OCTale: Pacifist [Editing]

25) The Truth, Part 2 ⭐️

As I wade through the water to leave, my phone rings. I recognise the caller ID as Castellar's.

"What's up Cas?" I chirp as I move the phone to my ear, lowering the volume.

"Hey human! Me and Sam finished our training early. Very early. So I sent him home! Very home." Castellar explains. She sounds anxious for some reason.

"Now...I feel for no reason in particular, you should also go there. To his lab...house. I have only good feelings about this. Goodbye." With that, she ends the call.

Weird.

"You've been taking a lot of rides today, tra la. Back to Hotland, I presume?" The Riverperson says airily. I nod in agreement.

"Tra la la. Temmie Village...the room before the darkening lantern room..." They sigh.

"Come again sometime, tra la."

I walk up to the lab door and give it a little knock.

No response.

I look again, and see the door is already slightly ajar.

It's rude to go into other people's houses uninvited, but.....

This is important.

The lab is dimly lit again by the giant TV that once fed my location. Now it just shows what seems to be the home screen of Sam's computer. Blueprints of a tank cover the background, with the title "Challenger".

Huh.

My steps echo against the tiled floor as I move towards the bathroom door, noticing a note pinned to it. I carefully remove the pin and smooth the edges of the paper. The handwriting is barely legible, but I begin to read it aloud anyway.

Hey. Thanks for your help back there. You guys... Your support means a lot to me.

But... As difficult as it is to say this... You guys alone cant make my problems magically go away. I want to be a better person. I don't want to be afraid anymore. And for that to happen I have to be able to face my own mistakes. I'm going to start doing that now.

I want to be clear. This isn't anyone else's problem but mine. But if you don't ever hear from me again... If you want to know "the truth." Enter the door to the north of this note. You all at least deserve to know what I did.

I say in Sam's tone of voice. Looking back up at the door to the 'bathroom', I drop the note and open the door.

There never was a bathroom.

Several buttons line a panel on the wall.

The room seems to be an elevator.

Taking a closer look at the panel, there seems to be a lobby, and 6 basement floors. I look over my shoulder and see a plaque listing what's on each floor.

Floor B1 - Lobby
Floor B2 - CORE Maintenance
Floor B3 - Parts + Service
Floor B4 - Human Prison
Floor B5 - Fusion Room
Floor B6 - Particle Accelerator
Floor B7 - SOUL Power

I shudder at reading the 'Human Prison' part.

Thinking it through again, and debating it with Luke, we both agree to go to the bottom floor.