#you can see his skeleton while standing inside his mouth and a route from deep within his bowels somehow also leads back to his mouth

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts - Monstro

[unholytrinitytrio]

RUINING YOUR CHILDHOOD STORIES: SLEEPING BEAUTY

Pairing: Prince Hawks x Princess Reader (Royalty AU)

Warnings: Non con, Somnophilia, Oral sex, 18+ MINORS DNI

Standing in front of the supposed room of the cursed princess. Keigo was starting to contemplate if this is worth all the trouble. Fighting a hoard of undead at the entrance of the tower. Barely escaping the hallways rigged with traps. And then having to unlock your room protected by several enchantments.

Scratching the back of his head in annoyance, Hawks entered your chamber taking note of the unusually dust free room, before spotting your bed. Your bed’s canopy hiding your sleeping form from his prying eyes.

Grumbling in irritation he made his way to your bed.

Keigo was a known loved prince from a neighboring nation. Known as a genius, accompanied by his good looks. It woud be given that different princess’ from neighboring nations took interest with him.

So quick to invite him to their kingdoms as soon as he struck the marriageable age. His casanova personality be damned.

However not wanting to be tied down by some stranger. He quickly tried to create a loop hole for himself. He claimed he would set out to a perilous journey to bring back a worthy partner

Of course he was just bullshitting his way. Wanting to get away from pressure of finding someone whom would bear his children. Simultaneously not wanting to take over the kingdom just yet.

Lady luck may had blessed him the day his parents were pushing yet again another invite from the neightboring kingdom.

A traveling merchant visited the royal family spinning a tales of a cursed kingdom deep into the forgotten wood. Where lies a cursed princess of unrivaled beauty and wisdom, laid in slumber awaiting the kiss of her true love.

Keigo chalked it up that said fable was just a story spun by bored housewives for their entertainment.

So here he was infront of your bed. His thoughts shrouded with doubt that by drawing back said curtains he’ll be met with a dead carcass or skeleton of the once beautiful princess.

Aggressively drawing back your bed’s canopy he was met by your still body, enchantment

He took a step back in a mix of shock and fascination. Mesmerized by your ethereal beauty, the way you were described in those tale pale to seeing you in person.

You look so peaceful dozing off, and unknowing of the dangers that lurks beyond your sleeping chambers.

‘And so damn vulnerable’

Keigo thought as he scanned your sleeping frame. From your billowy lips, to the swell of your breasts poorly hidden by your thin night attire. The curvature of your hips connecting to a pair of feminine legs from what he can make out with that draped attire of yours.

Finally, if the tales were true you were enchanted to be asleep as soon as you turned the tender age of 18. If by then you were already asleep he concluded that your innocence should then be intact.

He shivered at the thought knowing that you were there, practically presenting yourself to him in a silver platter.

He reached a hand out to caress your face, he thought that you should really consider yourself lucky. He was after all the first to find you.

Not the other neighboring princes’ he heard off. One was a sadistic little shit, a known pyromaniac in battle, while the other a shut in prince, known for wiping out a nation without breaking a sweat.

Biting his lips he couldn’t stop his wandering hands from exploring other areas of your body. He knows he should stop while he still can and to just get on with the whole un-cursing you thingy.

But he doesn't.

He claims it was because he spends those sleepless nights with no bed companion, his hands did nothing of comfort while he was still on a quest of finding you, his bride to be.

Easily unsealing your protection charms. He climbs on top of you. He finds comfort in the idea that it was because it's the easiest position to kiss you.

He knows he’s lying.

He shifted on top of you before advancing his lips to yours before he stopped dead in his tracks, contemplating his options. Biting his lips before he shifted his lips lower, grasping the cloth on your shoulder he pulled it down enough to expose your right shoulder before swooping it to lick it.

Groaning in satisfaction, he proceeded to mark up your shoulder, grounding his hips to yours he couldn’t stop rubbing himself off of you. Finding it sinful yet not wanting to stop, he figured you were his the moment he saw you, so might as well service him for all the trouble you put him into.

With one hands he grasps both of your wrist moving it so that it rests above your head before moving his other hand to grope at your breast. Rubbing it so that he can finally feel your erect nipples in the palm of your hands.

Panting he moved back a tiny bit before sliding his hands at your waist down at your thighs, pulling one of it to encircle his hips while he pulled one of your thigh's close to his mouth. Licking said flesh before biting unto it.

He held back his moan when he heard you whimper in pain, your leg poorly moving away from his hands. Finally, steeling himself for what he’s about to do he pulled down his trouser just enough so that his hardening member is free from its confinement before grasping at your hips to pull your body closer to his.

Rutting himself against you, he was pleasantly surprised when he felt a dampened part on that undergarment of yours.

“You want me that much too?” he chuckled to himself before staring at your face no longer at their resting state.

Eye brows knitted in what seems to be confusion, your lips letting out breathy moans.

He pulled down the top of your night gown freeing your breast before latching at one of your erected nipple.

Still suckling at your breast. his hands wandered off to the bottom of dress. Pawing at whatever flesh his greedy hands could touch, before wrinkling said clothes to pool just below your breast.

He reached down at your undergarments, carefully pulling the cloth at your entrance aside. Keigo let one finger of his gather your wetness until finally he slides his middle finger inside of you. Feeling the inside muscles of yours contract in an attempt to fend off his intruding finger, he released yet again a moan.

However, when he heard you let out a whimper of pain, he retracted his elongated finger just a tiny bit before feeling around to look for that one spot of yours. He quickly made work of his thumb on your clit in a piss poor attempt of distraction.

With his other unoccupied hand, he quickly palmed his hard on before releasing it from it's confinement.

He quickly made work of his belt, shimmying his pants and underwear to release his hardened cock, precum dripping at the head.

Imagining how would you feel against his member dragging along your walls. He imagines how your sex contracting in an attempt to accomodate his girthy penis. He licked his lips surpressing his carnal desire.

He slid himself further down latching on your clit, groaning, one hand scissoring your tight entrace, while his other hand grasping his hard on, shamelessly pumping.

You rewarded him with unrepressed moan, thighs unconsciously gripping his head in between.

Keigo's breathing quicken the louder you become, and with how your insides grip his fingers he figured you were close to cumming as he were.

Sloppily eating you out, you suddenly let out a high pitched moan with your back arching. Keigo had to retract both his hands in order to steady your twitching hips.

He let you ride out your orgasm in his mouth before letting go of you to furiously jerk off, ropes of his cum reaching your exposed stomach.

Catching his breath he removed himself off of you to retrieve some clothes to clean both of you. He arranged your clothes taking his damn sweet time.

He arranged himself brushing his hair back, standing by your bedside, where he should had been from the very start.

He slowly lowered his back kissing you sweetly as if their were no previous events that took place.

Your eyes fluttered, slowly he was met by your gaze. He almost couldn't hold back a grin with how flush you were noticing that you were indeed checking him out.

You were supposed to trust this man who enthusiastically presented himself as your saviour. However, something deep down inside you keep nagging that you couldn't. That something was sinister behind his charismatic smile.

You squirmed in your position in bed. Not liking the fact that you feel you underwear had dampened with the mere presence of said man.

You bashful smile was quickly wiped out after you suddenly realized that something was indeed wrong.

'Wait was it wet already before or-?' you quickly tried putting two and two together before you were quickly interrupted.

"Well good morning to you too my sleeping beauty" he greeted you yet again cold sweat breaking out.

He rather drop dead first before he let you use that pesky brains of yours.

GAME OVER.

BAD END.

START AGAIN?

GOOD END? (coming soon)

Alternate Route: PYROMANIAC PRINCE (coming soon)

Alternate Route: SHUT IN PRINCE (coming soon)

[keelywolfe]

FIC: A Lonely Impulse of Despair (standalone)

Summary:  They knew about the anomaly and the resets, but forewarned is not always forearmed.

Notes:  I got this idea into my head that what-if all the skeletons knew at least something about the anomaly and the resets and this is where it went. Read the tags!

Tags: Spicyhoney, References to Undertale Genocide Route, Dark, Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Rough Sex, Lemony

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Snowdin always lived in darkness, broken only by the lighted lamps along the streets, powered by the core. There was no sun underground, no illusion of dawn and dusk. It was morning simply because the clocks stated it to be so, and that morning, Edge left his home to walk down the empty streets to the shops at the far end of town.

The other houses in town stood vacant. There was an occasional window lit, flickering light casting shadows out onto the snowdrifts, but their former inhabitants were gone.

There was no sign of any violence in those homes. None of those windows were broken, the doors undamaged. He’d gone into one where the door was standing open and found dishes in the sink, a pie sitting on the back of the counter for an upcoming dessert. Half-folded laundry sat in a basket, books and toys strewn about as if they were only waiting for their owners to return.

Edge touched nothing, only left and closed the door carefully behind him.

On this morning, snow was falling in a silent flurry. The flakes were piling up on streets that were no longer cleared daily by the Bun family. It was barely a hinderance. His boots cut easily through the loose drifts as he walked, alone, down to the other side of town.

There were children here once. Not so carefree as the ones he’d seen in the other Universes but even here on clear days they played in the snow until their parents called them back inside as the more dangerous night hours came.

A ridiculous notion. The illusion of safety during the day hours was just that, an illusion. There was no difference in the Underground and every minute of any day could bring treacherous events.

From a distance, Edge could see the lights were still on in the store. He’d left them on the day before when he’d come this same way. The store was the closest building to the edge of town that led into the woods surrounding it. If anyone were still out there, those lights could guide them into Snowdin.

The bell over the door rang as Edge pushed it open, a cheery warning to no one at all. The shop was as empty as the homes. The shelves had never been fully stocked at any time in Edge’s memory and the meagre offerings lining them were thinner than ever. There were no more fresh baked goods and only a handful of dried food remained. Most of the commodities left were canned, their lids coated with a thin layer of dust.

(dust, so much dust, how could it be)

Half of the remaining stock would have fit in Edge’s knapsack. It would make more sense to take all the food there and bring it home with him. Spare him the walk out in the open, keep him with necessary provisions for a time. Sensible.

Edge only took enough for the day and carefully noted what remained so he would know if anyone else came scavenging. Monster food would not rot or spoil, but eventually, he was going to run out of rations.

He gathered up the day’s supplies into his knapsack and went back outside into the swirling snow. He didn’t follow his half-buried tracks back home, instead going around the outskirts of town along the perimeter. None of his traps were disturbed, there was no indication that anyone had traveled this way. Just as it had been yesterday and the day before and the day before that. No signs, no people, no other Monsters.

There was nothing in the woods but hungry shadows that beckoned and cajoled for him to join them. Come to us, they said, there is nothing left for you in that town but emptiness and death. Come with us into the swirling snow and listen to secrets that only the mountain knows.

Edge ignored their call. He stopped at the borders of Waterfall where the snow began to melt into sludge and turned back, heading into town along the main road. He was nearly home when he caught sight of something that stopped him in his tracks. A figure in a familiar orange hoodie was sitting on his front porch steps, casually disregarding of the signs to ‘keep out’ and ‘beware’ that were strung on the barbed wire fence around it. There was a lit cigarette in his hand and Edge watched him lift it to his mouth and take a long drag, the exhaled smoke lost in the falling snow.

He hitched his knapsack higher on his shoulder and resumed his stride. Stretch didn’t look at him as he approached. “hey.”

Edge said nothing.

“you’re still here,” Stretch said. He tapped ash from his cigarette, exposing burning red at the tip. “thought maybe you’d’ve headed into new home.” He tipped his head back and looked up at what was not sky, but the high ceiling of a cave deep beneath the mountain that was both their prison and their home. “might be other refugees there keeping ahead of—” He hesitated, then added in a voice like hollow ice, “the anomaly.”

The anomaly, yes. The Human child whose soul offered no salvation, only death and dust.

A child, that was what Edge saw in that one brief instant when he came upon them on the road leading into Snowdin. An innocent child, and in his shock, he didn’t consider how they’d gotten past the Dogs or the traps. He didn’t notice the dust coating their clothes, didn’t even notice the knife in their hand. All he saw was the striped shirt, the round, cherubic face and in that instant, he was so taken aback that he paused. That moment of hesitation was all it took.

If Edge saw them again, he wouldn’t hesitate to strike them down, Edge told himself. He would cut that angelic head from their striped shoulders with a single cutting blow and leave them dead where they stood, even knowing he would never get the answer to his one question.

Why didn’t you kill me?

He told himself that was what he would do the next time and knew it wasn’t true.

It never was.

Stretch finished his cigarette and flicked the butt into the snow. “doesn’t help much to know this,” Stretch sighed, “but what the hell. you’re gonna forget this all. one morning you’ll wake up and it’ll be an all-new day. you’ll forget everything, the kid, the pain.” His grimace twisted into a crooked smile. “you’ll even forget me, for a little while. silver linings, am i right?”

“Why are you here?” How many days had it been since he’d last spoken? Edge wasn’t certain, but to his hearing, his voice was harsh with disuse, painfully hoarse.

Stretch rolled his shoulders in an approximation of a hug. “checking in. no one’s heard from this ‘verse in a couple weeks. wasn’t too hard to figure out what was going down.”

Not a difficult guess at all, he was sure. They all knew about the resets, all of them. They knew an anomaly came and what it did, and the price Monsters paid for their hubris was death. He’d known what was coming, he’d been braced for it since his brother took him down to the basement and showed the machine, the path to the other worlds where skeletons with faces that resembled their own lived in towns that were not their home. Anomalies, they explained, resets where time flowed backwards and took memory with it.

He’d known and he’d still failed, failed, because he hadn’t expected death would come with the face of a child.

“Come inside.” Edge didn’t wait to see if Stretch followed.

Inside, Stretch paused on the doormat, glancing around the living room. “keeping the homestead clean, i see, i—whoa!”

His breath left him in a grunt as Edge took hold of his sweatshirt and swung him around, shoving him up against the closed door. The faces were inches apart as Edge gritted out, “Why are you here?”

There was no fear on Stretch’s face, only that same irritating smirk beneath a deadened gaze. “told you, wanted to check on you.” He shrugged again, this time tight and nervous. “no one else was gonna. no one’s real sure what’ll happen if the reset comes while someone from another ‘verse is in town. probably shouldn’t even be here, but, eh, guess i ain’t too bright.”

The question of what would happen if you were in a different universe when the reset occurred had been asked before and it was one without an answer. There was simply no way of knowing if anyone had already tested it. For all anyone knew, they might all once have had an elder brother who tested the theory and found the price was a high one. “You might be leaving your brother alone.”

“heh.” A soft laugh, but Stretch’s gaze shifted, moving to look past Edge at the wall on the other side. “ain’t like i’ve ever been able to save him, anyway.”

Edge didn’t step back, but he loosened his grip on Stretch’s sweatshirt, let him slide a little down until his feet were firm on the floor. “If you’re here to try to convince me to leave Underfell—"

“nah. wouldn’t do that to you. see, i’d ask and you’d say no but you’d feel bad about it.” Stretch shook his head. “nah, you already don’t want to travel, i’m not about to send you on a guilt trip. who’s to say it’s safer, anyway. maybe you’d come over to visit and when the reset hit here, it’d drag you back on home through time and space. not my idea of fun.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Edge demanded. “For fun? Come to see Underfell at its safest?” He stepped back enough to wave a hand towards the window as mockingly as Mettaton on their latest game show. “Please, feel free. Wander through the woods, stroll down main street. But I warn you, the scenery will disappoint. There’s nothing out there. I’ve looked. There’s no one, nothing.” His voice was rising, going shrill and Edge shut his mouth, teeth clicking together painfully.

Patiently, hinting at petulance, Stretch said, “i told you, came here to check on you. it’s hard to be the last one around, all you can do is sweep up, put the chairs on the table, and wait for them to turn the open sign on again.”

Edge searched his face. Their skulls were more malleable than simple bone, their magic gave them life and Stretch’s skull was creased from worry, wearing his exhaustion like a skin. Beneath his sockets were grey shadows that spoke of sleepless nights.

They’d never gotten along, he and Stretch. Something about the other skeleton grated on him past the fact that he despite his face, he was more like Red—

(don’t, don’t think about him, don’t)

--than Edge. Not his twin, but a reversal, a twisted mirror image come to visit from the other side of the looking glass.

Despite his smiles, right now he looked more like Edge than ever, blank and bone-weary.

There was nothing inside Edge. Even his soul was empty, its contents drained by loss, cold and bitter as the snow that danced as it fell.

Yet, deep in the dregs of soul’s ashes there was a single spark left, and Edge reached for it, desperate for any lingering warmth. He leaned up and kissed Stretch, their teeth grinding together almost painfully.

Between their mouths, Stretch made a startled sound, but he made no attempt to pull away. He stood there with his shoulders pressed to the door and let Edge take his mouth, their tongues meeting in a furious tangle. He tasted sweet and did not flinch from the jaggedness of Edge’s teeth, licking daringly at the points in a silent, mocking challenge.

The spark inside him flared, kindling caught, and Edge tore away, panting. Before Stretch could offer a word, taunting or otherwise, Edge took him by the wrist and dragged him stumblingly over to the sofa. He pushed Stretch down, bent him over the threadbare cushion of the arm. Tall as he was, if he’d chosen to struggle, it would have been difficult to pin him. Instead, he sagged willingly down against the sofa arm, let it angle his pelvis upward even as he shifted in a deliberate writhe of offering.

The gray that had haunted Edge’s vision for days receded, like a shroud pulled from over his sockets. He took hold of Stretch’s ridiculous, saggy pants and yanked them down to his ankles to rest on top of his dirty sneakers. Beneath them he was bare, his magic forming in his pelvis. The bright orange filled his sight to overflowing and the slit of his cunt glistened like a taunt.

Without warning, Edge pressed two careless fingers to the opening, slipping both inside and Stretch lurched under him, a strangled cry escaping him. He was merely damp, not nearly wet enough for what Edge intended.

He kept a hand at Stretch’s hip to hold him still and dropped to his knees to bury his face against those soft folds, pushing his tongue in alongside his fingers. A sudden buck nearly threw him off and Edge held him down more firmly, slicking his tongue up that cleft between his scissoring fingers, wetting him thoroughly. Stretch whimpered, shivering, his hips rocking back desperately against fingers and mouth both.

“oh, fuck,” Stretch whined. His breath came in ragged blurts, catching and resuming in a shattered cadence. “edge, your mouth…fuck!” His fingers were curled into the sofa cushion beneath his skull, gripping tightly as Edge pushed his tongue deeply inside, tasting a sudden blurt of honey-sweet wetness that allowed his fingers to move easier.

Slowly, Edge stood, letting his fingers slip free and wiping them on his pantleg. He stood there a moment, taking in the sight in front of him. The quiver in Stretch’s shoulders, the perfect arch of his spine beneath his rucked-up sweatshirt, his femurs spread as wide as his hobbling pants allowed. The shift of his hips was as eager as the wet pussy between them and wordlessly, Edge unzipped his trousers and pulled out his cock. He spit in his hand and spread the wetness on his shaft before lining up. He held there a moment, pussy lips parted around the broad head and the slippery opening clenching around it as if trying to suck him inside.

Over his own unsteady breathing was a constant stream of obscenity and begging, words spilling endlessly from Stretch. With a long, slow thrust, Edge pressed inside, ignoring Stretch’s increasingly desperate pleading and the urgent rise of his hips. When he was hilted inside, their pelvic girdles grazing against each other, Edge was forced to pause, closing his sockets at the unbearable intimacy of it. Edge couldn’t remember the last time he’d touched someone else, but it was before the anomaly (child) ever came here. Even the person he was closest to, his brother, never touched him, not since he was small and they curled up together to sleep, less affection and more to share their body warmth.

The slick tight heat surrounding his shaft was an overload to his touch deprivation, the rippling clench dragging a ragged cry from him as he tried not to come in an instant. Edge took a steading breath, licked his teeth and tasted his own sweat mingled with the sweetness of cunt, and only then did he move.

“nnngg, god!” Stretch sobbed out, his limp body battered against the sofa as Edge found a rhythm, pounding into him with a metronome-steady pace. His scant ectoflesh offered little cushion, their pelvic bones clacking together achingly. Edge ignored the discomfort, thrusting harder still and listening for protests that did not come.

Beneath him, Stretch covered his mouth with a hand, stifling himself even as he pleaded for more, for harder, fuck me harder, you bastard. His other struggled to reach beneath him, his skinny fingers briefly jabbing where they were joined as he sought out his clit. Edge felt it from within as he found it, the strangling clench of his cunt around him, and choked on a curse as he fucked in hard, his driving rhythm faltering, breaking, as orgasm struck him. He was empty inside, but he filled Stretch with the heat of his come, spilled in thick, hot pulses as Stretch whined and quivered, accepting his offering.

Withdrawing was difficult, made harder by both the spasming clutch of cunt and his own reluctance. In the end, Edge snatched himself free with the haste of someone (a child) pulling off a band-aid from a barely healed wound. He watched the crimson spill of his magic as it followed, wet streaks dripping down to paint the inside of Stretch’s femurs. Stretch didn’t move, his breathing still coming in hitched gasps as he laid in a half-crumpled drape over the sofa arm, his long legs still splayed, leaving him used and exposed.

Edge tugged his pants closed, his zipper loud in the silence. “You need to go.”

“heh.” Stretch stirred, his sockets slitting opened as he shifted enough to look over his shoulder. “kicking me out already? your afterglow sucks.”

“Be that as it may, you can’t be here when it resets.”

Perhaps something of the kindled spark in Edge transferred to Stretch somehow, in his kiss, in his come, in his words, he didn’t know which. There was some emotion in the smirk Stretch offered him, his gaze less empty as he asked, “worried about me, edgelord?”

“Yes.” The raw honesty was all he could muster.

Stretch exhaled, long and slow, turning his face briefly into the cushions where they’d all sat once, crowded together on the cushions to watch silly movies that were scavenged from the dump. With a low grunt, he slowly pushed up to his feet. He staggered and Edge caught him by the arm, holding him up as Stretch reached awkwardly for his pants, hauling them up over his stained femurs.

“yeah, i should probably go,” Stretch said. He didn’t move, his hands fluttering nervously to his pockets as if to reach for his cigarettes then aborting, moving aimlessly before returning to his pockets before repeating (resetting) again. “listen, you won’t remember this after and my memory is gonna get all smudgy again, but.” For one moment, Stretch’s gaze was entirely unshielded. Edge couldn’t decipher what he saw in his eyelights before he took reached out, taking hold of Edge’s face between both hands as he leaned in to kiss him, softly. A brief, gentle meeting of mouths still sore from the brutality of earlier, then he pulled away. “maybe we can do this again sometimes.” Unguarded eye lights above a crooked smile, then Stretch turned away as he added, carelessly. “hell, could be we already did.”

“Stretch.” He paused at the door, browbones raised, and Edge blurted out, “Do you think they remember what they’ve done? After a reset, do they know?”

A brief silence, then Stretch said, slowly, “to be honest? i’m not even sure it’s the same kid every time.” Stretch shrugged, a loose roll of his shoulders as if his ligaments still weren’t too tight. “maybe somewhere out there someone is sharing a controller. anyway, your bro should be sending ‘em back to the start menu soon enough.”

“Yes.” His brother. If he was still alive and don’t, don’t, don’t.

Stretch left without another word, the door closing softly behind him, and Edge gathered up his knapsack from where he’d dropped it to get his supplies.

He ate directly from the cans and tasted nothing.

Afterward, Edge curled up on the sofa that smelled of their sex, his cheekbone resting on the faded fabric close to the still-damp stains as he waited for the world to end or to begin again.

Whichever came first.

-fin

[rainbows-fanfics]

Our Nightmare (Chapter 5)

Summary:

Sally moves in with the man of her screams. But there  is still so much she has to learn of Halloween Town, and what it’s like  living with The Pumpkin King.

A sequel to Two Dearest Friends,  where the Christmas incident never happens. But there are still many  ends that haven’t been met, and much for these two dreamers to learn as  they start to spend their deaths together.

Pairings: Jack Skellington/Sally, Dr Finklestein/Jewel

–

Note: This is a SEQUEL to my other story, TWO DEAREST FRIENDS. To read the original story, go here.

–

On a Tuesday morning, Sally sits herself by a window to practice her knitting while letting in fresh air. It is a beautiful time to look outside, as the pumpkin sun lightly warms her skin as she listens to the sounds of children playing from below. Every time she glances up from her work, she can see the town and its people in clear daylight. Not such a horrendous day by Halloween Town's standards, but she finds it relaxing, nonetheless.

Halfway into her work, the front doors of the manor open. She turns her head and finds Jack coming through the doorway. He promptly sets the papers he's holding aside when he finds her in the room. He smiles and gets closer to see what she is doing. She lets him see the scarf she is currently working on. It was yellow in color - the only yarn she could find at the moment.

"Prepping for winter already?" He asks. She glances down and shrugs.

"Just practicing, for now."

He leans down to kiss the top of her head, moving around her to sit down in his chair. He starts to work, setting some papers on a table and beginning to scribble on them using the end of a feather dipped in ink. She pays no mind as she tends to her scarf, humming as the movements become easier. The two of them relax in this peaceful moment - working together in close proximity, with nothing interrupting them.

Sally sighs in delight. Everything about this feels right.

Her gaze soon comes down back to the streets of Halloween Town. She finds a batch of familiar, blonde hair within the crowds. Her body stiffens as she recognizes the figure. They're working their way down to the market, with a basket held in the crook of their arm. Sally's eyes follow the woman as she disappears into one of the shops. She starts to lose focus with her knitting, and has to set down her work on the window sill.

Jewel.

It has been over a week since the deadly nightshade incident happened. Jack's consolation eased her from the memory of the ordeal, making it not cross her mind again until now. Things have gone so peacefully from then. She hadn't any reason to remember it. She was getting more comfortable adjusting to her life here - even if that meant taking certain precautions, like moving the deadly nightshade jar out of the kitchen and ensuring all the cleaning supplies were left in their rightful closet. This gave her more room to focus on other things, like practicing sewing and knitting again, even taking up a new book in her free time.

But, now, seeing the Doctor's new creation again makes Sally remember it all. What exactly happened over a week ago, and everything that led to it. No matter how happy she seems now, this will always linger in her memory. Any small thing that can remind her of what the Doctor did to her - it will haunt her for mind for hours, and possibly her whole death. She curls her fingers in her lap in thought. This part of the manor isn't facing Finklestein's tower, but she doesn't need to see it to think of it. She takes a deep breath as she finds herself strangely calm - making a bold decision in these few seconds.

She turns to the skeleton man behind her, who glances up from his work. "I think I'm ready."

---

The walk to Dr. Finklestein's tower feels much longer than she remembers.

Jack was confused when Sally virtually brought this up out of nowhere, but he was very supportive regardless. He asked if she was sure she was ready to make this decision, and after much thought and consideration, she insisted she was. The Pumpkin King quietly takes them on the longer route to ensure they won't be appearing too soon. He can tell she needs some time to work up some encouragement, and there is also the fact he hadn't called the Doctor to inform them they were coming in the first place. He hopes they'll be there to answer once they've arrived.

The two of them find the sight of his tower coming into view. When the gates are only a few feet away, his girlfriend suddenly stops in her tracks. She looks back at him and plays with her fingers, looking at the ground nervously.

"Jack?" She asks quietly. "Can you give me one of those pep talks, again? The ones you're really good at?"

He places a hand on her shoulder and grips it softly. "You don't have to be afraid of him. You don't even have to listen to him anymore. This is about what you want, not him."

She places her hand over his and holds it for a few seconds. She still looks conflicted. "...You really think I can tell him?"

"You're one of the most assertive people I know, Sally. I know you have confidence. Don't let him think you don't. You have every right to do what you're doing; asking for what you want. And if all else fails, we'll leave and we won't come back."

She sighs in relief. "Thank you...." Her eyes turn teary. "I'm so glad you're here. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't."

He cups her cheek and leans forward to kiss her. He tells her, "I'm always going to be by your side, now and forever."

She coos.

They go through the gates and he assists her up the stairs. Her gut starts to ache with how familiar this feels. Once they're on top, Jack rings the doorbell. They wait a few seconds before hearing Finklestein's voice from the other side. It gives her unpleasant chills. The doorknob suddenly twists open. They come face-to-face with Jewel, whose gray eyes blink in surprise. There is a small moment of silence - neither of them sure on what to say. Jack opens his mouth to greet her while the ragdoll continues to fiddle with her fingers in the background.

"Good afternoon! I hope you excuse our sudden visit - but we're here to see the Doctor?"

Jewel smiles in glee and holds her hands together, stepping aside and motioning forward. "Oh, please, do come in!"

They go to help themselves inside, but Sally is hesitant to bring herself in. She is encouraged forward with a skeletal hand on her back, allowing him to lead her inside. They are brought onto a couch in the sitting room, which she finds has more wilted flowers than usual. The taller figure watches the two of them get comfortable and gives a warm smile.

"I'll let him know you're here! I'm sure he'd love to see the both of you."

Sally holds up a hand quickly. "-Actually, I wanted to talk to him...Jack is just here for support."

"Oh! Well, I'll let him know that right away."

Jewel hurries out of the room and towards the laboratory. In this time, the situation starts to settle in. Just seeing these familiar walls she had been stuck in not so long ago, and the ramp she's had to sneak down so many times...her hand desperately finds its way for Jack's. He can feel her squeezing it tightly once it's in her grasp. He squeezes back gently and brings a hand through her hair, looking at her in concern.

She's getting worked up again.

"Are you sure you're ready for this..? It is quite soon you're talking to him again-"

"I know I'm ready." She gestures vaguely around them. "I just...don't like seeing all of this again..."

He looks up and realizes she means the tower they're in. He can only imagine all of the unpleasant memories surfacing for her. He truly does sympathize with her - it can't be easy walking into the same home she was practically trapped in, and asking for a new relationship with the one who imprisoned her. He can only hope the Doctor is willing to listen and become a little more sensible about this. He seemed decent enough when he asked if she could move in with him...

He goes to console her, but is interrupted by various noises coming from the hallway. The familiar sound of a wheelchair makes Sally sit up in her seat right away. A second after, Dr. Finklestein emerges into the room with Jewel by his side. He must have been in the middle of an experiment, judging by the pair of goggles sitting on his head and his unusual pleasant mood. His expression doesn't change when he sees Jack, but the moment his gaze goes on Sally, the smile on his lips begins to fall. The same can be seen on her face - a troubled look growing on her features.

Things are silent for a few minutes.

"You really are back." He says in astonishment. She nods slowly.

"I am."

The skeleton offers to help her stand, and she takes his hand before slowly walking to the Doctor. Her movements feel tense as she stands before him. She inhales deeply to steady herself. Now she can't be afraid of him. She is her own person. Someone he can't control anymore.

"I want to talk with you alone. About some things." She says confidently. She momentarily fears for his reaction, but is surprised when Finklestein takes the goggles off his head and nods.

"Alright, my girl. We can go ahead and do that."

He starts to lead her back towards the hallway. She takes one last look behind her shoulder and finds Jack smiling at her encouragingly. It's the last thing she sees, and gives her a last boost of confidence before disappearing behind the frame. This leaves the Pumpkin King alone with the Doctor's new creation - who is still standing idly in the room. He opens his mouth to politely break the ice, but she beats him to it.

"Would you like some tea?"

--

Things are completely silent during their short walk into another room. She keeps her distance from him as they sit down at a table, ensuring her chair is as far from him as it respectably can be. It's nerve-wracking to be alone with him like this...without Jack to be right by her side, to speak for her and protect her. 'I'm becoming independent now,' She reminds herself. 'He can't do everything for me. He's already done so much...'

Finklestein breaks the silence by clearing his throat. "Now, what is it that brought you back here..?"

She taps her fingers together. How can she put this without being abrupt? "I've been thinking about some things while living with Jack, and there's something I need to take care of."

"And this involves speaking with me..?"

"It does." She lets herself sigh. Time to get answers. "Doctor, I just wanted to know...what is it like, living without me?"

He adjusts his glasses. "Do you want me to be truthful with you, Sally?"

"Yes. That's what I'm here for."

He pauses for a long time. Almost like he doesn't want to say. "...Frankly, I thought it would be much better than it is. I don't have to constantly worry about Jewel sneaking out or poisoning my meals. She seems happy living here, which is not something I could ever say for you." She looks down at this. "-Regardless, I still find myself...missing you, I suppose. Thinking about you from time-to-time."

"But you wanted me out." She brings up.

He nods solemnly. "Yes, that is true...which is why I'm baffled to feel this way. You were nothing but trouble. But Jewel can't quite make meals like you could. And she's not as experienced with cleaning as you are."

"-Is that why you're thinking about me? Because my chores aren't done the same?"

He goes quiet. Her lips fall into a frown. Of course he would only miss the things she did, instead of for her. She hadn't expected him to change at all...She has to remind herself of Jack's words. That she's only here to assert herself and what she wants. She may as well get it out of the way now.

"I'm going to get to the point." She says quickly. "Doctor, you were cruel to me and I hated it here. All we did was fight and yell at each other. You said some terrible things to me, and the things you've done...they haunt me, still. And not in a pleasant way." She begins shaking in her seat and has to rub her arms to keep her composure. "-I was so scared when I lived here. All I wanted to do was get away from you. At times, I thought I hated you..."

"-I deserve that."

She blinks a few times before looking at him. He's hanging his head low, averting his gaze.

"Sally, I'm sorry. For everything I had done to you and the things I said. This wouldn't have occurred to me if you hadn't said it countless of times before. But like the stubborn old man I am, I just didn't listen." He shakes his large head. "Living without you has opened my eyes to a few things, besides what you did here. Jewel is nothing like you. I thought what I needed was someone who understood me, and so I gave a part of myself to her. I've never felt so happy."

The ragdoll remains quiet.

"I already lost you. I knew that could happen again if I repeated the things I did from before." He begins to fidget with his hands in his lap. "So I've taken good care of Jewel, the best that I can in my state...I've found that by listening to her, she feels obligated to speak with me more. We have so many conversations. More than I've ever had with you, as of matter of fact. The biggest challenge was letting her go off on her own. I let her visit the town today, hoping that she would return to me...and she did."

Finklestein finally brings his attention to her. They make eye contact for a second, and he can sense the sorrow in her eyes. He holds his breath. "What I'm trying to say, my girl, is - Jewel is teaching me to be better. She may not be aware of it, but...things are different than they were with you. I know this is something I should have done while you were around....and I'm sorry."

Hearing all of this makes Sally feel conflicted. On one hand, she feels...happy to hear a proper apology, and that he's treating Jewel differently. But, on the other hand, does he even know all the things he had done that were wrong? For these past few years, he always insisted he was in the right...the last thing she wants is for him to get away with what she has to live with.

"I forgive you...but I want you to listen to me. This time, and every other time we speak from now on." He is surprised at the authority she's displaying, but goes along with it anyway. "-I want to tell you the things that made me want to leave you. So you don't make the same mistakes with Jewel. I may not know her that well, but I care about her being safe here..."

"If you think that's necessary..."

She takes a deep breath. "You did a lot of things to me that were cruel and violent. The times you locked me in my room for days on end, when you refused to let me go outside at all, never letting me have my own interests, and threatening to 'fix' me by replacing my brain..." He looks uncomfortable. "-Those are only a few out of everything that's happened..."

"Yes, I remember them."

"If you want to be better for Jewel, then keep letting her go outside. Let her get interested in Halloween, or whatever other things she's going to like. Don't make her think there's something wrong with her that needs to be 'fixed'...because all of those things made me want to leave you."

"....I see."

There's another moment of silence as he takes all of this in. For Sally, she feels cold. Reliving these memories and having to tell them to the man responsible for them...and, yet, she's forgiven him. Simply because he's telling her that he wants to be better. A part of her feels gullible for believing this. He's never bothered to change even though he's made so many promises to her in the past. But maybe, since he is finally with someone who makes him happy..he can?

"-Was this all you came here for?" His voice interrupts her thoughts. "You pointing out all the terrible things I've done?"

"Well, no." She moves uncomfortably in her seat. She's not sure if this is the right time to ask, but what choice does she have? "I wanted to ask you if...we can ch-change our relationship?"

He looks confused. She elaborates, "I don't want what we have to be broken...avoiding you all the time, that is. Jack talked with me about it, and I think....I think I want you as a father, to me..."

This time, the silence feels deafening. She can't exactly read his expression past his glasses, but she can sense he's surprised. At a lack of response, she decides to continue on, nervously explaining:

"You created me. You were the first one I saw when I was brought into this world...and I looked up to you. I didn't understand love or marriages, or anything until I met Jack. Before then, I just thought you as my guardian and someone who looked after me...and I still feel that way. I still want you in my life. But not as someone I love the same way as I do with Jack. I...want a father."

He is still speechless. But her point has been made. She waits for his response as he looks away, rubbing his chin in thought. After a few minutes, he asks, "...You think of me as your father?"

"I do. I know you've moved on, now, with Jewel. And I have with Jack. So I think whatever went on in our past, we can simply forget about and start again..."

"You were always special to me, girl. I just didn't know in what way. For so long I believed you were meant as a partner for me, because that was my intention on making you...but things clearly didn't happen that way. If only I had realized sooner." He chuckles slightly. "I was so jealous of Jack taking you away. But it seems that was the best thing for both of us. I've always looked to him as a son, so....the idea of you as my daughter isn't too far-fetched..."

Her eyes light up at his words. "You want to be a father to me, then?"

"It makes perfect sense to me." He pauses before offering her his hand. "-I still love you, Sally. But only as my daughter, from now on."

She's shocked at those words. Hearing him say he loved her without any force or romantic implications behind it...it was like she was hearing her own father saying he loved her for the first time. She's overcome with tears of joy, and in a moment of relief, she lunges forward and wraps her arms around Finklestein, giving him their first true embrace after all these years. In her grasp, he actually feels warm this time around.

"I love you, too."

His jaw hangs open in alarm as he suddenl finds himself in a hug. His hands linger in the air for a few seconds before he comes to terms with what is happening. Hearing how happy she sounds, and the tears he can feel falling on his neck...he does nothing more but hold her back, closing his eyes and relishing his first true contact with his creation - no, his daughter. The longer they embrace, the more moist his eyes become. He soon realizes a few tears are falling from behind his glasses, but he doesn't mind them.

----

"-I hope you don't mind poisonberry, it's the only flavor I can find in this kitchen..."

Jack watches as Jewel sets down a cup of tea in front of him. He is sitting at the head of the table - the usual spot he always sits in whenever he visits. He thanks the ragdoll and gives a polite smile, taking a quick sip of the tea and humming at the familiarity of the flavor. He recalls the last time he drank poisonberry tea when he was over here - how time has flown since then, and now Sally is living with him instead of here....it feels almost odd not to come around just to see her anymore.

Jewel sits to the side of him and takes a drink out of her own cup. She smiles before drumming her gloved fingers along the glass. Things are quiet for the first few minutes - neither of them sure how to start conversation. Jack is a natural at conversing with people, as his Kingly duties are to be sociable with his citizens, but knowing that this woman is Sally's replacement gives him...an unsettling feeling in his bones.

"Do you know what they're talking about?" She suddenly asks him. "I know it's not polite to think of other people's businesses, but I'm curious..."

"It's a little personal for Sally. She's wanted to have this talk with him for awhile, I'm sure." He takes another drink and shifts his gaze. She nods along in thought.

"Yes, I bet you're right..."

Again, they're met with silence. He thinks this is far too uncomfortable to pass the time with. He sets down his cup and clasps his skeletal hands together, deciding to talk to her properly. It can't hurt to get to know the Doctor's new wife.

"So, Jewel, how is it living here? Are you happy?"

"Absolutely awful!" She responds in delight. "Finklestein is very kind to me. He lets me decorate around the tower, read all of these books, and cook and clean for him! Just today, he let me go out and buy some rotted apples..."

"-He isn't forcing you to do these things for him, is he..?"

"Oh, no! It's just polite because it's not easy for him to do. I think helping him out like this is my duty more than anything."

The skeleton smiles, but feels a little conflicted, deep down. Hearing such positive things about the Doctor after receiving the opposite from Sally for such a long time is...new. Despite that, he's relieved to hear Jewel is happy. At least he won't have to worry about checking in for any concerning reasons like he had to before...He can only assume the Doctor must have learned SOMETHING from Sally's departure if he isn't outright forcing these chores on Jewel.

"...What is Sally like?"

Her voice brings him out of his thoughts. He thinks he's misheard. "Hm?"

"I don't know much about her besides what the Doctor does. A little bit of that, anyway." She explains uncertainly. "He hasn't been too keen on talking about her with me. I know I was made as her replacement. But she seems very kind."

"Oh, Sally is. Very much so. She's also resourceful and smart. She's quite skilled with her talents and passions, too. I think you two could get along well, if you ever sat down and talked with her."

"You think so?"

"Of course! She's a little shy on the surface, but friendly once you get to know her."

Jewel looks happy as her eyes go onto the table. She begins fidgeting with her gloves in thought. After a moment, she tells him, "It's a good thing you took her in when you did."

"Is it?"

"From what I can remember." She sees the confusion on his face. "Since Finklestein gave me half of his brain, I can retain half of his memories...this means I recall a lot about him and Sally. Their relationship, from what I see....seemed very rough. And not quite happy."

He shakes his skull. "It wasn't."

"For the first few days, it was hard for me to distinguish things the present from the past. I kept getting these flashbacks to what the Doctor and Sally had. I remember their arguments, their fights, and disagreements...none of those memories are pleasant in the slightest." She frowns. "I have one very clear memory of them fighting before she ran off. The Doctor felt so heartbroken, and the things that were said...I can tell there were many problems between them I just don't fully understand."

Jack is quiet. He's not exactly sure what to say to this. A response apparently isn't necessary, as she glances up and smiles again. "-Deep down, healways cared about her. Maybe a little too much for his own good...and that's why he felt so badly hurt. But he cared about her. And behind everything he did, it's because he didn't know how to live without her."

"Hmm."

"I try to learn things from his memory. I'm gifted with science because I share his knowledge. We get along well. We seem to have the same hobbies, the same interests....but after learning his true feelings, I want to help him become a better person. Just the other day, I tried to talk to him about seeing Sally again...and he didn't want to do it. That's why I was so happy to see you two here."

"I had to encourage Sally to come. She didn't want to, either." He folds his hands on the table. "I thought it'd be the best for them to sit down and talk properly for once. It'll be good for the both of them."

"Finklestein is getting better. He lets me do things he didn't let Sally do. I can see why she'd feel the way she did; I'd be the same way if I ended up in her position." She rubs her wrist. "-What I'm saying is, it's a good thing you're taking over, now. You know how to take care of her. And if you hadn't, I don't know who else would." She ends this with another shrug. "-Then again, that's just what I assume from these memories..."

He smiles, and Jewel returns it. This talk hadn't been so bad after all. They start to finish their tea and speak a little more, this time, about Halloween and the town. He finds her curious about the holiday and people like Sally was, and he's more than happy to enlighten another person about it. Jack's opinion has definitely changed after hearing more from her - she's quite enlightening, and seems to be as caring as Sally is.

. . .

The two of them are soon interrupted by the sound of a wheelchair and footsteps coming from the other room. The moment Sally and Dr. Finklestein appear in the doorway, both Jewel and Jack stand from their seats. The skeleton walks past the table to meet with his girlfriend, giving her a kiss on her forehead and brushing her hair off to the side. She doesn't seem upset at all..rather, happy.

"How did it go?" He asks her quietly. She glances over at the Doctor and closes her eyes.

They had spoken a little more after their hug, about how sorry they equally were with how things went in their relationship. Although he had done made of the cruel actions and decisions, she understood how some of the things she did and said hurt him as well. She really was rebellious and went against even his harmless wishes at times. Despite that, the rest of their conversation was enlightening, even speaking of how this father-daughter thing will work. She promised him she will make future visits, and that she's going to put an effort into getting to know him better. As a parental figure rather than a husband.

"It went perfect..."

Jewel comes over to pat Finklestein on his shoulder. He puts a hand over hers before turning over to Jack and Sally. He seems to be just as happy as she is. He takes a deep breath before slowly exhaling, motioning to Sally with a gloved hand and a smile.

"We had a wonderful talk, my dear. Thank you for coming today."

"Thank you for listening to me, and wanting to do this." She sounds relieved talking to him for once. "I promise I'll come back someday."

"Please, do! I'd love to have my daughter visit me again." He looks at Jack and bows his head. "You're obviously free to come by, too, m'boy."

The Pumpkin King looks astounded at his words. 'Daughter'? Had things truly gone according to plan..? He looks over and finds Sally grinning. The two of them decide to leave and say goodbye to the Doctor and Jewel. Jack feels enlightened as he shakes their hands, and Sally feels strangely calm as she hugs the Doctor goodbye. Their embrace still feels warm this time around. She's already liking this so much better.

"Take care, you two! Have a horrendous day!" Dr. Finklestein calls to them as they leave. They wave their hands in return.

When the couple look at each other, they sense something new in their gazes. Already can he tell Sally will have plenty to tell him, and he can't wait to mention the things he's learned in return. He offers her his hand, and she doesn't hesitate to take it. Their walk back to the Skellington Manor is quiet, but nothing is needed to be said. They'll be returning to their home together, where they have all the time in the world to talk and hold each other in their arms...

----

They take a few minutes to get situated in the Manor. Sally gets comfortable in one of the chairs while Zero rests peacefully in her lap. She brings her hand to pet the ghost every few seconds, smiling as she listens to the peaceful sounds of the wind outside. Jack eventually comes into the room and joins her, sitting in the chair next to her and listening as his dog snores away. He fishes for something in his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper with various numbers scrawled on it. He hands it to Sally to observe, and she reads it without a word.

"Jewel wanted me to give this to you. It's the number to the Doctor's tower. I have it memorized, but I think it'll be useful for you to have. In case you don't want to go all that way to see him, you two can talk using the telephone."

She stares at it a bit longer before putting it aside. "I think I'll try that, sometime...I'm not very good with telephones just yet."

"I'll have to teach you how to use mine, then."

She dips her head, still coming to terms with everything that's happened. It's nearly been 2 weeks since she's moved in with Jack. It's hard to believe she fixed her and the Doctor's relationship so soon. Slowly, she says, "I have a dad now..."

Her boyfriend smiles. "That you do."

"I thought he wouldn't agree. But he did. He told me he loved me again....but it was different. I knew he was talking about family love this time."

"See? Talking to him wasn't the worst thing in the world. As a matter of fact, things might be better now that you did."

"You're right. And I want to thank you. Again." She leans forward to lay a hand on his arm. "If you hadn't talked me into it, I don't know when would've been the next time I'd have spoken to him..."

He lays his hand over hers and squeezes it tightly. He frowns for a moment. "I won't have to see you worrying about him or what he did to you again, will I?"

"No." She shakes her head with a smirk. "He told me he was sorry for it all, and it sounded like he meant it this time."

"It's a good thing Jewel's around now, isn't it?"

"I think so. He told me she was teaching him to be better. And seeing how I didn't get yelled at or blamed for anything...I think she's doing a good job."

He mulls over something for a moment. "You know...I got to talk with her while you were in with the Doctor. She told me interesting things. About him, and all. It turns out they share memories and feelings together. She told me that Finklestein has always cared about you, and he just didn't know how to live without you."

She looks down, recalling what he told her about her chores. "I guess that makes sense..."

"-Jewel is a lot like you. She seems to be sweet and caring...I told her I think the two of you would get along." He hums. "Maybe you can have a relationship with her, too....like what you're going to have with the Doctor?"

"You mean, Jewel as my mother?" Her eyes widen. "-I don't know what it's like to have a mom."

"I think she would be a terrific one! Think about it. The both of you want Finklestein to be better, and you two can certainly understand what it's like to live with him...maybe now that he wants to have you as a daughter, Jewel will feel the same way, too."

She brings her gaze back to Zero in her lap, scratching under his ears. "I'll have to think about that..." A thought comes to her and she smiles at him. "You know what the Doctor told me..? That he's always looked to you like his son."

His eye sockets widen in surprise. "Really?"

" I always wondered how close he was to you. But now that he sees me as a daughter, he said it wasn't very far-fetched."

Jack is quiet for an awfully long time. She doesn't question it and continues to pet Zero in thought. After a few seconds, she leans over to rest her head on his shoulder. Her mind is finally at peace for once. The troubling thoughts of the Doctor are no longer surfacing in her mind. Instead, all she thinks about is the fact that she has a dad now. Jack, meanwhile, is holding the side of his skull in thought. He brings an arm over Sally so she can get comfortable, but his gaze is elsewhere.

He's always been close with the Doctor, ever since he was young. They've had plenty of history together through these years. Jack got his interest in science watching Finklestein work in his lab, and learning about chemistry and experimenting from him. He had grown to look at him as a friend and a sort of inspirational figure. He never thought he'd end up falling in love with one of his creations. But knowing that she is his daughter...that can bring the possibility of him truly becoming Finklestein's son in the future. That is, if he were to marry Sally...

His gaze comes over to her, and finds her falling fast asleep. He chuckles and leans forward to kiss her cheek. As her marvels at her beauty, those three words come to mind again. He thought he had enough of them after what happened with the witches, but now the subject has found its way to him again. A Pumpkin Queen. His bones start to tingle again. The longer he stares at her, the more he starts imagining it - witnessing her as his bride, becoming his Queen, and starting a married life with her...It is a peculiar thing for him to fantasize about at a time like this, but he finds the thought strangely enticing...

[carmenlire]

After the Fall

read on ao3

He wakes up early that Saturday. Alec isn’t a morning person-- shadowhunters are notorious night owls-- but on that first Saturday of the month, he sets an alarm for six and doesn’t even groan when the chorus of I’m Not Okay starts blaring in the dark of his room.

He turns the alarm off and lays on his back, staring up at the ornate ceiling of his bedroom. No one else will take note of the day but it’s important to him and Alec will quietly celebrate in what little ways he can.

It’s the first of June.

He’d collapsed into bed just a couple of hours ago-- he’d been on patrol last night and is scheduled for another patrol tonight-- but he feels energized.

The energy is a little frenetic and a lot anxious but he decides not to pay too much attention to the way his stomach is jumping and the way his hands aren't quite steady.

He showers and dresses in his usual all black ensemble. Lacing up his combat boots, Alec grabs his stele and cell and leaves his room. It’s early yet and there’s still only a skeleton crew in ops. He bypasses them with minimum effort and then he’s swinging open the front doors of the Institute and breathing in heady June air. It’s already a little warm and the humidity will be miserable in a few hours but it doesn’t matter.

There aren’t too many people out yet and as Alec starts walking a path he knows as well as any other, he looks around and his chest aches, just a little, every time he passes a business with a Pride display.

He doesn’t let his eyes linger too long, though, just stuffing his hands into his jean pockets and moving forward.

But he notices every single one and it fills him with something he can't quite definite, all of them a jumbled mess.

Resentment. Shame. Yearning.

It’s a nauseating mix but Alec’s long grown used to the way bile scalds his throat whenever he thinks about-- about that.

Rounding the corner, he reaches for the first door he reaches and pushes it open. A cheery little bell sounds in the relative quiet-- on the weekends, this coffee shop doesn’t grow busy until midmorning-- and there are only a couple of people in line.

He studies the menu while he waits and browses the pastry cabinet. His eyes latch onto a sugar cookie display and his mouth goes dry.

It’s a colorful little thing in the shades of the rainbow. He takes a surreptitious look around the shop and his heart hammers a little painfully just at the sheer idea of buying it.

He doesn’t know why he looks around. It’s not like he thinks someone from the Institute is lurking in the corner, the Consul herself waiting until Alec buys something gay, only to jump out and draw a spectacle to it.

Still. There’s a lump in his throat and his hands are a little clammy.

As he makes his way up to the cash register, he’s greeted by Maris. He’s a regular here-- has been for a couple of years now-- and she smiles as she greets him.

“Morning, Alec. The regular?”

Swallowing hard, Alec replies, “Yeah, but can I also add a cookie?”

“Of course! Which one did you have your eye on?”

“The-- the rainbow one?” His voice is hushed and he looks around one last time as he says it. When his eyes meet Maris’s again, he sees the same warmth that’s always there and a new level of understanding.

“You got it,” she answers in a soft tone. When Alec goes to pay, she shakes her head gently.

“This one’s on the house.” She winks. “It’s the first of June, after all, and I’m in a good mood.”

Opening his mouth to protest, Alec abruptly closes it before he smiles. His shoulders relax as he nods in her direction. “Thanks, Maris.”

She nods back in acknowledgement before gesturing towards the end of the counter. “Don’t mention it, hun. Everything will be ready at the end.”

He takes a few steps over and is greeted by her wife who throws a grin over to him as she mans the espresso machine.

Smiling back, Alec leans against the pick-up station and idly watches the room. He’d stopped in here one afternoon when he was desperate for a fresh breath of air, away from the dozens of prying eyes at the Institute, and jonesing for enough caffeine to fell an elephant.

He’d wandered in here and at first, he’d just thought the two of them were friends. He’d liked the feel of the shop, though, the quiet and easy atmosphere, so he’d kept coming back. Eventually noticing the rings, Alec had almost tripped over his feet and went crashing to the floor one morning when he’d opened the door and saw Maris and her wife making out in front of a table they were ostensibly cleaning.

The place was empty and as the bell overhead had dinged cheerily in the shop, Alec had expected the two of them to spring apart, mortified.

Instead, they’d lingered for another kiss before breaking apart with an easy laugh. They hadn’t apologized, hadn’t seemed the least bit bothered.

It had struck something in Alec’s chest to see the blatant, unapologetic affection.

His thoughts break off as he’s handed his white chocolate mocha and cookie and he heads over to a table in front of the window as he takes a sip of his drink.

Carefully-- much more careful than he knows is appropriate. For God's sake, he’s opening a pastry bag not defusing a bomb-- Alec reaches inside and takes the cookie out.

He stares at it for a few moment and it holds his interest far more than a colorful sugar cookie should.

Studying the bright bands of color, Alec allows himself these few moments of quiet pride.

It’s not much. It’s barely anything, really. But it’s more than he allows himself most days and he’ll take what he can get.

He bits into the cookie gently and he swears that it’s the best cookie he’s ever had.

It could be dirt and still taste wonderful.

He takes his time, savoring every bite, mourning a little when he finishes off each color. By the time he’s finished it, his sweet tooth is satiated even if he’s a little sadder than usual, a little more empty.

He throws the bag in the trash on his way out and steps back into the June sunshine. The rest of the morning is spent wandering around. His head is in a fog and he doesn’t pay much attention to where he’s going. Eventually, though, he starts seeing color spill onto the streets and when he looks at his watch, Alec sees the parade is due to start soon.

Taking in his whereabouts, he dips into an alley and activates his speed and glamour runes before taking off.

The New York City Pride March is something to behold and Alec had found a spot five years ago that had the best vantage point. He jumps onto a fire escape and goes up to the roof of an apartment complex along the route. It’s close enough to the end that he can see the festivities planned for the rest of the day and the crowd amassed.

It’s a riot of color and his throat aches.

He’d have to be living under a rock not to know about Pride. In June, the streets of New York are wonderfully, brazenly gay. He sees more couples not giving a fuck, he sees rainbows everywhere he turns, he sees what he hopes for himself every damned day.

As the opening group turns the corner and starts down his street, Alec looks down and sees what he could have in another life. He wonders at how amazing it must feel to be someone in the crowd below, to be surrounded with acceptance and joy and revelry.

It’s something that’s not meant for him-- for any shadowhunter-- but Alec stands on the sidelines and his gaze soaks in every detail like a sponge.

He’s so hungry for what the scene below promises. It feels like he’s starving, like every day that goes by and he denies who he is and what he wants, that a piece of him turns to dust and blows away on acrid air.

Distantly, he wonders how much is left before he’s nothing but a shell, empty and wasted.

The truth is, most days he figures he’s already there.

Alec spends most of the afternoon sitting on the ledge of the apartment building and watching the people. He sees couples kiss and he sees angry signs and he wishes he were someone else, someone free to to do the same.

He spots a couple of people crying and doesn’t even notice the tear tracks on his own cheeks.

The sun starts setting all too fast and with a heavy sigh that seems to come somewhere deep inside, Alec stands. Taking a last moment to sear this year’s pride on his goddamn memory-- for memories and dreams are all that he has to get him through lonely nights and trying days-- he turns his back on Pride and drops back down onto the street.

Alec makes his way back to the Institute and signs in for duty. The night is humid and it’s still hovering close to eighty no matter that it’s two in the morning.

His head isn’t really in the game, though, and he lets a couple of demons take easy swipes at him. Hissing out a filthy curse when one gets his shoulder, Alec decapitates the thing in the next instant.

It’s a grueling patrol and Alec’s so tired, his eyes are gritty and stinging.

His heart feels so heavy that it’s a wonder he can still move, can still duck and swerve and attack.

When the last battle before the end of his patrol is over, Alec’s breathing echoes harshly in the evening. His partner for this shift is Jace and, surprisingly, his parabatai had been quiet tonight.

Deciding not to ask any questions-- he doesn’t want to encourage talking, thinks keeping up a conversation right now seems more effort than he can manage-- Alec just nods his acknowledgement as Jace says that he’s got a date with a Seelie at a breakfast cafe and that he doesn't want to be late.

Waving him on, it’s just Alec in the empty alley. Swiping the sweat on his brow, Alec wanders over to collect his arrows.

He walks to the opening of the alley and squints as the sunrise peaks over the horizon. Orange and yellow and the tiniest hint of purple steal his vision for a minute and when he cautiously opens his eyes again and blinks rapidly, he looks down for the arrow he’d seen glinting on the cement.

What he sees steals the very breath from his lungs. It makes his chest shudder and the back of his throat aches in a sorrow so profound that he’s worried his knees will buckle for a split second.

He feels like an old man as he bends down slowly and gingerly picks up the item, ignoring the arrow for the little rainbow flag that’s laying innocuously on the sidewalk.

It’s a little dirty and folded. It looks a little worse for wear. Laughing a little to himself, Alec decides it looks like shit.

It looks forgotten and a little sad.

He marvels at how much he has in common with the cheap little thing.

Alec stands on a New York sidewalk at dawn and grins down at a rainbow flag. His heart squeezes his chest and his breaths come in choking gasps that sound a lot like sobs as sunlight spills over him in a golden wave.

He feels like the only person in the world. For the millionth time, he wishes that was the case.

Bitterness chokes him and self loathing is a thousand tiny daggers that shred his skin until it’s a wonder that he doesn’t bleed out, right there on the street for all to see. The flag in his hands is everything he wants and everything that terrifies him.

Swallowing hard, Alec carefully, painstaking rolls up the flag before shoving it to the bottom of his quiver.

He turns his back on the sunrise and returns to the Institute, working the whole way to measure his breathing, to regain his equilibrium.

The past twenty four hours have been hard, so damned hard.

There were pockets of happiness, though, even if misery and bitterness wrapped around the joy.

The Institute’s walls are cold and as Alec walks into the patrol center, he feels like suffocating.

He’s achingly aware of his secret and its manifestation underneath all his arrows.

Closing the door behind him, Alec leans against it and takes in his bedroom. Perfectly nondescript, it could be almost any other shadowhunters if not for the pile of books on his desk of the pictures of his family scattered around. Carefully reaching into his quiver, Alec takes out the crumpled up flag and smooths a hand over it before clenching it in his fist.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Alec sighs a little.

It’s such a small token but it means the world.

Alec’s not ashamed of who he is and he wishes to Raziel that he could be as unapologetic about it as others, as mundanes.

That life was never meant for him, though.

Grieving for all the lives he’ll never live and all the foolish dreams he just can’t let go of, Alec delicately places the flag in his bottom drawer, underneath all the clothes he hasn’t worn since he was Max’s age.

It’s a cold comfort but he needs everything he can get.

Soul bleeding, Alec straightens and heads to the bathroom ready to shower and collapse into bed.

-

A few years later, Alec doesn’t even notice when someone bumps into him.

He can’t feel anything except awe and happiness and raucous pride.

Magnus is a steady presence beside him and as he pulls his husband closer, Alec’s breath comes in shuddering exhales. For the dozenth year in a row, he doesn’t feel the tear tracks on his cheek.

These tears are cathartic, though. They’re cleansing. They taste of renewal and hope and so much love that he feels like bursting.

Magnus turns toward him and Alec catalogs the little bi flag on his cheek and his purple, pink, and blue highlights.

He swears he can feel the little rainbow on his own cheek-- the only sign he was comfortable with this year, his first pride amidst the crowds, not a silent mourner above.

Wiping away the tears, Magnus leans close and smiles at Alec. “Happy Pride, my darling.”

Alec takes in the words, letting them wrap around his heart and heal him from a million micro fractures that he never thought could be acknowledged, let alone purged.

Alec grins, then laughs and it echoes around them, bright and happy.

“Happy Pride, babe,” he replies. He's still grinning as leans in, kissing Magnus in the middle of the crowd. He tastes Magnus's smile against his lips and when they break apart a second later, Alec rests his forehead against his husband's and sinks into the moment.

For the first time, he feels like he belongs. He looks around him and feels welcomed by his community that he ignored for so long-- that he had to pretend ignorance of in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.

He feels light and happy and like all those missing pieces have finally been returned to him. He feels whole.

He feels free.

[liketolaugh-writes]

[Context: Sebastian is a LetsPlayer in modern times. He is still a demon and the events of Kuroshitsuji happened over a hundred years ago as appropriate. He does not currently have a master, having finished with his last some five to ten years ago. Because he enjoys human pastimes on occasion, he decided to amuse himself with this for a while. It’s set in the Marvel universe, insofar as metas are known to exist and he is known as a lightly closeted one. He is currently playing Undertale, and because of who he is as a person, has accidentally stumbled onto the Genocide route on his first playthrough.]

The character avatar walks down the purple hallway. In the top-left corner, Sebastian’s brows are furrowed. He looks unsettled, but is attempting to appear merely bored.

Sebastian: This is quite an unusual take on an RPG game, I’ll admit. I’ve never encountered one that attempted to make me feel guilty for progressing before. Toriel’s last words in particular were… well. I expect this is going to be quite an interesting letsplay.

The avatar reaches the hallway exit and goes through. On the other side, Flowey is sitting in a spotlight.

Sebastian: Oh, it’s you again. Now, you, I would not feel bad for killing at all.

Flowey: Hahaha… You’re not really human, are you?

Sebastian’s eyebrows lift as he reads the dialogue. For a moment, he looks amused.

Flowey: No. You’re empty inside. Just like me. In fact… You’re Ciel, right? We’re still inseparable, after all these years…

Sebastian’s brows furrow, and he pauses in reading the dialogue.

Sebastian: That’s an interesting plot twist, this early in the game. I thought I’d just fallen down. Perhaps I have escaped the Underground before? But then, why is it that I fell in again? To take revenge?

Flowey: Listen. I have a plan to become all powerful. Even more powerful than you and your stolen soul.

Sebastian scowls, but does not remark on the dialogue.

Flowey: Let’s destroy everything in this wretched world. Everyone, everything in these worthless memories. Let’s turn ‘em all to dust.

Flowey [computer-generated voice]: That’s a wonderful idea!

Flowey disappears into the ground, and Sebastian continues to frown at the screen. His scowl has eased.

Sebastian: That was… odd. This game is obviously not what it first appears. Is that my goal, then? To conquer the Underground? It seems frivolous and unnecessary, but it’s quite the take on the traditional RPG mechanic of slaughtering everything you come across.

The avatar begins to move forward again and soon encounters the door out.

The screen fades to black and then displays the title screen, UNDERTALE. It then switches to By Toby Fox, and then to black. Sebastian smiles.

Sebastian: As I said, quite an interesting game. I’m looking forward to continuing it. I expect it has some interesting lessons to teach, and perhaps some remarks on human nature as well. It’s a surprising contrast with the rather cute aesthetic.

Sebastian chuckles, and as the screen reforms on a snowy forest, the avatar begins walking right, and then pauses and interacts with the bush nearby.

[…!? There’s a camera hidden in the bushes.]

Sebastian: …Interesting.

The avatar continues right. The avatar passes a branch, and a handful of steps after the avatar passes, it breaks unexpectedly. Sebastian rolls his eyes.

Sebastian: The music is appropriately ominous for such a setting. I do hope I have an encounter worthy of it soon.

The avatar starts to cross a bridge, and then stops on the left edge. A shadow begins to approach from where the avatar came from.

Sebastian: Speak of the devil.

Sebastian chooses a creaky, deep voice for the new character.

?: H u m a n.

The avatar turns around. The shadow sticks out its hand, and the avatar takes it. The shadow is suddenly lit, revealing itself to be a grinning skeleton in a blue hoodie, and a fart sound plays. Sebastian snorts, visibly surprised.

Sebastian: Well, that was rather anticlimactic.

?: heheh… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it’s ALWAYS funny.

Despite the change of font, Sebastian sticks with the original voice, raising one eyebrow and smiling in obvious amusement.

?: …that’s, uh. your cue to laugh. or, uh, to emote at all…?

Sebastian chuckles again.

Sebastian: They really are pushing the inhumanity of this character, aren’t they? They ought to be careful not to go heavy-handed, but it’s amusing as it is, and somewhat unsettling as intended.

?: …(gee, lady, you really know how to pick ‘em, huh…?) OK, that’s fine. everyone’s got their own sense of humor. i’m sans. sans the skeleton. im actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but… you know… i dont really care about capturing anybody.

Sebastian grins.

Sebastian: Perhaps you should, Mr. Skeleton. It looks like letting this one go will be bad for your health.

Sans: now my brother, papyrus… he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.

Sebastian: Ah, so is that the interesting battle I’m promised? Or- no. No, given the nature of the last boss, I don’t suppose any of these bosses are going to be truly terrible people. Hm. Does that mean I won’t be able to dispose of Flowey?

Sans: hey, actually, I think that’s him over there.

Sebastian: Another boss battle already? That seems unlikely, so I suppose this Sans character is going to help me as well.

Sans: i have an idea. go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.

Sebastian chuckles, head dipping as he smirks. The avatar and Sans rush right, quickly arriving at a small area containing a lamp shaped precisely like the profile view of the avatar, two rocks, and a shop stand.

Sans: quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp.

The avatar does not move. Sebastian raises his eyebrows.

Sans: …uh, okay, i guess you don’t have to.

Sebastian [softly]: …Strange.

From the right, a tall skeleton in red zooms in, stopping in front of Sans and the avatar. Sebastian chooses a high, crackly voice for this character.

Papyrus: SANS!!! HAVE YOU FOUND A HUMAN YET!??!

Sans: yeah

Sebastian: From any other game I would expect betrayal, but…

Papyrus: REALLY!?!? WOWIE!!!

Sebastian: Goodness, two lines and I already cannot wait for this character to be gone.

Papyrus: GUESS THAT’S SETTLED!!

The skeleton leaves out the right side. Sebastian snorts.

Sebastian: My wish has been granted.

Sans: that worked out, huh?

The avatar wanders around the screen and interacts with the lamp.

[Just a conveniently-shaped lamp.]

Sebastian chuckles.

Sebastian: I’ll admit, this game is quite funny when it isn’t resorting to bodily humor.

The avatar moves to the stand and interacts.

[It’s some sort of checkpoint or sentry-station. But there are bottles of ketchup, mustard, and relish sitting inside…]

Sebastian: I hope they don’t belong to the skeletons. I imagine that would be quite messy, and what a waste.

The avatar begins to move right but is stopped at the exit.

Sans: well, i’ll be straight-forward with you. my brother’d really like to see a human… so, y’know, it’d really help me out… if you kept pretending to be one.

Sebastian pauses, staring at the screen with an unreadable expression as Sans exits left.

Sebastian: Again with this, hm…? If not a human, then I wonder what I’m meant to be.

Sebastian smiles.

Sebastian: Perhaps a demon? Well, I suppose I’ll find out in time. …If I find out that the playable character is a metahuman, however, I’m going to be deeply disappointed in not only the game’s creator, but also every person who recommended this game to me. That would be an utterly pathetic plot twist.

The avatar exits right, and the approaches the nearby sparkling save point.

[16 Left]

Sebastian: Quite handy. But why is the text red…?

The avatar explores the area for a while, and then encounters a monster. The monster is identified as Snowdrake.

[Snowdrake flutters forth!]

Sebastian: Though I may come to regret it, given the odd ‘but nobody came’ encounters, I believe I’ll handle all of these now. I’ll clip in the images and dialogue of each new monster, however – for your amusement, yes?

The screen skips through several images without remark and resettles on the same stretch of path.

Sebastian: That didn’t take too long, did it?

Sebastian smiles.

Sebastian: Now we can progress the story without interference. I could do without the skeleton characters, myself, but they’re a necessary evil. Never mind- they’ll be gone soon enough.

Sebastian laughs, and the avatar exits right.

Sebastian: I did explore the top path, but there was nothing of interest. Ah, here we are.

Papyrus: SO SANS! WHEN’S THE HUMAN SHOWING UP???

Sebastian: Mr. Papyrus’ enthusiasm is amusing, but I’ve known enough people like him to be quite glad that his dialogue is text-only. Goodness knows how loud it would be.

Papyrus: I WANT TO LOOK MY SUNDAY BEST… OR AT LEAST MY TUESDAY PRETTY-GOOD.

Sebastian laughs again and shakes his head slightly.

Sebastian: A game with a sense of humor more sophisticated than a grade schooler, what a rarity.

Sans: don’t you only have one outfit?

Papyrus: YEAH, BUT I COULD STYLE MY HAIR!

Sebastian covers his mouth with the back of his hand. He is grinning, and his eyes glitter with amusement.

Sans: oh. right. good idea. say, why don’t you look over there?

Papyrus looks at the avatar. An exclamation mark appears briefly over his head. He turns back at Sans, who turns to the human, and then back to the human, while Sans looks back at Papyrus. This process repeats itself several times, rapidly speeding up, and Sebastian lowers his hand to smile in open amusement. Eventually, both skeletons stop, and then turn right.

Papyrus: SANS!!! OH MY GOD!!!!

Sebastian: That is entirely too many exclamation points, and I can picture the volume perfectly.

Papyrus: I’M DIZZY. WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?

Sebastian snorts, apparently caught by surprise.

Sans: behold.

Sans turns to his brother. The screen pans left to center on the avatar and reveal a rock.

Papyrus: OH MY GOD!!!

The screen shunts right again as Papyrus turns back to Sans.

Papyrus: WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME TO LOOK AT A ROCK.

Sebastian closes his eyes and covers his mouth with a gloved hand. A muffled snort escapes anyway and the corners of his eyes are crinkled. After a second, he removes his hand and shakes his head.

Sebastian: This game is entirely too much.

Sans turns back to the avatar.

Sans: hey, what’s that in front of the rock?

An exclamation mark appears above Papyrus’ head.

Papyrus: OH MY GOD!!!

Sebastian takes a deep breath.

Papyrus: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS.

Sebastian lets it out in a huff, closes his eyes, and tilts his head back briefly. After two seconds, he opens them again, and then continues without comment.

Sans: well. it’s not a rock.

Sebastian: A pair of geniuses, these two.

Papyrus: NOT A ROCK…? OH NO!!! BY PROCESS OF ELIMINATION!!! THAT MEANS IT’S A HUMAN!!!

Sebastian closes his eyes again, presses his palm to a forehead, and for a moment, laughs helplessly, quiet and breathy.

Sebastian: What an imbecile.

Sebastian opens his eyes and continues on, shaking his head.

Papyrus: AHEM!! HUMAN!! PREPARE YOURSELF!! FOR HIGH JINKS! FOR LOW JINKS! DANGERS! PUZZLES! CAPERS! JAPERS! BEING CAPTURED!! AND OTHER SORTS OF FUN ACTIVITIES.

Sebastian rolls his eyes.

Sebastian: If I have any say in the matter, I will not be participating in a single one of those things, Mr. Skeleton. Particularly not with someone as obviously loud as yourself – my ears hurt and you’re not even speaking aloud.

Papyrus: REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED… IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!

Sebastian wrinkles his nose as Papyrus exits right.

Sebastian: Is that his laugh? How awful. I shall give him as little cause to do that as possible.

Sans turns to the avatar.

Sans: …and you don’t even bat an eye, huh?

Sans exits right.

Sebastian: Well, I wouldn’t want to give that moron any form of encouragement. That’s your job, is it not? Really, this Sans character is… quite suspicious, I’d say. Though not as suspicious as the playable character, naturally… Given that they seem to be on a warpath. Now, let’s see-

The avatar moves right and interacts with the stand nearby.

[There’s some narration on this cardboard box.]

[YOU OBSERVE THE WELL-CRAFTED SENTRY STATION. WHO COULD HAVE BUILT THIS, YOU PONDER… I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!]

Sebastian rolls his eyes again and sighs, muttering something inaudible before speaking.

Sebastian: Goodness, he does get into everything, doesn’t he? And self-congratulatory, too. I’d bet anything he isn’t a royal guardsman at all.

[(NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN.)]

Sebastian pinches the bridge of his nose.

Sebastian: Ridding the Underground of this idiot will be a service.

The avatar moves right. An encounter appears.

[but nobody came.]

Sebastian: Ah yes, there it is. Very ominous… the first few times, at least.

The avatar continues right and crosses into the path of another station, this one sporting a bell. When the avatar reaches it, a dog emerges from behind the counter.

?: D-did something move? Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. …hey! I can’t stop shivering all of a sudden. …Who’s there!?

An encounter overtakes the screen.

[Doggo blocks the way!]

Sebastian: Why would you announce your biggest weakness to the world immediately before initiating a fight? Really, now… I’ll take many things at face value in a PC game, but some of these habits are simply absurd.

Sebastian continues to mutter as the fight progresses, looking bored. Doggo is easily defeated, and the avatar moves on, exiting right.

Sebastian: I might have been more sympathetic if it had been a cat. Of course, a cat likely wouldn’t have announced its only weakness so easily, hm?

The avatar continues to travel.

[but nobody came.]

[but nobody came.]

[but nobody came.]

Sebastian: Yes, yes, I understand, everyone is dead. I am aware of that. I actually made that happen. It doesn’t appear to have decreased the amount of trouble I go to just to move, unfortunately.

The avatar reaches an intersection, pauses briefly, and exits top. A snowman appears onscreen and the avatar approaches and interacts with it.

?: Hello. I am a snowman. I cannot move. Traveller, if you could…

[(You got the Snowman Piece.)]

Sebastian: Well, that was simple foolishness.

Sebastian checks the Snowman Piece in his inventory.

[“Snowman Piece” – Heals 45 HP. Please take this to the ends of the earth.]

Sebastian smirks with too many teeth.

Sebastian: 45 HP, hm? I think I’d like more of that, if at all possible.

The avatar interacts with the Snowman again.

Snowman: Oh me, oh my. What are you doing? Soon there won’t be any of me left…

Sebastian: I’m taking your flesh for sustenance, isn’t it obvious?

[(You got the Snowman Piece.)]

The Snowman shrinks dramatically. Sebastian smirks, and the avatar interacts with the Snowman again.

Snowman: Stop… Please…

The Snowman collapses into a small puddle of snow. Sebastian chuckles, raising an eyebrow.

Sebastian: Well, what did you expect, giving pieces of yourself to a stranger? Quite foolish, as I said. You should never give of yourself, really – even those you trust can easily turn their backs on you.

The avatar interacts with the pile of snow again.

[A useless pile of snow.]

Sebastian: Only three, then. Well, that’s quite enough to be getting on with. I won’t need that many, with a small amount of luck and a fair bit of skill. And I like to think I have both in spades, don’t you?

The avatar exits bottom, and heads toward the right exit. An encounter spawns.

[but nobody came.]

Sebastian pauses, frowning.

Sebastian: …An interesting choice of mechanic.

Sebastian ends the encounter and the avatar exits right. Sans and Papyrus are waiting by a bridge on the other side.

Papyrus: YOU’RE SO LAZY!! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!!

Sans: i think that’s called… sleeping.

Sebastian: Regretfully, I’m actually on Mr. Papyrus’ side on this one.

Papyrus: EXCUSES, EXCUSES!

Sans and Papyrus turn to look at the avatar.

Papyrus: OH- HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES!

Sebastian rolls his eyes.

Sebastian: Well, at least they bothered to come up with an in-universe reason for gratuitous puzzle-solving, I suppose. Once again, that’s better than most games do.

Papyrus: I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE… QUITE SHOCKING!!!

The avatar starts to walk across the patch of bare ground, and Sebastian blinks, and then frowns, and then laughs, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement.

Sebastian: I think I could get along with this character.

Papyrus: FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS… THE, INVISIBLE… UHHHHHHH…?

Sebastian: Yes, Mr. Skeleton, not everyone is willing to play along with your foolish and pointless antics. I see this character’s attitude is going to save me quite a bit of time.

Sebastian actually looks slightly put-out by the notion.

Papyrus: HMMM… YOU MUST BE HAVING CULTURE SHOCK. YOU SEE, WHERE I COME FROM, IT’S A LOVING TRADITION. TO SUFFER THROUGH HORRIBLE PUZZLES FOR NO REASON.

Sebastian sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

Sebastian: This feels oddly familiar, for some reason… Though of course, as the playable character is the one visiting here, they are indeed being rather rude. It saves me time, but not that much time, I suspect.

The avatar continues to approach the skeletons.

Papyrus: SO, UH, JUST WALK BACK THERE, AND…

The avatar does not move. Both skeletons turn south.

Papyrus: SIGH… WHY COULDN’T WE GET A HUMAN THAT LIKES PUZZLES???

Papyrus exits right.

Sebastian: My amusement at the character’s attitude aside, I would have preferred to be allowed to play the puzzles as I wished. They are a fundamental part of this sort of game, after all.

The avatar moves towards Sans and interacts.

Sans: it would make my brother happy if you played along.

Sebastian: Surprisingly, that is not my primary concern.

The avatar exits right, crosses the bridge on the other side, and passes by several trees and a snowball.

Sebastian: I’ve said it a few times already, but I’m continually fascinated by many of the stylistic choices this game makes. They all seem to be geared in a certain direction, but I’m not sure I understand what they’re trying to say as yet. I assume I will later.

The avatar exits top right, walks past both doghouses, and then returns left. Sebastian grimaces.

Sebastian: Dogs.

Eventually, the avatar exits bottom-right and emerges with the two skeletons again, and a piece of paper on the ground to their left.

Papyrus: HUMAN!!! I HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR… SANS!! WHERE’S THE PUZZLE!!!

Sebastian: At this stage, what on earth makes him think I would complete a puzzle?

Sans: it’s right there. on the ground.

Sebastian: Somehow, I’m not surprised in the least.

Sans: trust me. there’s no way they’ll skip this one.

The avatar walks past the piece of paper. Sebastian looks pained.

Papyrus: SANS!!! THAT DID NOTHING!!!

Sans: whoops. knew i should have put down junior jumble instead.

Sebastian: Oh yes, I certainly would have been far more interested in that, rather than- whatever it is that’s on the ground there.

Papyrus: WHAT?!? JUNIOR JUMBLE!? FINALLY, SOMETHING WE CAN BOTH AGREE ON.

Papyrus exits right. The avatar moves to interact with Sans.

Sans: guess you don’t like word searches, huh? me neither. i’m more of a funny pages kinda guy.

Sebastian: Of course you are. They share your high-brow sense of humor, Mr. Skeleton.

The avatar exits right, finding a piece of paper, a table with spaghetti on top, and a microwave. The top wall has a small mouse hole. Sebastian smirks and the avatar goes to interact with the piece of paper.

[It’s a note from Papyrus…]

[HUMAN!! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP… DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU!!! YOU’LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT… THAT YOU WON’T REALIZE THAT YOU AREN’T PROGRESSING!! THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!! NYEH-HEH-HEH, PAPYRUS)]

Sebastian chuckles.

Sebastian: Not much of an antagonist… or a human-hunter. And that laugh is still awful.

The avatar interacts with the save point, the spaghetti, and the microwave.

[10 left.]

[(It’s a plate of frozen spaghetti. It’s so cold, it’s stuck to the table…)]

[(It’s an unplugged microwave. All of the settings say “spaghetti.”)]

Sebastian rolls his eyes.

Sebastian: Idiot.

The avatar continues on until it reaches two dogs, which come up from the south exit.

?: What’s that smell? (Where’s that smell?) If you’re a smell… (…Identify yoursmellf!)

The two dogs wander the screen around the avatar for a few seconds before converging on it.

?: Hmmm… Here’s that weird smell… It makes me want to eliminate… (…Eliminate YOU!)

An encounter triggers.

Sebastian: God, when will I escape the dogs?

[Dogi assault you!]

Sebastian: The story of my life.

Sebastian swiftly kills Dogaressa, and then the depressed Dogamy.

Sebastian: When will I be free from the dogs…

The avatar continues to make progress, and passes by what appears to be a completed puzzle. Sebastian looks put-out again.

Sebastian: I actually would like to complete a puzzle at some point, please!

The avatar exits right, finding a grayscale board with Papyrus and Sans on the right side, standing by a machine.

Papyrus: HEY! IT’S THE HUMAN! YOU’RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE!

The avatar starts to cross the board, and Sebastian sighs, a look of resignation on his face as the avatar stops halfway across.

Sebastian: This is getting rather annoying.

Papyrus: IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT… ARE YOU SERIOUS? SANS!!! HELP!!!

A flicker of a smile crosses Sebastian’s face. He does not explain this.

Papyrus: THEY KEEP WALKING THROUGH MY PUZZLES! THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO LET ME EXPLAIN THEM. THEN THREATEN AND BAFFLE THEM WITH DANGEROUS JAPES.

Sebastian looks exasperatedly amused.

Sebastian: This character could not be less threatening if he wasn’t a skeleton. He can do as he likes, of course, but…

Sans: well, maybe they don’t like japes.

Papyrus: EVERYONE LIKES JAPES!!!

Sans: what about undyne? doesn’t she hate puzzles?

Papyrus: SHE HATES PUZZLES. BUT SHE LOVES JAPES.

Sebastian: The distinction is vital, of course- though I couldn’t tell you what it is.

Sans: that makes sense.

Papyrus: HUMAN!! WHAT DO YOU THINK!? PUZZLES OR JAPES? … … OKAY, THIS IS NORMALLY THE PART. WHERE YOU EITHER AGREE OR DISAGREE. AND DEPENDING ON YOUR ANSWER. WE SAY SOMETHING GREAT IN RESPONSE. …HERE, WHY DON’T YOU DO THIS PUZZLE YOURSELF.

Papyrus leaves a piece of paper on the ground and slowly exits right.

Sebastian: Well, he is attempting to be helpful. He would be meeting with more success, however, if he was remotely capable of comprehending the problem at hand. Perhaps being a skeleton is suppressing his self-preservation instincts?

The avatar ignores the paper and interacts with Sans.

Sans: hey… puzzles might be fun. if you tried them.

Sebastian looks irritated.

Sebastian: Yes, I actually happen to agree with that. If I was permitted to try them.

The avatar exits right, passes the dog house, and saves.

[6 left.]

Sebastian: Mini-bosses, I assume.

The avatar exits right again and encounters another puzzle, which Sebastian solves on the first try. He still smiles slightly as the avatar exits right.

Sebastian: Well, at least that wasn’t a complete waste.

The avatar exits bottom and finds Sans.

Sans: what’s up?

Sebastian: What, nothing else?

The avatar goes left and finds Sans on the other side unreasonably quickly. Sebastian smirks slightly and the avatar interacts with Sans.

Sans: say… are you following me?

Sebastian: Clearly, I have nothing better to do.

The avatar exits left, wanders around, and an encounter triggers. It is skipped without comment, and the avatar exits top again, and then right.

Sebastian: Quite a bit of fairly pointless wandering. Am I missing something, I wonder? Though that may be an engineered feeling.

The avatar continues on and finally encounters a number of small piles of snow, ending in a large, excitable armored dog which emerges from another. Sebastian pinches the bridge of his nose again.

[It’s the Greater Dog.]

Sebastian: My worst nightmare.

Sebastian defeats this foe easily.

Sebastian: There isn’t much challenge to this game, is there? Is that, too, deliberate?

Sebastian smirks.

Sebastian: Then again, I may simply be uncommonly good at it.

The avatar continues on, eventually coming to one end of a bridge. On the other, Papyrus and Sans waited.

Papyrus: HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE!

Sebastian: I haven’t been given any challenges yet.

Papyrus: BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!

Six different weapons emerge from various parts of the screen, in between the avatar and the skeletons. Sebastian raises his eyebrows and smirks.

Sebastian: Why, Mr. Skeleton, I never would have attributed such viciousness to your character!

Papyrus: WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!!!

Sebastian looks unimpressed.

Papyrus: ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!

A pause. Papyrus turns away. Sebastian looks irritated.

Sans: well? what’s the holdup?

Papyrus: HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I’M… I’M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!

Pause.

Sebastian: Oh, for goodness’ sake.

Sans: that, uh, doesn’t look very activated.

Papyrus: WELL! …THEY’RE PROBABLY GOING TO WALK THROUGH IT. AND IT WON’T BE ANY FUN AT ALL.

Sebastian: You know, I’m not surprised in the least. And, of course, he doesn’t at all realize that once he activates it, ‘just walking through it’ is actually the entire point…

Sans: hmmm… so this human thing was a bust, huh?

Papyrus: WELL. I MEAN. I’M EXCITED TO CAPTURE THEM. SO I’LL BECOME A FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!!!

Sebastian: You may try, Mr. Skeleton.

Papyrus: BUT ALL THE TIME I PUT INTO THESE PUZZLES… IT’S KIND OF LIKE THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY…

Sans: without traps and fire?

Papyrus: EXACTLY!! IT’S POINTLESS!!!

Sebastian: Goodness. I am violently reminded of far too many people.

Papyrus: MAYBE YOU WERE RIGHT TO BE LAZY ABOUT PUZZLES.

Sans: me? right about something? really?

Papyrus: …YEAH!! WHAT AM I SAYING! YOU’RE STILL COMPLETELY WRONG! I JUST HAVE THE WRONG AUDIENCE! THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH FUN UNDYNE WOULD HAVE HERE! FLAMES, VIOLENCE, IT’S RIGHT UP HER ALLEY!

Sebastian rolls his eyes.

Sebastian: Far too many people.

Papyrus: SO I WON’T WASTE THIS PUZZLE ON YOU. I JUST HAVE TO APPRECIATE… THE FRIEND I ALREADY HAVE!!!

Sebastian: And perhaps your brother, supporting you every step of the way. But that’s none of my business, of course.

The weapons withdraw and Papyrus turns away.

Papyrus: PHEW! A VALUABLE LIFE LESSON!!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!

Sebastian scowls as he reads the laugh, but does not drop the in-character voice. Papyrus exits right.

Sebastian: Another waste of time, I see.

The avatar exits right, passing Sans this time. Soon it comes to a town, which is mostly quiet. The avatar enters a building, and what appears to be a shopping screen pops up.

[But nobody came.]

Sebastian: That flavor text is going to haunt me in my rare attempts to sleep.

Sebastian selects ‘read’ first.

[(There’s a note here.) Please don’t hurt my family.]

Sebastian: This isn’t a game, this is a lecture on why it doesn’t actually pay to murder people who annoy you.

Sebastian then selects ‘steal.’

[You took 758G from behind the counter.]

Sebastian: And plenty of good that does me if I have no need to buy anything because the shopkeeper has apparently run away.

Sebastian selects ‘take’ and takes one of each item. Then he closes the shopping screen and the avatar continues to explore the area. It is abandoned. The avatar interacts with the sparkling save point.

[Determination.]

The avatar wanders right and finds a monster. Sebastian raises one eyebrow and the avatar interacts with it. He chooses a squeaky voice for the character.

?: Yo, everyone ran away and hid somewhere. Man, adults can be so dumb sometimes, haha… Don’t they know we’ve got Undyne to protect us!?

Sebastian [deadpan]: A tiny moron.

The avatar continues right, but every building it enters is abandoned. Sebastian frowns.

Sebastian: Then why bother to develop the town so thoroughly at all…?

Finally, the avatar exits right into a misty area. It continues right until it is obscured, and then stops and appears as a shadow. A moment later, a shadow Papyrus appears as well. Sebastian sighs, frowning.

Sebastian: Ah. From the looks of the scenery, I’d say it’s time.

Papyrus: HALT, HUMAN!

The avatar steps forward.

Papyrus: HEY, QUIT MOVING WHILE I’M TALKING TO YOU!

Sebastian smirks faintly.

Sebastian: I suppose it is rather rude. But it won’t matter soon, Mr. Skeleton.

Papyrus: I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY. FIRST: YOU’RE A FREAKING WEIRDO!

Sebastian snorts.

Papyrus: NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES. BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE… THE WAY YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER. IT FEELS… LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH.

Sebastian’s expression falls into something unreadable.

Papyrus: HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU! EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY!

Sebastian stops, and remains silent and motionless for five seconds.

Papyrus: AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!

Sebastian does not react to either of these statements and reads them somewhat mechanically, though still in his chosen voice. The avatar steps forward again.

Papyrus: HEY, QUIT MOVING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE! SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! BUT WORRY NOT! I, PAPYRUS… WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!!!

The avatar continues to walk forward. Sebastian’s voice has regained his energy, but he is still expressionless.

Papyrus: I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING. ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE?

Sebastian [softly]: Fool.

Papyrus: WOWIE!! MY LESSONS ARE ALREADY WORKING!! I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!

An encounter triggers and Sebastian flinches, and then scowls.

[Papyrus is sparing you.]

Sebastian: He really is precisely that kind of idiot, isn’t he? Goodness.

Sebastian scowls for a moment longer, and then kills Papyrus in silence.

Papyrus: W-WELL, THAT’S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED… BUT… ST… STILL!

Sebastian cuts himself off. His eyes go wide and begin to glow bright crimson, and his canines lengthen into fangs. Three seconds pass, and then the glow fades from his eyes, his fangs shrink away, and he relaxes. He looks melancholy. Two more seconds pass, and he reads the dialogue in a quiet and unadorned voice.

Papyrus: I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK SO! I… I PROMISE…

Three seconds of silence pass.

Sebastian: Well. If I had known he was that sort of character, I might have paid more mind to him earlier on. All the same… it is too late now, I suppose.

Two more seconds of silence pass, and then the avatar begins to walk again.

[narcisskanotfrisk]

BeyondFell: Part 23 (Final part)

A few hours later the group composed of Undyne, Chara, Sans, Papyrus, Toriel, Frisk and little Fransy were standing by a river waiting patiently. Why take a baby you would say to me? Well, Frisk wanted her daughter to be one of the first to see the surface. Undyne waited patiently while Sans came out of his jokes to pass the time. Toriel looked nervous as usual and Papyrus was still yelling at his brother at each of his jokes. Chara watching Frisk and Fransy, Frisk tenderly hugging Fransy against her displaying a cheerful smile. Fluttering to stand in front of Frisk, Chara said she was worried. "Are you sure this is a good idea? ... I know you don't fear much since you're already dead, but Fransy could be used against you ... -Don't worry Chara, together we can't lose. Fransy deserves to see the release of all the underground monsters. " Just at the end of her sentence, Frisk and the others heard the sound of someone singing. The voice seemed feminine with an echo that echoed on the walls of the WaterFalls. The moving noise was approaching as a person on her boat arrived. The figure dressed in her large purple cape resembled the RiverWoman that Toriel had described. Everyone then approached the edge of the shore while this monster stopped in front of them. Undyne wanted to speak but the monsters did it for her. "Welcome ~ If it's for a ride ... The price will be- -Ahem ... I already explained to them. Undyne cut her off before approaching her " She turned slightly towards the fish woman before turning again to Frisk and Fransy. Slowly observing the human and her offspring, she got out of her boat, urging them to board. "You can go upstairs, I don't need your memories." The spirit and the two skeletons too. Undyne, for you I'm going to make an exception now that you've become a straight person again. Climb your turn ... " This is how almost the whole group climbed onto the boat without sacrificing precious memories. When the hooded monster turned to Toriel, however, she seemed more skeptical. Toriel hesitated to follow the members of the group but obviously the monster was blocking her way. She spoke again to the former Queen of the Underground: "You have to pay, I'll take part of your memories ... -WHAT? !! indignant Toriel. You let them all go! Why should I pay and not them ?! -It's either you pay or you leave. I do not negotiate with the servants of ! # $ È; & ” Everyone on the boat was watching the RiverWoman, obviously no one had understood the name of the person named by this monster. Only Papyrus all the senses on alert noticed that Toriel seemed to have understood the name of the monster in question. She seemed even more hesitant now but her rage was starting to boil as the RiverWoman turned her back on her to return to her boat. Gritting her teeth, she finally resigned herself and cried out to the monster. " Its good !! You can do it... " The hooded monster stopped right in front of the boat before turning to Toriel. A monstrous aura emerged from her as she watched the old queen. She seemed staggered for a moment before catching up and looking at the monster again. Wondering what had just happened she wanted to open her mouth but the monster turned to the boat climbing at the front of it. However, she turned her face to the ex-Queen to tell her simply. "It looks like you should expect me, so go up ~ La ~ La ~ La ~" Surprised and taken aback, she nevertheless climbed into the boat joining the troop already placed on it. Papyrus had been keeping an eye on her since the sentence in the RiverWoman. They finally left in the direction of Asgore Castle. As the route was rather long, the conversation groups were formed to pass the time, the atmosphere seemed so light as he probably reached the end of their days ... Frisk pushed by curiosity gave Fransy to Sans for approaching the RiverWoman. Not knowing how to start the conversation she started a simple "Hey" which cut the monster's hum. Without even looking at her, Riverwoman replied. "Well, what about your 'Hey' suddenly?" I'm not sure why you don't come to the point. -O..Oh ... Well ... I don't understand why you let us all except Toriel. I may be too curious, but I would like to understand why? " The noise of adjacent hubbub and water were the only answers she got. Just before she sat down RiverWoman spoke again. "I can only tell you one thing, watch out for the monster who speaks with his hands ...." Not understanding who it could be she nevertheless sat in her place watching the castle which was getting closer and closer. It looked luxurious although just as old and worn. It must have been a while since anyone came to look after this place. She took Fransy in her arms who was asleep, she took the opportunity to rock her before being comforted a little bit. Crossing more and more narrow zones the group ends up tightening in the center of the boat. By the time they reached a simple staircase the river became so narrow that the boat scraped them over the edges. The group went down one after the other, Sans helping Frisk to go down with Fransy. No sooner had the human waved her hand at the RiverWoman than she left. Clearly many mysteries surrounded this monster thought Frisk before joining the group that was waiting to resume their march. Undyne took the lead of the group seeing that she knew his places like her pocket. The two lovers and their daughter were in the middle while Toriel walked behind them. Remembering what it was going through with the smuggler Papyrus pretexting to want to cover their back to monitor it discreetly without appearing suspicious in the eyes of others ... Once arrived in town, Undyne made the group pass through several mazes and alleys to avoid meeting monsters. Creating a riot would not help them, they were all in enemy territory ... Fortunately, our ex-captain of the royal guard had not been idle during his period of activity. In a short time the group was on the steps which led directly to the King's castle ... Asgore ... The last enemy before reaching the promised freedom. Several monsters were on its steps, but seeing the group arrived they fled without asking for their rest. A moment later, they arrived at the entrance of the palace, Undyne stopped then and turned to the members present behind her. "We are going to be forced to pass briefly in the old residence of Asgore, he hardly ever goes there but I will ask you not to touch anything please." If only out of respect for my words ... -Tsss ... grumbled Toriel, crossing her arms - Don't worry Undyne, we're only here to free you from the Underground. We won't touch anything, reassured Frisk » She then smiled at the human before resuming her journey, Chara who flew to observe this city which had been for a time her playground with Asriel ... Now he was reduced to the stage of flower without soul, neither human, nor monster. According to the old rules of this game he was supposed to become a god ... But deep inside her Chara felt it ... This world was detached from the game, she knew neither how nor why and yet ... Her memories of the game are disappearing more and more, soon she only considered this as a world. Without visible parameters everything would then become ... Real? ... But what would she have her brother here? ... Plunged into her melancholy she did not immediately notice that everyone was already gone ... When she went out of her reflections the ghost hastened to join them before a few things happened ... The group was already in front of the throne room, Asgore waiting for them inside like this ... He already knew that the human was coming ... Despite this slight moment of hesitation the group returned inside the room while the King did not even bother to get up. Simply raising his head in his royal armor, he stared at each of the people present here in his throne room. His dark green trident appeared in his hands pointing to Frisk who was still holding Fransy in her arms, yet it was not from his mouth that the first threats came from. "Whatever happens you won't see your daughter grow up ..." Sans was then the first to notice the black silhouette hidden behind the throne, a shape that did not tell him until he saw the skeletal head of this individual ... Gaster was there and well he was waiting for them. The expression of this one pissed off Sans, Frisk put her hand gently on the shoulder of her tender skeleton so that he kept his composure. Immediately regaining the upper hand on his emotions, he nevertheless remained on his guard. A few seconds later, Papyrus who was still watching Toriel despite Gaster's appearance then noticed what he had been waiting for a while ... The ex Queen was loading an explosive magic fireball in his hand and saw the 'angle’ she was holding .... She was targeting Frisk! Without even waiting a moment longer, he brought up a large bone and struck the queen head on. Unfortunately she manages to react ... While making the ball of fire disappear, she placed her arms in protection against it. However the blow of Papyrus was violent to the point of making it retreat about fifteen meters towards Asgore. Her  face seemed marked with annoyance while Undyne and the others were surprised by the action of Papyrus which he was quick to express. "I had doubts about her since her meeting with the RiverWoman ... She tried to attack us with a ball of fire, if I could not have sent her as I just did ... Frisk and Fransy would have been reduced to ashes. -I see ... Thank you Papyrus, at least we always have the advantage of numbers ... exclaimed Undyne while watching his opponents. " At that moment Gaster started to smile understanding that there was surely an enemy hidden somewhere Chara looked in all directions in search of this last opponent. Having a bad feeling she looked up at a corner of the ceiling ... It was extremely dark then she saw five purple eyes open. She hurried to warn Frisk, who then turned to the target in the air. Suddenly, she noticed a web springing from this corner with the target ... Undyne! Frisk still having Fransy in her arms pushed Undyne with one hand to protect her but she couldn't dodge the web. The fish woman then hurried to release Frisk who thanked her briefly while seeing the spider go down to take them from behind. Blocking the exit from the throne room while standing in front of it ... However it did not look normal ... It was then that Sans understanding exactly what was going on, he looked even more viciously its sire. "So, are we using the old methods? ..." he said to Gaster. -I still sorely lack power, you know? I have not yet completely returned from this cursed place. However, I should thank you. Thanks to you and the human my plan went without a hitch. Your naivety allowed me to prepare for this fateful moment ... And now it's going to be your end! " Just when he finished his sentence, he summoned a Gaster Blaster which quickly charged before shooting the little skeleton. Certain that that would be enough to reduce his son and former apprentice to dust, he displayed a resplendent smile. The instant the laser stopped he lost his smile, Sans it was protected with a wall of bone. It was he now who smiled when he saw the disconcerted face of its creator. "Hehe, I thought you would have more BONE at work." Don't worry, I won't do old BONE with you. After all, you don't know anything about my real strength! " His only valid eye lit up with a red and purple glow, the fight had officially started between Frisk's group and that of Gaster ... Knowing that Papyrus would be in trouble against two opponents, Frisk hurriedly gave Fransy to Undyne so that 'she protects her while she helped the big skeleton. "Pay attention Undyne and above all ... Try not to attack this monster, it does not seem in its normal state. She had told her before leaving to fight.” Bones and Gaster blaster already ravaged part of the room while Papyrus and Frisk fiercely fought a Toriel and an Asgore who had finally deigned to get up, Undyne carried Fransy against her while attacking the spider monster who wore a sort of victorian dress. The exchanges were violent between Papyrus and Asgore, however the King seemed far superior to the skeleton. After all he had participated in the Great War when Papyrus was born in the Underground. During one of their games, Papyrus barely paralyzed the king's spear which then kicked him to make him back off. Frisk approached and used Chara's determination to heal his wounds while Toriel used healing magic on Asgore. The fight seemed to disadvantage them ... The human breathed a few things to the ears of Papyrus who simply nodded in response. Meanwhile a status quo was created between Undyne and the spider ... She couldn't touch her by keeping Fransy against her because it made her slower, but the spider monster seemed slow to react and kept her distance using only her webs to try to reach the ex-captain of the royal guard. Indeed as her best friend had warned it did not seem normal coming from this monster named Muffet. From what Undyne remembered, she couldn't care less about the internal wars between the monsters. The only thing that mattered for her was to raise a large sum of money to allow the survival of the other spiders. Definitely it will not be an easy task to put it out of harm's way. She ends up moving to one of the corners of the room while destroying the webs that Muffet was throwing towards her. Chara then observed Papyrus and Frisk executed their strategy ... The skeleton charging the king of the underground who awaited him with a firm footing with a smile. However when Papyrus was only a few meters away from him, he noticed the presence of Frisk just behind the skeleton. The human just jumped into the air as Papyrus threw it right onto Toriel using his bone. It was the king's first mistake ... Underestimated his opponents as he always had ... His second was to look towards Toriel, leaving the field open to Papyrus for him to strike him a blow on the head. His crown then broke on the ground, Frisk on her side had just landed on the monster who had welcomed her in the Ruins. Lying on the ground she nevertheless tried to defend herself, deploying fire around her .... which the human made disappear instantly before placing her hands on Toriel's forehead. Using once again in her determination and her imagination to put her to sleep. Asgore was certainly on his knees but not defeated so far, bringing his trident to himself in an excess of anger he buried it in the rib cage of Papyrus. Taken by surprise he did not manage to defend himself and impaled himself right on top ... Then it was his turn to smile at the old king before letting out a slight laugh. "This attack could have killed anyone ... Except me, because I am a skeleton!" And captain of the royal guard! " Following his words Asgore's face decomposed, the skeleton taking advantage of him struck another blow on the head for the permanently knocked out. The ex-captain then joined her comrades out of breath but while having also defeated her opponent without killing her. She was stuck in her own webs. Which left only one enemy .... Frisk noticed that Fransy was no longer with her but knowing her best friend, she must have hidden it in a safe place. Sans did his best to mitigate the damage of the room while countering his father. His magical stamina still made him fault .... The longer the fight dragged on the more his reactivity was affected ... Gaster decided to end it made appear a gigantic Gaster Blaster who shot his son. Protecting himself at the last moment with a large wall of bone, he fell on his knees after this attack, exhausted and oozing with sweat. Jubilant with joy, he approached his son quickly preparing to end his life. "It is you who know nothing of my true strength experience! " While a pointed bone was going to pierce the little skeleton, a lance came and broke it in the hands of the monster ... He then stepped back as a precaution, dodging a rain of bones that was reaching him. His face then went from surprise to anger when he saw his soldiers all in a state of harm ... The group then gathered around Sans, Frisk helping him to get up before he looked at Gaster. "Hehe ... Who said I was talking about my personal strength? My real strength is them, my friend, my brother, my family and even this ghost ... I learned to love and to be loved in return. Some things you will never have! Drop it, you lost! " While he was making his speech Frisk had taken care of him and it was with determination that everyone faced their enemy. What a surprise when he displayed a grin despite his precarious situation. A small form moved not far from him ... It was little Fransy who walked on all fours towards danger ... Acting then instinctively Frisk rushed towards Gaster who held out his hands to catch her. Undyne had placed her in a safe corner of the room to be able to fight, she would never have thought that this was the precise moment when she would choose to wake up and start walking! From nowhere a cloud of smoke enveloped both Frisk, Gaster and little Fransy. Without grinding his teeth, none of the three monsters dared to do anything for fear of hurting Frisk or even worse his daughter! The mist dissipating in places let appear a new skeleton on the battlefield ... Dawn held Fransy in one hand and the other prevented Gaster from getting his hands on it. "No one will touch this child, I would be there to protect her," he said, looking at Gaster with disdain. The intruder had saved Sans's daughter which reassured him slightly ... But Frisk was still out of sight. When the smoke subsided completely he saw it, trapped in Gaster's sticky arms. He smiled then before looking Sans in the eyes then addressing Frisk who seemed frightened by noticing that she could no longer use her determination ... "Well ... I said at the beginning, your daughter will grow up without even knowing you!" " It was then that he disappeared from the throne room in the company of the human in a black puddle resembling slush ... Sans then rushed towards this sticky mass which disappeared immediately ... No more trace of his loving one, with his dear and tender Frisk ... He punched his fist on the ground before a few tears ran down his skull. Dawn left Fransy again on the ground before leaving without saying a word in a portal, he was not very good at reunion and even less now. Papyrus and Undyne seemed just as dejected while only the fish woman dared to break the silence. "I..It's my fault ... I should have watched Fransy ... I .. I'm sorry Sans ..." The king's laughter then resounded in the room, he had surely recovered from the bruise inflicted by Papyrus and therefore made fun of Sans. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAH In the end it is you who will have lost everything! All that I have always beaten intact! You're really just a stupid skeleton like Gas- " Asgore did not have time to finish his sentence as his head fell heavily on the ground ... Chuckles being heard slightly before the king turned to dust, pierced by a hundred bones on his body. Sans wiping his eye sockets before looking at Undyne and smiling weakly at him, he had to stay strong to raise their daughter ... "There is no SUSHI Undyne, being FISHY does nothing to mop up see ... It is I who am sorry, I think that in my frustration I killed him ..." For once his brother never said anything about Sans's jokes, believing that this was not the time for such trifles ... Especially when he noticed that Fransy had disappeared again! "Sans I think that Fransy is still in the room ... We should be looking for it!" " Seeing that the front door of the throne room was blocked there was only one possible solution ... Fransy had to be in front of the barrier! Teleporting the group with him, Sans was slightly panicked when he saw his daughter on the other side of the Barrier! How could she have passed this magic that had always locked anyone who fell into the underground? Then the answer comes to him quite naturally! The daughter of a human and a monster, a hybrid carrying both types of soul! However, Papyrus shook him, showing him that she was still moving slowly but surely to the surface. He couldn't reach it and who knows what danger there was once out of this mountain? Sans screaming with all his might to attract Fransy but she seemed too busy with the light coming from outside to listen to him. It was then that a plant appeared in front of the barrier ... It was Flowey the former royal prince who had just appeared, a burst of resentment immediately caught the skeleton ... But he quickly forgot it in seeing his daughter go away without being able to do anything. It was then that he began to move like a rattle which ended up troubling the girl. She hesitated between going outside and heading for this fake toy. Undyne was about to run over Flowey, but the skeleton father stopped his foot. " Do not do that ! Look, Fransy come back to us! " The ex-captain then turned to the barrier as the baby returned to them. In no time the little girl was again in Sans's arms who hugged her gently against him. The flower looked at Undyne in dread trying to defend itself so as not to die! "I..I just wanted to do this for Frisk! Even if I were to die, I had to save her daughter! She gave me so much without expecting anything in return! -Undyne calm down ... You know I'm going to reveal a few things to you, Gaster can manipulate the memories of the monsters. Do you remember the dog revolt? It was because of him and not theft ... It was surely he who put it in our minds to hate him. " In reality he didn't know if it was true or not but Flowey had just saved his daughter and thanks to his words Undyne and Papyrus seemed calmer towards him now. The flower couldn't help but sigh to relieve the pressure. Chara was also relieved to see her adopted brother again. Finally her place was in Frisk's group, she smiled from her observer point of view. The group began to apologize to each other for no reason which makes Chara laugh slightly ... Suddenly, Frisk's voice echoed in her head before she could react. '' Heya Chara ... If I can speak to you it is thanks to the determination that connects us. Please before our link is broken I would like you to protect Fransy. She is reckless enough for a little girl! And also ... Watch over Sans, I trust him, he won't give up easily. But if that happens, I'm counting on you to pull up the suspenders ... It's getting darker and darker ... I'm counting on you Chara, these are my last wishes '' The voice faded then without it answering him, she looked at the group which laughed now before nodding taking into account the last wishes of Frisk. Sans sighing while getting up, he watched the barrier one last time before leaving. "If only we could break it ... I shouldn't say that in front of Fransy but ... Fuck!" " It was then that the little bad girl repeated the word '' Fuck '' to the surprise of Papyrus and Undyne as well as Flowey ... The large skeleton put Fransy on the ground before lifting his brother by the collar. "But be a little careful !!! Look at the words you teach her !!! If she becomes a delinquent you will regret the day you conceived her !!! -S .. Sorry Papyrus! I .. I thought..N .. Not that she R..Repeat! Said trying not to vomit under the jerks of his brother -Fransy .. What is it!?! " The little girl touched the barrier while the light from it shone stronger and stronger. The whole group could not help covering their eyes because of the ambient light before hearing a cracking noise ... From the moment the little skeleton opened its eyes the first thing that grabbed it was the Barrier .... She had completely disappeared ... However, Dawn was in front of Fransy, his shield towards him as if to protect her. Sans freed himself from his brother before joining his daughter whom he has just brought against him again. He then spoke to Dawn who was already preparing to leave. "Hey! …. Thanks for saving my daughter. I appreciate it. " The portal to the Multiverse had just opened while Dawn turned to him, lowering his head. He did not know how to say it and thought carefully about his words before answering him. "Don't thank me, I couldn't protect her properly. She just lost her voice in exchange for breaking the spell. I'm sorry for failing. " Surprised Sans looked at Fransy who actually moved her lips but no sound came out of her mouth. He seemed to stiffen as he remembered the only two words that Frisk had said before losing her words forever ... Dawn and Fuck .... If Frisk found out, he knew it would be one of the worst arguments in his life ... However, his daughter's life was intact and that alone was enough to make him smile. Dawn crossed the portal, leaving the small group to be the first monsters to visit the surface in a very long time. . . E N D I N G. . . ?

[ad7000]

Berwick

http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/BerwickuponTweed.html“Entering North  Berwick from East Lothian and continuing down to Berwick

This should give me access to shoot geology based landscapes in East Lothian and North Berwick as well as soot landscaes with a focus on borders/natural borders along the coast, and I also wanted to focus on shooting birds here too althoguh i’m ot yet sure how they will fit into the project/final edits. Then, into Berwick where i want to bring more of a historic approach to land. 

“There are different kinds of basalt found at North Berwick: Olivine rich basalt - olivine is a mineral found down deep in the earth. Vesicular basalt - vesicular means that it has many holes inside it caused by bubbles trapped in the lava when it came out of the volcano. Mugerite - this is a pale grey in colour. Another rock found is tuff and this is volcanic ash which has been erupted from the volcano, over lots and lots of years it has hardened into rock. If you go to North Berwick you can find lots of different colours of rocks such as volcanic ash which is either red or green, lava flow which is black, bubbly lava which is purple, sandstone which is grey and schist which is also grey. Berwick Law is composed of igneous rock formed during the Carboniferous period (340 mya). This area was the site of many volcanic eruptions and the Law is the result of the mouth of the volcano being choked with its own molten lava forming a plug when extinct. The Bass Rock is also a plug of a volcano. The Scottish Seabird Centre is next to the harbour and was opened by Prince Charles in June 2000. The birds that can be seen on the Bass Rock are gulliemots, kittiwakes and gannets. On Fidra, razorbills and puffins can be seen. The Seabird Centre has a lot of information on seabirds and shows with a web cam how they catch fish and what species live on each island. You can see through a telescope the Isle of May, Isle of Fidra and the Bass Rock but you can also see the islands on special cameras. There is an education centre where you can learn more about the birds on the islands. My favourite part of the seabird centre is playing the game which teaches you about trying to protect the birds. Over thirty skeletons were found on the site of the old St Andrew's graveyard, which is now the walkway to the main entrance of the Seabird Centre. The skeletons date back to the 7th Century.”

http://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/r_action_nberwick.html

“captured or sacked 13 times before finally falling into English hands in 1482, Berwick’s great Elizabethan walls were built to keep invading Scots from entering the town. Walk the complete circuit, taking in spectacular views across the River Tweed estuary and Berwick’s three bridges, including the iconic Royal Border Bridge, built by Robert Stevenson and one of the finest bridges of its kind in the world.”

http://www.visitnorthumberland.com/berwick-upon-tweed

Interesting take on england/scotland borders issue:

“England or Scotland? Berwick-upon-Tweed's position on the north bank of the River Tweed, long held to be the nominal border between the two countries, led to the town changing hands no fewer than 14 times in the two centuries up to 1482.Since then it has remained English, so why include it in Undiscovered Scotland? In part because it played such an important part is Scottish history; in part because Berwick Rangers football club plays in the Scottish rather than the English league; in part because it's such a magnificent place to visit; and in part because it nicely rounded off the south eastern corner of our coverage until we took the decision to expand more fully into the English Borders.Even Edward IV's final capture of the town in 1482 didn't entirely simplify matters. Under the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between Henry VII of England and James IVof Scotland in 1502 (just 11 years before the Scottish army and nobility was destroyed by the English at the Battle of Flodden) Berwick was given a special status as being "of" the Kingdom of England but not "in" it. As a result the town thereafter needed special mention in royal proclamations.This had one odd effect. When Queen Victoria signed the declaration of war on Russia in 1853, she did so in the name of "Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and the British Dominions beyond the sea." But Berwick was not mentioned in the Treaty of Paris that concluded the Crimean War in 1856, leaving the town technically still at war with Russia.A peace treaty was only finally signed by a Russian diplomat and the the Mayor of Berwick in 1966. As the mayor said at the time: "You can tell the Russian people that they can now sleep peacefully in their beds".Berwick's early story was as one of the most important towns and ports in Scotland for a period of 250 years from 1018. But in 1296 Edward I of England sacked the town and slaughtered 8,000 of its residents. This marked the start of two centuries during which Berwick changed hands between Scots and English on average every 15 years. This was not an environment that encouraged business to flourish and the town's fortunes inevitably waned as a result.Berwick's story over its past five hundred years as an outpost of England on the "wrong" bank of the River Tweed can be told in terms of its links across the river to the rest of the country. The "Old Bridge" across the Tweed that survives today was the fifth on the site. The first was lost in a flood in 1199; the second destroyed by the English in 1216; and the third was lost to another flood in 1294. A fourth wooden bridge built in 1376 served for well over two hundred years. It may have been in the need of constant repair and patching, but it survived and accomplished its purpose.When James VI of Scotland and I of England passed through Berwick in 1603 en route to claim his English throne in London, he commented unfavourably on the state of the wooden bridge. Work started in 1611 on the stone "Old Bridge", which was finished in 1624. This remained the only road bridge over the Tweed until the building of the neighbouring New Bridge in 1928. Since 1984 the A1 and its traffic have bypassed Berwick-upon-Tweed over an even newer bridge several miles to the west.The most spectacular of the Tweed Bridges is the Royal Border Bridge, which carries the East Coast Main Line railway on 28 arches 38m above the river. This cost £253,000 to build and was opened by Queen Victoria on 29 August 1850.Apart from its bridges, Berwick's most distinctive feature is the almost intact town wall that still surrounds most of it. This started life early in the town's history, but the massively impressive artillery bastions on view today were begun on the orders of Marie de Guise in 1558 and completed over the following 20 years, mostly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. A walk around the walls takes around 45 minutes and gives an excellent series of views into Berwick itself as well as of the River Tweed, the bridges and the surrounding countryside.Also well worth visiting are Berwick Barracks, built following the 1715 Jacobite uprising to house a defensive garrison. The barracks are now in the care of English Heritage, and are home to three museums, including the King's Own Scottish Borderers Museum and Berwick Borough Museum.Berwick-upon-Tweed is a fascinating town and a beautiful one, and a stop here should be on the itinerary of anyone making their way to Scotland up the east coast. Don't make the all-too-easy mistake of sticking to the A1 bypass and missing the town entirely”

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/berwick/berwickupontweed/index.html

Intersting intergration of poetry... could work in book?:

“BERWICK : TOWN ON THE SCOTTISH BORDEROn the mainland five miles north of Holy Island, is the mouth of the River Tweed and the most historic town of Berwick Upon Tweed. The most northerly town in England, perhaps no other town in North East England has had a more eventful history than Berwick. There is no doubt that Berwick upon Tweed can claim the distinction of being the Border Town, as it has changed hands between England and Scotland thirteen times. Its history is inextricably tied up with the struggle for the Anglo Scottish frontier. An old legend is said to explain the fascinating history of Berwick;"During the temptation while the Evil one was showing to the Holy one all the kingdoms of the earth he kept Berwick hidden beneath his thumb, wishing to reserve it as his own little nook"Berwick with an English name meaning `Corn Farm' began as a small settlement in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in which it remained until the Battle of Carham of 1018 when it was taken by the Scots. From then on Berwick became a hotly disputed territory. In 1174 Berwick was retaken by England in a ransom following the failure of a raid into Northumberland by the Scottish king, William the Lion.

Above: An old postcard showing BerwickThe town returned to the northern side of the border in the reign of Richard I (1189-1199), who sold it to obtain money for the Crusades. At the beginning of the following century Berwick returned once more to England, after Richard's brother, King John sacked the town, but Berwick continued to change hands until 1482 when the town finally became part of England within which it still (technically) remains.BERWICK : ENGLISH OR SCOTTISH ?Today the visitor to Berwick can be forgiven for believing it to be a Scottish town, as after all it stands on the northern bank of the River Tweed, an entirely Scottish river and it does seem to have a rather Scottish appearance. Berwick is also the name of a large Scottish Burgh and the old county of Berwickshire (of which Berwick was not part !) was in Scotland. Furthermore Berwick, is a little bit more closer to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, than to the North East's regional centre of

Newcastle upon Tyne

.The belief that Berwick is Scottish is also reinforced by the fact that most of the commercial banks in the town are Scottish and that the local football team plays in the Scottish league.

Dialect

also leads to the belief that Berwick is Scottish as to most Englishmen the local `Tweedside' accent spoken in Berwick sounds Scottish, although most Scots would recognise the

Northumbrian

influence.The Scottish claim for Berwick is certainly strong but the English influence upon the area is also very significant. Berwick as already stated began as an English or at least an Anglo-Saxon settlement, in the

Kingdom of Northumbria

and although for four hundred years it regularly changed hands between England and Scotland it has remained in the former part of the United Kingdom for the past five centuries. Berwick's policeman and laws are therefore English, and its most senior councillor is an English mayor not a provost as in the Scottish system of local government. Until recently Berwick town also has an important status, as the administrative centre for the Northumberland County District of Berwick upon Tweed, which included the

Farne islands

,

Lindisfarne

and the very Northumbrian villages of

Wooler

,

Bamburgh

and Belford.INDEPENDENT TOWN, PROSPEROUS PASTIt is hardly surprising that given Berwick's curious Anglo Scottish location, the local residents tend to regard themselves as independent `Tweedsiders' or `Berwickers' rather than English or Scottish. In fact until the Reform Act of 1885 Berwick did have a considerable degree of independence with the status of a `Free Burgh' meaning that it had to be mentioned separately in Acts of Parliament.Berwick's status was such that even the Crimean War had to be declared in the name of Great Britain, Ireland and Berwick Upon Tweed. Strangely after this war, when the peace treaty was signed Berwick's name was omitted and for many years the town was said to be technically still at war with the Russians.It is hard to believe that a town with such a turbulent history as Berwick was once one of the most prosperous merchant towns in Britain and was worth to Scotland an annual customs value of £2,190, which was equivalent to about one quarter of the customs of the whole of England. In the thirteenth century the wealthy town was described as;"So populous and of such commercial importance that it might rightly be called another Alexandria, whose riches were the sea and the water its walls"BERWICK : TOWN WALLS, BUILDINGS AND BRIDGESIn the fourteenth century Berwick became a real walled town when King Edward I fortified it against Scottish attack. His defensive walls supplemented the stronghold of Berwick Castle which stood on the site of the present railway station. Some of the town walls can still be seen today, dating mainly from the later Elizabethan period. They are among the finest of their kind in Europe.Berwick is one of the most picturesque towns on the region's coast, mainly because of its attractive red roofed houses, pinkish grey Georgian buildings and the fine seventeenth century bridge, which spans the River Tweed.Most notable of the town's buildings are the spired town hall of 1754 and the Berwick parish church, called Holy Trinity which is one of only a few built in England in Cromwellian times. For an historic parish church it is unusual, in that it has no steeple, tower or church bell. Instead a bell in the Town Hall is used to summon people to the church services at Holy Trinity. It is no wonder that many visitors to Berwick mistake the Town Hall for the parish church.The River Tweed at Berwick is almost as well known as the Tyne at

Newcastle

for its bridges. There are three here namely; Old Bridge, the Royal Tweed Bridge, and the Royal Border Bridge.The Royal Tweed is the most recent, built in 1925 it carries the old A1 through the town, although the more modern road now bypasses the town to the west. The Royal Border Bridge is an impressive nineteenth century railway viaduct. Opened by Queen Victoria in 1850, it was built by Robert Stephenson, creating an important rail link between London and Edinburgh.The `Old Bridge', also known as `Berwick Bridge' dates from 1611. It is a fine red sandstone structure with fourteen arches. Until the nineteenth century it was the main crossing point of the Tweed at Berwick, but did not as might be expected link Northumberland to Scotland. It in fact linked the

Norhamshire

district of the County Palatine of Durham to the county burgh of Berwick upon Tweed. County boundaries are a little more logical today.A POEM ABOUT BERWICK"Berwick is an ancient town

A church without a steeple

A pretty girl at every door

And very generous people."

OR ?

"A bridge without a middle arch

A church without a steeple

A midden heap in every street

And damned conceited people."

The less complimentary verse is attributed to Robbie Burns”

http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/BerwickuponTweed.html

Witchcraft/ link to thunderhead? - could work well for video project:

“ This volume provides a valuable introduction to the key concepts of witchcraft and demonology through a detailed study of one of the best known and most notorious episodes of Scottish history, the North Berwick witch hunt, in which King James was involved as alleged victim, interrogator, judge and demonologist. It provides hitherto unpublished and inaccessible material from the legal documentation of the trials in a way that makes the material fully comprehensible, as well as full texts of the pamphlet News from Scotland and James' Demonology, all in a readable, modernised, scholarly form. Full introductory sections and supporting notes provide information about the contexts needed to understand the texts: court politics, social history and culture, religious changes, law and the workings of the court, and the history of witchcraft prosecutions in Scotland before 1590. The book also brings to bear on this material current scholarship on the history of European witchcraft. ”

http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/7635/