On The Surface | An OCTale Sequel

35) Home Sweet Home

10th March

I wake up to the smell of freshly cooked eggs on toast. Making my way downstairs, I notice Flowey's already been brought down by Guidea, and is enjoying the absolute massacre of his breakfast.

"What's got you two up so early for?" I ask, as Guidea sits down with her own plate.

"Oh, I was messaging Impact earlier. We're planning to have our first date next week! And Flowey's going off to his so he can help Castellar cook." Guidea smiles, and Flowey nods.

"We're gonna make the best spaghetti you've ever tasted!" He cheers, lifting his empty plate up. We all laugh, and after we're done eating, Flowey quickly heads off.

"So Guid, what do you want to do today?" I ask, and she looks at me in surprise.

"Huh? Me? Uh, wow, this is certainly unexpected!" She remarks, as I giggle.

"Yeah, I thought since I'm always out with my friends, it would be nice to chill with you for a while! How about it?" I smile, and Guidea looks like she's about to cry.

"Oh Tyler, of course I'll hang out with you! What do you want to do?" She beams, evidently excited it that we get to spend time with just us two.

"Well, I know it's a bit of an ask, but I want to go back and explore the Underground with you! Then I can tell you all the adventures I got up to!" I grin, and she nods.

"That sounds fun! Let's go now!"

* * * *

We walk into the now abandoned throne room, the break of the morning sun bursting through the windows. Both thrones are unveilled, and are in the middle of the surprisingly not-dead flower field.

"Hey, why aren't the flowers dead yet?" I ask, Guidea crossing her arms in thought.

"I think Dad must come down here every weekend to tend to his old garden. Perhaps it helps him remember all the bad stuff he did..." She sighs.

"Oh! By the way, what was your mom like, if you don't mind me asking?" I chirp, as she raises an eyebrow.

"My mother, Toriel, was very kind and loving towards all of her subjects. But she was also too soft. Maybe that's why she was caught off-guard by that human so many years ago...this is a world where mercy isn't always the answer, after all." She explains, oddly not getting upset talking about her dead mom, and I nod in agreement.

"Yeah...sometimes there's people you just gotta fight." I shrug.

We continue forward, and I talk to her about my journeys through the Underground, and all the different outcomes I've seen. My favourite one is still the one where Castellar is Queen.

Eventually we reach Sam's old lab, now converted into Webdings's CORE maintenance lab. Spare parts of all sorts of machines litter the floor, including the large screen which was used to track me.

"Now, I wonder if the tapes are still here?" I murmur, searching every nook and cranny around the junk.

"Be careful, Tyler! Don't hurt yourself!" Guidea calls, and I giggle.

"I won't!"

Eventually, I spot a box in the very corner, and I yank it out from under the rubble and leg it back to safety, box in tow. Opening it, I'm slightly disappointed to find stacks apon stacks of instant noodles.

"Well, it's not what I was looking for, but this is still cool! None of the noodles seem to be out of date yet!" I cheer.

Sam must have the tapes, then. I'll ask him for them later.

We keep on walking through the cavern, now accompanied by me crunching on dry noodles. After walking some more, we make it to the end of the Ruins. I freeze for a second, but shake it off before Guidea sees. We both lie down, and look up at the giant hole above.

"Guidea...do you ever wish that Luke was still here?" I ask, and she turns towards me in confusion.

"What? Of course I do! He was like...no, he was my brother! Why do you ask?"

"Well, once I talked to Asriel here, before he turned back into Flowey. He said that whilst Luke was alive, he wasn't really...the greatest person." I explain, Guidea mouthing "Oh".

"I don't believe that. Yes, Luke would sometimes pressure Asriel into doing certain things... but to be fair, they were kids! Kids make stupid mistakes all the time! So...I don't blame Luke for getting both of them killed. I don't think Flowey does, either." She remarks, looking back up at the hole again.

"A totally hypothetical question now. If, say, there was this being from another dimension who wanted to destroy our world...what would you do to stop it?" I ask more seriously, Guidea pondering over it in silence.

"Well, in my opinion, I'd stand up to that bully! I'd make a stand for my world, and tell them that if they're going yo hurt my friends, they'll have to get through me first!" She exclaims, bravery shining in her eyes.

"Yeah...sounds good." I yawn, before suddenly getting a splittling headache. I cover my ears, and look at Guidea, who is glitching left and right. Her soul flickers in and out, amd sometimes even changes colour to Persistence. And just like it started, the glitching stops, however I still hear the faint noise of static.

"What the hell was that just now?!" I yell, Guidea flinching.

"I'm sorry! I thought I had it under control! I'll control it better next time..." She responds, reaching out to hold my shoulder in comfort, but recoils at the last second.

"Guidea...you're aware of your, uh..."

"My glitch....yeah."