I couldn't sleep that night knowing that I just confessed to Sans and the fact that we both want to be together despite how dangerous our lives might be. I get out of bed and decided that maybe a nice bath would help me sleep and get my mind off of Sans.
The water felt nice on my unclothed body as I lowered myself in and could feel the sleepiness already taking over me. I let my thoughts drift about my mind as I closed my eyes, but the peace only lasted for a second as I felt an unexpected splash on my face. I open my eyes in confusion and saw Bella happily splashing about.
"Bella? How did you get here, I thought Gaster was watching you in his lab."
Bella ignored me and fluttered over to a large vent on the ceiling. The highly detailed metal pattern that covered the vent looked too small for anything to slip through any of the holes, but Bella proves me wrong by squeezing through the spaces and instantly coming out the same way she went in.
"Does Gaster know that you've escaped through the vents?" I ask.
Bella was fluttering uncomfortably on the other side of the tub and looked away as if she was trying to avoid my gaze like any child would do if they knew they've done something wrong.
I sigh knowing that Gaster will have a panic attack the moment he wakes up and can't find Bella and figured that returning her is the least I can do. I leave the tub's warm embrace and dried off enough to change. I turn around to immediately scold Bella for being irresponsible but watching her splashing and dancing in an even bigger water source than a sink was enough to remind me to tell her how she can't run off without asking permission.
I finish changing and carefully scoop up Bella from behind and quickly dried her off with a hand towel. I could tell she wasn't happy with me interrupting her from such a short bath by her whispering voice, sounding louder along with her exasperated fluttering around my head.
"Now Bella, you know you're not suppose to leave Gaster's sight. What if you wandered out of the mansion and some bad monster finds you and takes you away?"
She stops fluttering around my head and sits on my shoulder in a pouting manor. I leave her be and unplugged the tub and make my way to Gaster's door. I didn't have a key to let myself in like Sans and Papyrus but not long after standing in front of Gaster's room, the door had unlocked itself and slowly creaked open. To my surprise, Gaster wasn't far from the door as his hand glowed a dark purple as well as the door knob. I step inside and the door closes behind me and the sound of a lock took place. I look at Gaster in amazement as he returned a smug smile.
"Did you do that on your own?" I ask him.
Gaster nods at me and gives Bella a glare who refuses to leave my shoulder.
"Then what's the point of locking you in here if you can easily unlock the door by yourself?"
Gaster opens his mouth to speak but he stopped himself before he could continue. He had a look of frustration as he waves off my question and gestures me to follow him to the lab.
Bella stayed on my shoulder but slowly started to hide farther behind my head as the lab came into view. Gaster turned to face me but he contorted with confusion as he stared at my shoulder where Bella was no longer in sight. Gaster points to my vacant shoulder and looks at me for an explanation. I point to the back of my head and turn around, exposing Bella to Gaster. He tries to carefully pry Bella off the back of my head but she managed to cling on even tighter, making it difficult for Gaster to pull Bella off without taking a handful of my hair with him.
"I take it that she doesn't want to let go?" I suck in a breath as Gaster tried his best not to hurt me as he pulled at Bella who continued to hold onto my hair.
Gaster shakes his head in frustration and gives up on Bella as she gave out a whisper of triumph.
"She doesn't usually act like this, I wonder why she's being so stubborn..."
Right on cue, a crash came from behind us as some of Gaster's equipment falls from a table along with some vials that shattered onto the cold tile floor. Without looking from behind, Gaster points in the direction from where the mess is.
"Bad influence." He grumbles.
I look to see what he was pointing at and saw the familiar soul of Chara.
'Urgh! Where is that little brat hiding!?' She shouts.
I was shocked to hear Chara's voice so loud and clear and not coming from my head.
'Come out, come out you little shi—'
One of Gaster's multiple hands shoots out from behind him and silences Chara before she could finish her sentence and broaden Bella's vocabulary in the process. Gaster then brings Chara over to us, still keeping his grip on her struggling soul.
'Let me go you mute freak!'
I could tell that Gaster has had enough with Chara's attitude as he shoves her into an empty glass tube like the one she was in before while she was healing. She yelled and screamed and bounced off the glass walls of the jar in attempt to escape. Bella felt safe now that Chara was contained and came out from hiding. Chara noticed Bella and became infuriated.
'You cheater! You went and left the room to go find (y/n), didn't you! The game is called hide-and-seek, not hide-and-runaway!'
Gaster sighs and rubs his head, looking worn out but he looked grateful that I had found Bella and was glad that she was okay.
"I'm sorry that you had to deal with these two for quite a while, Bella apparently can squeeze through small spaces and slipped into the vents and somehow made her way into my bathroom by going through them."
Gaster glances over at Bella both intrigued and annoyed her by new ability but his trace of thought was interrupted by Chara's excessive anger towards being stuck in a jar.
"Calm!" Gaster points at Chara.
'I am calm, now let me out!'
"Chara, I don't think Gaster is going to take you out of there unless you actually calm down." I add.
She slumps down to the bottom of the jar and her soul heaves out a sigh of defeat.
'Fine, i'll calm down. But you have to promise that Dr. Psycho over there won't put me in another jar again!'
I contained my smile as I spoke in a teasing tone as I kept on milking the conversation and Chara could tell that I doing it on purpose to annoy her.
"I don't think 'Dr. Psycho' wants to let you out—Maybe if you asked him nicely and called him by his real name he might consider your offer."
Gaster was liking this game I was playing and gave Chara a sly smile and leaned towards the jar as he waited for an apology from her. Chara groaned and looked at Gaster who was patiently waiting.
'Ugh, I can't believe you're making me do this! Gaster—i'm sorry for being mean to you and Bella.'
Chara began to mumble farther into her sentence to the point she sounded inaudible.
Her apology was enough for Gaster as he unscrewed the lid off and Chara slowly floated out of the jar and over to my side.
"There, see? That wasn't so bad." I smile.
'Be quiet.'
I got a better chance to examine Chara up close and see how much she has changed. Her soul beforehand look decayed and slightly black in parts that looked the most rotted, but now, she looks brand new with a slight red glow radiating off her.
Gaster takes something out of his pocket and reveals the Soul String that he showed me not long ago and gives it to me. Chara backs away the moment Gaster hands me the the Soul String.
'No! I hate that thing, all it does is that it lets me partially possess you but only for as long as you want!'
"A partial possession? How does that even work?"
'I don't know, why you ask the wise ass who made it.'
Gaster huffed in annoyance and grabbed the Soul String from my hands and quickly made it wrap around Chara as he then places the other end of the Soul String near my chest. The string suddenly submerges into my chest and disappears, dragging Chara with it who had no choice but to follow. I felt the string wrap around my soul from the inside and the feeling of Chara tugging around until the Soul String successfully tied itself off and the weird feeling of my body not being mine returned once more.
You just had to ask him how this thing works, didn't you?
"Hey, you were the one that insulted Gaster in the first place—you were basically asking him to do this." I comment back.
"Feel?"
I look over to Gaster, not really understanding what he was trying to say.
"H...how...feel?" He repeats and points to my chest where Chara was.
I connected the dots of what Gaster was asking me and took a moment to concentrate; the tingling feeling all over my body slowly subsided.
"I feel out of place; like my body isn't my own..." I reply.
Gaster grinned and quickly began writing down everything I described about using the Soul String.
"...But I feel I have more energy and—"
Everything was going fine until I felt the Soul String untie itself and Chara popped out of my chest. I caught her just in time before she fell onto the floor, her soul felt heavy and limp as it slowly pulsed.
"Chara!? Are you okay, what happened?!" I panic.
'I think my soul isn't used to using its own strength without relying on another source to live off of.' Chara replies weakly.
Gaster finishes writing down the last of his notes and gives me a small hollow glass heart charm that had a golden rim outlined on the outside. Before I could answer, Gaster takes the charm and presses a small latch on its side and the charm opens up, he then takes Chara from me and I watch in amazement as her soul shrinks into the hollow glass charm and closes the latch. He holds up the charm and ties it around my neck with the Soul String being the chain. The charm and string felt warm around my neck as the charm glowed red with Chara inside.
"It's beautiful, but—how does this help Chara?"
Gaster tries to make a sleeping motion by putting his hands on the right side of his head and slightly rocking himself from side to side.
"Is she sleeping to get her strength back?" He nods and my questions continue. "Then how is Chara able to fit in such a small space like this charm?"
Gaster points to Bella who was demonstrating her talent of slipping in and out of the vents in the laboratory like she did to get to my bathroom.
"I guess it's something that only souls can do, right?"
Gaster shrugs seeing that he wasn't so sure himself but was pleased that his theory worked as he picked up the charm around my neck and checked for any cracks with the shiny surface of the glass charm. He then lets go of it and points to the hour hand of the clock and holds up eight fingers.
"Eight hours?"
He then points to Chara in the charm and makes the sleeping motion once more.
"She needs to sleep for eight hours?"
He smiles and nods, pleased that I was able to understand.
Gaster had a nice smile that overcame his sickly appearance that has been slowly disappearing ever since I met him and have been giving him food that is most likely better than where he had come from. Although, the only thing that hasn't changed is his ingenious mind that never ceases to amaze me and yet he doesn't know how to speak.
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Gaster looking concerned with his hand waving in front of my face.
"Alright?" He asks.
"Y-yeah i'm fine..." I hesitated.
Gaster obviously didn't believe me and folded his arms while tapping his foot.
"Not fine." He replies.
I didn't know what to say as he waited for an explanation.
"Gaster—" He patiently waits for me to continue. "...How come you can't speak in full sentences?"
His foot stops tapping but he continues to stare.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked something so personal—you don't have to tell me if it's too difficult for you."
Gaster remained silent for a moment and began to pace around as he incoherently mumbled to himself. He soon stops and turns as he slouches head level with me.
"...Best...sense..." He says tapping his head. "Not...best..." He then points to his mouth.
"It only makes sense in your head?." I finish for him.
He replies with a simple nod.
I didn't want Gaster to struggle more than he already was and let him know that it he didn't have to go any farther with explaining. He was glad that I understood as much as he could tell me and left it at that. He glances at the clock and his eyes widen and tired to explain that he was busy and made sure that Bella stayed in the lab as he let me take Chara with me. As I left Gaster's room, the locks went back into place and I smiled to myself, knowing that Gaster was the one that magically locked the door behind me.
The dimly lit hallways gave me a chilling reminder that everyone was asleep and a wave of loneliness swept over me but the faint warmth and glow coming off the charm Chara was sleeping in was enough to distract me from the darkness. I quietly walked through the mansion as I heard the faint sound of snoring of other sleeping mafia members. As I walked from one hallway to another, I noticed a crack of light coming from a room along with multiple voices. I keep a safe distance from the door as I heard the sound of monsters discussing something important with each other. There were a few voices I recognized amongst the group; the two being Sans and Undyne.
"So, what are we gonna do, boss?"
The sound of a lighter was heard and a deep inhale and exhale of most likely a cigar that's in use.
"i'll tell ya what we're gonna do, jake. we're gonna go to that show but we gotta be on the lookout for anything suspicious..."
"Hey, that's my job being that I'm in charge of the Snowdin police!"
"I hate to burst your bubble Undyne, but I don't think Snowdin police are going to be of much help in Waterfall given that it's neutral territory."
"joe, is right, undyne—temmies can be quite the bluenoses if we do anything that could upset them, so we gotta play by their rules."
"Ah, phooey! What's th' point of goin' to this show any ways if we have ta follow those small, furry beast's rules?"
"Put a sock in it, will ya jake. If everyone is playin' by the temmies' rules, so will we." Undyne exclaims.
"I doubt he is going to, he's the whole reason we're going to Mettaton's show in the first place and we still don't know what he's up to."
There was a pause as the sound of fingers tapping was taking place.
"Look boss, Papyrus might be onto somethin' about this show bein' fishy and all—"
"Watch your mouth, punk! Don't insult the boss' brother!"
There was sound of a chair screeching across floor and some shouting as the room finally settled. I took a step closer and peered through the crack of the door from a distance and saw Undyne's chair had fallen over and was reaching over the table, grabbing onto the collar of the monster that was in doubt. Sans stayed motionless in his seat and let out a puff of smoke from his cigar before putting out in the dirtied ash tray next to him.
"my brother may not have felt it in his guts that mettaton is putting on a show at short notice seems off," The silence continued. "but he felt it in his bones—and that's something that papyrus and i can't ignore."
Sans signaled Undyne to let go of the monster's collar as she fixed her chair upright and sat back down.
"I agree." Undyne adds. "Even if we don't know his plan, we'll be ready!"
"What about the disguises, if this show is gonna be a masquerade, how are we gonna know who's who and who we're lookin' for?" The monster named Joe asked.
"papyrus is workin' on that as we speak, but for now, i need you three to tell your groups their positions and where they will be once we get to the show...remember we all gotta be there at nine p.m. sharp, they don't let anyone in once the show starts—"
"What about that human girl?"
"...what about her?" Sans stops and looks at the monster named Jake who asked the question.
My heart began to pound in panic the moment I was suddenly mentioned.
"She doesn't know anything about this, does she? I mean—we can't have her interfere with the plan..."
"she'll be here as always cleaning the mansion for us while were gone, it's just like every other gig: she stays here safe and sound while we go out and do our thing...what makes you think that (y/n) will be involved?" Says Sans.
"I was only askin' mainly because I have a problem with the way she folds my clothes; they're all wrinkled and I—"
"Shut up, Jake! We're not here to listen to you complain about the human maid's sloppy work of your folded clothes!"
I heard enough after hearing what Sans and all the other monsters had to say about me. They only see me as some 'human maid' that cleans their mansion while they're gone doing dangerous yet exciting things without me. I carefully and quietly made it back to my room feeling nothing but anger and frustration. Without thinking, I open the glass charm causing Chara to pop out and return to her normal size as she floated in front of me.
'Ugh, what do you want? I'm trying to get some sleep here.' Chara groans.
"I know, I know, but there's something I have to tell you—"
I started explaining to Chara about what I overheard Sans talking to Undyne and two other monsters about and how that all of the Venatores is going to this masquerade show in Waterfall and are making such a big deal out of it.
'What makes you think that they were going to let you go in the first place, you're too valuable as a human, remember? Every monster would be all over your soul if they found out that you were going to that stupid show.'
I slump farther down to the edge of my bed and let out a frustrated sigh as I held onto one of the many fluffy pillows and buried it into my face.
"Now that Sans and I are together and all, I was hoping that maybe he would change his mind on a few things but after what I just heard—i'm nothing more than a stay at home wife who just cleans for her husband and waits for him to come back home late at night."
'Wait—you got married to Sans!?!'
"No! I'm not married to Sans! We're just dating that's all..."
'Is that so, since when did you two start dating?'
"...Yesterday afternoon..." I blush and shove my face back into the pillow.
Chara floats around my nightstand, then to the edge of the bed and finally hovers closer to my side.
'When was the last time we left this mansion?'
"What's with the sudden change of subject?" I continue to say with my face shoved into the pillow.
'Just answer the question, when was the last time we left this mansion?'
"We haven't left this place at all, what's your point?" I say confused and lifted my face out of the pillow to look at Chara.
'My point is, is that we've been here ever since Asgore broke into our flat and tried to kill us and that was almost a month ago! You've been cooped up in this place for too long without any freedom of any kind—if I didn't know any better i'd say we're prisoners.'
"Then what are you suggesting, we run away or something?"
'Even better...'
I could tell Chara was grinning by the tone of her voice, despite that she was nothing more than a heart shaped soul.
'I'm suggesting that we find a way to go this masquerade show without Sans knowing and go have some fun!'
For once, Chara and I agreed on something that we both knew we needed: freedom.
"Alright, let's do this."
'Yes!' Chara says excitedly. 'Put on something decent because we're going to town!'
"What—why now? The show isn't until tomorrow night."
'Well, last time I checked you don't have anything nice to wear and we can't go to the show dressed in something that everyone will gag at.'
Chara emphasizes the night gown I was wearing and began imitating sounds of vomiting as I scoff and look away from her.
"I don't know any places that sells clothes at this our of the night, plus, I don't think I have enough money to even buy a decent dress."
'Who ever said about buying a dress?'
I glance over at Chara and gasped in shock as her soul came towards me dragging a kitchen knife that was twice her size.
"Where did you get that!?!" I panic.
'I may or may not have subconsciously made you steal this knife when I still had the ability to possess you...' She grunts as she carries the knife that was clearly too heavy for her.
"But why!?"
'...For protection, plus, we're going to need it just in case someone gets in our way while we're on the hunt for the fanciest dress there is!'
I stop for a moment.
"So let me get this straight—you want us to do a robbery...with a knife!? Do you have any idea how dumb that sounds? If we get caught by the police they're just going to shoot us!"
'Then do you have a better idea? Say—why don't we go ask Sans if we can borrow his revolver!'
I ignore Chara's sarcasm and take off my nightgown and put on one of the dresses I owned that I didn't care much for if it got ruined. I search my dresser for something to cover my face with so no one can recognize me on the streets, but had no luck and settled with my coat in hopes that the faux fur lining would be enough to obscure my face in public.
"I'm all set, but—how are we going to leave the mansion without getting caught?"
'Through the window of course!'
I peer out the heavily draped window and looked down and wasn't surprised to see that I was on the third floor. A fall from this height wouldn't be deadly, but it would be enough to break anyone's legs.
"Did you even think any of this plan through?" I say doubtfully.
'Shut up! I didn't even think you would agree to this plan in the first place.'
We think to ourselves as we try to find a way to leave the mansion that doesn't involve going out the front door, but nothing was coming to mind except for the window. I think back in movies how the main characters will do the classic of tying bedsheets together and climbing out a window, but I never thought about it actually working, it also wasn't a surprise that Chara was think the same exact thing.
'Do you think that tying bedsheets together and using them to go out the window will work?'
I look over at my king sized bed and pulled the sheets off and laid them out onto the floor and looked out the window, examining how far the sheets could go.
"It might, but I'll have to cut them for more length..."
'Well what are you waiting for!? Start cutting!'
I began tearing the sheets and tying them as tight as possible in hopes that the knots wouldn't come undone at the worst possible time. I tug on each knot as hard as I could and opened the window for the final test. The sheets swayed from the wind as I lower them down and as I predicted, the length was perfect. I smile at my work as the distant sound of Snowdin City echoed through the chilly night. I carefully swing one foot over the edge of the window and tried to ignore the chances of losing my grip.
'Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?'
Chara did her best to pick up the knife and show it to me. The knife was too big to put in any of my pockets and too dangerous to hold onto while climbing down. I look down for any safe place to drop the knife and spotted a bush not too far off from where the bedsheets dangled. I pick up the knife and aimed for the bush to at least save the knife from being damaged. I suck in a deep breath and throw the knife and watched as it plummeted towards the ground, nearly missing the bush as it lands inside of it, causing the bush to rustle. I make a mental note of where the knife had landed and began my slow descend down the tied bedsheets.
I give Chara permission to use the soul string as I feel it wrap around my soul. A tingling sensation went down my spine as the string started to do it's work as I felt Chara's feelings mixing with mine.
"You've changed, Chara." I try to make small talk to distract myself from the fear of falling down.
What do you mean, changed? I haven't changed at all, unless you're talking about how my soul's appearance that doesn't look like it's decaying in anymore. Chara's voice echoed through my head.
"It's not just your appearance, but your feelings; you don't feel like your hateful and angry self anymore—"
Why are we even talking about this? If you lose your grip, we'll both be in pain from this kind of fall, so be quiet and concentrate!
I keep quiet but I couldn't help but let a smile slip through me; Chara was trying her hardest to sound grumpy and uncaring, but I knew that that part of her was slowly disappearing and that something had changed in her either way.
* * *
A cool breeze swept over me as I pulled the collar of my coat closer to my frozen face. I kept one hand tucked inside my coat to hide the sharp kitchen knife and made sure not to stab myself on accident. I shivered as the cold metal blade occasionally touched my skin and hid the fact that I'm carrying kitchen knife as protection.
I was starting to get more into the busier side of town that never sleeps and noticed that the ground was covered with all of the same printed papers. One flew into my face and grabbed it before the wind could take it away with the rest of the flyers.
I look at the flyer at first glance and mistook as a strip club advertisement, but my eyes saw the fancy golden lettering.
Mettaton's Masquerade!
This show is bound to knock your socks off at Waterfall's new and improved theater where Mettaton herself will be there performing tomorrow night at nine p.m. to thank her number one sponsor for making this show possible! (All guests attending are encouraged to dress accordingly to the theme)
There was a picture of most likely Mettaton dressed in an over the top golden dress with the most extensive looking mask ever with feathers that reached at least two feet into the air. I was confused. Mettaton looked more human than monster but her skin looked shiny and metallic and her body was too curvy to be shaped like any normal woman model on the surface.
Do you think she could be a robot? Chara questions.
"What else could she be?" I shrugged.
Who knows, we'll just have to find out for ourselves. In the meantime, let's search for a store that sells dresses and masks.
"But this place is crowded! How do expect me to go into one of these shops without getting caught stealing?"
The farther I walked into Snowdin City, the more crowded and busier it got. Shops and stores were still open and hundreds of discount posters were on every corner. The rest of Snowdin must've heard about Mettaton's show and how she's going to give a prize to whoever dresses the best because every store was filled to the brim with monsters shopping for suits and dresses, and any mask they could get their hands on. I look across the street through one of the shop windows and saw a massive crowd of desperate ladies swarming the poor cashier who had to deal with them all.
An idea suddenly came to mind as I searched for the perfect store that was crowded but not entirely packed. I finally stop at the one of thousands of shops and walked inside. It was a nightmare; It was like as if tonight was Black Friday except it happened to be only with the shops that sold suits and dress. I slowly make my way to the dresses isle where every girl in Snowdin was at. Changing rooms were packed to the point monsters started trying on clothes without waiting in line to change. It was a race for every monster to buy the perfect dress or suit before someone else took the last size of what they were looking for. It was like this in the last five shops I had checked in. The plan was to find a nice dress and sneak out with it while all the shop's clerks were busy trying to calm down angry customers that can't find a certain item in their size or if it came in a different color.
I was starting to lose hope after leaving the sixth store and slowly feeling the life drain from me every minute that went by. I had given up on hiding my face after realizing that every monster was too busy thinking about themselves and trying to buy the perfect outfit for tomorrow night.
"This is useless. How am I supposed to steal a dress if all of them have been taken?" I sigh as I take a break in an abandoned alleyway.
Come on (y/n), we got to keep looking! I'm sure we'll find some other place to rob. Besides, all of the stores we've been to are insanely expensive so even if we did bring money, there's no way we'd have enough to buy anything.
"Since when were you the type to be positive?" I laugh.
The night wasn't going to last forever and Chara was running out of strength; I became more aware of my surroundings and clutched the kitchen knife closer to me as I reached the more secluded part of town. I was becoming unsure of where I was going until I found myself in front of Ms. Hop's flat that was riddled with bullet holes from the day she decided to hand me over to Asgore. A wave of nostalgia and pain hit me as I stared at the once occupied flat that now stood abandoned. Yellow caution tape was all over the front door and the shattered windows were boarded up.
Where do you think Will and Ms. Hop are now? Chara asks.
"I'm not sure, maybe they skipped town or something."
I tried peeking through cracks from the boarded windows, only to see nothing but darkness from behind.
I decided that it would be nice to see if Ms. Hops bakery was still around. As it came into view, I noticed that the bakery was in fact open. There was no one inside except for Will who was sleeping soundly by the cash register. Despite the opportunity to steal money from a sleeping cashier, I couldn't steal from Will and Ms. Hop even though they ratted me out to Asgore. The store bell rang the moment I went inside which was enough to make Will stir and sit up once he saw me.
"Oh, hi—um...how can I help you?"
There was nervousness laced with Will's sleepy voice as I came closer. I put the collar down on my coat that partially covered my face and Will made a quiet gasp.
"Wh-what!? (y/n)!?! Why are you here, I thought the Venatores kidnapped you from Asgore's gang Infernum!" Will says shocked.
"I'm not really allowed to talk about any of that..." I reply.
"Why not?" Will asks.
"Because I don't know if I can trust you or your mother after what you both did."
Will knew what I was referring to and his perky blue rabbit ears drooped back.
"I—I didn't really want to be part of it, but my mother had no choice! When I was little, my dad Mr. Hop got in a lot of trouble with Asgore and he paid the price with his life, the only way to wipe our hands clean of Asgore and his gang was if we did something for him...But—" Will was having a hard time stopping himself from crying. "—since his plan failed to capture you, he didn't pay us like he promised and now Ma and I have no choice but to live in the slums while we try our best to keep the bakery going all day and night."
I look down in the glass display and saw it almost vacant of any pastries. Ms. Hop and Will were getting desperate enough they were even selling non-food items with their pastries like an old bandana and a single glove that were both labeled fifty cents.
"Ma may not be around to say this right now, but i'm sorry for everything we've done to you to that put you in this state; you trusted us and we came around and backstabbed you anyways." Will wasn't even trying to stop the tears at this point as he let them roll down his cheek.
"No Will, it wasn't your fault. You were only doing what you had to do to keep the rest of your family alive, even if it meant giving me up to Asgore."
I felt sorry for Will and Ms. Hop as I search through my coat pocket for any small amount of money I could give to Will to help him and his mother. My heart skipped a beat as I felt a single dollar bill and clutched it from the inside of my coat pocket. I looked down in the display case at the bandana and single glove and handed Will the dollar.
"What are you doing?"
"I'll buy that glove and bandana from you." I pointed.
"You want to buy those pieces of junk that I found in the trash!?" Will asks surprised.
I nod.
"But, why?"
I lean farther into the counter and smile at Will.
"Because I want to help you in any way I can, even if it means buying that junk you found in the trash."
Will still flabbergasted about the whole ordeal, silently opens the display case and hands me the bandana and glove. I take my leave and thanked Will.
"Oh before I leave—" I stop the shop door from closing on me halfway and turned back to Will. "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody that I came by or even came into town at all, will you do that for me?"
"Your secret is safe with me!" Will beams.
I smile and wave goodbye before disappearing into the shadows.
Why didn't you tell me that you at least had some money with you? Chara says annoyed.
"I didn't, and even if I did know, what would we buy with one dollar?"
Something that's more valuable than those two pieces of trash you bought from Will—you could've bought one of those cinnamon bunnies!
"That's true, but I've got an idea that just might work with this bandana and glove."
I walk away from the bakery and wrap the bandana around my face and wore the single glove on my hand holding the knife.
Ah, now I see what you're up to! Chara says happily.
I was now set for a proper robbery with the bandana covering my face and a tough glove for throwing punches as I walk closer to downtown, staying a far enough distance to avoid the hectic shopping spree of other monsters.
I let Chara take control as we both scowered the streets, looking for the perfect shop to rob. Luck was on my side tonight as I spotted a display of dresses through the window with a sign that said 'Antiques'. No one was inside except for an old looking monster. As I got closer to the shop, I noticed how stunning one of the dresses were. It was clearly made for a human and possibly from the surface. The dress was a beautiful shade of black with purple sparkling beads and sequins, the dress looked like it was knee length with long purple fringe on the top and bottom that dangled down.
This is the one...
"You bet it is." I grin underneath the bandana.
Before I knew it, I barge into the shop with the knife at my side and Chara's spirit flowing through me as I ran towards the frail monster. The old shopkeeper looked startled and frightened once he saw the knife inches away from heart as the front counter prevented him backing away from me.
"P-please don't hurt me! I'll g-give you all the money I have in the register, just please don't hur-hurt me!" The old man trembles.
"I'm not here for your money—" I drag him to where the dress was on display and redirected the knife to his back, causing him to walk faster. "...I'm just here for this dress and once you take it off this mannequin and have neatly wrapped it, I'll be on my way."
The shopkeeper complies and slowly began to undress the mannequin as I held my ground and kept the knife to his back. He finishes removing the dress as I then drag him to the back counter where he began to place the dress into a box filled with tissue paper. I look over the monster's shoulder, making sure that he's doing what I want but something shiny in the display case had caught my attention. I chuckle, realizing that the old monster was also selling masks in hopes that he would get some business from the rave of shoppers.
The old monster finishes wrapping my dress and places it on the counter but he started to panic a bit as I held onto the side of his shirt with the point of the knife still at his back.
"I th-thought you said you'd let me go after I gave you the dress!?"
"There's still one more thing..." I add.
"Whatever it is, please don't kill me afterwards! I have a family and I—"
"I don't want to hear your sob story." I say jabbing the tip of the knife harder into his back, causing the shopkeeper to wince.
"Alright, alright, what else do you want?" he cries.
"That mask, the one that had deer antlers."
He began to unlock the display case and stopped midway.
"Wait—your doing all of this just for that damn show!" The shopkeeper realizes.
"Indeed I am, sir, now pick up the pace before I get bored and kill you here."
As soon as the old man finished wrapping the mask, I hurry and leave his side and grabbed the dress and mask and quickly cutting the shopkeeper's phone cord so he couldn't call the police.
Wow, I cannot believe we did this! Chara says happily as I was running back home.
"Well, technically you were the one that gave me the courage to this in the first place." I pant.
Adrenaline was coursing through me as I took the back alleyways to get to the Venatores mansion once more; I got everything that I needed, all I need to do is wait for the show to start tomorrow.