"It's good to finally be back home," Golemite said, arms behind her head as she walked through the streets of Nowhere with Asriel and Shye.
The three had decided to take a leisurely walk through Nowhere, mostly for Shye's benefit, as she hadn't had much time to explore the last time they'd stopped in town. Mena let out a meow from her perch on Shye's shoulder; the feline construct looked around with just as much curiosity as her owner. She occasionally hopped out of Shye's grasp to examine something interesting, usually some bit of trash left on the road, but she never let Shye get too far away before bounding back and clawing up to the cat-girl's shoulder once again.
"Walkin' the streets, checkin' the roads," Golemite continued, "Reminds me of the old days, before I met Asriel. Workin' the outer roads was a hoot. I still remember him tellin' me the road was out."
"Really?" Shye said sarcastically. She too had been surprised the first time the stones of the road flew in front of them to form a path.
Golemite just chuckled. "Such a long time ago. Weird to thinka all we've done seen since then, right Asriel?"
"Right," Asriel replied without much conviction.
"The Brass Woods, the Precious Meadows, The Glass Sea," Golemite continued even as Shye frowned at Asriel, "Then o'course Paena and the Wanderlands. Never thought I'd see anythin' like all dat after leavin' da Underground."
"Right," Asriel replied again, with even less interest than before.
A mischievous smile shot across Shye's face. "My favorite part was the Crow Matriarch betrothed her youngest daughter to Asriel. Can't wait for the wedding."
"Can't wait for …" some of Shye's words managed to pass the mental block of Asriel's thoughts, causing him to look up suddenly. "Betrothed what?"
Shye and Golemite chuckled at Asriel. The former prince sighed and said, "Sorry, guys. I had a weird dream last night, and I can't get it out of my head."
"Ah," Golemite said, nodding. "I get those sometimes when I eat too much quartz. Last time, I dreamt I was just a head hopping around while humans we3re tryin' to smash me with sledge hammers. Creepy stuff."
Shye snorted. "I used to Dream of being in the middle of the woods when suddenly all the horns would start playing so loud my ears hopped off my head and ran away."
Golemite and Asriel stared at her for a few moments before bursting into laughter.
"It was scary to me," Shye muttered, glowering at them.
"Now, now," Golemite said, "Don't go takin' it personal. Just cuz a thing might sound silly don't make it so. Take Azzie; in his bad dreams, he's a flower."
Asriel felt heat rise to his cheeks as Shye turned to look at him. "Really? What's so scary about that?"
"What I'm sayin'," Golemite said, "Is dat we all got our own idea of what's scary. Nuthin' wrong about havin' a good laugh at it."
Asriel mentally thanked Golemite, even she'd been the one to bring up Flowey in the first place. They continued walking through the streets bathed in the light of the Middle of Nowhere. Asriel wanted to go back there to ask Mayor Mayor and his sister for guidance, but decided to wait until later so he could go alone. The question he wanted to ask wasn't something he felt asking in front of them.
Asriel's musings were cut short as traffic along the road increased. In less than a minute, the road was completely packed with people, carts, and plenty of confusion.
"Hey!" Golemite shouted over the cloud of complaining Nowhere residents. "What's da holdup here? We're tryin' ta get through here!"
When no answer was forthcoming, Golemite grabbed Asriel and Shye, set them on her shoulders, and proceeded to do what she did best; clear a path. Startled yells and insults surrounded the golem as the continued, but she seemed to pay them little notice. After a few minutes (and about a thousand angry Nowhere citizens), Golemite reached the far end of the crowd and found the road blocked by a Skyway Repair Crew barricade.
"Uh, oh," Golemite muttered, "Looks like we're gonna be workin' today after all."
Asriel sighed, but deep inside, he'd been expecting something to happen. He'd even brought his tools.
Golemite set his friends down and approached the barricade, where two other Skyway crew members were standing guard.
"Heya, Frank," Golemite said, holding up a hand for a high-five that Frank, a rather skinny fellow covered with an almost shaggy growth of blue feathers and a beak like a stork, lazily gave him. "And Davis!" Golemite held up his hand again to the turtle-man standing beside Frank, only for it to be ignored. "What's goin' on?"
"I dunno, man Frank said. Frank was "The boss called us about an hour ago, and told us to cut off access to the western skyways until we heard back from him."
"He cut off all the western access?" Golemite said, his tone incredulous. "That's a quarter of the city!"
"I know, " said Frank, "but you know how it is, Golemite; he's the boss, we're the crew."
"Huh." Golemite scratched his head for a few moments. "Don't suppose you could let us through."
"Sorry, Golemite; he said no access," said Davis, his tone gruff.
Frank nodded in agreement, his long feathers swaying slightly from the movement. "S'right. This lot'll go nuts if we just let you by."
"But you're not just letting us through," Asriel said, drawing Frank and Davis's gaze instantly. "We're Skyway Crew too! Whatever problem he's facing, we can help!"
"He brought five veteran crew with him," Davis said, beady eyes narrowing at the goat-boy. "What makes you think he needs your help?"
"Because he hasn't got back to you in an hour," Asriel said. "I've only worked with the boss a few times, and then I was in training, but he always made a point to let everyone on location or a big repair know what was going on every fifteen minutes."
"He's right, y'know," Frank said. "Keeps us informed, so we know if we need to order dinner."
"Or cancel one," Davis muttered, rubbing an old silver ring on his right claw. "All right … but get back to us quick, or I'll be goin' myself to see what's the hold up … that's if this lot don't rush us by then."
"Much appreciated," Golemite said, picking up Skye and Asriel again and stepping past the barricade despite a wave of complaints from the waiting crowd. Once on the empty road again, Golemite broke into a run. Even though her new form was lighter than the original hulking mass that was Golemite classic, her stone feet still made the stones of the road shake with every step.
The roads spread into their usual confusing array of directions as they passed city limits with no sign of trouble. The light of the Middle of Nowhere slowly faded, revealing only the gem-studded ceiling of the great cavern. Asriel stared up at the glimmering gems, wondering just how close it was to true starlight. He'd actually forgotten that they were still underground, still in the Deep.
His thoughts eventually turned back to his mother, and to Frisk. Were they doing okay on the surface? Were the humans accepting the monsters, or was another war brewing? The former, he hoped. His mother lost enough. For the first time in a long while, he wished he could see her, hug her, eat her delicious homemade snail pie, and tell her all about his new life in the Deep.
"Golemite," Asriel asked suddenly, "You told me once that you came from the Underground."
"Yeah, what was that about?' Shye asked. "I thought technically we were all underground."
Golemite let out a chuckle. "Azzie's talkin' about the old Underground. Your parents never told ya anythin 'bout where we all came from?"
"Not really," Shye admitted, though the way she averted her gaze made it clear she probably hadn't been listening.
"Well, a long time ago, monsters lived on the surface with humans," Golemite said, "And-"
"Humans? What's a human?"
Golemite chuckled again. "Beings from the surface. Same basic shape as us; head, two arms, two legs. Kinda all looked the same, but hey, that's just my opinion. Anyway, one day, some of 'em figured out that they could absorb the souls of bossun like Asriel here, and thought that they could get that from all monsters. There was a war, and at the end, we got sealed in the Underground. Our King … Asriel's father, Asgore … he wanted to break the barrier and retake the surface, but a lot of us thought it'd be best to stay away from the murderous scumbag humans, and decided to stay here. They eventually found the entrance to the Deep, migrated here, and there's the story."
"Wow!" Shye said, eyes glittering with excitement. "Your dad's a king? That's so cool! What was he like?"
Asriel opened his mouth, but was surprised to be cut off by Golemite. "Asgore? He was a great king. Kind, caring, and generous as all heck. Used to dress up as Santa and give presents to everyone."
Golemite chuckled and shook her head. "He was good at giving us hope, even when we felt stuck. I was proud to serve under him."
"Wait," Asriel said, "you worked with dad?"
"You kiddin'? I was second-in-command of the Royal Guard, right under old man Gerson! Ha! That old turtle could give Davis a run for his money in the grump department on a bad day. Mind you, we didn't have much work after the war. Even Asgore knew another war would only end with a big pile of dust on our side." Golemite glanced at Asriel. "I never told you this before?"
"Not exactly," Asriel said. "But keep going. I wanna hear about it to."
"Well, at the end, most of us were glorified gardeners. King had us plantin' all over the Underground, said that the flowers would make all the trapped monsters feel better. Typical Asgore thinkin', bless his horns. Anyway, I remember I was in Hotland puttin' down some fire lilies when we got the word; a human had fallen into the Underground."
"Chara," Asriel said, head bowed.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. He's right, o'course, his sister was the first human to fall down. This was after … after she left." Golemite caught Asriel's eye, a sad but knowing look on her stone face. Shaking her head, she continued, "This was a few months after. Everyone was a bit bummed from Chara leavin' and all, but that just made the kind push us all the harder to try and cheer everyone up. Anyway, like I said, I was in Hotland when I heard that a human child was spotted over in Snowdin. I told Asgore of course; he and Queen Toriel were kind enough to take in Chara, and I thought maybe having another kid would cheer them up. He asked me to bring the kid to him, so that's what I did."
Golemite laughed and said, "She was a fun one, I'll tell you that. Even after fallin', she had this smile as bright as day. She weren't much older than you, Shye. I remember she had this cute little bow in her hair."
Golemite's expression fell. "I wish … I wish I'd listened to Mayor Mayor. He told me to leave the girl with him, said it'd be safer. If I'd known … I mean, I was at Asgore's side for years! Sometimes, I wondered if even the queen knew him half as well as I did."
"Why?" Shye asked, "What happened?"
Golemite was silent for a long moment. Asriel, knowing full well the fate of the little girl with the pretty bow, thought his friend was sparing Shye the details until he followed Golemite's gaze. Asriel's jaw dropped.
"Golemite? Asriel? Guys, what …" Shye fell silent as she too saw it.
The roads of the skyway formed their usual tangle in the sky, most ways leading back to the city. Those that lay ahead, leading to the lands of the Floating Fields, however, ended in a mass of black oily liquid that seethed and pulsed as they watched, visible even at a great distance. A few floating islands could be seen, ichor dripping as they slowly fell.
"She told me," Asriel said, clutching his head. "She warned me, and I didn't listen!"
"Snap out of it, buddy!" Golemite said, shaking her little friend. "Look!"
Asriel followed Golemite's stone finger and saw the Skyway Repair crew not ten feet from the ichor. It was hard to see from a distance, but from what Asriel could make out, they were unbinding the roads, separating them from those that led to the Floating Fields to prevent the spread of the ichor.
"Looks like we got work to do!" Golemite said. "You up to it?"
"Yeah," Asriel said, pulling out his scrammer. "Let's go."
Golemite swept Asriel and Shye up in his arms and leapt off the side of their current road. Wind buffeted their hair, fur and ears as they fell past several roads and landed hard on one of the corrupt ones.
Asriel hopped off Golemite's shoulder and ran right up to the edge of the corruption. He placed the scrammer, a tool that looked similar to a hand-operated can-opener, and used it to pry open the magical matrix of the road.
The ground shook as Golemite ran up behind him. "I'm gonna start on another road!" Without waiting for confirmation, she leapt over the edge.
Shye crouched down beside Asriel, asking, "Can I help?"
"Just make sure that stuff isn't getting closer," Asriel said. Holding the magical matrix of the road open, he fumbled at his tool belt with his off hand a few moments before pulling out what looked like a pair of pruners. One by one, he snipped the threads of the magical matrix as though they were barren rose stems. With the final snip, the road shook. The parts covered with ichor crumbled to bits, stone and ichor falling into the endless abyss below.
"Now what?' Shye asked, looking over the side, where Golemite had just severed another road. "How are we gonna get down there without Golemite?"
"Wrong direction." Asriel put a hand around Shye's waist and pulled his umbrella from his tool belt. Wind suddenly rushed around them, lifting them from the road and high into the air, where Asriel was just able to angle their fall onto another corrupted road.
Shye collapsed as Asriem released his hold on her. "Asriel," she said between breaths as the former prince revealed the road's magical matrix, "I like you, but if you do that again without warning me, I'm gonna give you a kickin'."
Asriel didn't have time to respond; he could see the ichor moving swiftly now, as though it knew what they were doing. It was only a few feet away when Asriel severed the final connection. He nodded in satisfaction as the road fell apart ahead of them.
"Azzie!" Golemite's shout prompted Asriel to peer over the side of the road. Golemite was still far below them, one hand cupped around her mouth and the other one pointing as she shouted, "The Boss!"
Asriel followed her finger and spotted their boss on the main road formerly leading to the Floating Fields. Their boss, an old but still respectable lion-faced man, was working feverishly at the main road's magical matrix while his assistants tried their best to slow the flow of ichor by lengthening the road. Unfortunately, it was clear from Asriel's vantage that the ichor was just a bit faster.
"On it!" Asriel said, grabbing the umbrella again. He flew into the air, Shye shouting angrily as he left her both literally and figuratively behind. Asriel wove around a few of the roads before reaching the central road. The ichor was only feet away from the Boss's assitants as Asriel hurriedly approached from behind.
"How's it goin?" Asriel said, earning a startled look from the lion.
"Asriel Dremurr?" he exclaimed. "What in the sam-hill- no, nevermind, it doesn't matter. Help the others while I finish untangling this mess!"
"Can't you just cut it?" Asriel asked, but the Boss was already shaking his head.
"Main road's woven into Nowhere's infrastructure. If I don't cut it properly, the chain reaction could take half the city with it."
"Right!" Asriel ran until he reached the Boss's assistants. The bird-people barely spared him a glance as he pulled what would look to most like a hand-operated mixer from his tool-belt and plunged it into the road. As he operated the crank, the road extended ahead of the group at a faster rate. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
The Boss's assistants didn't give up, however. Even as the ichor inched closer and closer, they held their ground. A sudden surge forced Asriel and one of the assistants back. The other assistant wasn't so lucky; the ichor caught the heel of her boot and dragged her into the writhing mass like a live thing. Asriel wanted to help, but it was clear that there was nothing to be done; if he stopped, the ichor would've consumed them all.
"Boss?" Asriel shouted as the ichor gathered for another surge. "Anytime would be great."
"Don't need any insubordination from you, Dremurr!"
"That's not what insubordination means!" despite his glib tone, Asriel feld cold sweat working its way through his fur. As the surge began, Asriel redirected part of the new road toward the remaining assistant, pushing her away and giving her just enough time to take flight. Now it was just Asriel, whirring his little mixer as fast as his tiny hands could go. It didn't take long for the ichor to start gathering again, and this time, Asriel had no plan for stopping it.
"Almost there!" The boss shouted, "Just give me a few more seconds!"
"I don't have …" Asriel's voice fell as the ichor surged toward him. He barely had time to raise his hands as it engulfed him …
… and without warning, pulled back, bubbling as though it had been boiled. Asriel opened his eyes only to see light shining from his hand. The ichor shrank back from the light. It even looked like it was trembling, as though somehow the black tar-like substance was afraid.
Not sure what was going on, Asriel held his shining hand out to drive the ichor further was just about to take a step forward when he felt a strong hand grab him by the collar and pull him back moments before the road beneath him fell to pieces.
Asriel spun about to find he'd been grabbed by the Boss and Golemite, both of whom were regarding him with a measure of respect.
"Kid, I don't know how you did it," the Boss said, "But you did."
Any pride Asriel felt was quickly dampened by the loss of the bird-person moments prior. As though guessing his concerns, the Boss said, "Hawkings wasn't the only one lost. Hell, I came down here with twelve, and if it weren't for you, Azzie, it'd be only me goin' back."
"But … the Floating Fields …" Asriel stared out over the expanse separating Nowhere from the seething mass of ichor.
The Boss shook his head. "Whatever was out there, I'll bet my fangs it's nothin' but that crap now."
Shaking his head, the Boss said, "Golemite, get back to headquarters, and tell them to put guards out on the paths to the Brass Woods, the Glass Ocean, and the Chorus Mountains. If there's more of this crap out there, I want to be able to cut off Access to nowhere in an instant. I'm gonna stay here and make sure none of that crap made it over here."
"You got it, boss." Golemite said, picking up Asriel. Once they were out of hearing range, Golemite said, "Dat was a pretty cool thing ya did."
"Yeah," Asriel said, glancing at his now-normal hand. "Just wish I knew what it was."
"Power o' the Everstar maybe?"
"Maybe," said Asriel, though he doubted it. He'd felt the power of the Everstar; this was different, if not overtly so. "Golemite, could you drop me off at the apartment real quick on the way to the Skyway Repair Crew HQ?"
"Yeah, sure," Golemite said, "But what about Shye!"
It took them a few leaps to find the road Asriel left her on. She was sitting down, arms crossed and a sulky expression on her face as they approached. Asriel apologized, but she refused to speak to him all the way to the apartment. She didn't even look at him as Golemite rushed off, stone feet sending small tremors through the ground with each step.
Once alone in the apartment, Asriel called out, "Um, Chara? Are you there?"
When there was no answer, he continued, "I saw the black stuff you told me about. It … it ate all of the Floating Fields, and tried to get to Nowhere."
There was still no response. Asriel begged, "Chara, please! Tell me what to do! This place is the only home I have left! I don't want it to be destroyed! I don't want to lose my friends!"
Silence was his only answer. Sighing in frustration, Asriel turned back to the door to leave. The moment after he hit the light switch, however, he felt a hand touch his back. He spun about to see Chara as she'd appeared the night before … as she'd appeared since he'd entered the Deep: an outline of Chara with glowing eyes and the single shard of the Everstar shining on her chest.
"I'm sorry, Azzie," she said, light outlining the eyelids of her closed eyes. "I shoulda just told you about the Floating Fields. Your Boss is right, though; more ichor will come, if you can't stop the source."
"Where's the source?" Asriel asked, eyes wide. "How can I stop it?"
"I don't know if you can," Chara said, bowing her head. "It's strong, Azzie, stronger than dad even … and it's hungry."
"There's gotta be a way!" Asriel said. "I was able to drive it back! Maybe I can do whatever I did again to the source!"
Chara stared at him for a long time before slowly nodding. "There's a school in the Chorus Mountains; a place of learning for anyone with the desire. If you want to find the source, you should start there. Look for the man who talks with his hands; he should be able to set you straight."
Asriel nodded. Somehow, he knew he'd end up going there anyway, but hearing it from his sister just confirmed it. He hesitated a moment before asking, "Why not come with us?"
Chara looked away. "It's … complicated. Don't worry; I'll be watching to make sure you don't go back to being a cry-baby."
"Shut up, Chara," Asriel said through a laugh.
"Still, if you need me," Chara continued with a smirk, "Look to the dark. I can't promise everything, but I'll do what I can."'
With that, she was gone, leaving Asriel alone in the apartment.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
