Two Halves | Book One of The Judgement series

Chapter 9

After that I locked myself in my room. Resting on the bed was a book, a box and a note. The note was written in a strange language that used symbols as a way of communication. I couldn't understand the note so I turned to the book. It was unmarked so I had no idea what it was about. As soon as I opened it, a fragile piece of paper fluttered out. It spoke of a lost prophecy that predicted the creation of the most powerful being in the multiverse. I flipped through the pages of the book. Most pages held in depth descriptions of every universes that Ink has created. There was also some interesting pages about SOULS and SOUL TRAITS. I decided I'd read up on those later. 

Next, I examined the box. It was about the size of my hand and was a little heavy. When I opened it, there was a necklace in it with a golden dragon charm. It had white diamond eyes and was incredibly beautiful. Each scale of the dragon was carved by hand, not by any kind of machine. I don't know how long I stood there, just staring at the necklace in my hand but I was broken out of my trance when there was a soft knock on my door. I slipped on the necklace and hid it with my shirt. I also slid the book, prophetic paper and note under my bed. When I was sure everything was out of sight, I called out to the person knocking on my door. "Who is it?" 

"Can I come in?" Nightmare's voice rang out from the other side of the door and I felt my heart break a little. I had no idea why I felt these little stings of pain but I did know that my heart would not be able to take it if I saw him. 

"No, you can't." Nightmare was silent. "I don't want to see you." I felt the air shift behind me. 

"Too bad, Soleil. We need to talk and it can't wait until you're done being upset." 

"Leave, Nightmare." Once again, my tone was cold. 

"No can do, sweetheart." 

"Don't call me that." 

"Nope," he popped the 'p' noise and turned me around to face him. I looked anywhere but at him. I could hear Nightmare sigh. "Come on, Soleil, let's talk." 

"I think you said all that you needed to at the table." 

"Come on. I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it, Nightmare? Because it sounded to me like I'm only here to help you destroy your brother. My friend." 

Nightmare cringed a bit. "When you put it like that, it sounds horrible." 

"It doesn't matter how I put it! The bare minimum here is that you're only using me for your own gain!" I could feel a tear slide down my cheek but I didn't care. What he said hurt me way more than what the others said. 

"You do realize that to them, the Star Sanses, I'm the bad guy, right?" 

"Duh! I know that but that doesn't mean they're right. In the time I've spent here I've seen the sweet side of you. The good side of you. The uncorrupted part of you." My blue orbs searched his single blue pinprick. It was no use though. He had his emotions hidden behind a wall that I couldn't take down. I sighed and looked away from Nightmare. "You won't get what you want out of me so you might as well throw me out of here." 

Nightmare walked to my door, unlocked it, and placed his hand on the knob. "You know that wasn't the only reason I wanted you by my side." He slammed the door on his way out and I could hear the sickening sound of bones cracking as he hit the hallway wall. 

"Dust! Cross! Watch the damn door! Make sure she goes nowhere!" I heard Nightmare scream at the top of his lungs. He was extremely angry, most likely with me. It wasn't long until I heard two sets of feet stop at my door. The two skeletons engaged in small talk but the ghosts that followed them entered my room. They both looked worried about me. 

"Are you okay, human?" The ghost Papy's voice was soft, like he didn't want Dust knowing he was gone. 

"Yeah, you seemed pretty hurt by their conversation." The kid sat on the edge of the bed as he/she spoke. 

"I'll be alright. This is nothing compared to what I've been through." I sat next to the kid and laid back on the mattress. Papyrus joined our little group and both ghosts did the same. The ghost of the kid had white hair and dressed exactly like Cross. "What's your name, kid? And why haven't I been introduced to you two sooner?" 

"My name's Cross!Chara and that's because you're the only one that can see us, besides Cross and Dust." 

"The others can't see you? Why?" Chara laughed at my question. 

"Because we're dead. Quite literally ghosts of the past." 

"We remind Dust and Cross about what they've done." Papyrus looked up at the light blue canopy of the bed. "I think it's a bit cruel that we exist after death like this. It's cruel to torture them about their past decisions."

"It's also cruel to let them get away with the things they did." Cross!Chara glanced at Papyrus. 

My curiosity was peaked. "What did they do?" 

"Dusty killed every monster in the underground in order to confront his universe's version of Chara. When he killed the kid, the world didn't reset and he was eventually driven insane by his own guilt. That's when Papy's ghost appeared to him." Cross!Chara explained to me. 

"The poor thing. He only wanted to protect everyone in the end." I looked at the door, like my sympathy would make its way to Dust. "And you? Why do you haunt Cross?" 

"Cross teamed up with them for a genocide route and killed them in the Judgement hall. The world's code was corrupted and eventually the universe they came from destroyed itself. In the anti-void left behind, CC here appeared to Cross and convinced him to team up with Gaster to carry out a plan that's now called the 'X-Event. Where they tried to get access to the OVERWRITE button. The team was defeated because of a temporary truce between the destroyer and the creator, which I doubt will ever happen again."  

After I learned the origins of each ghost, we talked about little things until I drifted into the sweet embrace of sleep.