The Protecter And The Protected [Mythoverse]

The cave of souls

"Fuck," Chara mumbled as he tripped over yet another long branch covered in blue spider webs. He managed to catch himself on a tree but it didn't change the annoyance he felt, especially as that weird voice in his head laughed at him.

"Dumbass," the voice of a young teenager, if Chara had to guess, laughed in his head, "Walking on two feet isn't that hard you know,"

Chara, like usual, ignored the voice in his head. He wasn't sure where it came from, he just woke up with it cursing him out about something soul related. Since then the voice has been insulting him and criticizing everything he did. Chara had a thought to ask Dream about it, but then shut that thought down immediately, the skeleton had no business knowing anything else about him.

"Are you alright?" Dream asked in his usual soft voice that held no malice, even when talking to enemies, Chara wasn't sure when the last time he heard someone talk to him like that was.

" Back when you lived with mom and dad ," The voice said.

"They were my aunt and uncle, not my parents," Chara responded in a whisper, earning a confused look from Dream. The voice wasn't wrong on that note though, he supposes that was the last time he was talked to in that soft tone.

" They were definitely more parental then the scientist was ," the voice hissed, a resentful tone to its words.

Chara growled in response, not at the voice, but at the memories of their childhood. His downward spiral into hatred was interrupted by Dream placing a hand on his shoulder. Chara blinked, looking up to see a concerned look on the skeleton's face.

"We can take a break if you need?" Dream suggested, "You might still be experiencing effects from the, uhm, attack,"

The other days events, when the banshee had screamed so loudly it had ruptured Chara's eardrums, though the dizziness had faded away, his hearing was still muffled and his ears still ached, not that he was going to tell Dream that, "I'm fine, let's continue,"

Dream nodded to him and began walking once more, effortlessly avoiding branches, shrubs, and rocks. Chara supposes he shouldn't be too surprised Dream is so good at navigating the terrain, from the way Dream walked around Ebott and the way he interacted, and even the way he dressed made it clear he wasn't from any cities. The bustling festival seemed to overwhelm him and his personality wasn't the kind you typically find in a big city. And his yellow cloak and black heavy clothing made him look like a traveler, the claw mark over his right eye also made Chara question if he was a fighter, but after seeing how he handled the skeleton and banshee, Chara doubted it.

"We'll be nearing Errors cave soon," Dream informed Chara who hummed in response.

That was a bit obvious, seeing as the further they got into the forest the more spiderwebs made out of a thick blue string were seen. There was also an ominous fog that seemed to have settled in at some point.

"Should we think of a plan? For when we encounter this 'Error'?" Chara asked, Dream hadn't given him many details about Error, other than it being a soul eating spider skeleton, Dream had also said that Chara's soul was most likely intact since he hadn't died yet.

" But you are dead ," The voice pointed out.

"Not like that," he whispered.

"What was that?" Dream asked, halting and turning around.

"Nothing, just talking to myself," Chara responded, he didn't think it was a lie, he wasn't exactly sure what the voice was.

"Right, well about the plan, just follow my lead and let me do the talking, we're about to come across the cave, just stay calm," Dream advised him, fidgeting nervously like he always did when Chara mentioned Error.