#(gonna say this is sometime after const's first therapy appointment post-soul bond

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slides at @likestxrlight​

The discovery of the sudden appearance of a building on the moon that definitely hadn't been there before was a shock to the entire world. Not only that, but it seemed incredibly well built and definitely from an advanced civilization. The biggest mystery was how they had missed it getting built in the first place. It wasn't a small building to be sure.

There was a lot of speculation once it had been discovered. Some conspiracy theorists claimed it to be something secretly built by one of the major countries. Others claimed it to be evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and still others claimed it to be something from the magical monsters that had only just recently been discovered - or rediscovered, according to them? - some time ago in the United States.

All the speculation was set straight extremely soon afterwards, when someone from the civilization that had built it came directly up to the Administrator of NASA. Apparently, a small group of aliens had actually been here on Earth for a while, but were waiting to make first contact until humans reached Mars. But then the building on the moon had lost its cloaking, which made them decide to make first contact now instead. They were an inorganic species called Gems, with bodies made of hard light, which . . . honestly flipped the worldviews of biologists and physicists alike, as well as the public in general. No one had known anything like that could be possible. Then again, magical monsters were, so why not?

Regardless, it was incredible, and all that the news was filled with nowadays. Chekilli was filled with awe at it all, and he considered himself lucky to be friends with Dr. Nikki Priscell, who worked at NASA and had been in direct contact with the gem, named Pearl, who had been working with them. As such he was able to get an inside scoop about it all.

One time had particularly caught his attention.

"Hey," Nikki said, poking at their food when they had teleported back from work for their lunch break. "Didn't you say one of your monsters had been a skeleton named Wingdings?"

". . . Yes," he replied hesitantly, uncertain as to where this topic was going. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason in particular. It's just Pearl’s got a skeleton friend named Wingdings Gaster who came in with her to one of our meetings some time ago."

Chekilli froze. What? No. No, that couldn't be. It was incredibly rare for a skeleton monster to have a symbolic font, much less the same symbolic font as his own monster's, not to mention the same secondary font and way of combining the two. But it couldn't be Wing. It couldn't. He'd felt him die just as he had his other monsters. It couldn't be.

. . . But it had to be.

He'd heard sometime after the War, from other creators, that the death of a soul bonded monster felt a lot like when a soul bond broke. And he hadn't actually seen Wing turn to dust like he had Wisty and Shell.

. . . Could he dare to hope?

"What . . ." he said shakily. "Wh-what does her friend look like?"

"Uh. A skeleton.” They chuckled slightly. “Well, he’s got no nose hole for one thing, though he has some nasty-looking cracks on his face, one from each eye, and both hands have holes in them. Sound familiar at all?”

Chekilli covered his mouth, leaning into his hand quite a bit. “The lack-of-nose-hole does . . .” If . . . if this was Wing then what . . . what had happened to him, to have cracks in his skull and holes in his hands? Of course, he knew what happened: he’d gotten captured by the Monster Hunters. But . . .

“Where . . . Do you know where he lives?” he asked.

Nikki shook their head. “Sorry.” They paused, then smirked. “Buuuut you could come with me tomorrow and ask Pearl yourself. And who knows, maybe he’ll come with her this time, too.”

Chekilli immediately straightened. "Are- Are you serious? Absolutely!" He could ask her directly about this Wingdings, perhaps even meet him then and there, and geez did he hope that this really was his Wingdings.

Also, this came with the added bonus of actually meeting the alien who had made first contact, which was incredible in and of itself.

“Why on Earth did you not tell me this earlier, Nikki?”

“Well . . . to be honest I only just now remembered you had a monster like that,” they replied with an embarrassed laugh. The name had been familiar, but they hadn’t been able to place it until now.

Chekilli groaned slightly, but left it as it was.

He could barely sleep that night, and the next morning left him extremely jittery. He followed Nikki to work, and it wasn't long before they encountered Pearl, though unfortunately it didn’t seem like this Wingdings was with her this time. Gosh, it was one thing to see her on the news; it was quite another to see her in person. Hard light, they'd said? It looked just as physical as anything organic. He wondered how similar it was to the solid magic that monsters were made of.

He didn't have much time to wonder before Nikki guided him over, waving towards Pearl to catch her attention.

"Pearl! I have someone I'd like you to meet. This is Dr. Chelokeeilitchee.”

"Ah, just Chekilli is fine, though. It's nice to meet you, Pearl." He offered a hand to shake. Ah, he was nervous, though. He really really hoped the monster she knew was his . . .

"He's actually interested in Dr. Gaster," Nikki added cheerfully, ignoring the nervous look Chekilli shot them.