blisshellfire

[blisshellfire]

Note to self. I need to add neopronoun tag to all my fics.

Heh, I’ll be dominating the tag on AO3. Practically all my fics got neo’s lol.

What can I say? I can’t get enough of them.

[blisshellfire]

Hi!

@sock-to-the-third

@blisshellfire / ao3

are me.

Goodbye.

<—

[blisshellfire]

A choose your own adventure? How alluring.

What mischeif will my mysterious alter ego be up to next?

No one knows.

Hiya! You’re looking spiffy today.

*throws a sock at you

*ze flees

🧦 🧦 🧦

[blisshellfire]

<-_SL_Ch2_pg6

“r-really?”

“yup.”

Nova crumples like a rag doll. Red and the rag doll return to their seats. The train cars had emptied. It’s getting late now. They’d be traveling for awhile. Transferred trains. At some point, sleep had taken his liability. Despite the risk, he couldn’t find it in himself to rouse zem.

Sometime later, Starlight’s body shifts. A strangled sob escapes.

Not that guy again.

It’s only when Starlight stares at the ceiling with a “welp, that just happened” sort of look that he sees who’s in the front seat.

“about time.” He mutters.

Starlight didn’t seem to hear. “Why do I smell like piss?”

“ya want the deluxe ride, call ahead.” Red mutters. “yer lucky ya just smell like piss.”

“Call?” Starlight parrots. “…call who?”

“have the others explain.”

Starlight mutters out something in a deeper voice before shaking zir head. When ze next speaks, it’s in Starlight’s natural register. “Where are we going anyway?”

“you’re place.”                                 

“Perfect.”

.

.

.

——-- End of Chapter 2 of Starlight -—

[blisshellfire]

<-_SL_Ch2_pg5

“not good enough. you gotta say it.”

“No?” It comes out barely above a whisper.

“Again but louder.”

“No.” Barely speaking volume but good enough.

“Next time I hear you spouting that crap I’ll burry you in ice cream so deep they’ll need  the cherry on top to know where you are. Not one of those Rainiers, one of them boring old Bings. A rotten one.”

Nova blinks owlishly and for a nerve wracking second, Red thinks she’s going to start crying again. The frown deepens, he winces as he hears another sob, big fat tears roll down her face as she clings to him. She worms her way past his leathers, burying her face in the soft sweater beneath. Her entire body heaving with the sobs.

What the hell is he supposed to do now?

Its then he remembers seeing someone tell their kid to stop smiling and it being funny to the kid because at this point, the kid won’t understand any of his usual material.

Fuck kids.

Why the fuck did Starlight have to share space with so many fucking kids?

“Don’t you dare fucking smile.” Red growls, letting the frustration bleed through as he peals them off. “I’m tryin’ ta scare ya. GAAAH!”

Tears still roll down Nova’s tear stained face. More little sobs but there’s an ebb in it, a glint of a smile. “y-y-your *hic* not sc-scary.”

“I’ve drown plenty of people. Even drowned a pig once in chocolate.” Red awkwardly adds.

Which only made the smile grow wider. “I bet it was a sweet death.”

“Tch” Red yanks her hood down so she can’t see him smile.

Last time he checked, she didn’t pun around.

When she comes up again, there’s still sniffles but a tentative smile plays at the edge of her lips. It lasts all of a minute before another sob bubbles up and she covers her ears.

“Just another minute.” Red grumbles, much to soothe himself as to soothe her. He resumes the pressure on her head but this time her hands cover his as if urging him to press harder. He does.

Through her skin, he can feel Starlight’s blood bumping rapidly. A racing pulse no doubt. It’d be awhile before the Nova calms the fuck down. The more he focuses on the features of Starlight’s face. The way Nova’s leans into the wrinkles in Starlight’s forehead and the little nose scrunch when ze was angry. His thumbs lightly draw circles into the pliable skin. The task taking him out of his own riotous thoughts. Before long, he can feel his own mind clearing. The hunger that gnaws at his belly to the way his ulna hurt from scratching it so much on the way here.  It helps that he sees no new marks on Starlight’s body. He even knows who’s the last guy Starlight played with. Good rep in the local scene and aside from being timid as fuck, didn’t have any red flags enough to mention.  The color in Starlight’s skin looked right, plenty of meat on the bones, and any drugs ze might’ve had in zir system are long since gone.

Whatever happened, he’d have to figure it out later. Neither Nova nor Comet had the information he needed. If there were others… they weren’t talkers.

He’d find out why Starlight ran off HORROR of all people.

“ya gonna tell me what’s eatin’ at cha or do I need ta hold ya here all night?”

Nova shakes her head. “I—I… I broke the fence.”

It didn’t matter how stupid the thing she was upset about. It was like an overfilled balloon, until it popped, she wouldn’t chill the fuck out. He needed chill if he was to not dust the next person he saw.

Nova closed her as if she were listening to someone else. “We.. we.. was playin’. Bridge. Bounce bounce side side.”

Red could see it now, Comet loved playing “pool” between walls, slowly ricocheting like a racket ball. Hallways could tolerate the rough play but soon as you get an older rotten bridge.

“hit-hit so hard.. broke.. fell… heart fast.. soo fast.”

What the fuck?

He didn’t hear the rest. When he hears a hiss, he realizes just how hard he was pushing her head too hard and loosens up, shifting to gripping her collar. Not wanting to hear any more of the sob story, Red says, “he said it was fine but only if ya promise never to do it on any funny business on any bridges ever again.”

-->

[blisshellfire]

<-_SL_Ch2_pg 4

Red rests the smoke between his teeth. The familiar tactile feeling setting the worst of his nerves at ease even if he can’t light it. Why anyone would sell smokes in a train with no lighter is an idiot but hey, little miracles.

He focuses on that sensation, letting it sit in his mouth as he watches.

Couple others walk toward the bathroom but most turn around when they sense the LV wafting off him. Unlike other monsters, his LV isn’t noticeable with he CHECK blocker. Not until you feel him let it loose like a coiled rattle snake, it bites at the air, making people cough and turn back.

Once he’s sufficiently far from “ripping the head off the liability” territory, he shortcuts back inside.

Noves immediately leaps up. Upon recognizing him, Comet’s smile bursts through. “Password?” He chirps.

“Ya can see me. don’t need one.”

Comet holds his hands in front of his eyes.

Red sighs, “buttface.”

Comet giggles, opening up his hands to exclaim. “It’s you!” Only to be enveloped with a hug. He awkwardly pats Comet’s back, pushing him away.

He barely gets to sitting back down before another sob wrenches from her. “No,no,no. We didn’t meant to. We can fix it. It’s there. It’s there, we can fix it. We just need to go back.”

Red lets this go on awhile before it gets on his nerves. “What didja do?”

Nova goes still. “Broke it. Broke it. Can’t be fixed.”

“what didja break?”

More silence.

“Spit it out.” When nothing comes, he sighs. “do ya remember what I toldja ‘bout hurtin’ people. When s’ right?”

“When they’re a threat?”

“right. You a threat?”

“Lumberjack is angry. He’s a good guy. Can’t lose good. Good is good. Now bad. Bad guy. Mad bad guy. I made think bad. i bad. So bad. Very bad bad bad bad.”

“don’t care ‘bout him. care ‘bout chu. are ya goin’ ta dust me? ”

“No! No, I’d never—never never never in a million jabillion nonono.”

“Then whoever ya did it to deserved it. End of story.”

Like a broken record, Nova seems to tune him out. “Can’t… can’t fix it. He’s coming—”Red tugs on her collar again. She lets out a shudder. A part of him begs it to be Starlight but hearing a sob dashing that hope.

“c’mon. ya know I ain’t gonna hurtcha.”

“But you should.”

It’s like a knife went through his soul. All the LV in the world couldn’t numb him to it.

“Y-You’d be better off if you just left me in the void. Then n-nobody would be hurt. W-we’d all be safe.”

For the first time, he wished Nova would tell him where she came from so he could kill the whoever made her feel like that.

Instead, Red presses his palms on either side of her head. The foggy distant gaze subsides, leaving the sad one groggy, as if waking up from a dream. It took everything in Red to keep his voice low. He couldn’t ever make it soft like the way Starlight spoke to Nova, but he could at least whisper.

He could feel his bones rattle with barely restrained anger. His face went carefully neutral while he pressed his into hers, even as his bones screamed that he should dust someone. Didn’t matter if he couldn’t get to who was responsible, someone had to die.  “remind me, do I hurt what’s mine?”

Another sob. She pressed into him, trembling as the feelings spilled over.

The tears were a mess and the way it made her nose run, ordinarily would’ve grossed him out. Still did. Some reason, he didn’t notice it like other days.

“can’t-can’t badbadbadbad—"

He interrupts her before she can get into a full panic. “Tell me, do I hurt what’s mine?”

She shudders, shaking her head.

-->

[blisshellfire]

<-_SL_Ch2_pg3

The ticketer snatches the cash and keeps moving. Lustverse was only a train away. This shit was almost over.

A sob draws him out of his thoughts. Red eyes Comet. No tears thankfully but Comet isn’t there anymore or if he is, his grip is slipping. Ears covered, someone mumbles through Starlight’s lips. “Can’t do it. Can’t stop it… she doesn’t like it. Not at all. She’s so loud.”

Red curses. He knew this would happen. There’s a reason why Starlight AU jumping with magic, dangerous as it was. He needs to get out of here yesterday. Luckily, the trains come outfitted with bathrooms, even though people only use them to shoot up.

It’s occupied, of course, he knocks on the door. He waits maybe a minute before yanking the door open. Someone’s passed out on the floor. He drags em out. E doesn’t even wake up, just grumble in eir sleep.

“T-That… wasn’t v-v-very nice.” A softer voice sniffles. “What if e is—”

“Not my problem.” He takes a quick few drags from his vape. Thankfully, the last guy disabled the smoke detector. Little miracles.

He knew within a second he’d lose it in here. Without use of finely tuned blue magic, it’d take someone at least 30 seconds to get in here. He needed a second out there. Away from this blubbering liability who aggravated his LV to no end.

Red couldn’t hurt them.

He wouldn’t hurt them.

Couldn’t leave them either.

“T-That lumberjack must h-hate me.” He could hear the start of the sniffles. “After-after what I-I’d hate me t-t-too. Evil. Bad. Bad. So bad. Baddest. Should-should –” Starlight’s face scrunches up in a way only Nova does as she hides behind her hands.

Another voice growls, hissing gibberish that clearly has the start to words but got cut off before he could make out who e actually was. 

He light’s tugs on the collar, seeming to yank her too out of whatever spiral she was in. “yer gonna be fine. cuz yer mine, got that? all of ya. Mine.”

Nova nods, shuddering as if out in the cold.

“I’m leaving for one minute. Don’t leave. Don’t yell. Don’t open the door to anyone unless they give the password.”

At password, a brighter spirit comes to the forefront. Good, Comet would calm her down. “Only if-if we can pick it.”

“fine.”

Like a snap of a rubberband, Comet’s smile burst through, “Buttface!”

“great.”

Red practically throws himself out of the bathroom. He finds the vending machine, punching at the keys for a pack of smokes. Vapes were good for hiding but he needed something else. Something stronger.

“Hey! Who’s hoggin’ the—” A shaggy human stops hammering at the door when Red strolls up.

His eyes aglow with two Gaster blasters on either side of him. Red coughs. The human’s earlier hot bluster dies in an instant. “Th-that’s against the rules.” E spits. The blasters start charging up. Anybody nearby starts shifting to the far sides of the train, only for a shorter mouse monster to pipe up.

“C’mon Roger, apologize.”

“But-but- he—” the Roger babbles.

“Roger, we don’t have time to sweep up your dust. He lets off magic. I’ll let off magic. Then we’ll all be banned, won’t we?” The older mouse monster smiles at Red.

The Lv13-er.

Red nearly lets off the blast when he hears a sob from the bathroom. In that split second of distraction, the mouse monsters yanks the human away and out of sight in the thrall of people. Sweat poors down Red’s face as he watches, waiting for someone to start something. Nobody. Fuck. He lets his magic dissolve and returns to the vending machine, punching in the rest of the code. His hands are shaking as he tries to pick up the cigarettes. It keeps slipping through his fingers.

Shit.

Chill the fuck out.

Third time, he’s got it.

Years, fucking years and this is the first time he’s done a retrieval on his own and he’s an utter mess. Jeez, maybe he should’ve taken Lust up on it and waited for him to rendevous. Not like Horror would’ve done anything. He’s Nightmare’s but not like the tar-streaked dog, Killer.

-->

[blisshellfire]

<-__SL_Ch2_pg2

Thoughts of his last mission come up. Seeing Starlight writhing on the ground—He grabbed ahold of Starlight’s collar, no, it’s Comet right now. Starlight isn’t here. Somewhere in there... but not here.

Comet had already become distracted with something else, not even acknowledging it. Wait, why was ze sitting up?

Red follows his gaze to a tiny TV in the ceiling. It played a little advert of Ink, Dream and a Swap Sans fighting a bunch of actors dressed up as Nightmare’s crew. “Do you want to be a force for change? Do you want to make the multiverse safer? Join the Star Sanses!” At the end, there’s a long list of disclaimers that flash by. Red snickers. Whoever installed that would regret it soon. It’d be knicked within a day.

“Neutral Station, Fellverse South, next stop.”

“That’s us,” He tugs on Comet’s hood, getting another squeak of protest. This time, Red keeps an arm around him. With his luck, the kid would pick a fight with a moldsmall and lose. A flood of passengers exited the train in a grubby station. It smelled faintly of piss with a single convenience store in the center, dotted with a few extraordinarily uncomfortable seats.

He buys another ticket, must’ve only been a second he took out his wallet and looked away when Comet spoke. “Weally? You made those?!” He whirls around, finding a Ruins Keeper staring back with an expression crossed with amusement and annoyance. Comet continues, totally oblivious. “I always wanted to make eawings. my eaws don’t like dem. Dey always get infected. Stah says I can’t have em. Are you a masta eawing maker? How do you make em loop like dat?”

Whatever the goat monster was about to say, Red grabs Comet’s arm, wrenching him into a shortcut, coming out at the far end of the kiosks a shortcut. “Heyyyy, dats not nice leavin’ wit out sayin’ goodbye, Wed. Look how sad she looks.”

Comet finds the goat monster in the crowd who appears to be chuckling to herself.

A weird part in Red’s chest warms. “Right behind me or do I need ta leash ya?” Red’s LV flares. Red can tell Comet can see it, see the way he shrinks back as if considering running. Red runs a hand over his face. He can feel his body screaming to teach the liability a lesson. Comet’ll still be in stripes a couple years.

He isn’t going to beat a kid.

He isn’t going to beat a kid.

It’s then he feels a presence closer. If it weren’t for smelling the familiar strawberry lemony scent that always clung to Starlight, he would’ve skewered the body entirely. “Head ache?” Comet leans into his face too closely.

Red gently shoves him away. “mmm fine..” This time he takes Comet’s hand.

The next train they hop on is busier. It’s a Fellverse to Taleverse transit so there’s a couple collared Taleverse monsters in the mix. Plenty enough to give him in the stink eye. He rolls his eyes, finding a window seat to nestle Comet in. His hand immediately going for Comet’s collar. This time he lets his hand there rest for a moment before forcing himself to let go.                                                                                                                                                                            

Comet looks back, ready to spew off something new he saw when he says, “Wed, did you head huwt?”

Red shakes his head, which seems to satisfy Comet.

He can’t wait for Starlight. The kid would be the death of him.

A train car over, he can hear someone shouting. Red’s hand already on Comet’s collar before he realizes it, tugging him closer. Comet gives Red a look but shrugs it off, barely paying mind to it.

A few moments pass, eventually the yelling’s sudden cuts off. Whether it was resolved or dust was shed, who could tell but least it wasn’t his problem.

It make him all the more aware of all the people around. The eyes that seem to be looking from everywhere.

Comet’s voice becomes so soft, he almost thinks it’s the crybaby. “She not happy.”

“she can wait.”

“She say that you should—”

Comet covers his face, breathing heavily. It takes a couple seconds to pass but when his hands come down. Red isn’t surprised when a smile that could break glass cloys at the human’s face. Though, the Angry One isn’t looking at him, somewhere above him. Only for the familiar soft edges of Comet to return as he shouts, “Howdy do, Mix! Like yo hat.”

He whirls around to find a cat monster ticketer looking mildly annoyed. The guy who let them on must’ve told the feline about the bribe. He could see it in the monsters eyes. Red digs out the cash to cover Starlight. At first, he wonders if the cat monster will say no. No ID usually is enough to make most attendants nervous… if this were Taleverse. Here, most the ticketers get paid shit enough that they look excited to find someone with bad papers.

-->

[blisshellfire]

<-

Starlight

Chapter 2

Content Warning: dissasociation, panic attack, hypervilgilance, displaced anger

——————————————————

A blast of warm air greets Red and Comet as they step on the train. The scent of stale magic and sweat saturates the frigid air. If it weren’t for the Dream advert over the seats, it could’ve easily been mistaken for any old train. Humans and monster fill the car. Most look like they came out of the same shops Red would shop in. Black and brown leather with accents of red far as the eye can see. The few others muted colors sported by smaller monsters in collars. This far from the main hub, it isn’t packed. One of a few reason Red doesn’t summon an attack on instinct.

Whoever thought having the same cramped cars for Fellverse as Taleverse should get their hands chopped off and put through a meat grinder.

It’ll get worse in a few stops.

Red nearly snatches up Star—Comet’s collar before he thinks better. Instead, his grips tightens on Comet’s arm. “right behind me. no detours.”

“Rawja, rawja!”  Comet solutes far too loudly.

Great, now everyone knows he’s got a stripes in collar.

He surveys the seats, briefly CHECKing any of the passengers he’d consider a threat. One Lv13, they eye his liability a little too closely. Comet being in the driver’s seat smiling back didn’t help. He had already began cheerfully swinging his arms back and forth, nearly clobbering a nearby passerby. “cut it out.” Red snarled, yanking Comet’s hood down.

Of course, this only earns a giggle from the ray of sunshine who probably thinks its another game.

“can it.”

“Why are we whispewin’—”

“quiet game.” Red hisses. Comet nods with an even bigger grin. The reward of cake or cookies sparkles in his eyes.

Red resists grabbing the collar instead guides Comet to the next train car. Red keeps searching the cars for a better spot. Each one had a damn human. He avoids those, settling for a car of Lv5’s and less. He could feel the other monsters’ and humans’ gaze, their own checks pinging off him. Not that it would show much. Most of them weren’t even from his Underfell, a mixture of Swaps, Fellswaps, and other AUs he couldn’t identify. All of them look worse for wear, clothing scuffed up with dark bags under their eyes. Unlike the Taleverse trains, aside from the occasional argument, this one was pretty quiet for this late in the day. 

A few more pings came. He turned around, spotting another universe’s MK who grinned having gotten his attention. Red grinned back, only for them to go wide eyed and look away. Red settled back in his seat. Damn stripes.

Thankfully, the stripe didn’t check him again.

Waterfall runs past the windows for awhile. The train creeks as its magic waxes and wanes. The lights flicker, the train rumbles as if the AU didn’t want to let go. White streaks momentarily fill the darkness before the train is plunged into the void. Then it settles with a sigh.

“Woooah, so cool!” The sheer aw in Comet’s voice, how lost he was in the scene with a smile big enough to swallow a frog.

“didn’t I tell ya ta keep yer head down?” Red hisses, giving the liability’s hood another tug.

At first Comet looked annoyed, then intrigued. “If I look izzit gonna melt my brain till it come out my ears?” Comet’s goofy smile looked odd on the hard curves of Starlight’s face.

“you know exactly why.” Though even as Red said it, he face palmed. If what Starlight said about Comet was right, the kid was sheltered as fuck. Probably had no survival instincts. “Can’t attract attention.”

“Atten—atten…attenen?”

“we wanna be forgettable. Like we were never hear.”

“Why?”

“cuz we don’t wanna fight any of em. now stop asking questions and stay quiet. you’re losing by the way.”

Comet’s lips upturned in a pout. “Meanie.”

Comet says even while a monster in passing glares at Red like he’s the scum of the earth. Damn Taleverse monsters and their moral superiority. See how well they do when Nightmare comes for them.

-->

[blisshellfire]

Works on Tumblr

Starlight (Multiverse x Catharsis)

Capsican (Classic x Siracha Mayhem)

Free Writing Weirdness

Also me: @sock-to-the-third

[blisshellfire]

You were a nice pinned comment but you're quite out of date my friend

#x#oakland#cave slave#grass story#divine punishment#zeek’s freaks

I’m on AO3 under the same name.

Current Drafting: [15nov24]

Zeek’s Freaks

On the Shelf: [15nov24]

Divine Punishment

Side blog: @bh-writingdump

Main blog: @sock-to-the-third

Disclaimer: 18+ blog [1st drafts]

[blisshellfire]

<--__SL_Ch1_pg7

He spots a green scarf amongst the mix. “yeah, there’s green.”

“How about Red?”

“Besides the collar?”

“Orange?”

“You know it’s yours. How many Red’s got a human with scarves all the colors of the rainbow?”

“Just answer the damn question!”

The plastic phone cracks beneath his grip, he forces himself to relax. “no. orange.”

There’s silence on the other end of the line, aside from the shuffling of papers. “Ask em if e still got the strontium converter.”

“This isn’t bugged.”

More silence. Great. Red thinks he’s an idiot. He might be forgetful but he knows how to handle a phone tap.

For the love of the stars and heavens and earth, why would he be the one calling for a ransom? There’s a reason Nightmare left that shit to Killer and Dust. Too much double-crossing and intrigue. He was there for supplies and taking Paps off AU once in awhile. He’d murder. He wasn’t the type to yank a chain.

Horror doesn’t even ask em. “They do.”

“Put zem on.”

Fuck, Red’s not even faking an impersonal pronoun. Why keep up the charade? Who does Red think he’s fooling? Might as well call Nightmare right now with all the folks who use ze/zem pronouns and have grey eyes. Maybe Horror should just bring zem to the damn bar.

“They ain’t talking.”

“you want my help or not?”

The next time he sees Red, the bastard is getting clubbed. “here, enjoy silence.”

To his surprise, the human’s almost angry expression shifts to again. “S-Strontium… Strontium… yeah, but it’s used….” The human nods. “Thirty-five isn’t good. More like Seventy. No. Not seventy straight. Add six more zeros. it’s rare…. Yeah.. yeah.. Kay.” Soon as the phone was away from em, a blankness falls over em.

“Good?”

The receiver makes a dull tone. The human wouldn’t leave the phone booth so he locked it. Better off there than at his place. With his luck, Killer would make another move soon as he calibrated another token. Not to check here. Besides, nobody dumb enough to mess with it. Not with Nightmare on the other end.

He came back awhile later with food, threw some inside. The human looked relieved when he closed it. Chewing on a stale biscuit, it couldn’t have been more than an hour before a shimmering pattern appeared in the stone beside the booth. It grew liquidity as a skeleton with a golden tooth and a black leather jacket four times too big stepped through.

That was fast. Must’ve cost a pretty penny. Probably a year’s supply of bar runs if he’d reckon.

“Where?” Red demands. Eye lights sharp, coat ruffled, jaw clenched. He eyed his surroundings as if expecting Nightmare himself to come jumping out.

Horror unlocks the shed. Humans still inside.

“you want the 35 or not? Get your ass up.”

Horror smacks his own face. He doesn’t have the resources to have cameras around here. Does he think the Royal Guard got the resources to maintain cameras out here or Nightmare just really likes spying on him? That’s his thing with Killer, not him.

The human stumbles out like a toddler, stiffening under Horror’s gaze to walk normally but looks more like e has tin legs. Once whoever piloted Starlight’s body and Red were through, the shimmer faded. The rock wall looks solid as ever again.

Whatever strength he has leaves him as he slumps against the wall. Damn, this rock has never been this comfy.

Papyrus picks up in two rings.

“ay, Paps, you off yet? Yeah, took you up on your advice… yeah, didn’t think a walk to Waterfall would do it.” For the next while, he watched the twinkling ceiling while Papyrus rants about self-care. His mind evens out.

Though a small part of him still couldn’t help looking back, hoping that the starry-eyed human would return.

.

.

.

---- End of Chapter 1 of Starlight ------

<--Ch1 ............................................Ch2-->

[blisshellfire]

<--_SL-Ch1-pg6

Killer would pick up on him not shortcutting. He’d have to end this quick.

Just as Killer dodged one of his attacks, a pink fire ball hit Killer square in the back. He lets out a strangled yelp as half of his HP is decimated. Long enough for Horror to loose his last shortcut and grab him, slamming him against the wall. He felt it before he saw Killer bite down. The weightless feeling heightened as he pulled Killer’s motionless body back to crush him against the rocks only to find it burst into dozens of blue coins.

Bastard and his jump tokens. The day Horror convinced Nightmare to stop rewarding him with that crap, he’d live until he’s a hundred.

“nice shot back there.” Horror mused. Guess the kid had better aim than he thought. He finds cem rocking back and forth.

A softer voice than Comet’s chants. “fire light, fire bright. Fire light, fire bright.” Sounded different, more enunciations to the consonant, older too. Still not Starlight. How many temps did Starlight shove in zir mind?

This time, when he reaches toward em, e flinches. Eyes wide and terrified, for a split second, e looks ready to run. “P-Password. W-where did you and Starlight meet?”

Horror kneels beside the kid. The burn of too many shortcuts weighs on his bones. If he sits down now, he definitely wouldn’t be getting up.  

“A bar. Down in Undership.”

“De-Denied.”

Huh, how much did Starlight talk about him. If they ever met again, he’d have some questions. Slowly, he says, “a curiosity shop.”

The temp’s shoulders drop. “a-accepted. You’re h-him?”

This time when Horror takes em by the shoulder, e lets him.

Once at the booth, he checked the usual spots for bugs. Sure enough, he found a handful of new ones that Killer snuck in. There must’ve been ten in there. Luckily, Horror insisted on getting an older design so it was obvious as hell when the other tried embedding bugs.

“Neutral Station phone operator, how can I help you, sir?” the operator sounded over it. That usually meant that they’d only tolerate a couple tries before they’d hang up.

Horror told them the AU code. It took a couple different codes. The first two Red had been to recently and took messages. On the third, the bartender chuckles, “Red, you have an admirer.”

The country music beats in the background until a familiar voice snaps on the line. “what?”

“got somethin’ you’ll wanna hear—"

“what’s he want now? A goddamn Ferrari? I toldja I DON’T CAAAARE.” He slurs.

Honestly, Horror’s a little surprised Red didn’t hang up. “got somethin’ of yours.”

He kneels beside the human, holding out the phone as far as the wire would allow.

The human ducks beneath the blanket.

“bronze red collar. Gold tag.”

“doesn’t ring a bell. Sure as hell wouldn’t dump in your trash AU.”

Horror kneaded his forehead. How are all Sanses this unbearable? Maybe it was ache in his bones but he can’t help the coiling tension. In a brief burst, he threw a fist into the soft wood of the phone booth. It barely splintered but sent a satisfying shock of pain up his arm.

The human lets out a cry.

“sorry,” Horror gently pats Starlight with his foot.

E casts a searching look toward Horror before hiding beneath the blanket again.

No more bitching from Red’s end.

“Still --”

“---What’s it look like?”

“Tall, lil pudgy, wobbly knees. Grey eyes. Mole by their right eye.” He wasn’t dumb enough to give away the stars on the eyelid thing, that’d just be like telegraphing it to Nightmare with a giant flag.

“wearin’ any green?”

“What kinda question—” Horror could feel that red hot anger coiling again, he rests his head against the cool metal of the telephone box. “Gimme a sec.”

Horror peals off the blanket as he catches the tail end of a sob. Though, when the human stares up at him, eir expression is carefully blank. The tale edge of anger looking ready to burst out.

-->

[blisshellfire]

<--__SL_Ch1_pg5

By the time they reach Riverperson, the human’s already asleep. Riverperson helps him aboard. The gentle rocking of the boat lulling some of his worries. “Tralala, the early bird gets the worm. Tralala.” The Riverperson hums.

Horror quirks a brow but the Riverperson doesn’t elaborate.

The closer they get to Waterfall, the more his hackles rise. Out on a job, this would be a bad sign. He never gets far without having to intimidate or fight someone. When was the last time he’d gone further than Snowdin? Was it the last shipment? No, much longer.

There isn’t much a need. Since the crew got multiverse phone, having a landline quickly became obsolete. Unlike the others, Horror insisted on keeping his. If there came a time when Nightmare cut them off, the underground would need a way contact the outside world.

The marshy ground squelched under his boots. The snow had long since melted, leaving a powdery brown mud. He waited there awhile, staring at the ceiling.

Danger. A voice in the back of his head whispers.

He couldn’t count the number of times he’d ambushed other Sanses in places like this. Another reason why Waterfall was a horrible place for a phone. The one from Nightmare hung heavy in his pocket.

Horror’s phone was in his pocket. One call. That’s all it’d take. He doubted Nightmare had someone tapping his phone 24/7. On the other hand, if there was even a 1% change he or someone else was there, heard Starlight’s name or recognized something. Part of the reason Starlight’s alive is probably because Nightmare thinks ze is dead. Still, every instinct told him not to step further. At least in Snowdin’s forest, he could hear anything coming from a mile away. The snow dampened some sound, but he figured ways around it. Plus, the sight lines…

In Waterfall, the caverns grew steadily narrower as he went along. The maze of marshy land made only a few paths viable. A perfect place for traps, ambush, among other such activities. If the worst happen, he’d need them ready to run.

A little yawn came from the blanket as ce tried to lean into his side. Horror could’ve sworn Starlight was back, only for the blanket to fall and the doey eyes of the younger temp staring back. “Are we there yet?”

“almost.” Horror whispers. “gotta walk the rest of the way.”

Comet didn’t argue, holding Horror’s hand. It was nearly at the Telephone booth’s cavern that he heard something. In an instant, he found a small overhang and tucked the human inside. Not that ce stayed. “quiet game. stay.”

“But I wanna be with—”

A whistle filled the air, cheery, the kind you’d expect a carefree person to belt out.

To his surprise, ce froze, letting him tuck cem inside the little alcove. He returned to the trail, walking casually as the living incarnation of TNT and worst makeup bleed of the century came around the corner. The skeleton smiled at him like he’d won the lottery. “ya know, for an AU that got starved nearly to death not that long ago. Your guys’s Waterfall pretty nice. Clean as a Classic’s, ya know that?”

“What do you want?” Horror brandishes a bone attack.

Killer steps around him. Careful to stay just out of range. Somehow he’s able to walk just an inch over the mud. Ah, he recognizes those kicks, must’ve been an Outertale, lot of floating knick knacks Killer stole from those AUs. “No, hi Killer? or How are you doing, Killer? All straight to business, it’s like we’re not even family.”

Horror grip tightens. “Phone’s still work.”

His feline smile sharpens. “Too impersonal.”  He stops just shy of the way Horror came. It’s tempting to break eye contact. A second would be all Killer needs to know he’s hot ont he trail. With his knack of pushing people’s buttons, he got people to tell him a far less. “Why not what brings you to Waterfall? Certainly not the relic—”

Bones erupt around Horror. Malformed and twisted, they have the desired effect. Killer twitches. “find yer laughs elsewhere. Less you plan on bringin’ boss into this.” Horror murmurs, soft enough that it’s washed away with the nearby stream.

He’d prefer to keep the source of the goods a secret. Less people who know the better.

There’s a twinkle in Killer’s eye, calculating. “you’re losing your touch, old man.” Only to run in the direction Horror came. In no time, Horror was in the next cavern. He knew better. Should’ve just let Killer play his game. Chances were he wouldn’t find zem anyway.

Soon as Killer sensed him, he looked around like it was a treasure hunt. “Is your little secret here? How romantic.”

Horror ditches any subtley firing attacks every which way. The flea easily ducks and weaves. His amusement growing each time he finds another empty hidey hole. “Not here! Ooop. Not here either. What about here? Heheh, c’mon, just tell me you gotta lover, Horror. We all know you’re hiding something.”

-->

[blisshellfire]

<--__SL_Ch1_pg4

Rumor had it Red did it to get out of his crappy AU. Ironically, his AU was open to travel but Neutral Station and the Multiverse Train had a max LV. So for AUs like anything in Fellverse needed special papers to get out. Not to mention the Stars Sanses and Omegaverse usually encourage Fell residents to stay in their respective AUs until they surfaced. Don’t want the “problem kids” running around. Cheaper than running a prison.

Though, Red seemed like the type to go hoping from one dick to another. Not the pet type.

“Not supposed ta talk to strangers.” Though it seemed more like the kid didn’t want to deal with whatever trouble ce was in.

“You supposed to chase em?”

“S’ was part of the game.”

“What game?”

It’s then the human’s mittens clamp over cir mouth. Comet furiously shakes cir head. “Playin’ just playin’.” Muffled by the mittens, ce say in an older voice, “Oh nono. I’m i…” Eir eyes big, like on the verge of panic. Comet covers cir face, peaking between cir gloves before covering it again.

The older voice murmurs again. “Just let me go.. We-we swear we’ll go away. Far far way. No trouble, no trouble at all.”

Of course there’s more of them. “Where are the others?”

A smirk appears on Starlight’s visage with a glint in the eye like it was about to bite his face off. It passes quickly, replaced by an ever deepening frown and glazed over eyes. “Udders? Me.. is me.. yeah, me is me..” Comet blink several times as if that would clear up the confusion.

“Does Red know your here?”

Ce squirms, trying to get out of the tree again, only to give up. A more fearful expression takes over.

The older voice replies. “Please let me go. I won’t follow.” e cover eir head. “I promise. Fix it. I’ll fix it. I’ve got the tools.”

“I’m not gonna hurtcha but if you keep on yapping someone will. Don’t take kindly humans ‘round here. Understand?”

The human’s pupils dilate, then e hid behind eir hands again. “Bad bad bad.”

“Does Red know your here?”

“Can’t—no, bad bad. Can’t know. Can’t know. Bad. Noo,nono, stupid bad.”

He tugs em out of the tree but e doesn’t so much stand as collapse on the ground. Still covering eir face and muttering. Horror gives them a light shed. “Focus. Red. He comin’ or not?”

It’s then the doey eyes and bright smile come back. Something’s more off, like it’s a little forced. “Red….” The human giggles as ce chews on the name like taffy. “Wed?… weady fweddy hehe.” It’s hard to tell if the kid’s just being difficult or still the head injury.

“The one who collared ya.” He tugs on it for good measure.

 “Wed… WeeeeEEEEed..  colla?…” Comet follows his gaze, tugging at said collar too. “Oh! Yeah, uh… “

Finally. “Is he or is he not—"

“I dunno know who that izz.” Comet nods like a bobble head.

Only for the wide eyed panicked look to return. “Please, don’t be angry. I really don’t know. Let me go and I’ll—”

Horror covers the mouth again. That older voice was going to get on his nerves.

“We’re gonna call Red.”

Muffled through his hand, he hears. “What if he’s angry? Not supposed to—”

“He won’t be.” He definitely will be. “Talked to him earlier. He said he won’t get angry long as we call him right now.”

The human sags in his grip, gently swaying back and forth. When Starlight’s eyes open again, they’re doey with a sleepy edge. “Oooh, well.. if he no angry then ok. We go.” Cir hands holds his for balance. He can almost imagine zem sagging into a cuddly pool in his arms like back—

He shakes off the memory. He makes sure the scarves cover every inch of cir face. He wished he could shortcut to the Multiverse Telephone but the damn kid made him use up far too much of his magic. If Horror was lucky, he’d get two in before he’d be useless.

The few people who pass him wave amicably. Whether that’s to get in better standing with the food source or in genuinely neighborly fashion, it’s hard to tell. His grip tights on the smaller hand in his, relaxing slightly once out of town.

-->

[blisshellfire]

<--___SL_Ch1_pg3

“Nova, I’m here…” Starlight swallows as ze feels another sob wrack zir chest. “W-What is happening? How’d we get so many—”

“No no no! I gotta do it. You said he’d come.” Then a familiar warmth blooms through the body, and a childlike voice comes through zir lips. “I’ll give it. Give it good!”

Then all of a sudden, Starlight is thrown back into the sub. It’s harder to think this time. Everything drowns out in the storm of the waves and gales of the sea.

***

The doppleganger leaps through the trees on streaks of pink magic. E swoops in like a harpy. E doesn’t have the axe, having discarded it earlier on but wields the letter like a knife.

Indignant sqwack comes from behind “Not again!” the doppleganger shrieks. “Not faiy! Not faiy! Not faiy! Wait thwee days just like ze said! Stuck again!!? GAAAAH!”

Horror emerges from where he was hiding to find the doppleganger stuck between two tree trunks, wedged in.

“I didn’t lose. Never lose. You haven’t won!” Pink magic fires out behind em but whatever e does, it doesn’t budge.

As Horror’s able to catch his breath, it dawns on him how zir mustache and eye brows, once pink with the flow of magic, flicker between pink to their usual black hue. He’d seen the same happen with Starlight. Usually, would just fire off a blast through eir hands… wouldn’t the doppleganger know that?

Wait a second, dopplegangers can’t do human magic like that.

Maybe someone stole Starlight’s body?

All of a sudden pink flames engulf eir whole body.

Yup, that’s def Starlight’s body. Minus the temper tantrum screeching of a child, the frustration fire is definitely something ze’d do.

A moment later, eir mustache and brow return to their black hue and the fire snuffs itself out, leaving only steam rising from the whining… something.

His LV screams to finish it but he steps closer. The stranger sighs with resignation. “Fine. But itsa draw. No wins. Both lose.” E tosses the letter toward him. Horror catches.

Still, he keeps a bone attack ready. Regardless of how badly formed, still better than nothing since the stranger lost his axe down a tree well.

The letter is in Starlight’s messy scrawl. His grip tightens.

Horror,

I left my body in very incapable hands. Protect it until I get back.

Thanks.

PS. Keep hard candy out of sight.

That’s Starlight for you. Throwing a mess on his doorstep expecting him to know what to do with it. Guess nothing changes.

Comet,

Set the beacon on and stay in the cave I left the body in. This world’s Sans should find us and send us home. He’s hard to miss (see Figure 1.1). If anyone else comes like this (see Figure 2.1,2.2,2.3) run North until you find the deer blind by the old oak tree. Can’t miss it.

Starlight.

It’s then the human sits up. The Not-Starlight, Sort-of-Starlight glares back at him, still with those doey eyes. “That’s my letter.” Comet wipes eir—no, Comet’s a kid. Comet wipes cir snotty nose on cir sleeve.

“What are you?”

It’s then, with all the scarves having fallen off, he spots the collar.

The glint of the bronze-redish with a dog tag reading just ‘Red.’ It could’ve been any of a million Reds. The multiverse had its share of Underfells. Though, it also had enough magic packed it in it to fry the hand off even a boss monster. Horror would recognize that magic anywhere.

Red’s contract ended a couple months before Starlight disappeared. In fact, Horror trained him in the early days of the crew. His contract with Nightmare ended, he kept the check blocker and nobody saw him again. Nightmare still mentioned from time to time recruiting him if they saw him. “An assassin who can also act as an informant isn’t a thing to be wasted.” Nightmare once mused.

-->

[blisshellfire]

<--___SL_Ch1_pg2___

“Gwumpy skeletons… gwumpy skeletons… hmmm…”

While the stranger grumbles to emself, Horror shakes off the shock. Whoever this is, clearly they were sent to fuck with him. In his travels he’d seen a lot of things and heard more. He’d only met a handful of dopplegangers (they were highly sought after). Usually they existed in AUs prior to monsters being locked beneath mountains. In Horrortale, all of the died off after the war.

Yet, this one sounds so young. They couldn’t possibly have gotten close enough to Starlight, touch zem and not know what ze actually sounds like. Yet… even like this, it fooled his CHECK. It’d fool anyone.

His LV crackles with anticipation, burning to rush forward. There’s no telling how long the doppleganger had planned this but it ends today. He wouldn’t let it touch him and he wouldn’t let it replace anyone else.  

Before he can shortcut, it swings open. The bright-eyed doppleganger squeals with joy. “I know you! You look just like da picture. See!” E reaches into eir pocket.

He takes a swing only, just as the stranger drops the photo, ducking to pick it up as the blade embeds itself in a nearby tree. The stranger picks up the letter like it’s the most precious thing ever. “Buttafingas,” e mutters.

Horror shortcuts further away as e reaches for him.

How did e dodge that?

Why was the maniac still smiling?

E saw the fucking axe impaled in the wall and just… didn’t care??? Then just.. yanks out it out and holds it out, teasingly, like he’d believe e would just hand it back.

“You dwopped dis, fwiend.” The doppleganger smiles with all eir teeth, e even has the space between the front teeth, just like Starlight.

Oh, this piece of shit.

Strings of pink fire rippled in waves from the stranger’s shoulders, down eir arms. The gathering fireballs the size of baseballs.

Of course they got items.

He holds a bone attack at the ready.

Rather than throwing the fire ball, the stranger blasts the magic straight down into the snow. An avalanche of snow and powder woosh across the land, blinding him. He coughs, waving his hand around only to find two scorch marks in the ground where e was.

Childish giggles come from above. “PWEPAE TO BE LETTEWD!” E cackles from ten feet above, swan diving toward him, axe in hand. He barely dodges before another eruption of snow blinds him.

***

It feels like someone drenched Starlight’s mind in syrup. Each thought comes and goes slowly. Something tells Starlight ze should be awake. Something is happening. The body, not uncommonly, feels off.

Ze recognizes that feeling, being the passenger in zir own body. After years of it, Starlight is used to the strange vision.

It is like being trapped within your own submarine. Looking outside a porthole into the chaos that is unfurling outside your body.

Starlight presses against the metaphorical porthole. Ze can feel the other pressing back. Whoever is using compressed magic to launch emself off the ground was doing it sloppily. On two occasions, the body slammed into a tree.

No.. not whoever.. Comet… What was Comet doing up?

Comet follows someone… Starlight tries to remember who it was… Ze knows that bara skeleton. The cracked skull to the swollen red iris in the left eye. Soon as ze gets close to a discovery, ze is shoved away from the window.

Not only that, it feels like same feeling plunges zem into darkness. A vague awareness that something is happening outside. Something urgent but not knowing what so ze isn’t sure if ze should push. If ze does, it could cause Comet to get distracted. In a fight, that’s disastrous.

Starlight takes the risk, tearing at the barrier’s in between zem and the porthole.

It’s then it feels like the whole submarine lurches forward. Suddenly, Starlight is outside, snow pressed up against zir face. Everything hurt. Fuck.

Someone was sobbing.

The body is sobbing? but not Starlight…

“N-Nova??” Starlight wretched between the Sad One’s sobs who shakess the body’s head.

“nono, we can’t be here. This is bad. So bad.”

--->