Guiltale

Guiltale Chapter Twenty-Two: Lost and Found Family

I slept restlessly that night. My dreams were vague, only impressing suggestions of feelings rather than the usual convoluted plotlines – guilt, pain, exhaustion. I'd wake up every couple of hours, mostly due to pain in some part of my body. My arms, especially, felt almost like they were sore – though that burning sensation from weakness would also occasionally flow through them. Chara didn't always notice me wake up, sometimes because I did my best to hide it, sometimes because she'd flown through a wall or something to sneak around the house. Eventually, though, I began to see signs of the sun's rising from outside of the cave (from the cracks in the ceiling here in Snowdin) and, after a couple of times trying and failing to drift off, I roused. Groaning, I got out of bed and stared at the empty room. It was nice... Chara was an amicable companion, but I really missed my solitude sometimes – she got to have as much as she wanted at night, but the only way I got it was to pretend she wasn't there. Sometimes that worked, since Chara seemed to notice I was tired of talking, but a person was still with me one way or another. I breathed a sigh of relief, drinking in the moment.

I yawned, scratching my neck as I went to the vanity and began brushing my hair. It was quiet, for once. As I groomed myself, I thought about all that had happened so far – I'd left for the mountain to look for Harlow months ago, and now I was on the cusp of just... living here. I wondered what happened to the kid I'd saved from falling, and what WOULD have happened had they gone instead of me... and, now, I'd made a large number of discoveries:

1. Harlow passed through the RUINS, but nobody seems to know who I'm talking about.
2. Ghosts are real and I'm friends with one
3. Monsters are surprisingly thoughtful and nonviolent
4. In spite of that, there is at least one who will not show me any mercy
5. I myself am part monster
6. The king of the monsters wants my SOUL and is the ex-husband of a friend and the not quite stepfather of the ghost friend
7. I can die and come back through what seems to be crazy time magic

I pursed my lips thinking about the last one. I mused about whether I had this power before I fell, and, if I did... would I have been able to redo anything? ...would it be wrong of me if I were to?

No... I definitely gained this power when I fell. I never saw those glowing stars before. If I had, I definitely would've said something about it to someone. I might have been put into a psychiatric ward or something, though... but that never happened so I must have gained it from falling underground.

You know... I've kind of forgotten about an interesting character I met at the beginning. That Flower – no, Flowie guy. He was the first monster to be actively trying to kill me that I've met so far, I think. Why did he want me dead so badly? ...I guess he's probably a super weak monster so he wanted my SOUL... wait a second.

I stopped brushing and stared at the hole I'd made in the tabletop of the vanity.

Sans talked like he'd never heard of a flower monster before... are they just not a thing? Are monsters only animals of some sort? No, there are Vegetoids and Grillby... "Hmm..." I mused quietly, continuing to get ready.

I got almost dressed, putting on the slippers Tenshu'd lent me. I tried to be dressed more for Waterfall than for Snowdin – water-resistant pants and a lighter sweater, and I put on my raincoat unzipped, planning to finish getting ready after breakfast. I looked into the mirror and pursed my lips, trying to decide how to wear my way-too-long hair. It was going to get in the way during the FIGHT, and there was a chance Undyne would bust in halfway through if we aren't fast enough. I looked out the window – it was brighter than before, but still not quite as light as it was during true day. My phone's clock said it was seven in the morning.

Sitting at the mirror yet again, I pulled my hair into a ponytail and then braided it, winding it around the base and securing with bobby pins. Nodding to myself, i got up just in time to see Chara peek into the room through the door.