When the Stars Die

Chapter 13

(Y'all cannot COMPREHEND [you probably can] how badly I wanna give this story a different ending. But if I do that, it'll completely change this whole book.)

Life had shooed all of them out of the medical bay, so she could examine and start giving treatment to Dream and Ink.

There were a bunch of questions that needed to be answered. Blue had the most questions, as Ink and Dream were not only his teammates, but his best friends. It might have been because of his significantly worse condition, but he was asking more questions about Ink than about Dream. They also had a handful of questions for Reaper, namely regarding Chara. She was the one who started all of this, after all. They wanted to know what would become of the parasite child.

"Chara is being contained in a special cell that was made by Alphys," Reaper said. "Undyne is going to be on constant watch."

"Is that all?" Nightmare asked, a low growl in his throat. "She's just getting locked up?"

"For now, yeah. There's really nothing we can do to her right now," he replied. "She's filled to the brim with chaotic matter. Which we have to be careful with when handling."

"Oh... ThAt Is trUe." Error's shoulders slumped. "If We ArEn'T cArEfUl, ThE cHaOtIc MaTtEr WiLl RuN rAmPaNt. WiThOuT a HoSt Or SoMe FoRm Of CoNtAiNmEnT, iT'lL bE eVeN mOrE dAnGeRoUs ThAn WhEn It HaS a HoSt."

"Huh. I didn't expect you to know all that on the top of your head." Reaper blinked, grinning with an impressed look in his eyes. "That was a big word, Error. 'Containment'. Is your head okay?"

"Oh, YoU sHuT uP!" He snapped, glaring at him. "I'm OnLy ToLeraTiNg YoU bEcAuSe Of AlL tHe ShI--!!"

"Language," Killer spoke up. "There are children here."

Killer turned his head to look over at Crescent and Betty. The two of them blinked, looking at each other with questioning looks. Then it dawned on them that Killer was referring to the two of them as the children in the room, which clearly must have struck a nerve or two.

"Hey! I'm not a child!!" Betty argued. "I'm over hundreds of years old!! I was made when the human monarchy was around, only a short while after the Human and Monster War!!!"

"Oh? You're not a child?" Killer asked, tilting his head. "Then... I guess you wouldn't mind helping deal with some of the adult work around here? Liiiiike cleaning up after Noot Noot's phoenix?"

At the mention of Nightmare's pet phoenix, Betty's face paled. Any signs of annoyance were wiped away and replaced with horror and dread. The spell construct crossed her arms, shuddering, and looked away grumpily. Crescent's face had a slight greenish tint to it. Like the kind that cartoon characters had when they were disgusted or about to vomit.

"Um... w-well.... that's just how old the spell is," Betty murmured. "I... I'm only 14 years old."

"That's what I thought." Killer reached over and patted her head. "Now... what were we talking about?"

"Chara and the chaotic matter," Blue said. "So... what are the ways we can safely dispose of it?"

Reaper tapped his chin thoughtfully. The Guardians of the Balance had the most knowledge and experience with this kind of thing. It was all in their duties, really. The chaotic matter was really what caused every tip of the scale in the Multiverse, so naturally it was part of their job to keep it in check. To fully remove the excess of chaotic matter, it would take a combined effort of all of the Guardians. Orrr.... worst case scenario.... some of them would have to work extremely hard. Maybe dabble in territories they weren't familiar with.