Guiltale

Chapter Eleven: Info Dumping

There was a LOT of ice ahead. I gulped, seeing the Xs and silver button – along with the lack of guard rails on the side. Without another word, I took the path that led below the ice to delay my punishment.

"Yeah... this is gonna be fun, huh?" Chara said as she went up to look at where the squares were lined up. Beneath the ice, there were two snowmen – well, more like one incredibly detailed snow Papyrus and a lump of snow with 'sans' written on it in red marker – somehow.

"How did he...?" I shook my head. Walking back up the tiny hill, I saw Chara figuring out the puzzle.

"Okay, this doesn't look that bad. You just have to start with this one and go counterclockwise to every X that lines up." Chara smiled triumohantly. "Finally, you don't have to fall! Isn't that great?"

"Aww, you didn't have to do that..."

"Uh, yes I did? The only thing that scares you is falling?" Chara scoffed.

"Well, that and dying. It's painful having your nerves shut down all of a sudd-"

"Well, let's avoid both of those!" Chara laughed nervously. Flying overhead, she directed me in completing the puzzle. There were some moments where she got annoyed, seeing how her 'all counterclockwise' thing wasn't working, but eventually we made it to the button with all O's. Slowly, a piece of snow-covered stone rose up that I couldn't see from any position on the ice. With a quiet *THUD*, it set in place.

"Hey, there we go! See, you didn't fall and we solved it kinda together!" Chara smiled as she went ahead. Yelling behind her, she warned: "It's still mostly ice, but no fall past here. Just let the ice take you!"

The bridge kinda inclined downwards, so I sat on my butt, sliding forward. I could feel some snow landing on my head – it was kinda nice at first, but eventually it got strangely heavy?

"Ugh, what is this?" I said, reaching up to take it off.

Chara snickered. "It's a tricorne, a pirate hat!"

Suddenly, I smiled brightly. Once on the other side, I got up and looked at my reflection in the ice. Just as Chara said, there was a giant snow pirate hat on my head. I shook my hands in excitement, but before I could get my phone out for a picture, it broke apart on my head.

"Aww... I love pirates." I complained, brushing bits of snow out of my braid.

"Wait, you like pirates? But they're awful!!"

"Yeah, it's because they're cruel that they're so interesting! Not because I think they made very many good choices... except maybe Edward England? Black Sam Bellamy was pretty good, too. There was a time when kingdoms were giving out letters of Marque which let people become pirates as an actual job. Plus, the pirate code and their personal democracy were really cool!"

"You keep saying 'were'. Do you mean that there aren't pirates anymore? That would sort of explain why you can be interested..."

"Well, they aren't the same anymore. They're much worse, care less about people and more about the money they're getting, and their fashion style is just plain sad. Sure, old time pirates did more of the pillaging villages stuff, but now pirates mostly stay on their ships if they plan to pirate and its kinda creepy to think about. Plus, Isn't it cool that there were girl pirates too? And two got out of being hanged by faking pregnancies – or was it that they actually were pregnant? I can't remember and underground internet doesn't connect to human internet, dang. Well, anyway, did you know that they wore eyepatches to-"

"I'm sorry, Grace, but I think we should... you know." I finally looked at my friend. She seemed sort of anxious, and a tiny bit annoyed. "Sorry, but you know how dangerous it is out here?"