One World, Many Souls

by Halloween Witch

With a quick use of Sans' magic, we had returned to our home on the surface. The lovely three-story home sat quietly among the trees under the moonlight. Sans always loved to teleport just outside the door and glance at it before walking in. He was a little less lazy since coming to the surface. So much to learn. So much to do. So much to love. SEQUEL TO "TWO WORLDS, TWO SOULS"

48. First Impression

One World: Many Souls

Chapter 48: First Impression

Eras' Point of View:

"Come on, E. She's watching you again."

"Pac, shut it."

"Dude why?! She's super cute, and what's the harm in talking to her?"

"Because it's no different than any other time someone has looked at us. Staring at us for being kids of the House Terians, and part, or full, monster." I honestly hated how I even had to explain this to my cousin as we sat at lunch together. The cafeteria was always rather noisy, so we escaped to the outdoor area to eat in peace among some decorative rocks at the end of the path.

People would walk by and stare, or talk all the time. It was something we were always used to as we grew up. Mom and Dad, and even Uncle Papy and Aunt Lilly warned us to be careful around a lot of kids. Some of them never had good intentions. Aunt Frisk and Uncle Azz would talk about that too, how a lot of kids around her age were really bad to her, and it hurt her for years just because of the position in power she had, being attached to the family and how close she was to the royal family of monsters.

There weren't a lot of people that we could trust outside of our special families that were so close to each other. Maybe it was a bad thing. I think I heard my parents talking about it often since I especially didn't have friends outside of my family, but my siblings did. I think they were worried about what they said would keep me from making new relationships.

Maybe they were right, but it was also so exhausting to learn about someone new... It was one thing if it was family. It was another thing entirely to try and trust someone outside of it.

"I asked around to see if I could find out anything about her." Zakar noted from where he played with the pizza on his plate. He was currently dousing it in barbeque sauce because it was so bland and greasy. It was the only way to eat it sometimes. "Sounds like she's just an average girl. Not a lot of friends. Think she moved here recently. She's been keeping her distance from a lot of people. Humans and monsters alike."

I sighed. I couldn't even bring myself to eat the lousy food at school. I'd get something better at home that I could cook. "That doesn't explain why she's not right up in our business."

"You know... It could be because she's nervous?" Impact had the gall to be dramatic in front of me. "You know, like a normal person?"

Zakar showed me a smirk, his teeth glittering as he leaned forward to set his chin in his webbed hand. "He's not wrong E. It wouldn't hurt to talk to her. At least ask her why she's staring so much. You could be nice instead of a standoffish asshole."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Zak, you're not helping."

But he didn't care as he shot back up, taking a bit of his food, but still he couldn't eat it. "Not trying to be, E."

"Why don't we settle this once and for all?"

My eyes widened as I saw Impact stand up from the rock he was sitting on before he began walking toward the girl. My magic activating silently, invisible chains that had minimal magic pulsing through them held his feet in place.

"E, that's a shitty move. Stop acting like that."

It was hard to keep the magic from pulsing so strongly from my body as I stared at him angrily. "Stop trying to force me to do shit I don't want to do. I'm not dealing with her. Leave her alone."

"Heads up!"

Before I could think, Zakar flew over my head before I had time to think, jumping and propelling himself forward toward Impact. My cousins seemed to have a single brain cell that flowed together in those moments as Impact helped Zakar be thrown out of the reach of my invisible magic, making it back to the pathways that led to where that girl was staring at us.

Even that girl was startled by the high-flying leap that Zakar made, even extending himself further so I couldn't reach him if I tried by using his shields to keep himself off the ground. It was only when he was five feet from her when he stepped onto the ground and I could see him beginning to talk to her.

"...fuck."

"I know Uncle Sans and Aunt Angel told you to be careful around people, but that doesn't mean cut them out entirely." With myself a little surprised by what happened, Impact was able to move back toward me through my chains that no longer restrained him. "You can't do that even if you want to, they can't either. It's just gonna take practice to figure out who's good and bad. I mean, we're barely fifteen, Eras. Stop being an ass or I'll tell Aunt Angel."

An unsettling, deep breath came rushing out of me while I prepared for the worst. Impact and Zakar may have been right, but that didn't mean I wanted to admit it. Just after everything that happened... especially back when we were little... it was just so hard to trust...

Soon came over Zakar along with the girl that had been staring at me for so long. I finally got a closer look to the eyes that always watched me. Green in color, kind of like the forest. And her hair, it was purple. Humans didn't have randomly colored hair like that unless they were related to monsters or had dyed it, but it was a strange feature on her, and especially against her pale skin.

Granted, she looked rather frightened as Zakar dragged her over to us.

"And now, feast your eyes on the very nice Hannah Davis, who you've been giving so much flak about." Zakar snickered as he pulled the nervous girl next to him. "Do I gotta show you how to introduce yourself too, asshole?"

My glare was all that Zakar needed to know I was pissed.

"Sorry about dragging you over here, Hannah." It was the bright and smiley Impact to the rescue of the situation. He held out his hand for her to shake. "In case you don't know us already, I'm Impact Terians, and these are my cousins, Eras Terians and Zakar von Undying."

"U-um... yeah... I know who you are. B-but it is nice to meet you!" She was quick to reach out her own hand as well to shake his. "Sorry for bothering you."

"Speaking of..." Zakar couldn't help but show a wicked grin. "What's with all the staring at our E over here?"

That instantly got her face to turn red. Streaking all the way up to her forehead and then spreading down into her shoulders, or what we could see of them from the cut of her shirt.

"I-I'm sorry! I just wanted to return this!"

And that was where she rushed into her school bag over her shoulder and yanked out what appeared to be a book of some kind that she passed over without a thought. My two cousins and I looked at what was in her hands to see it was-

Zakar burst into laughter the second he saw it. "Dude! You've been looking for this, forever! No wonder she's been looking so hard at you and you've been glaring at her!"

"Jesus Eras..." Impact could only shake his head as he looked on, trying to muffle his laughter behind his arm.

"Both of you, shut up."

I was so irritated by it as it was one of my personal books that I loved reading. It was a recipe book that my mother and twin had made for me one year. It was handmade with artwork on the cover by my mother and recipes and pictures printed and portrayed with my sister's help. It was a very special item to me.

Unfortunately, about two weeks ago when I started to notice the gaze of Hannah on me, was when that book went missing. I wasn't sure what happened to it. I honestly figured I'd lost it.

It was often that I'd throw it into my school bag to go between houses since it was easier, or sometimes I'd look over the recipes with Impact about what we could cook together, or try something new for Arial and Zakar to try.

So color me surprised when I saw Hannah had it. It still appeared in good shape, other than a stain in the bottom corner of the warm colored leather cover my mother had gotten special for me. Though the artwork still appeared intact, as well as all the recipes and pictures.

"I'm sorry... I noticed someone grabbed it from your bag when you stepped away... They threw it away... I-I tried to clean it up as best I could!" She almost threw it into my hands, as if the item would burn her the second it was in my possession again. "I'm s-sorry I couldn't get the stain out... I tried to bring it back as soon as I cleaned it. B-but..."

"Any time you came close, he gave you that horrible stink eye, and I bet his magic made you feel awful nervous."

Of course, my cousins giggled at my expense while I sighed and just looked over the pages, happy to have my book back, and perhaps some of my bad mood resolved.

"Thanks Hannah."

The girl I could almost feel relax the second I said those words to her. Looking up from the book to her nervous, though happy, appearance, she smiled at me.

"I-I'm glad I was able to help. Sorry for not bringing it back sooner..."

"That's... on me." I struggled not to rub the back of my head, but did anyway. "We... I... haven't had the best experiences with humans."

Impact and Zakar raised an eyebrow, then the two of them narrowed their eyes at me before Impact sighed. "You can't keep holding what happened when we were in grade school over everyone's head. I know it was a tough experience, but people change. Even that bully came back and apologized to us when he was older and living with his dad instead of that horrible mom he had."

"Besides, you're half human yourself, Eras." Zakar I could hear almost growing in his disappointment. He was a lot like Aunt Undyne in that regard. "You can't blame them just for what they are, monsters can be bad too."

"I'll have to disagree with you on that one, but anyway..." Turning back to the girl beside us, I tried not to be nervous around her. "Is there any way I can thank you for this? I was pretty upset when I couldn't find my recipe book."

"T-thank me? I just did what anyone would have done." She tilted her head at me in surprise. "There's no reason to thank me."

"Oh no, no, no. He is most definitely thanking you." Impact was quick to make that clear for both of us. I struggled not to sigh as I knew he was going to make this interaction happen. "This book means the world to him. His mother and sister made it for him, one of a kind. And clearly not everyone thinks like you, because, as you said, someone took it from his bag."

"Hell yeah he needs to thank you. So name your price, and if he, or we, can do it, we will." Zakar showed her a toothy grin. It was surprising that out of all of us, as the youngest and nearly a year younger if it wasn't for him placing well in academics to keep up with us, he was the tallest and largest. Zakar was already a beast to deal with when he got pissed. "So, what'll it be?"

"R-really?" Hannah looked rather startled by that, carefully looking over the three of us before I saw her fiddle with her fingers before her chest. She hesitated to say what she wanted. What was it? Was it money? Meeting my parents? Meeting GG? The fame of knowing one of us.

I couldn't lie and say my heart was constantly worried for whatever it was that she could want.

"Could... maybe..." She struggled to get out the words. "Could we... be friends?"

"Wait... what?"

If it wasn't for how startled I was by that situation, it would have been absolutely comical to see the three of us saying the same phrase at the same time.

"I'm... like you, Eras... um..." Hannah paused, looking around carefully at other students who probably were staring at us, or seeing if they were close enough to hear. "Most of the people here... they're... talking or thinking about the four of us... Some of them are wondering if I've bribed you to talk to me, others are jealous since they want to date you. And I'm talking about all of you, not just one. And... Impact, you're wondering not only if I'm speaking the truth, but if my hair color is real. It is, you're welcome to check. And yes, Zakar, I am reading your mind, and please... don't yell so loudly with your thoughts, that hurts."

I was actually quite stunned as I watched the girl who looked at the three of us. Her eyes cast downwards just a bit, and when they did, I saw them glow a light lavender color. She... wasn't lying. You couldn't fake that, and I could feel that she wasn't lying.

"She's not lying." I couldn't believe the relief that came crashing off my shoulders when I saw that. She was part monster like myself. That... actually made me a lot more open to the girl that stood before me. "Your... I've read up on some extinct monster types. Are you related to espers?"

Hannah's eyes flew up to meet my own. "Y-you know?"

"There's a handful of families that have been coming forward to our house to reveal themselves as a blended family for protection or money, especially since many of them were hidden for decades due to being part monster when it wasn't as accepted as it is now." Tilting my head at her, I hesitated a few seconds before asking her that important question. "Have you and your family gone for help?"

"I... I don't think we're eligible... Dad's only human... and Mom..."

She didn't say anything behind that.

It was strange how my feelings for this girl changed so quickly once I met her and found out even a little bit of information about her. Impact was right, I shouldn't have been so cold.

"Well, your new friends are going to help you."

I could honestly say that both my cousins and Hannah were surprised by this, hell I was to when I paused long enough to think. But that moment didn't last long as my cell phone came out and I was calling someone very important.

"Hey Mom, do you have a few minutes to talk? I have a couple questions on that new bill you passed for blended families who could prove their heritage."

Later That Day:

"Mr. Terians, thank you so much for hearing our case!"

"ey, it's no problem. It's here for a reason, Tom. For families like yers that need the help." Dad shrugged at the man who was there with us in his office up on the third floor. Mom sadly couldn't help us being busy with some new project she was working late with Aunt Frisk and Uncle Azz at the castle, but Dad was able to rush home after school to help Hannah and her dad.

Mr. Davis was extremely worried when he got called over to my parents' residence, but when Hannah and I met him there with my cousins and we explained the situation, there seemed to be such a relief on his shoulders. He'd been working three jobs for years to try and keep himself and his daughter afloat after Hannah's mom left when she was little.

"Ey, Eras." I lifted my head from where I was sitting in the corner. I was keeping my distance with Hannah while letting Mr. Davis and Dad talk. "Why don't ya take Hannah 'n go somewhere a bit more excitin' then the office? I bet she don't wanna listen ta this borin' talk. Go get some snacks or cook, whatever ye want, 'kay?" Dad turned back to the human man sitting by him at the desk. "That cool with ya, Tom?"

"Of course! Hannah, sweetie, go with him and have some fun, okay? I won't be too long with Mr. Terians."

"Ey, it's Sans, no need ta be so official here." But with both fathers' blessings, we were effectively pushed from the room while they continued more with the important details and talking.

I led Hannah out of the offices and off the third floor back down to the first. My siblings had yet to come home due to outings with friends or afterschool activities. The only one home of them all was the youngest, Pristina. She was at the dining table, coloring when I first arrived. She was small, but she showed skill with the careful time she used to color the flower pictures that were set before her. She might have inherited Mom's artistic gift.

"E!" She squealed the second she saw me come into the kitchen. Almost hurling herself out of her chair, she plowed over into me, hugging my waist. "You're back! No more boring stuff, right?"

"Nah, no more boring stuff, Pristi." She squeaked when I grabbed her and picked her up in my arms. She latched onto me tightly before she patted my face to get my attention. "What's up, Pristi?"

"Hungry..." She pouted at me. "I want dinner..."

I had to stop myself from cursing in front of my sister. Mom gave up on telling us not to do it a couple years ago, just to be mindful of not using it a lot in front of her or our younger siblings. Pristina was the youngest of us all at six and a half.

"Snickerdooldles, Ari isn't back yet, is she?"

"Uh uh." Pristina shook her head cutely as she snuggled against me. "Cali and Connie and Jay are not back too. Or Mommy."

"Okay, okay. Let me get you a snack and I'll get started on dinner, okay?"

"Thank you, E."

I set down my sister down at the table quickly with a small snack of some fruit before I settled into the kitchen. Only then noticing my new purple haired friend beside me, I sighed. "Sorry Hannah, I gotta get my little sister fed. Want me to make something for you too?"

"I can help. It's the least I can do after what you've done for us." She was quick to roll up her sleeves and wash her hands at the sink beside me. "What can I help with?"

"Uh... sure." Not passing up free help, I hurried to pass her some vegetables that were in the fridge. "I'll have you start with washing and dicing these vegetables. I just need them small enough that Pristi can eat them. Everyone else can deal."

"Of course, then I can-" She cut herself off for a moment as she looked to the ceiling. Everything seemed to pause as she did so until she looked back at me. "Um... I think your father just directed his thoughts at me? That there's homemade mac and cheese in a crockpot on the counter and ham in the oven on low?"

"I see he's already taking advantage of your abilities." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at my father's behavior, but I was glad the food was already prepared in some way. Mom was good about making sure there was something around. "At least Pristi won't go long without food. And it sounds like you'll probably be getting dinner too. Mom and Dad have to make enough for an army anyway, leftovers and never knowing if someone's gonna join us. The food bill is insane. Plus, six kids."

"I can only imagine." Hannah gave a nervous smile before she looked back to the vegetables she was cutting, but paused and set done the knife. "Did you mean what you said? That… we were friends now?"

I had to look at the girl and noticed the hesitance in her voice, in her body language. She was very afraid of being either misled or wrong to open up to me. If she'd experienced this before by someone she cared about, it was normal for a reaction.

I supposed she'd have to get used to my straight forward nature.

"One thing you're going to learn about me quickly is that I mean what I say, I don't lie." The girl lifted her head to watch me as I stared directly right at her with a serious look, though I tried not to be menacing. "I hate lies. And I don't make promises unless I truly mean them. My parents drilled that into us when we were little. When I said to you that I was going to be your new friend. I meant it. There's no side angle or reason. I honestly hated you since I saw you because I thought you were like other horrible humans. But you proved me wrong and that I was fucking turd for judging. I was wrong about everything I thought about you. And I'm going to make that up to you. That's a promise."

I saw the look on her face. I wasn't sure if she believed me when I said those words. She looked away for a few moments before she turned back to me with a soft smile, one that was nervous to try.

"O-okay Eras."

Witch's Note:

W!tch's N0te:

(After a long week of spending tired hours working on their machines and doing some incredible necessary updates, Halloween Witch and Mystic Girl managed to get themselves up and running. Their signal wasn't great, and they had to appear on an alternate channel to not be caught by those chasing around their reviewers and themselves, but soon they were able to send out encrypted signals, trying to send out to the locations where everyone else had been notified of.)

(It wasn't an easy thing with some of the people they worked with using their abilities and/or taking off to other dimensions to escape. Granted, Halloween had managed to get something crafted, but until all her reviewers were on a new channel, things were going to be rocky.)

Halloween Witch: Okay... I'm sending out the new signal to everyone and seeing what comes in. I'm not sure what I'm going to receive once I open this particular program. You ready, Sis?

Mystic Girl: As ready as we're going to be I guess. Start it up and see what we have, Sis.

(Halloween nods before she begins the process of opening a new channel and beginning the new communication program. Signals were sent out to particular locations of each last transmission of their companions before the computer beeped and some lines of communication and signals came in.)

Halloween Witch: Okay, it's on, and it looks like some of the reviewers, while out of our signal somewhat, are at least out of harm's way. Let's see... I see an encrypted message coming from Chaos' other dimension base... he sent another one back... Not sure I see it all, which is fair, until we get this signal finalized I can see why he's being cautious. Looks like he's with Red... and that's about all I have from him right now since we're hardly getting on with the first message he sent us.

(Another computer running in the background is trying to translate/figure out what exactly what Chaos sent previously. An error code was over the screen while it was at attempt four-hundred and seventy-seven.)

Mystic Girl: Okay, what else do we have...? Hey wait? Is that Dasansi? Looks like they're with Roland and Oliver in another dimension as well.

Halloween Witch: Yeah, I see that. I'm glad they're together. I think I can send a signal to them too... at least I'll try... this is nothing like what we had at our base for communication equipment.

Mystic Girl: (She groaned loudly) Yeah! That group really fucked us up! And now we have none of the stuff I spent the last year working on! How is that fucking fair?

Halloween Witch: It's not. (Her tone was rather irritated, but she tried to keep herself calm.) Let's... try not to argue if we can this week. I'm so tired... We'll snap at each other too soon, and we both don't need that right now...

Mystic Girl: (She pouted but nodded.) I know Sis, sorry...

Halloween Witch: Not blaming you, I was pretty nasty to you last week and we both don't need that right now with this going on. So then... let's see... I got a really rough signal from Shadow... but he will be tough to send out... He noted to us before that he wasn't really good at computers and stuff, but this... yikes... And his powers don't help, but I'll try sending out a signal to his last known location with the new communication line to use.

Mystic Girl: That's fair... Did we even get a good signal?

Halloween Witch: Not at all... wait... what's that?

(Halloween takes a moment to gather another signal. She takes a moment to isolate it and cross reference it with what she has already in her computer and her eyes widen drastically...)

Halloween Witch: (Her eyes widen drastically) That's Mystic Boy... He sent out a signal on the old channel... and we may have a problem... and we may not...

Mystic Girl: Okay, what the fuck? Translate or explain please?

Halloween Witch: Looks like... she regrets her actions... and Silke is after her now... she's escaped... and now on the run. Hm... I'm worried about if we should try to reach out after what happened. Should we wait until the others are-

(Halloween pauses as she listens over the message again until she hears shooting and then silence in the message. She pauses, a ping of worry in her gut before turning to her best friend and sister.)

Halloween Witch: I can't see a signal any more...

Mystic Girl: (She slowly approaches the screen to see what Halloween is seeing.) If... if her signal isn't there... we may have to wait until we gather the others and talk to them. We can't help her if we can't help ourselves, let alone the people we actually trust right now until we know where her loyalties lie...

Halloween Witch: I know... but I still never wished death upon anyone... I hope she lives...

Mystic Girl: Me too...

Halloween Witch: The other worry... is we still haven't heard from Shady... It's been two weeks in a row since the attack... And River hasn't checked back in since their last known signal at the old base… I'm really worried...

Mystic Girl: Let's... let's focus on those we can reach right now... We can't help them still if we can't get in touch or gather the others. So let's start with those we can reach. You got signals for Chaos, Dasansi and Shadow right? Let's start there. Once we get them here... then we can figure out Shady, River and Mystic Boy...

(A faint transmission comes to those actively looking for a signal in their last known locations provided by Halloween Witch and Mystic Girl. A new transmission line for them to hook up to, though it is faded, it comes with a new set of coordinates for them to gather at in a random location in the middle of nowhere. You have no idea if this is their base or a location away from it.)

(Do you follow?)

!f anyone c n hear me... LIX...LXIII...LXIV...LXVI...