Howdy! Welcome back everyone! I certainly hope your August went well. Mine did, I got a job and I got the ins and outs of this season mapped out! But, now that I'm working, I may have less time to type. Still, I promise all of you that I will dedicate myself to continuing and eventually completing this story! So, there's nothing to worry about.
I'm still going to give updating every two weeks a try, but things may be rocky these next few chapters. The next chapter should go up on September 20th, two weeks from today!
Enjoy the chapter, and welcome to Season 5!
Thanks go to Tbone8454, WhoWritesThisCrap, Wingah, Francisl13, Doctah Sawbones, Zack Frost, 10burgers, Acoolnamme, NBoss01, Jack54311, LORDANTAS, AkumaESPer, J4c06, and Genowar!
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
Eeenk! Eeenk! Eeenk!
No matter how long I practiced it, this early to bed early to rise thing wasn't getting any easier. Despite my alarm clock's infernal screeching, I only clenched my eyes shut tighter. I curled stubbornly under the warmth of my blanket, aggravated groans escaping my sleep dried throat.
I weighed my options, as I did every morning. Considered what would happen if I yanked that clock out of the wall and conked back out. Of course, I knew the outcome. The alarm went off at 5 AM sharp. Chara knocked on my door at 5:10 AM every day that I decide to hit snooze. And, from experience, I had learned that they were significantly harder to get rid of.
So, begrudgingly, I sat up. My blanket slid from my chest, bunching up around my waist and revealing my bare upper body. Yanking the fabric from my legs and leaving it in a twisted heap at my bedside, I grunted and groaned my way off the mattress.
As I stumbled by my bedside table, I calmly pushed in the power button and put an end to the electronic screaming. In the dark of the room, the only light emanated from my forever cracked body. A scarlet hue glowed from the shattered pattern of red fissures that trailed from the left side of my chest and down my left arm.
I blinked my sleep filled eyes as I hobbled like some hunch backed goblin to the desk in my room's corner. The desk was cluttered with stacks of papers, books, and a laptop. There weren't any writing utensils; I had my trusty pen on me at all times. And I could kinda just wave my hand over a paper and fill it all out with my ink in an instant, so even my pen didn't really get any use outside of combat.
Anyway, folded neatly in the seat of this desk were my clothes for the day. I grabbed them in one hand, turning my head towards the full length mirror on the wall to my left. I saw myself illuminated in a soft scarlet shade, and I could just barely make out the scar across my chest. It was still a little weird, looking at myself now. I was currently just wearing boxers, so I could see most of my body. I definitely felt and looked like more of an adult these days.
In the time I had spent here, I had grown another two or three inches. Now I stood shoulder to shoulder with Future at 6'3. I thought I was probably taller than my dad had been now, but I couldn't be sure. Really, I was a bigger dude now than I ever thought I would be. I was tall, and after two and a half years destroying my body in a hundred different ways every day, I had built up a good bit of muscle mass. I still wasn't bulky; if I were to wear baggy clothes no one would know if I was in good shape or just scrawny. I was glad I had remained on the lean muscular side; being some hulking mountain of a man didn't really feel like my style.
I pulled my dark blue jeans over myself, one leg at a time. After buttoning and zipping those up, I snagged the grey tank top from my stack of fabric. I pulled it over my head and shoved my arms through each of its shoulder holes, before rolling it down my abdomen and covering my scarred chest. After that, it was my hoodie. I pulled the sleeves over my arms, momentarily dulling the light in the room. But then, I zipped it to halfway up my chest and rolled both sleeves up to my elbows, once more illuminating the room in a dim hue. My new sweatshirt was pretty similar to my old one, its solid blue color detailed by three red stripes. The biggest difference was that on the back of the sweatshirt, a white Deltarune symbol resided. Much like my tattoo, it encompassed the majority of my back.
Finally, I grabbed the pair of socks and red headband that remained in that seat, before sitting down in the clothing's place. Just as I did every morning, I put on one sock at a time, before I stretched the deep red fabric of my headband over my head. It wrapped around my forehead, both sides, and the back of my head. My messy brown hair fell over the headband, but I reached up, pushing it back with my palms and smoothing it back some to keep it from falling over my eyes. I wasn't sure if my hair was longer than it had been before I began training, if so it wasn't by much. But, these days I tried to make my thick mop of hair a little more presentable and a little less... Just rolled out of bed.
After getting dressed, I was off. My footsteps left the carpet of my dark room and reached the hard wood floor of the hallway after I opened my room door. The castle halls were still dark, as the sun had yet to rise, but soft yellow light poured out from an opened door down the hall. I recognized the rushing water sound of the bathroom sink, and realized that once again, Chara had gotten up before me.
Yawning and stretching my hands over my head, I blinked my tired eyes in the light as I approached it. Wincing some, I turned the corner just as Chara spat a mouthful of toothpaste into one of the two sinks against the bathroom wall. They looked up and over to me, smiling some despite the white foam giving them a goatee and nodding their greeting.
"Mornin', Char-bear." I spoke in my gravely, still-too-tired voice as I made my way to the sink by their side. On my way, I grabbed a towel from the rack on the wall, offering it to them so they could wipe their beard away.
"Morning." Chara answered casually, eyes darting to the towel I offered them. They smirked a little as their eyes darted back to my face, and they grabbed a razor from the counter space between our two sinks. As they took the towel I offered them, they offered me my razor in return.
"Huh?" I cocked a brow at their offer, before I immediately frowned with realization. My head turned and I faced the mirror, my frown only creasing deeper when I confirmed my hypothesis. Detailing my chin and the space surrounding my lips was an inky black five o'clock shadow. "Oh god damn it."
"I thought you were Future for a second there." Chara joked, their smirk growing as I got irritated. They wiped the toothpaste off their face, before grabbing from the pile of hair ties resting neatly between our two sinks. They certainly needed it, their auburn hair falling down around their shoulders.
"Heuhheuhheuheuheuh!" I soured my expression with my gross and mocking laugh, smiling just a little afterwards. I liked being around them after all, even when we were teasing one another. They were right though, my facial hair strongly resembled Future's. Though it was once brown like the hair on my head, in the last few months, my facial hair had rapidly darkened. Now it took on an inky black color whenever it arrived, making it exceptionally noticeable. Not to mention, there was hardly ever a hint of it appearing. I would shave, have a smooth face for a few days, and then suddenly wake up looking like the main character of a gritty 80's action movie. Today seemed to be one of those days.
"Speaking of the old fart," I turned my head after running water along my razor, leaning in closer to the mirror and beginning to run the blades along my jawline. "He knows we've got multiverse business goin' on today, right?"
"He should, yeah." Chara told me, gathering all of their long hair in their hands and pulling it to the back of their head. Then, they began wrapping it and styling it into the bun they usually kept it in these days. "How do you wanna divvy that up, by the way?"
"Well, I figure me n' CORE don't get along too good without a mediator, so you should probably handle their monthly update at the Omega." I suggested, turning my head up some and pulling my upper lip down to give my razor more room. "I can follow up on that lead in the Doodle Sphere."
"Sounds good to me." Chara responded with ease, pulling their hands away from their hair. It was clear that they didn't have anything more to take care of in this room, and yet there they stood, waiting for me. Silently, I appreciated that. "So, you excited to start our vacation tomorrow?"
"Like you wouldn't believe." I scoffed, lips curling up slightly. I paused briefly, cleaning the remaining stubble from my face before finally setting my razor aside. Then, as I grabbed my tooth brush, I continued. "Two weeks back home. I don't think any of our visits have lasted that long before."
"Are you kidding? Future rarely lets us out of his sight for more than a day or two!" Chara put their hands on their hips, rolling their eyes. They frowned lightly, eyes glossing to the side. Quietly they added, "I guess that is what we signed up for though..."
"It'll be worth it when Anny can't make me chug garbage water next time I see him." My eyes narrowed dryly as I wet my tooth brush under the sink's stream, before spreading toothpaste over its bristles. Chara certainly wasn't wrong; over two and a half years we'd been living in this castle, and I could count the times we'd been able to visit our friends on one hand. It'd been over a year since we'd last dropped by, and we hadn't even been able to spend the night.
"Heh..." Chara tried to smile at my little joke, but in hindsight I probably shouldn't have said that. I know how it scared them, scared everyone. It had been years now since that day, and I knew the both of us still thought about it. It was one of my first thoughts when I woke up, and one of my last thoughts when I went to bed. Sensing the forming tension, Chara was smart enough to change the subject. The new topic was still a little heavy, but less so than our two and a half year manhunt. "It's been so long since we've seen everyone. I wonder how much they've changed..."
"Ah, I'm sure they're all still dorks." I stated playfully, my voice muffled with minty foam while I scrubbed my teeth. Then, I leaned forward, spitting into the sink and turning on the faucet in the same motion. Straightening my back, I smirked a little to them from over my shoulder. "No way there are gonna be any shocks bigger than Asgore and Toriel gettin' remarried."
"I really didn't think Asgore would be able to pull it off." Chara scoffed with some amusement, crossing their arms over their chest. The corner of their mouth curled some though, clearly happy for their surrogate father. "But, I'm glad him and Toriel have been able to smooth things over. They work well together, I think."
"The real take away," I paused to brush the gross taste of sleep from my tongue, before continuing. "Is that now we're gonna have to dress up for some big event."
"Eugh, yeah..." Chara's eyes darted to the side, and I almost thought they looked like they were contemplating something. A frown creased their face, and their ears got a little red before they responded. "Don't remind me."
"I'm not a big social event guy, either. Trust me." I set my tooth brush down, snagging a towel and wiping any remaining foam or water from my lips and chin. "Not a big fan of wearing a suit n' tie. Don't think Toriel's one for a casual wedding though."
"..." Chara was abnormally silent, shifting awkwardly and avoiding my gaze. Then, suddenly and hastily, they made their way to and out the door. Turning down the hallway and disappearing towards the kitchen, they called out a brief explanation. "I'm gonna go get breakfast!"
"Uhm, alright?" I furrowed my brows, watching them leave. I stood there for a few seconds, wondering if maybe I had said something wrong or if they remembered that they were in some kind of rush. Eventually, I just shook my head, turning my eyes back to my own reflection.
Like I did every morning, I examined myself. My eyes, my face. I always searched my green eyes, paranoid. I still thought about their red color, what it had been like to lose myself in my own power and my own hatred. But, for the thousandth morning in a row, all I saw was green. I was me, I knew that. And my friends would know that too.
I took a deep breath, and I shut the both of my peepers for a second. I felt my mind calm, and my anxieties dull. Yeah, I guess I was worried about returning home. It had been over two and a half years since Chara and I left, and over three whole years since I'd entered Undertale. I couldn't help but wonder if my home was the same. If it was still the place I dreamed of returning to, if my friends would still accept me as the man I am now.
Take it easy, Angel. I opened my eyes, and I forced a smile into the mirror. After a second, my confidence returned, and that smile became real. My thoughts drifted back to that big group hug the day that I left, and I nodded once to myself.
You're going home, and you're going to have a good time.
DOUBLETALE: SEASON 5
Chapter 49: All Work And No Play
Or: Three Years As The Angel
"Thanks, Grillby." I heard Chara say when I made my way into the kitchen. Some days he was busy, but every now and again Grillby was nice enough to prepare breakfast for everyone. It was a big building, and Future wanted to keep who he had left together.
So, the left wing of the castle was where Chara and I stayed. In the center of the castle were the main rooms; the dining area, the kitchen, and the living room. And on the right was where both Alphys' and Grillby's rooms were located. They were pretty essential to Future's monarchy, Alphys and Grillby. Future tried his hardest, but he was new to this government thing, and they were not. Those two became his most trusted advisors, as well as the people that he often dumped his paperwork on. But it was obvious he appreciated and loved the two of them more than anything. They were the only friends he'd managed to save, after all.
It had been... A process, everyone adjusting to Chara being around. The last Chara they had known had betrayed and killed all their friends, after all. So reasonably, for the first year or so that we spent here, Grillby and Alphys were especially distant towards Chara, who of course noticed. They understood why, and though they never said anything about it, it had been clear that the way those two treated them bothered them.
But, as always, Chara kept their head up and continued to work hard. And after about a year and a half here, Grillby and Alphys both approached them and apologized for their cold treatment. Chara had accepted their apologies, and though things were still a little awkward between the three, they got along significantly better. It was a change Future and I were very happy to see.
Now Chara pulled up a seat at the dining room table, setting their plate down in front of themself. Across the back of their chair they had draped their green and yellow striped track jacket, not yet having pulled it over their plan white T-shirt. That wasn't abnormal; unlike me who got dressed as soon as I woke up, they put a few things off until they finished eating and were ready to head out for the day. It was... Probably weird that I had picked up on little things like that about them, and I tried not to look like I was embarrassed by this realization while I walked by them to get my food.
... So, if you couldn't guess, spending damn near every waking moment together hadn't made things any less uhh... Tense? Between Chara and I. We got along of course, we got along really well in fact. But, my uhm... Feelings, had hardly decreased in intensity. In fact, they had probably gotten twice as bad. Or, three times worse. Or four, or five, or...
Ahem. Point is, the thought of them wouldn't leave me alone. Remember how I said Anarchy was one of the first things I thought of in the morning and one of the last things I thought of at night? That's because Chara actually occupies both of those brain time slots. Even the smallest interaction felt like heroin, and the moment we were apart I started going through withdrawals. I over analyzed every single interaction, wondered constantly what they thought of me and the way that I acted. My brain often told me I was screwing up in one way or another. But, when we were face to face, all those anxieties were gone, and we interacted like regular people would.
Well, most of the time, anyway. Every now and again I would get flustered somehow; they would say or do something that caught me off guard and suddenly I was fumbling over every word like an idiot. I had felt madness before, in the lower points of my life. I was familiar with the tingling sensation and the skull caving pressure that insanity could bring on. And, I've gotta say, this intense crush and psychosis had a number of things in common.
Of course, I could be an adult and just tell them how I felt, but even the slightest thought of a confession dried my mouth, shut my throat, and drenched my palms. I mean, it had to be weird, right? Their first memory of me is me gouging their eye out! We've literally killed each other hundreds of times! And, yeah, obviously all that stuff is way behind us now, but... Wasn't it still strange? The two of us have come so far, built such a strong friendship, I was terrified of messing that up. The thought of a reality where I made things awkward and uncomfortable between us scared the hell out of me.
And what if everything went well? What if, by some miracle, they returned my feelings? Our current mission in life was hunting down the most dangerous man alive! If we hardly had time to visit our own homes how would we have time to pursue a relationship? Anarchy and the multiverse required all of our focus; we couldn't afford to get caught up in something like that.
So, I compacted my feelings into a painfully tight ball, and I shoved them deep down inside. I endured this madness, hoping that it would dull or fade away even though it only got more intense every day. I tried my hardest to focus my mind on my work. When this was over, I told myself. When Chara and I were done with this and returned home, safe. Then I could handle my feelings. Until then I had debts to pay.
Chara and I ate breakfast across the table from one another, like we did almost every morning. We talked a little more about nothing with any real importance, but I wasn't paying as much attention as usual. I felt extra thoughtful and anxious today, so I had trouble keeping up conversation. They probably noticed - I was terrible at hiding things from them - but they must have had their own worries, because they didn't ask about it.
Now, Chara laced up their brown boots and I laced up my blue and red tennis shoes. They had pulled their green and yellow track jacket over their arms and zipped it up over their chest, covering their white T-shirt and completing their outfit. In the old days they usually wore shorts, but as we were just coming out of the chillier spring months, they still wore jeans. They might have gotten a little taller over the past few years too, but I hardly noticed. I still kind of towered over them, and I used my height to poke fun at them every so often.
"You two headin' out?" Future asked the two of us from across the room, sitting in his chair in the living room connected to the dining room. In one hand he held his cup of coffee, in the other was a few papers stapled together. It could have been anything; notes for a speech or the specifics of some new law or the details of some tradings with humanity. On his nose his reading glasses hung a little low, completing his dad-look.
"Yup! Chara and I answered in unison. I straightened out my sweatshirt, patting off its front to make sure I didn't have any crumbs from breakfast remaining on me. The two of us were heading out to our job, after all. We had to look professional.
"Alright." Future rose his coffee mug to us like he was toasting us. I could hear in his voice that he was tired too, and I guessed early mornings never would get easy for me. But, he had cleaned up more and more these past few years. He didn't stink of alcohol nearly as often, even though he did still keep that flask on him. But Future was a good man with good intentions, and he worked hard. I would always respect him for that. "Good luck, and be safe."
"You know it." I aimed one finger gun at Future, while slicing my free hand absentmindedly through the air. With that motion, the code opened into a shimmering portal, reflecting all sorts of purples and blues. Chara made a similar motion, opening up their own portal to their own destination. That was one of the first things we had learned here, how to traverse the multiverse. And I had to say, it was one of the more useful skills we'd attained.
"We should be back by lunch." Chara waved casually over their shoulder, stepping through their rift. I followed a moment or two later through my own opening in space time, giving Future a wave as well.
As those portals closed, Future smiled lightly beneath his five o'clock shadow. He'd put off shaving to finish reading these documents, was all. He'd had to explain that to a disapproving Grillby earlier in the morning. But, despite his sleepiness, and the long day ahead of him, seeing his two pupils head out to go be responsible on their own made him smile.
He was running low on things to teach Chara and Cter, honestly. There wasn't much left for them to do but keep getting stronger until Anarchy's located. Future took pride in the job he'd done with those two. Really, he just took pride in those two in general.
Humming quietly, the king over the mountain sipped his coffee and shut his eyes. Those two had earned their two weeks off, of that he was more than certain.
"Whoa..." I blinked my wide eyes several times, head turning from side to side to examine my surroundings. I had wandered through a portal, and ended up with a bronze doorknob in my hand. After turning it and pushing the dim red of the door that was suddenly before me open, I found myself standing in a colorful void.
I stepped from the doorway and onto the stone chunk that it was planted on, furrowing my brows. Currently, I was upside down, but still the gravity of this rock held my feet to its surface. Around me the world was tinted shades of gold and orange, a glowing blank space between the uncountable other plateaus of ground that each carried their own doorway.
At this strange space's center was an exceptionally large slab of earth. It kept the millions of billions of doorways revolving slowly and gracefully around it, making it the clear center of all things in this Doodle Sphere. Upon this floating island papers were hung on clotheslines. They were scattered endlessly across the floor, along with everything from pencils to paint buckets. From my upside down position, I had to tilt my head upwards to get a good look at the floating land mass, but my vantage point gave me clear view of the monster I was here to see.
Sitting criss-cross at this messy island's center was a short skeleton with a scarf so long it doubled as a cape. Strapped across his back was one massive paint brush, still dripping black from its bristles. He had multicolored inks spattered across his clothes, and he was only getting more on himself as he rested one sky blue soaked hand on his chin, tapping his finger tips against his bottom jawbone.
Silently, ink began to filter out through the slits over the shoulder blades of my sweatshirt. Over the course of a few seconds my wings rapidly took shape, beautiful black feathers unfolding from my shoulders and spreading wide behind me. A single time my wings flapped, sending wind gusting over the floor of my rock. The updraft launched me down towards the Doodle Sphere's center piece at a manageable speed.
I descended for a few seconds, before my wings beat once more, lifting me from my nose dive. I landed on my feet, a few papers scattering away from me. The sound of this rustling combined with the gentle thud of my shoes against the ground caught the colorful undead's attention, and he turned his head. He looked over his shoulder at me with heterochromia eyes, his right eye a cyan sphere and his left a gold star. But, when he spotted me, he blinked his sockets before opening them wide. After his blink, his pupils had changed, the both of them taking on a distinct star shape.
"Oh, you're here!" Excitedly he jumped to his feet, spinning on his bony heel to face me. Swiftly he snagged one of my hands in his, giddily shaking it while he smiled up at me. "Cter The Angel, nice to finally meet you! I'm Ink Sans!"
"Uh, yeah! Good to meet you too." I had to blink a few times to shake off the initial surprise his forward attitude brought, before I pushed my lips up into a polite smile. "I understand you have a lead on The Anarchist's location?"
"Oh yeah." Ink nodded to confirm my words, shutting his sockets briefly and spinning around. His back facing me, he reached out to the lines strewn chaotically about the Doodle Sphere. His digits made contact with one of the clothes lines, and suddenly it began to move. "It's nothing concrete, but CORE was sure you would wanna hear about it."
"They were right. I need all the information I can get." I admitted honestly, crossing my arms over my chest. My wings folded against my back, not yet receding into my shoulder blades. I watched curiously, eyes scanning the shifting colors on every page as they flew by. "What exactly is this lead, anyway? And how'd you come across it?"
"Well, I live here in the Doodle Sphere. And this is one of the few special places in the multiverse that has windows to every unprotected timeline." Ink Sans explained while his multicolored eyes scanned the shifting pages overhead, now back to their original star and oval shapes. "Ever since Anarchy disappeared a few years back, me and my buddy Dream have been looking in every nook and cranny to try and find him."
"We had hoped it would be easy at first; Dream can sense sources of positivity and negativity in the multiverse." Ink glanced over his shoulder at me then, frowning lightly and shaking his head. "And, as you can probably imagine, Anarchy is usually a huge source of negativity."
"Yeah..?" I cocked a brow, slowly nodding along. "So what's the issue been?"
"The issue is that when he disappeared, his negative aura disappeared with him." Ink turned his head forward, furrowing his brow bones. He reached up, gripping his chin with one messy hand like he was still trying to think up an answer. "Its like he completely dropped off the face of the multiverse without a single trace."
"Well, yeah. He's probably in a protected timeline." I figured aloud, frowning thoughtfully. I watched as Ink shook his head, however.
"Well I mean yeah, obviously his Gaster must have put up a huge amount of firewalls to keep everyone and everything from finding him, but that shouldn't have neutralized his negativity." Ink's pupils took the shape of question marks with the blink of his sockets while he pondered. "There's only two ways that could have happened. Either Anarchy found someone or something so positive that it balanced out his negativity, or he balanced himself out to be a perfect medium between the two."
"And both of those sound pretty improbable..." I muttered, now holding my own chin in thought while I nodded along.
"Improbable yes, but if there's one thing everybody knows about The Anarchist, it's that when it comes to him?" Ink glanced over his shoulder at me again, narrowing his eyes. His pupils were exclamation points now, exemplifying the urgency of the matter at hand. "Nothing is impossible."
"..." Silently, I let my eyes gloss over to my left forearm. Again I examined its many glimmering fissures. They almost burned; they always did when I thought about Anarchy. My thoughts drifted back to what CORE had told me, about how Anarchy gets stronger. A mental process, a spiritual awakening. If Anny had reached some kind of perfect balance, who knew how powerful he had gotten? I had been training for years, and I still didn't know if I couldn't handle him as he was when we last fought. If he really had gotten even stronger, then I honestly didn't know if I was ready.
... Relax, Angel. I shut my eyes for a moment, drawing in a deep and quiet breath. I cut my anxieties off before they could get themselves going, swiftly reassuring myself. Things will be different this time. You won't be alone this time.
"Ah, here it is!" Ink's sudden upbeat tone caught my attention, and I lifted my eyes back to him. He reached up, plucking a paper from the line. Carefully he took the page in his digits, looking it over once to be sure, before turning to me. He held the paper out to me, "Here; you'll wanna see this."
"Hm?" I took Ink's offering, squinting curiously at the colors upon the page. It functioned much like the viewing portals I had seen, showing a clear display of another reality on the sheet. The focus was on a young woman, wearing a purple apron. She was on the thinner side, but was far from emaciated. Currently she was wiping down a counter inside of a small diner, even though light had hardly overtaken the dark sky outside of the windows. It seemed she was setting up for the day. "... Ink. Who is this?"
"That's Aliza." Ink crossed his arms, smiling with a bit of pride. I shot him a confused glance however, and his brow bones rose when he realized I still had no idea who 'Aliza' was. "Oh! Well, you see, Anarchy hardly has any allies in the multiverse."
"I didn't know he had any." My lips curled down while I lowered the paper, shifting my attention to Ink. "'Sides Badster, of course."
"Just one." Ink reached out, tapping his index finger against the paper I held. "Aliza."
"Unhuh..." My eyes drifted back to the young woman on the sheet I held, and I tilted my head curiously. She hardly looked the type to associate with Anarchy. In fact, she looked completely ordinary. Just a regular person, running her regular restaurant and living her regular life. Suffice to say, I had a few doubts. "What's their relationship?"
"Aliza is a survivor from a Horrortale timeline that Anarchy decimated." Ink began, and again I had to give him a bewildered glance.
"Survivor?" The tone of my question was certainly incredulous, How could it not be? Anarchy was hardly known for his merciful actions. "Didn't know Anny left those."
"Well, she was more than a survivor." Ink explained, turning his own pupils to the woman on the page. "Anarchy hand picked her out of everyone in that timeline. Not sure why, but he decided she was going to be his friend."
"Friend?" Again I echoed Ink's words, recoiling some. This story was getting more ludicrous by the second, but then again, Anarchy was far from predictable. Perhaps I was underestimating his chaotic nature. "Since when does Anarchy go looking for those?"
"It was in the six months that he was trying to get Jevil's attention." Ink explained, and that gave me a few answers. I had learned about that from Future and CORE, Anarchy's hunt for his mad jester. He had done a lot of out of the ordinary things in that time in attempt to gain chaos clown's attention, so I supposed that something as outside the box as making a friend would have crossed his mind. "The two had a simple deal: Aliza would be Anarchy's new best friend, and Anarchy would protect her from all the dangers of Horrortale."
New best friend? Sourly I squinted at that, a bit of anger appearing in my eyes. I didn't let Ink see that though, immediately glancing to the side. Being replaced hardly felt good, but I reckoned that that was how I'd made Anny feel. Composing myself, I let my eyes land back on Ink. "Okay... So what happened between them?"
"Well, they both held up their end of the bargain. Anarchy protected her, and she was his friend in return." Ink furrowed his brow bones, watching Aliza carefully through the paper. He was pondering her and her very existence, as was I. "I don't know if Anarchy intended for it to play out the way that it did, but... I think he might have actually kind of cared about her."
"Why?" I asked curiously. I didn't mean to sound as harsh or disbelieving as I ended up sounding, but Ink didn't seem to notice or mind. "Because he didn't kill her?"
"He didn't just not kill her, he went out of his way to make sure she had a good chance at a normal life." Gesturing to the woman on the page, Ink shrugged, turning his sockets back to me. "He made sure Badster found a safe timeline, made sure the timeline was protected by a handful'a firewalls, made sure she had money and a place to live, as well as an alright paying job. With enough coding tweaks, his Badster made it all happen."
"... I don't get it." I squinted after a few seconds of silence. Aliza appeared to be humming to herself as she went about her early day work, a small smile on her face. It was odd to me, to see someone so happy and peaceful because of Anarchy? "Why her, of all people?"
"Well, I think you should ask her yourself." Ink stepped away from where he'd been hovering by my side. He walked forward a few paces, then spun around, flashing his positive grin my way. "It took me and CORE a long time to locate her timeline and find a way through its firewalls, but with that there paper you've got a direct entrance to her diner."
"..." Silently, I stared at this paper for just a while longer. I contemplated this opportunity, and all that it meant. The way it looked right now, there were only three people alive who could possibly know where Anarchy was. Those three people were Anarchy himself, doctor Badster, and Aliza. I lifted my head and returned Ink's gaze, "Thank you for this, Ink. I really appreciate all the work you've put in to helping me."
"Hey, helping you helps me too." Ink waved a hand dismissively, laughing lightly. Then, he planted both hands on his hips, widening his grin. "We're all in this together, Cter."
"Yeah, right." I smiled lightly in return, nodding once to agree with him before tossing the paper that I held up into the air. With the snap of my fingers, it split open with code. Green ones and zeros poured out from within, until a portal had formed. A gateway in the code I had hacked open, and after a deep breath, I took a step through.
From the grass of the Doodle Sphere to a tile floor I went, my steps thudding gently into the quiet building. I stepped through the shimmering green, and immediately the flickering, overflowing code disappeared into thin air behind me. I could see Aliza just a few feet away from me, continuing to wipe down the counter happily. Her back was to me, but when she heard my footsteps she perked up.
"Hm?" She glanced over her shoulder at me, and her eyebrows immediately rose with some surprise. She spun on her heel to turn and face me, flashing a sheepish smile. "Oh, I'm sorry sir! We actually won't be open for another hour or so!"
"... Are you Aliza?" I asked quietly, disregarding her previous words. My face was an unfeeling mask, and my emerald orbs watched her every move carefully.
"That's what it says on the sign outside, right?" Aliza smirked lightly, arching her brow with her little joke. She rested a hand on her hip, leaving the rag on the counter with her free hand.
"... My name is Cter The Angel." I spoke, and she instantly recoiled. Her friendly demeanor melted, smile turning to pursed lips and eyes snapping open wide. "I'd like to ask you a few questions about Anthony The Anarchist."
"..." She was quiet for several long seconds. Her FEARFUL eyes scanned me closely, drifting over my face and my body. On my back, I shifted and unfolded my ink wings some. It was a subtle reminder that if she tried to run, I wouldn't have any trouble catching her. From my obsidian wings her eyes glossed down to my left arm, and they narrowed. She stared at the the dim red glow of my scars for a few tense moments, before finally looking me in the eye again. "... It's you."
"I'm not here to cause any trouble." I lifted my left hand, opening my palm in a dismissive gesture. Then, I lowered my hand, waving it casually to one of the booths along the wall. "I'm not going to hurt you or break anything, I just want to talk."
"..." Aliza stood there, quiet and thoughtful. She stared at me, then lowered her eyes to the checkered floor. Sighing quietly, she ran her hands down her apron to straighten it out, and she shut her eyes. Then, she nodded once, and reopened her orbs. Lifting her head, an inkling of red flickered in her faded purple orbs, and she frowned.
"... Restaurant opens in an hour. That's all the time I can give you."
Chara never liked The Omega Timeline. Or, really, they never liked crowded spaces. The Omega just happened to be one massive crowded space. Shifting faces and colors left and right, it made Chara dizzy. Times like these made them exceedingly grateful for their wings.
Though they disliked this place, they were always grateful for a moment to sail the skies and clear their head. It was important to take time to think and reflect, Future had emphasized that in his teachings. To reach a higher state of mind required a constant search for enlightenment. Or, something wordy like that.
Anyway, they felt they needed time to clear the fog from their skull now more than they had in quite some time. That was Angel's fault, they'd figured out some time ago. It had been a growing issue ever since the fight with Character all that time ago. Chara had hardly noticed at first; they'd just thought that the two of them were becoming better friends. They just liked being around Cter, there wasn't one weird thing about that.
It wasn't until a few nights later, when they found him face down in a toilet. They remembered how their heart had dropped into their stomach, how worried they felt when he started crying. After they convinced Cter to tell them what was bothering him, and he shared with them his entire past, Chara realized this wasn't a normal way to feel about someone. They'd had friends and they'd had family before, but those kind of connections had never sparked whatever their friendship with Cter was sparking.
Then, after bawling their eyes out and performing CPR to keep Cter alive after Anarchy had nearly drowned him, Chara... Had to come to terms with a few things. In the two weeks they'd spent pacing by his bedside, hoping every second that his eyes would open, they had nothing but time to think. And after all that intensive soul searching, as well as the overwhelming relief they felt when Cter finally opened his eyes... After desperately clutching his hand in theirs and - again - bursting into tears...
Chara, had... A crush. And that was of course a disturbing revelation to them. They had never felt that sort of way towards a person before after all. And now they had grown this sort of attachment to the guy who literally gouged their eye out as a first impression. Granted, they had been so screwed up at the time that they had actually considered that a fantastic first impression, but...
The relationship between Chara and Cter had always been strange. They had forged a strong bond by murdering one another in an endless time loop. Was there anyone else alive who could possibly say the same? Of course not! They had built a friendship in an eternal death match, and had nurtured that friendship as mortal enemies, until finally it had grown so strong that Cter was able to use it to pull Chara back to the light. For that they would always be grateful, but...
Wasn't it strange? To feel this type of way about him? Their relationship was already beyond complex. Ins and outs and strange dynamics that would never make sense if one laid them all out on the table. But it did work, and the two were beyond close. Chara trusted Cter more than they'd ever trusted anyone, and a part of them wished they could just leave things at that. A great (albeit very weird) friendship.
But unfortunately the achings in their chest had other plans, and they hardly knew how to feel about it. They had never had this type of interest in anyone before, after all. From a young age the concept of romance had been warped to them, and though later on in life seeing the strong and loving relationships between members of Monsterkind had undone much of those traumas, Chara had never thought they themself would be interested in such a thing. And they were perfectly okay with that.
... Until they weren't. Until dumb Angel with his dumb face and his dumb nice words and his dumb KIND actions came along. Thinking of it, he was always doing this kind of thing to them. Getting them to feel in ways they hadn't previously considered possible. They ought to punch him for it. But, alas, the many sparring matches the two'd had in the past years had taught them that punching Cter did nothing to dull their feelings. Neither did him punching them. Which, in any other context, would depict a terrifyingly brutal case of Stockholm's Syndrome.
See, that was the kind of thing Chara had meant. Their relationship was impossibly complex. They fight each other almost every day to make sure that they're strong enough to protect each other. How could dynamics like theirs work at all, let alone in some kind of romantic relationship? Chara was terrified of adding another layer, putting on extra pressure and screwing things up.
Besides, what were the odds that Cter even returned their feelings? They had met the last person Cter had been interested in, and, though Chara hated admitting it, there were... A good bunch of differences between themself and Lexi. From personality to body type, the two of them weren't alike in any way. The fact of the matter was, Chara thought very highly of Cter. And, though they had learned to be more accepting of themself over the years... They just really had trouble seeing how someone like him could be interested in someone like them.
But, then again, Cter was always so nice to them. Sparing their life, telling them he thinks they're amazing, saving them from Anarchy. And those were just the big moments. There were a billion little things that he did. Moments that anyone else would have thought small and meaningless, but that Chara over analyzed like some coked out detective.
They couldn't help themself, they needed an answer. It had been almost three years of living like this, and it was only getting worse. No matter what happened, no matter how much they hated it...
... I'm gonna have to tell him. Chara grimaced to themself, clenching their eyes shut tight. Their cheeks were dusted a light pink, embarrassed by their own stupid thoughts. They had thought about it endlessly, even been so clueless that they had made a few Google searches for advice (not that they would ever admit that to a single soul). And the answer always came up the same: just rip the band-aid off and be honest. But how the hell am I supposed to do that?!
"And where is CORE Frisk?!" Chara suddenly snapped, clenching their hands into tight fists while their face turned to a darker shade of red. Finally sick of thinking about this, they exploded irrationally and demanded from their brain a change of subject.
Through the skies of The Omega they soared, squinting irritably down into the rooftops below. There was never a specific meeting place for these updates, even Chara going to The Omega was a formality. Now that they were here, C Frisk should have already been more than aware of their presence and should have made themself known by n-
"Hello again, Chara."
Chara's eyebrows rose, and they glances up to the grey face peering down at them. CORE Frisk stood effortlessly on their shoulders, leaning forward and peering down at them with void eyes. Unlike Chara, who had a few strands of auburn hair flailing wildly after the wind had knocked them free of their hair tie, C Frisk did not have a single hair out of place. Of course, that was the usual. Their body was just a projection and unaffected by natural forces.
"... What kept you?" Chara squinted impatiently up at the monochromatic child, hoping silently that the burning in their cheeks had subsided back to being invisible. Either way, they doubted Frisk would question them. The void walker was always all business with them and Cter.
"You looked pretty tense." CORE stood up straight on Chara's shoulders, staring ahead while Chara descended towards a rooftop. "I didn't want to interrupt any critical thinking."
Or you were just putting off talking to me, you omnipresent little goblin. Chara thought to themself spitefully, but ultimately they swallowed their own venom and held their tongue. Quietly their wings flapped, and they straightened their body out vertically before gracefully descending onto the concrete of one of The Omega's infinite roof tops. "Well, we're both here now. So lets cut to the chase."
"Sure." Suddenly, C Frisk was standing across from Chara. They held their hands behind their back, neatly folded. Their posture, as usual, was perfect. "What would you like to hear first?"
"Well... Anarchy, first." Chara spoke after a moment of thought. They furrowed their brows, a small frown on their face. "I know we would have heard if he had made any appearances. But what about everyone else? Have they made any progress?"
"Though her method has been the most simplistic between us, her, and The Gatherer, The Predator covers more and more ground every day." C Frisk began, calmly blinking their empty eyes. "Her gang spreads itself thin each day, scouring timeline after timeline while her ship searches endlessly for powerful concentrations of DETERMINATION."
"How she managed to get her hands on a craft as advanced as her spaceship is far beyond me..." C Frisk muttered an addition to their last statement, squinting their black hole eyes irritably.
"And Gatherer?" Chara tilted their head some to the side, watching CORE carefully. That was the important answer, what Xander was up to. Chara and Cter knew Lexi's motives for finding The Anarchist after all, she wanted to help him. The Gatherer, however, was another story. The motive behind his hunt remained a mystery, and every theory came up ominous. Gatherer had no stake in fighting The Anarchist, and was certainly not dumb enough to do so. He had little to gain and everything to lose, after all. So, the only conclusion to be made was that Anarchy had something Gatherer wanted. Chara had a guess or two on what that might be, but those were thoughts for another time.
"Well, he's significantly harder to track." C Frisk frowned some, but remained as composed as ever. "He must have realized that I had double crossed him after Predator's raid on his base a few years ago, because after that event he updated the firewalls on his timeline to keep even me out."
"But you can still see what he does outside of his timeline, can't you?" Chara arched a brow with some confusion. "So you should know what multiversal moves he's making."
"Well, yes, I can see most of what he does outside of his own timeline, but even that is secretive." Jaw clenching with some reserved frustration, C Frisk's hands clenched into tiny fists behind their back. "After the terrifying broadcast of Cter and Anarchy's battle, more and more people have flocked fearfully under Gatherer's banner. His timeline is an impenetrable fortress, and he has eyes all throughout the multiverse."
"Information floods from all corners of reality to The Gatherer's ears these days. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his informants had snuck their way into The Omega." Sourly Frisk lowered their eyes to the floor, shaking their head slowly back and forth. They looked disgusted, to say the very least. "They all speak in code to one another. Their motions are hard to track and their motives are harder to understand."
"... Troubling news as always." Chara glanced to the side, frown creasing deeper into their face. Their ruby orbs squinted with frustration. A part of them wished they and Cter could just kick in his timeline and lay waste to it overnight. But the facts were that one: that would only further push Gatherer's fear mongering and propaganda, two: they had no way of getting inside that so called fortress of a timeline, and three: even if they did make it inside, they had no idea what might await them there.
"Things won't get better until they get worse, I fear." Disdain in their black hole orbs, C Frisk lifted their head again. They stared Chara in the eye, and when a cold gust of wind blew across the rooftop, their ethereal form did not shift in the slightest.
"Because nothing is going to change until someone finds Anarchy."
"He's not here." Aliza told me as we each slid into our respective sides of the booth. She folded her hands together on the table, staring across it to me with a somber expression. "I, figured I should open with that."
"... Yeahhh," I sighed, tilting my head back and resting it on the seat behind me while I shut my eyes. My wings had since folded back into my shoulder blades, as I didn't want to smudge any ink on the nice cushions where I was seated. "I figured that would be too easy."
"Honestly? I haven't seen him since his assistant guided me out of Horrortale." Aliza unfolded her hands to shrug them over her head. But, then her eyes darted to the side, and she frowned. "Er, technically not since your fight with him showed up on the TV in my apartment."
"Really?" I questioned, leaning my elbows onto the table while I hunched forward. I tilted my head to the side, squinting suspiciously. "Have you heard from him since Horrortale?"
Silently, Aliza shook her head. Her eyes lowered to where she had folded her hands on the table, and her frown deepened. "... Not a word, unfortunately."
"Mm." I hummed quietly, mulling over her answer. After a few seconds of quiet contemplation, my expression softened some, and I asked. "Would you mind telling me about your relationship with Anarchy?"
"O-oh! Well, uh, looking back, it was honestly pretty weird." Aliza perked up some, an awkward laugh matching her awkward smile. She reached up, scratching the back of her head. "See, when I first met Anthony, I was in the middle of the worst day of my life."
"I had been bullied up a mountain, got lost and nearly starved, fell down a hole, met with a world full of monsters, and finally the only person I felt even remotely safe around had abandoned me to wait in the dark." Aliza counted the process of events on her fingers, her eyes showing the ghost of old fears. "I was huddled there for hours it felt like, in the middle of a big open room in the fetal position."
"It felt like the darkness was... Watching me." Her eyes narrowed, glossing to the side. Once more she brought her hands together on the table, holding them tightly to support herself. "It seemed like it was shifting and moving in the corners of my eyes. Like it started to close in whenever I stopped paying attention."
"Finally I... Just, kinda put my head down and shut my eyes. I was too scared to look at the world. Too cowardly and indignant to stare at the fate I had made myself." Aliza lowered her head, thoughtfully wincing down at the wooden table that separated us. "When I was at my lowest... That's when he showed up."
Silently I leaned back in my seat, continuing to watch her curiously. What she was describing certainly sounded like an Anarchy sighting; wriggling shadows and suffocating darkness. She more than had my attention now.
"I remember that I never heard him approach. Which was so strange; my paranoid ears were listening to everything they could, and it was so quiet... I would have heard a pin drop." Aliza lifted her eyes back to me, shaking her head back and forth slowly. "It wasn't until he said something that I noticed he was there. And he was right in front of me."
"... And what'd he say?" I questioned quietly, leaning in some. I was certainly enveloped in the story, that much was clear from my body language.
Then, Aliza straightened her back. She widened her eyes, and pushed up the corners of her mouth into a big grin. In an admittedly poor imitation of Anarchy's voice she said, "Well aren't you just the most pathetic thing I ever did see!"
I recoiled a little from this admittedly silly action, but the corner of my mouth curled up slightly. That certainly sounded like exactly what Anarchy would say to someone in that position. It was a strange feeling that hearing about Anny's personal life evoked, but I certainly didn't mind it. Something... Bittersweet, maybe? It was hard to place. I couldn't tell if it upset me or made me happy.
"And, u-uhh... Y'know, I thought I was scared before that. But when I looked at him..." Aliza widened her eyes, again shaking her head like she still had trouble believing this really happened. "I, actually thought I was dead. Like, the fall had killed me, I had went to hell, and the devil was introducing himself."
"Anny does have that vibe to him..." I muttered, eyes glossing to the side. Aliza smiled a little at that, which I thought was strange. I wondered if she missed him. If she missed talking about him.
"But... He didn't hurt me. In fact, he made a really weird offer." Aliza furrowed her brows, like she was still a little confused. "He wanted my friendship, and in exchange he offered to keep me safe."
"And, of course, I was skeptical, but what option did I have?" Aliza shrugged her shoulders, "If I went with him he might kill me. If I said no he would definitely kill me."
"But, as you can see, he didn't kill me. Never hurt me, never even threatened me." Aliza gestured towards herself, her expression growing thoughtful once more. "And, as we went on, and I watched him kill so many with the flick of his wrist... I stopped fearing him, and started respecting him."
"I-I was just so... Afraid, and uncertain, and indecisive. My whole life I had never had an ounce of confidence or bravery. But, Anthony... He was everything I wanted to be." Lowering her eyes to the table, Aliza slowly reached up, resting one hand across her chest. "My whole life I had felt completely powerless, but he was the most powerful thing I had ever seen. And, even though I was useless... He picked me."
"At the time, that meant everything to me." Aliza smiled quietly to herself, clutching the chest of her shirt gently. "It was the first time anyone had made me feel special or important to any capacity. And, of all people to do it, it was the most powerful person alive to acknowledge me."
"A-admittedly, I uh... Kinda deified Anthony a bit." Aliza smiled sheepishly, reaching up and scratching the back of her head again. She was blushing lightly, clearly embarrassed by this now. "When I met him I just wanted to get away from him, but by the time we had to part ways, I wanted to stay with him."
"See, when he said I would be his 'best friend', I... Didn't really think he meant it." Aliza's smile faded some, and her eyes glossed to the side shamefully. "I, thought it would be like all my other 'friendships'. That I'd be a tag along, that he wouldn't really care about me. That I was... Expendable."
"But you weren't?" I asked curiously, eyebrows drawing near one another. I folded my hands together on the table, slouching forward some.
"Not at all, actually." Aliza smiled timidly, still evading eye contact. She reached up, brushing one brown strand of hair behind her ear. "In fact, Anthony actually... Showed a lot of care, i-in his own way."
"The first thing he did was give me food. I-I was so worried about making him give up his own rations, b-but he assured me it was fine!" Aliza's awkward smile returned, and she began twiddling her thumbs once again. "He was always like that. R-reassuring me, I-I mean. It seemed like every time I got too in my own head or got scared, he was always there to just blatantly shatter my worries. I-it came to him so easily..."
"I'm... Not sure this was just one way, though." Aliza finally looked back up to me. She looked like she still wasn't completely certain of her words, but she continued regardless, refolding her hands on the table between us. "I think, in some weird way... I was helping him, too."
"The first time he left me alone, I sat and waited like I thought a good friend would." Aliza furrowed her brows some then, eyes drifting down to the hands she kept together. "But, when Anthony got back, he looked confused. Surprised, even."
"Why was that?" I questioned, leaning back some in my seat while I watched and listened to her.
"He thought I was gonna run away. I was so skittish, I-I asked if I was supposed to." Aliza laughed awkwardly, shutting her eyes briefly while her lips curled up timidly. But then, her expression lightened some, and she reopened her eyes with only a slight smile. "But, when I told him I didn't understand why a friend would ever run away from another friend, he... Just smiled. He looked like he was happy to hear that."
"..." I frowned some, my emerald orbs drifting to the side. I felt a tinge of shame at this revelation. It was embarrassing, that Aliza had so easily understood what I had never got. Friends don't leave one another behind.
"Once I finally relaxed around Anthony, we... A-actually had a lot of fun." Cheeks turning a light shade of pink, Aliza lowered her head some. Her smile grew with these fond memories, and that made me feel something bittersweet. "He was so o-out there and fearless, he really helped me out of my shell and taught me something about my own self worth."
Anny did all that..? I pondered silently, pain flickering in my eyes. I stared at the cracks engraved in my arm, absentmindedly examining their subtle red glowing. If Anthony really did have that kind of capacity for good, and just days before our battle, then...
"C'mon, douchebag! Where's my olive branch?!"
... Anthony had wanted me to spare him from the beginning, and I was too blinded by malice to notice. I instigated that fight between us, I had known it for some time. If I had opened with my apology, if I had been smart enough to see... Maybe I could have helped him.
... Maybe he'd be by my side now.
*Not likely.
"D-don't get me wrong, he still did some... P-pretty messed up stuff. But... It was so strange." Aliza hesitated, furrowing her brows down at the table. Her expression relaxed some as she considered her memories. "It was like his madness was contagious."
I could certainly attest to that. I had only felt more and more psycho the longer I had fought Anarchy. I didn't object though, just letting her continue to speak. She probably didn't need to know that anyway.
"I remember, the first time he really made me feel free..." Aliza reached up, resting her index finger's knuckle against her bottom lip while she stared at the table. "He was destroying a town in a blizzard. It was bitter cold, buildings were falling, lunatic monsters were scrambling to kill us, but..."
"But..?" I tilted my head to the side, squinting curiously at her while I waited for her to continue.
"... But we were dancing. We were dancing and singing and laughing, even though it felt like the world was falling apart around us." Aliza's expression tensed, like she still didn't understand the situation, years later. "I felt so happy, so disconnected from all my worries..."
"... My whole life, it felt like I was chained to the world." Aliza lifted her head then, narrowing her violet eyes at me. Somewhere within them, a scarlet light flickered, if only for a moment. "But in that moment I realized it was the other way around. The world was chained to me."
Things were quiet for several long seconds, Aliza and I both basking in the gravity of her words. It was a lot to take in, all that she had told me. That Anny could have such an effect on someone was stunning to me. It was almost hard to understand. I knew there was good in him, or at least I told myself there was. This seemed a direct confirmation, however. And I wasn't sure how to take that.
"... So, I guess my point is, Anarchy taught me that I had control over my life." Aliza sighed quietly, lowering her eyes for a moment. Then, she smiled lightly, and looked back across the table to me. "He taught me that my feelings and my dreams matter. That I matter."
"And, yeah, I still get sad. I still get anxious, my stutter still comes back sometimes, but..." Aliza shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she opened her eyes, reaching over to the stack of menus that stood by the window at the edge of our booth. She rested her fingers delicately over the logo on the front of the menu, the logo which read her own name. "Aliza's diner". It was such a simple title, but it meant something, I thought. This place was hers, and that was everything to her. Beneath the logo a cute, cartoony scorpion was drawn. It smiled giddily, a bib wrapped around its neck while it's pincers held a burger tight. "... I have a lot now, because of what he did for me. He gave me a start, and I worked my way here. And even though I still struggle sometimes, I'm happy. I have something of my own now, something for me to fight for."
"..." I frowned quietly, lowering my eyes to the table. Eyes that narrowed painfully as I rested my palms against the wood, pursing my lips.
"O-oh, uhm... S-sorry, I think I got distracted." Aliza smiled sheepishly, nervous sweat forming on her brow. She blushed a little, clearly embarrassed. "W-what was your question again?"
"It doesn't matter." I suddenly spoke, hair shadowing my eyes. I kept my head down as I stood suddenly, quickly turning away from the table. I waved over my shoulder, my back to her. "Thank you for your time, Aliza. I'll get out of your hair now."
"Huh? W-wait!" She shot up, and I stopped in my tracks. She paused there too, folding her hands over her chest while she waited pensively. It seemed as though she hadn't really thought out her actions. But, finally she worked up the courage to speak. "I-I've got more I need to say..!"
"I don't have time, sorry." I dismissed swiftly, beginning to take steps forward. I held my left hand out to the side, preparing to slice a rift in space time and return to the Doodle Sphere. I didn't care much about leads anymore, this hurt me too much to listen to. I couldn't get myself twisted up over this, not when my vacation starts tomorrow. Just let it go, Angel.
"You were his friend, weren't you?"
". . ." That got me to stop. I froze there, red light flickering in the cracks along the back of my outstretched hand. Slowly, I clenched my eyes shut tight, along with my jaw. My outstretched hand balled into a fist, and I drew in a deep breath. ... I can't.
"... He mentioned you. Said you left him for dead. Twice." Aliza spoke, slowly lowering her hands to her sides. I admired her bravery. She had seen my fight after all, she knew I could turn her into a red puddle on the floor with the flick of my wrist. "I didn't realize at the time that his ex best friend was also The Angel he wanted to kill."
"... Yeah, that's all true." I turned my head some, staring at her blankly over my left shoulder. Shadows cascaded across my face, the dim green glow of my eyes ever present. "What about it?"
"... When I saw your fight start, I was rooting for Anthony." Solemnly Aliza's eyes narrowed, her hands balling into fists. I found it hard to read her; I wasn't sure what she was getting at. "After knowing him personally, after seeing all the scars that marked him, I knew he was right to kill you for what you did."
*Ouch.
"... Yeah, well." I jammed my hands in my pockets, and I looked ahead. After deciding I had heard enough, I began walking towards the door. I bitterly agreed, "You were probably right."
*Double ouch.
"But Anthony didn't think so."
For the third time she got me to stop dead. This drama was getting tiring, I thought, but still I squinted over my shoulder at her. "... What?"
"I knew Anthony personally. And even though he's clearly insane... There's always a method. There's always a reason." Aliza took a slow breath, her chest lifting gently up and down. She narrowed those dull violet orbs, "If Anarchy let you live, he had a reason."
"It was to kill me later." I told her with ease, turning my frown forward again.
"Anthony doesn't procrastinate. If he wanted you dead he would have done something about it then and there." Aliza's voice continued to strike my ears, and it made my thoughts wander. It made my left arm ache. "The fact that he spared you means something. He has some plans for you."
"..." I blinked coldly at the morning fog clouding the glass door ahead of me. "... Ya think so, huh?"
"I don't know what it could be, but..." Aliza lowered her head, furrowed her brows thoughtfully. Then, she lifted her head again, frowning at my back. At the Deltarune pattern on my hoodie. "You're either very lucky or very unlucky, Cter The Angel. I can't say I envy you."
"..." My eyes narrowed with emotions that were difficult to describe. I strained to see past the foggy glass before me, but no matter how hard I tried I was unable to see the path ahead through the doorway. "... Aliza."
"Yes?" Skeptically she tilted her head to the side, watching me carefully. I didn't blame her for being suspicious, I wasn't sure how friendly my current vibe was.
"Anthony. Did he happen to tell you what his plans were?" I leaned my head back, looking up to the blank white ceiling. It was preferable to the hazy future. "After our fight, I mean. After he killed me. Did he say what his next move would be?"
"... He was vague." Aliza spoke after several long, quiet seconds. I glanced back at her quickly from my eye's corner; she had my full attention. So Anarchy had told her something. This was likely to be the only clue I would ever get for finding him, so I listened closely. "I asked him where he was gonna go after he killed you."
"... And what did he say?" I asked in almost a whisper. Every other sound in the world disappeared. There was nothing outside of this conversation. The room felt pressurized, gravity beat down harder. My left side glowed brightly, its crimson shine flaring through the fabric of my shirt and rolled up sleeve.
"Somewhere... Quiet." Aliza's eyes narrowed. She too felt this tension. In the corners of my eye, I thought the shadows moved. In the windowsills, black maggots squirmed under the glass, trying to get in. The shadows had eyes, and The Dark was watching us.
"Somewhere real quiet."
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