath her touch, but it certainly didn't feel right either. She let out a weak sigh and wiped her eyes. Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet. This was useless. She was useless.
.
The little phantom trudged onwards like she was carrying her weight in stones. She left the CORE and wandered lethargically, thoughts blank except for her own failures, numb to the grumble of the ground and the rocks that fell from the caverns high above.
.
She was not snapped from her stupor until, while traversing a high castle walkway, she caught a gleam of gold and blue far ahead of her. She lifted her head, eyes blazing, and stared with surprise as the golden skeleton, grabbing the blue one, leapt over the edge and vanished.
.
Ghost let out an involuntary yelp and rushed to where they had disappeared. Finally turning her eyes beyond her own feet, the phantom saw a vast, grey city in utter chaos. People racing about, stones falling from high above; some buildings already crushed. The gleam of the skeletons was distant, but she could see them touch the ground and rush off.
.
She almost followed them, then stopped herself. She wouldn't be able to help. Nobody could hear her and she could move nobody, except maybe… The little phantom blinked. Suzy.
.
Her shoulders sagged. Suzy was probably a bit scared of her, though. Maybe, if she lurked around enough, the purple kid might put up with her a bit. Then at least she'd have someone to hang out with.
.
Pouting, wiping her eyes again, Ghost reluctantly moved on. By the time she realized she had no idea where she was headed, she'd come to a house built into the mountain, with a huge rock in front of it, squishing a table flat. Worry sparked in the phantom's chest and she rushed over, but saw no signs anyone had been here when it happened.
.
A deep booming sound made her jump. She looked around worriedly. It seemed to have come from inside the house.
.
She rushed inside, checked every room, then hurried downstairs and along a deep, unground path.
.
Violet, purple, and crimson shone in the tunnel ahead and she hurried to keep up. There was that huge goatish man again, with her mother, and Suzy, and some… humans? That was weird. The huge man was beckoning them through a boulder he seemed to have just broken through with his bare hands.
.
The little phantom trailed them closely. She thought she might have caught the yellow gleam of Suzy's eye, and she quickly waved, but if the purple girl had seen her, she didn't say a word.
.
The adults looked stern and cautious. They paused with shock at the sight of the city below on one of the paths before moving on. Ghost flitted behind, that strange, uncomfortable feeling of dread welling in her again. She looked around cautiously, trying to pinpoint the source. Her eyes kept tracing upwards, but she could see nothing that stood out to her.
.
They passed through a smooth, glossy hall lined with fancy windows and columns. The little phantom wasn't sure why, but she imagined bones and knives trying to stab her in here. She kept as close to the group as she could, hoping that wasn't what her premonition was about. Thankfully, they made it to the other side without any assassins jumping out at anyone. She noticed her mother was checking the ceiling now, too. That made her feel a little better. Of course, she thought, the woman had such large ears. If something was rumbling, she was sure to hear it.
.
Back under heavy stone was a lot more nerve-wracking. The little phantom drifted after them, still feeling uncomfortable. She gulped and, as they approached another threshold, decided that she might risk spooking Suzy to give her a heads-up. Before she could, though, her mother stooped and picked the purple girl up and rushed away through the next room.
"Heck," Ghost said quietly.
.
The second the phantom set foot in the next chamber, she froze. It was a large room, filled with flowers and scattered with fallen stalactites. The blooms looked a lot like what she'd seen when she woke up. However, a few of them shone with red and iridescent white, standing out just as the souls of some of the people she'd seen had. Everything inside her screamed at her to touch one.
.
Ghost bent down before one of the flowers and gently touched it with her fingertips.
"SIS?! COME ON, COME B—!"
The voice she heard was so loud she jerked back on reflex. But she knew it. That was the boy in her head. She took a deep breath, braced, and touched it again.
"YOU GOTTA FIGHT IT! COME BACK! YOU'RE TOO STRONG FOR—!"
It was still a bit too much. Her breath hitched and she held her head. That boy… Her brother. Not the skeletons here, but—
"Asriel." Her eyes lit up. The name rushed through every facet of her mind like a flood. Her mind swirled with the images of a white-furred creature with pale horns and floppy ears and a warm smile. "Asriel?!" She touched the flower again. "Asriel, can you h—?!"
"SIS?! COME ON, COME BACK! YOU GOTTA FIGHT IT! C—"
The same message. Ghost took a deep breath, but she smiled. She carefully plucked just the head of the flower and held it close to her soul. It seemed into her void-like form and vanished. She felt a lot better, even if it was just some echo. Maybe remembering him was like another shard of herself, too, she thought.
.
She got up, realizing she'd lost the others as soon as she looked around. She headed for the dark tunnel they'd entered when it was lit by distant flame. Something crashed down so heavily that dust and debris shot outwards, and a feral roar like nothing Ghost had ever heard before echoed out from the cavern.
.
She raced to the next chamber to find her mother, violet glow dimmed down to just the centre of her, digging frantically at a massive stone that had slammed down into the chamber. Suzy was sprawled awkwardly, dazed, on the floor, and two of the humans were just starting to right themselves way at the other end of the cavern.
"M-Mom?" the phantom squeaked.
Only Suzy turned, eyes gleaming, and after a quick look between Ghost and the violet woman, she scrambled upright. She rushed the little phantom with an accusatory point of the finger, only to be pulled into a tight, relieved hug.
"Y-You're not hurt, right?" Ghost squeaked before she could help herself.
Suzy yanked back, gawking. "You can talk?! I—!"
The stone cracked and both of them looked back at the rock. The crimson man and a fluffy-haired human boy emerged, dusty but mostly unharmed, save for one of the man's horns.
.
Suzy grabbed Ghost by the shoulder and pulled her back into the tunnel between the chambers, her eyes wide.
"Why didn't you say anything before?!" she demanded.
"Oh. Um. I… tried?" Ghost said apologetically. "But it hurt your ears back at the house."
Suzy's jaw dropped. She spluttered for a moment. "Wh-What are you?! Like… a bad luck ghost or something?"
"I… don't know," she said. "I don't think so."
"Why're you following me?!"
The phantom smiled sheepishly. "You're the only one who can see me."
"And you really don't wanna hurt Sans?!"
She shook her head. "He's… family."
.
Suzy groaned, rubbing her claws through her hair. "What the heck is going on?"
"I just… need to get back," Ghost said.
"Back where?"
"To my… brother," she said. "But I think… the CORE's calling me? Maybe that's how, but I… can't get in." She held up her hands. "I can't touch anything."
"Well, duh, that place's dangerous," Suzy said. "It, like, wiped me out of time or something."
The little phantom blinked. She reached out her hand cautiously. Suzy winced. Her soul glowed despite her, revealing the black making up most of it. Ghost recalled the words of the shining skeleton in the tunnel with the river.
"Oh…! I get it."
"I know it's weird, shut up," Suzy grumbled.
Ghost shook her head. "My dad died in the CORE. That's how I was made."
.
Suzy looked back at her blankly. "…Uh. The only guy who died in the CORE is Doctor Gaster. But he's…" She gaped. "Wait, you're…?! You're HER?!"
Ghost simply stared.
"You're the Doctor's kid! The time kid!" Suzy insisted. "The one who went missing and now everything's screwed up! Right?!"
"I…" The phantom's voice caught. "M-Maybe?"
Suzy seized her wrist and dragged her back towards the flowers. "We gotta get you to him, he can fix this!"
"Y-You think so?"
"Yeah. Yeah! He's at the CORE," she said.
.
They took off running back towards the house as fast as Suzy could lead them.
"You s-sure picked a crazy time to show up," she said.
"I didn't… really pick," Ghost said quietly. "What's… going on, exactly?"
"Uh. Okay, so it's sorta hard to explain, but basically the world keeps on shifting around because of time magic, I guess?" She huffed. "And because of all that shifting, the CORE's, like, upset? It keeps shaking. So everything's going nuts. So you…! You…" She stopped fast, almost stumbling. "Wait."
"Okay," Ghost said.
"If you're back. Why isn't it fixed?" she said. Her voice cracked. "C-Crap, it's all supposed to be normal when you're back, right?!"
"Maybe… I'm…" She looked at her shadowy hands. "Maybe I'm… not back? Maybe…" She frowned. "This is just piece of me?" She held out her hands. "I'm… pretty sure I'm not just… made of void normally, right?"
"Oh great." Suzy groaned and took a deep breath. "Okay. Whatever. Come on."
.
They ran back through the long, tiled hallway and out across a high walkway. The city below was a cacophony of magic. Huge rocks pillars jutted up and everything quaked. It looked like a nightmare. Ghost froze in her tracks and Suzy almost tripped trying to pull her along.
"What?" she asked.
"…I did… this?" Ghost breathed.
"What?!" Suzy followed her gaze and the little phantom began to droop. "Ah!" She grabbed her by the shoulders. "Come on, don't faint on me now."
"Everyone… must be so scared," she said.
Suzy growled. She grabbed Ghost's hand and dragged her along. "C'mon, don't stand there feeling sorry for yourself, it's gonna be fine!"
.
They ran back through the cozy cottage and across the mess in the front until they came to a set of sealed doors in the wall.
"I-I think we came up this way?!" Suzy said. She slapped her hands against the doors. "But… Dang it, open!"
They did not open.
Ghost frowned thoughtfully. She passed through the doors easily into an elevator. She knew it well, her mind tossing the knowledge of the switches on the wall back to her as she looked at them. When she came out again, Suzy was standing on one foot, her snout scrunched as she used a torn piece of cloth to wipe something from the bottom of the other one.
"Locked?" the phantom asked.
"Yeah." She pouted. "So. Uh. What now? Ugh." She leaned against the wall to clean her other foot. "Hey, if you're a time kid, could you just, like, time travel to when the doors are open or something?"
Ghost stared. She looked at her hands. "Um… No, but maybe…" She reached out and felt the doors. She imagined them open— not too long ago, in fact, when the group that included most of her family came this way.
A little flash of red and the doors were open. Suzy whooped and rushed inside, and Ghost, trying to hide her surprise, went with her.
.
"Okay!" Suzy stood on her toes near the buttons at the back. "What now?!"
Ghost pointed out a couple switches all over the panel. "In that order. It should turn, umm… yellow."
"Okay." Suzy flicked every switch and then looked back at the phantom. "That right?"
Ghost shrugged. "Dunno, I can… only see colour if it's a soul."
"That's weir—"
The elevator surged and Suzy let out a yelp and clutched onto Ghost tightly. The elevator plummeted and the kids braced themselves against the wall until it came to an abrupt stop and tossed them out onto the floor just outside it — or more so, tossed Suzy, who dragged the little phantom along with her.
.
Suzy grumbled and sat up, rubbing her tail. "Sheesh." She got to her feet and looked around at the metal CORE tower entrance with with hands on her hips. "Okay, now find your dad, right?"
Though Ghost nodded, she clasped her hands together worriedly.
"What?" Suzy asked.
"Is he… gonna be mad at me?" she wondered.
"Who cares?! This is more important, right?!" Suzy grabbed her arm. "C'mon, just tell me where to go, I'll push any stupid button you need."
.
The little phantom wasn't sure, but she nodded nonetheless. "What, um…? What did he say… he was doing here?"
"Stabilizing the tower, I think," Suzy said. "So… Would that mean he's all the way at the bottom?"
.
The bottom. Ghost ran it over in her mind. She could see it, as if she were a skeleton. That pillar of heat and magic. She remembered red, swirling. She remembered the intensity of the energy as it ripped shreds of determination from her soul and—
.
Don't let him touch it.
.
The sense of dread was coming back, but it was much more than that this time. Maybe doom would be more accurate.
.
"Oh. Oh no. No no. No good."
"What?!" Suzy asked. "Doesn't he have to—?"
"He's not…! He's not allowed!" She grabbed the purple girl by the shoulders. "Me first."
"What?! Why?! Do you even know the science stuff? How could you—?!"
"It's my fault!" she said. "It's full of time. He shouldn't… touch it. Gotta stop him."
"And then what?" Suzy asked shrilly. "We all blow up?!"
Ghost shook her head. She took off to the right path and Suzy yelped, but raced to keep up.
.
There was a ramp that went downwards in a square spiral, and they followed it to what looked almost like a meeting room, with plastic plants in each corner and old sofas lined up against one of the walls. There were two elevators in the north wall, but Ghost sped past them to a small, grungy door, unremarkable except for that it was locked with a card reader. Before Suzy could even ask, the little phantom had the door open, same as last time.
.
They raced down the hallway to the next elevator and Suzy ran up to the buttons again.
"So, uh, which one?" she said. "Lowest, right?"
"A code," the phantom said. She leaned up close and touched each one gently. "Like that. And then, um, if an orange one shows up, hit that."
"Sure." Suzy did exactly as she asked, then hit the first orange button she saw.
.
The elevator let out an enthusiastic chime, then dropped smoothly but quickly. Ghost clenched her hands together nervously.
"It's fine," Suzy said. "Why're you so antsy?"
"I feel… like something bad might happen."
"Bad things've been happenin' this whole time, y'know."
"I'm sorry."
"Quit it." Suzy gently punched her in the shoulder.
.
A red ring lit up on Ghost's back and Suzy recoiled, wide-eyed. More sparked up on her arms and hands, and one above her left eye and the other below her right one.
"Oh crap, sorry, did you light on fire or something?!" Suzy demanded.
Ghost looked puzzled, but then took note of the lines on her hands. "No."
.
Soon, the elevator clunked onto solid ground and the doors slid open. Before them stretched a hallway, emergency lights lining the edges of the ceiling, making a path straight for an old metal door. Ghost's heart stuttered. It was right there. She hadn't been back inside in so long.
.
Suzy let out a huff and fanned her face with her hands. "Whew. Hot, huh?" She shot the phantom a sideways smile. "Happy, time kid? Your dad's not even here yet." She pointed to her own chest. "He's like me, y'know? Or, I guess, I'm like him? Whatever. He'll probably be able to see you."
Though the thought made Ghost a little happy, she desperately did not want her father to come down here.
.
She gestured for Suzy to stay back and then edged up to the sealed doors before them. She took a deep breath and then pushed them open.
.
Everything was bright, blinding, orange and prismatic, and the little phantom felt for a moment as if she'd never seen colours before. Suzy let out several amazed curses under her breath, and Ghost slid forward, staring.
.
The massive pillar of energy in the chamber was spiralling quickly, sparking, slowing abruptly, then picking up again, sending out huge streamers of magic. There were odd, colourless shields above the magma, and they had caught many huge rocks, but she could see marks on the walls that showed that, not long before, the magma had been warped up the walls above them. She grimaced.
.
The ground rumbled and stones cracked. Suzy clung to Ghost for balance, but the shaking was enough to send her stumbling off her feet. The phantom's mind reeled. She dropped down, too.
"…What do I do?" she asked weakly.
"I thought you had a plan," Suzy said.
Ghost shook her head stiffly. "I just… My dad can't… But I don't know, I…!" Her eyes welled up. "Th-The world… is falling apart. And it's because I… I…"
"Hey! Come on! Knock it off!" Suzy yanked her up to her feet. "Who cares?! You're here, now! You can just sit down and cry about it, right?!"
"But how do I help?" Ghost asked. In her mind's eye, she saw the mountain blowing like a volcano and she wanted to throw up. "How can I…?! I…! I don't know how, I don't know anything, I don't know who I am, I—!"
"HEY!" Suzy grasped her tight by the shoulders. "DO BIG BREATHS." She sucked air in dramatically and puffed it out. "LIKE THAT!"
"I…" Ghost's voice creaked. "I don't… think I have to bre—?"
"I don't care, do it."
Reluctantly, the phantom followed her example. Things went quiet, save for the rumbling. She heard the boy in the back of her mind again. She caught a word or two this time— the same as before. Fight it.
.
"I… I'm not… good at fighting," she said softly.
"Huh?" Suzy blinked at her, baffled. "So?! Who said you gotta be? Just fight for yourself, right?! I mean. Not a real fight fight, but like…! You gotta take care of yourself, right?! That's what they keep telling me, anyway." She folded her arms. "And besides, you're the time kid, right?! You're the one who saved us! You saved the world by battling your brother when he was outta control, right? And you guys broke the barrier! That's what the stories are, anyway, right?!"
Ghost wiped her eyes. Had she really…? She put her hand to her chest. "Then why do I feel… like this?"
"I dunno but you gotta snap outta it."
.
A metallic clank startled them both. Ghost's head began to reel. It couldn't be—
"Bet that's him," Suzy said, shooting her a worried look. "What d'you wanna do?"
The phantom stared back at the elevator door, petrified. She looked at the blazing, wild CORE. She gulped and headed right for it. Suzy whooped. She came in a little closer, shielding her eyes with her hand.
"Crap, that's bright!"
"Are you… okay?" Ghost asked.
"Uhh, yeah, think so!"
"Close the door?"
Though the purple girl looked a little puzzled, she reached back and dragged it closed, where it shut with a heavy, metallic thunk. She hurried to join the phantom as they carefully crossed the stone bridge to the metal console before the spiral pillar of magic.
.
Suzy's hair whipped in the wind and she spit it out of her face, staring up as she walked. The phantom held her hand. She got to the console and looked over the buttons and levers.
"You know what you're doing, right?"
Ghost nodded. She could see in her head, the hands of bone pushing three of the buttons. She could see other hands— little ones of fingers and nails and brown skin, with vines wrapped around it, pushing that lever as hard as they could. She put her hand on Suzy's to guide her to the buttons and then, together, they grasped to the lever. Suzy shoved it upwards as hard as she could and it eased slowly into place.
.
Nothing changed. Ghost and Suzy looked at each other worriedly
"What now?!" Suzy asked.
"Is… Is it too far gone?" the phantom asked dismally.
"It… It can't be!" The purple girl looked at her frantically. "Can't you do something else?!"
"…Like what?"
"I dunno! Like…! Like freeze it?! Stick it in time? Like your dad does!" she said.
Ghost's mind cranked. She looked at her hands. Red sparked from the glowing scars and she clenched her fists. Freezing it wouldn't work. Then the whole mountain would be at risk, wouldn't it? But, maybe, instead of freezing the pillar itself…
.
She locked her beaming red eyes on Suzy. "Tell me… I can."
"You can," Suzy said without hesitation.
Ghost nodded. She climbed up onto the console and felt that red energy through her limbs. Maybe it really was burning. Suzy stared up at her, wide-eyed. The ground quaked and she grasped tight to the console, almost dropping to her knees.
"Crap!" She pulled herself upright and looked up. "So?!"
"…Tell me… when it looks good," she said. She spread her arms out. "And I'll… try."
.
Suzy was already sweating, mouth dry. She nodded. Her eyes fixed right on the whirling spiral of energy, waiting for it to look less wild.
.
Metal smashed behind them and Suzy flinched. The phantom whipped around and she saw a blue skeleton stumble in, shielding his eyes from the blistering light. She couldn't help but beam.
"Ah!" Suzy whipped around and held out her hands. "I was wrong! Wait a second!" Suzy turned back towards the massive pillar of energy and leaned up against the console before it, staring up. "Go, go!"
.
Ghost turned around and spread her arms, reaching through time around the pillar. Her magic was discordant and shrill, but it wove red and warm, affixing the CORE's pillar to that short moment, where it spun without chaos. She could feel the loop was fragile, but all it had to do was last until she—
.
Until she and Asriel could come home. It wouldn't be long now.
.
She beamed with red and laid her hand against the pillar, urging the loop to lock. It did so, almost eagerly, taking her lent determination and wrapping itself in it safely. Her hand burnt. It blazed white. Scars in points of light fused into an iridescent, four pointed star, so bright as to be blinding. It crafted a lock. An anchor.
.
A burst of magic fired off, flooding the room, and the void coating her form burned away, leaving a little phantom of a horned human in slacks and a hoodie, stained red, standing on top of the console.
.
A little horned human who knew her name, and where she'd come from, and exactly what she had to do next.
.
Suzy gawked. The kid smiled down at her. She pointed up.
"Meet you at the star near the top, okay?"
When the little monster nodded stiffly, Frisk grinned and latched onto the CORE, jettisoning her incorporeal form up through the stream of magic.
.
She flopped out, a little dazed, onto the hollow-sounding metal floor near the top of the core. She quickly looked at her red hands, spun around; punched the air and whooped. She cheered and yelled and cried laughing, almost buckled over completely by the time she heard more footsteps slamming the metal.
.
She looked up, wiping her eyes, to see Suzy there before her. Frisk raced to her and threw her arms around her shoulders, hugging her so tightly the other kid almost choked.
"Thank you thank you thank you! Dang! Thank you!" She lifted the purple monster and spun her around before grasping her tight again. "Aaah, man, thank you so much, holy crap!" She pulled back. "Ugh. Dang. Dude. You're the best."
"I… I am?" Suzy asked.
"Yeah! Thanks a million for the help, that was crazy," Frisk said.
"Is…? Is this what you actually look like?" the monster asked curiously.
"Oh! Well. Kinda? I think?" The kid held out her hands. "I'm not usually red, though, but I think I'm just mostly soul right now? Kiiiinda got shot outta my body." She rubbed her head. "Heck, Az's gonna be freaking out."
"Wait, so…? Are you leaving?"
"Gotta go get my body back," Frisk said apologetically. "I can, um…" She put a hand to her chest. "I can kinda feel it tugging? It's weird." She looked over at the starlight, sparking gold nearby. "Can you tell the others things are gonna be okay? We're coming as soon as we can."
"U-Um! Yeah! Of course," Suzy said. "…Uh. Sorry for… yellin' a bit."
"Naah, I needed it." Frisk laughed. "Suzy, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'll see you in another timeline, Suzy," she said. She gave her one final hug, then touched onto the golden starlight.
.
The red was overtaken completely with stunning iridescence and, just like that, the kid faded away, leaving a strange, red and prismatic blossom behind.