The Mountain East (An Undertale Fanfiction)

Chapter 20

A small bottle of ink was carefully placed upon the nightstand that was festooned with Christmas decorations. The gentle smoke of a cigar wafted around the room, to her distaste. Beside the stand was an antique bed. The mattress was made with only the finest Chinese silk and the woodworks were courtesy of the Swiss.

Atop the bed lay a couple concealed by a blanket that spanned the both of them. The man had the cigar in his mouth. A newspaper and a journal lay adjacent to the bed. The former looked slightly crumpled, whilst the other was kept pristine and orderly.

A single window from high up let sunlight into the chamber. Along with it, shouts of frolicking children, toots of mechanical wonders and babbles of the everyday citizen in Ebbot town washed in from the outside.

However, those sounds were kept faint. The weekend was not a time for there to be noise, after all.

"What do you think it's going to be?" The man asked gently, his cigar now lying on the table, smoking it's last remains.

She sighed and caressed her own, bulging abdomen. She could almost hear the faint gurgles of life forming inside. "It's a girl. I can just tell. Mother's premonition."

The man smiled and pressed his left ear against his partner's belly. The sound of two synchronized heartbeats pleased him, like music to his ears. "At least it'll even out the family." They both laughed. Two golden heart lockets bounced as they did so, dangling from their necks. They contained a solemn vow. An imperceptible promise to stay until the very end.

A knock on the door interrupted their moment, followed by the louder wailings of a baby. The man shot up, grabbed his fedora and stood from the bed. "I'll go get him. I still don't trust the nanny that much." He spoke.

"And rightly so," she muttered as her husband walked out the door. She brandished an old book from one of the nearby closets and began flipping through it.

She sighed. "Ah, Chara. There are so many things I want to share with you. So many places I want you to visit. So many faces I want you to etch into your mind." She looked down at her exposed abdomen and smiled. It gurgled in response.

She frowned. "Do you not like your name, dear? I thought it was only fitting, poetic even. After then, you'll be inseparable from all of us. You'll bear our name as open as we bear our souls." She placed a palm on her future child. Her red eyes watered slightly from the hormones of pregnancy.

"I... do not want you to be like me, Chara. It would be painful for such a small one to bear such a large burden." Her voice was breaking from her usual smooth tone. Perhaps it was the inner poet that always seemed to pop up every time she was left alone. Perhaps it carried over from her profession. She did not care what others would think about her if they saw her talking to herself, almost in a deranged state. What did she have to fear? Her family, her loved ones, they were all here.

"There is already one too many abandoned poets in this world. One too many sad stories, one too many farewells." Outside, she could hear her husband struggling with the baby. She smiled. This was the epitome of her perfect family. Not her own.

She unclasped the locket from around her neck and placed it in the middle of her palm. She studied it, the memories flooding back. Like tears in the rain.

"So much change and so much time, and yet nostalgia still burns bright in the distance. It's not that I crave those times, but there is a sort of inner beauty of some things that you can't possibly comprehend." She paused and took a quill from her pocket. Dipping it in the ink, she began to transcribe what she just said onto the book.

As she was writing, the faint sound of a piano going splunk reached her ears. This was followed by a deep inhale from what she assumed was his husband.

She closed the book and stared off into the distance. "Someday, your past will catch up to you, and they will repay you in kind."

Her expression was one of sadness, even acceptance. "No matter how far you run."

Footsteps seemed to be heading towards her room. "No matter where you hide."

Closer. "Someday, consequence catches up to us all."

The door creaked open, revealing her husband carrying a baby. She jerked her head towards the door, speech forgotten.

The duo entered. The baby, despite barely being able to crawl, had a long hairdo that obscured their eyes. They were dressed simply in a green-yellow onesie that forbade them any freedom to move. Despite the clothing being quite uncomfortable, he fit snuggly in his father's hands and fell asleep as soon as his head hit his dad's forearm.

Christophe glanced outside. His blonde hair had been reduced to shambles. The grey fog outside did not help with his mood either. However, despite his grumbling self, one thing remained pristine, and as golden as ever. That locket was draped across his neck. A solemn vow, forever untarnished.

"Can you take care of him for a while, Kara? Phillipe just called. He said the old man landed in the infirmary again and wanted to see me." Christophe had bags under his eyes from the multiple aspects of his life he had to run every day. Kara obliged and took the sleeping baby, in which he responded with a gentle smile before he left.

The baby, now awoken by the sudden change of overseers, climbed over his mother who laughed in delight. Seeing her emotions, the baby did the same.

"Excited, aren't we?"

He looked up at his mother, a single eye poking out from underneath his hair. He tried to reach for her face, but fell flat to Kara's amusement. He surveyed the large mountain he tried to scale that was her belly.

This felt so familiar. Too familiar. She remembered her own times in the cradle. When she was loved. Her red eyes flashed with recognition.

"Kris..."

"Let me tell you a story. A story... of humans, and monsters."