Skeleton Ghost

Into the Dragon's Den

The dragon gazed up at the mountain before him, as silent as could be. The goat child sitting in the hollow of his back was equally mute, sensing his trepidation.
He was.. uncertain.

"...Is this it?" Chara, surprisingly, was the first to speak.
"Is this Quetzalcoatl's place?"
"..𝕐𝕖𝕤."
"Are you gonna go in?"
"...𝕐𝕖𝕤?"

There was a pause, then the child shifted in place, swinging legs over to carefully slide off his back.
"I don't think we've ever heard you so nervous before." Asriel pointed out worriedly.
"Are you okay?"

"𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕒𝕝𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝔸𝕤𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕝. 𝕆𝕟𝕝𝕪.. 𝕦𝕟𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖." He glanced to the side, frowning thoughtfully.
"Why? Don't you wanna save Gaster?"
"𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕓𝕝𝕖𝕞, 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕖."
They blinked at the epithet, but otherwise ignored it.
"Then what?" Chara questioned, also frowning.

He gestured with a scaly talon helplessly. "𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤. 𝕀 𝕕𝕠 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕓𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞 𝕦𝕟𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕘𝕟𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞. 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕕. 𝕀 𝕕𝕠 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕒𝕤 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕟𝕠𝕨. 𝕀 𝕨𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕗𝕠𝕣. 𝕀…" He hesitated, bewildered at his own thoughts.
"...𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕠𝕟."

Asriel recoiled slightly, shocked. After a moment, his gaze drifted to the side and a strange sadness filtered into it.
"I.. I think I get it." He replied softly, holding his arms close.
"I've kinda been there once. Sorta."
They both shared a sigh, connected in the strange understanding.

"Is there a way to fix that?" Asriel asked in a small voice.
"𝕐𝕖𝕤." Saecshiun replied dully.
"Wait, really?" He perked up in surprise before pausing. "...Why do you sound like that over it?"
"𝔹𝕖𝕔𝕒𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕥. 𝕀𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕥 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕥."
The goat child's ears slid back slightly in alarm.
"That bad?"
"𝕀 𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕕𝕠 𝕚𝕥." He grimaced. "𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕤𝕠 𝕠𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕪. 𝕀 𝕕𝕠 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕀 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕪 𝕕𝕠 𝕚𝕥 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟." He explained with a violent shudder.

".. What exactly do you need to do?" Chara's voice arose hesitantly.
Saecshiun didn't react for a long moment, standing unnervingly still before he reanimated, facing the child with wide eyes.
"𝕀 𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝕞𝕪 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕝 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕨𝕠."

Asriel flinched at that, stumbling back. "Seriously? You have to break your Soul in half?!" Both his and Chara's voices yelped in a strange blend of tonalities.
"𝕐𝕖𝕤." Saecshiun stated severely before hesitating.
With a wince, he added.
"𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕀 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕝𝕪 𝕕𝕠 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕀 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕞𝕪𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗. 𝔻𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕞𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖, 𝔸𝕤𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕝? ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒?"

Asriel paused as well, shifting his weight from side to side as his crimson eyes glanced at everything but him.
"I-I-I don't know.." He stuttered.
"I'm not sure I can stomach i-" His eyes flashed brighter, countenance shifting.
A beat later, Chara spoke.
"I'll do it."