HE'S ALIVE!
Also, the song above the Author's note is Solas's theme song. I don't own it.
------
Goth groaned as he slowly woke up. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, brushing off the excess dust and dirt. How had he survived? He should have fallen into the Void, but instead, he had fallen on what looked like the pathway to a hidden entrance?
"Where am I?" He asked. He knew that this was this Third Temple, but this was all that he knew about this place....
He turned around when he heard a noise, only to see a set of doors opening.
And something, inside the Temple was calling to him..
----
Fear swore angrily at another dead end, the Temple didn’t look so big from the outside.
But what made this worse, was that this Temple stunk of Fate's little Toy Umbra... That meant Fate was watching him through Umbra and her power kept him from using the shortcut of blasting through the walls.
“I’m going to find a way to kill that freaking Shadow dog of yours Fate.” Fear snarled as a spike trap almost got him.
----
Searcher stepped through the doors that had opened, hearing them slam shut behind him. He couldn't go back, he could only go forwards now...
He removed a torch from the wall and he watched as it burst into life in his hands, letting him see his surroundings.
There was several more unlit torches showing the way up an uphill slope, one that looked a bit slippery...
But Searcher remained on guard, because in his First Temple, he had encountered the Guardian before he reached the Temple and in his Second Temple, it had been nearly destroyed when he found it, but this one.... It was whole, undamaged and he didn't even know if this was his Third Temple..... He had to be careful, because who knew what was waiting here for him?
And somehow, he knew, that this time, Shades would not be there for him during this fight. He would have to fight this one alone.
And that scared him...
This battle would be a solo one, and Searcher had never taken being alone well, not after what had happened to him as Error, before he remembered who he really was...
Being alone reminded him of the Anti-Void, of all the years that he spent alone, trapped in the madness that Fate had forced on him. It made him doubt the pass two years, were they just a fantasy that his mind created? Would he wake up one day to find out that it was all just a lie? That everything that had happened to him had just been a dream? That Shades had just been a dream.... That Palette had just been a dream...
He wouldn't be able to accept that if it was true, it would break him, destroying what was left of his sanity, leaving him as a Puppet for his Fate, a Broken Soul who just wanted his pain to end...
"You can do this Searcher."
His eyelight went wide when he heard that voice, and he turned around, only to see a ghostly version of Shades floating there.
"Shades?"
"You're so close to the end." Shades said. "Come on Ser. This is the last Temple. The last Guardian. You can do this. You're almost there! Come on Ser, we made a promise to go home together, right?"
"I'm almost there?" Searcher asked, before he took a step forwards.
Shades nodded his head, before he faded away. "Shades!" Searcher screamed, running forwards, trying to reach his counterpart before he faded away....
He didn't feel the tile underneath his foot moving, until he heard the click and he looked down to see the moving tile. "What the----"
He had a bad feeling about this...
He slowly turned around when he heard the sound behind him. He couldn't explain what it was but he knew that it wasn't good....
He could see the shadows crawling towards him and he knew that they were more then shadows.
They felt like the Void....
He could have responded to this with a swear word but something told him that would be a bad idea to swear or curse in this Temple....
"Oh Sugar Honey Iced Tea...." He muttered, before the unlit torches on the uphill slope started to light up, they seemed to be showing him where he needed to go....
He threw his lit torch away, before he started to run up the uphill slope and at this point, he was so happy that he seemed to be a beanpole now...
It made running for his life so much easier...
------
Fear swore, violently, when the floor collapsed underneath one of his feet, sending that foot into a pool of things that he didn't want to know about, and he never expected to find them here....
He was pissed when he managed to get his foot out. His shoe had been ruined, thanks to that pool.
He was going to kill Fate's Little Toy when he got his hands on him.
That Shadow Dog was going to die.
------
Searcher had the sudden urge to giggle wickedly, and he did so, while he was running for his life.
He could hear noises as he headed further up the slope. He wondered what they meant...
He got his answer when he went around a curve to see a straight wall, instead of the slope continuing, and at the top of the straight wall, was a door that was slowly closing. The noises that he had been hearing was the sounds from the door's mechanisms as it closed.
"Meep!" He yelled, still feeling that it would be a bad idea to curse or swear in this Temple, before he ran towards the wall, feeling the Void changing up to him.
He used the speed that he was going at to give himself a running start up the wall, scrambling for anything that he could use as hand or foot holds, before he pulled himself up the wall, and over the top of it.
He dove for the door once he realised that the gap that was slowly closing was too small for him to jump through it, rolling underneath the door, before it closed, becoming a barrier between him and the Void.
He was breathing heavily as he sat up, brushing the dirt and the dust from his roll, off of him.
"I swear, once I get my hands on whoever built this Temple, I am not going to be happy with them." Searcher said as he got up.
He groaned when he realised that he could hear another set of door mechanisms. "Oh come on! That is so unfair!"
He took off running again. Something was calling to him...
------
Fear violently swore when he was suddenly drenched in several litres of a questionable liquid, his suit was ruined.
That Dog was going to die!
------
Reaper had the feeling that he was missing something really funny and hilarious. It was a shame, really, it was...
Why did he have the feeling that his Baby Bones was involved in it?
------
Searcher crackled. He couldn't help it. He was missing something, but what was it.....
But the crackles died down once he remembered where he was....
But whatever happened, he was going to find a way home and he was going to drag his Dad back home with him, along with anyone else that he needed to take with him...
And all of them, was going to find their way home...
----
This uphill slope was different, Searcher could clearly see the holes in the pathway, but it also had a step of stairs running up besides it.
There was no way that it would be this easy, right?
He carefully climbed up a few of the stairs, ready to jump off and run if these stairs was a trap...
And he was right, because after he had climbed five steps, they turned into a slide underneath him and he would have slid down them if he hadn't jumped off the stairs and onto the slope, narrowly avoiding one of the holes in the pathway.
"Okay, the stairs are a bad idea...." He muttered, before he started to run up the slope for a second time, avoiding the holes in the pathway.
He could feel that he was getting closer, this slope was steeper and narrower than the other slope, with tighter corners, and in some parts, he had been forced to shuffle his way across a huge gap, using a narrow ledge, but he soon heard the noises of a door mechanism.
It was a trap door this time.
He scrambled up the wall again, pulling himself through the trap door, and avoiding a snare that would have forced him to waste time freeing himself, before the trap door closed, and he collapsed on it, exhausted.
He had made it.
He slowly picked himself up, looking at his surroundings, this place looked like a maze, but still, he could feel something calling to him.
Somehow, he knew the correct path that he needed to take, in order to get out of this maze...
"This way..."
-----
He was finally here....
Fear lit a cigar before he put it in his mouth. This was his moment...
He could sense the other Skeleton in the Temple, but that Skeleton was too late....
He pulled out the Sapphire that he had been carrying around for so long.
The Sapphire with the God of Death in it...
And he walked through the Doors to the Guardian's lair.
-----
Solas sat still, unmoving as the wicked one entered.
He seemed to be asleep, but he wasn't. He could sense everything around himself.
This... was his first official battle.
One of the reasons that Fate and Umbra had created him.
He opened his eyes and he grinned.
It was not a friendly smile.
The two braziers on either side of his throne went out as he stood up.
----
"The Guardian is a child?!" Fear yelled.
The Guardian of the Final Temple summoned one of his weapons, it looked like a simple wooden staff with a white jewel on top of it.
Fear laughed. This was going to be so easy, because why could anyone trust a child to protect something like the prize that he was after?
The next thing that Fear knew, was that he was waist deep in sand that was trying to eat him like the Void.
He growled, before he laughed. "Oh Brat, do you really think that I'm going to be the one that you fight?"
Solas said nothing.
He forced his Magic into the Sapphire in his hand.
----
Reaper screamed as something forced it's way into his Soul, it hurt. It hurt so much!
His prison was cracking, breaking down. Reaper could see the pink colour taking over his Soul.
The sliver wings around him fought back, but Reaper was forced to watch as the Magic tore them apart, with the feathers being scattered everywhere....
----
Fear crushed the Sapphire in his hands, freeing Reaper. "This is the God of Death Brat. And he will be your opponent."
Solas stared as the controlled Reaper appeared, he could see the stress being forced on the being of Death's Soul.
He could feel the echo of Umbra's rage, such things were taboo... his staff's jewel began to glow.
Fear laughed, even as he climbed out of the sand. "Reaper... Kill the Brat."
Reaper seemed to be struggling, Solas could see the pink tinge in the God's Soul, even as the God summoned a Bone to use as a staff.
"Goth?" Reaper asked. "Baby Bones? Is that you? Goth, please, run. I don't want to hurt you...."
“I am not the one you seek, Protector of the Final Path, I am the Guardian of the Light Temple.” Solas said quietly, his Soul hurt.
-----
Searcher ran through the maze, he could feel his Dad's scythe responding to something, something that was causing the shadow of his Dad to respond to something.
And for the first time in a long time, he could feel his link with his Dad...
This meant that his Dad was here.
"DAD!!!" He screamed, hearing it echo throughout the Temple.
----
"DAD!!!"
Fear's eyelights went wide. "That's impossible!" He yelled. "That Freak Child went missing two years ago!"
He realised that the Skeleton that he saw with the Creator's child, before he kidnapped him, had not been the child attempting to move on from his missing friend, but he had actually been that missing friend!
"You do not belong here Fear!" Solas yelled, the Magic around the Guardian was strong. "You have done enough damage as the False Lover. Leave!"
Fear growled, before he forced Reaper to move. He had to finish this before the Freak Child got here!
Reaper swung his bone staff at the Guardian, he didn't want to do this!
Only for the strike to be blocked easily by another staff, Solas didn't even budge.
As it was, Reaper's Death powers would not effect him, and yes, he was alive, compared to the other temple guardians...
But his soul shard was born from Reaper's child.
Fear probably should have realized that the Final Guardian would be different.
Fate was a bitch after all.
"Solas is sorry, but I have my duty." Solas said, looking up to meet Reaper's face.
Reaper froze when he saw that face, because apart from the Golden patterns and his Golden eyelight, Solas looked like his Baby Bones's identical twin, he even had the eyesocket scar!
Fear growled. This was not how this was meant to go! Reaper should be crushing the Guardian, but he wasn't even doing that!
Solas swung his staff, easily overpowering the other staff, which was weakened due to Reaper's Power.
That other staff was not meant for one like Death. The force slammed Reaper across the temple room, sending him several feet into the white sands.
"Solas is sorry, Solas has to defend and destroy those who keep trying." Solas simply said.
Fear was pissed when Reaper was thrown into the sands. This was not possible! "You stupid Brat!" He yelled, pulling out a gun and firing several times at Solas.
He didn't care about Reaper anymore, the God of Death was useless, and once he had what he wanted from this Temple. He was going to throw Reaper into the Void.
Solas looked down, bewildered as several things impacted onto him. He blinked as several flattened bits of metal fell to the sands below.
Were those supposed to hurt him?
Fear stared at the Guardian, his bullets hadn't even scratched him!
"Big Brother said that he made sure that Solas couldn't get hurt easily, because he hates Solas being sad." Solas said looking at Fear.
-----
He could hear sounds of fighting as he made his way through the maze, passing by all of the traps in it, before he reached the second floor.
Some of them were more painful looking like the spike trap, but other traps made him smile, like the underfloor goo pool trap and the remains of another trap that he had found.
Whoever had triggered that trap must be covered in goo and liquids by now.
It was an easy trail for him to follow.
-----
"Who is your Brother Brat?!" Fear asked.
"Big Brother is watching." Solas said.
The lights vanished, and all that there was, was shadows.
Then the light returned, but only this time, the two braziers by the throne were lit. One Flame seemed to made out of pure light, the other seemed to be made out of pure shadows.
"Big Brother really doesn't like you." Solas replied.
Fear was frozen. "That Shadow Dog is here?!" He yelled. He growled before he forced Reaper to stand up again.
He made the Death God summon a jagged bone, and he made Reaper hold it against his own Soul. "Brat, give me what I want or I will make Reaper hurt himself. He can't kill himself, I am a bit unsure about that, but he will be in a lot of pain... Do you want that to happen to him?"
Solas laughed, it wasn't a friendly laugh.
"Solas cannot agree, Solas will never agree, even if he wanted to." Solas replied.
"Death can't take Death, you nimrod." Solas coldly responded and he smirked, he suddenly sounded a lot older.
"Oh... and Big Brother is a kitty and not a dog." Solas said, a second later.
Fear was about to say something, but at that moment, the doors were thrown open by someone in a hooded white cloak.
----
Solas blinked, the other was here.. The one that called to him.
Searcher could see the one that was calling to him. The tiny child in the white cloak, but his attention was soon caught by something else. "Dad!" He yelled.
Reaper stared at his Baby Bones, his eldest son, who wasn't as small as he remembered him being. Goth was a beanpole now...
"Solas is wondering if we can get on with the fight, Big Brother promised me ice cream?" Solas asked, and he also wanted to hide in his brother's jacket space for a while.
"That's a good idea!" Searcher said. "I'm hungry. I had to run up here and outrunning the Void was not fun!" He brought out his Dad's scythe, and his fluffy wings erupted from his back. "Shall we get rid of Fear first? He's getting in the way."
Solas tilted his head, he could feel his brother's amusement.
"Solas agrees, Fear is cluttering my temple and Big Brother is annoyed at his language." Solas said.
Reaper couldn't help himself. He dropped the jagged bone and he reached out for his son's wings, feeling the soft feathers in his hands.
They brought him so much peace. He was happy. He had his son back.
Fear screamed as he felt Reaper's Soul fighting back, breaking free from his control.
"Dad..." Searcher said. "You can let go of me now... I need to deal with Fear..."
Reaper reluctantly removed his hands from the fluffy wings, hovering over to a corner where he could rest.
Solas returned his staff to his weapon space, and he pulled out his own scythe, which was white, with white-gold designs engraved on it. White ribbons hung from the handle, with a small yin/yang symbol on it. He had a matching yin/yang symbol on his throne. Big Brother had gifted to him on his hundredth birthday, and he could even feel Big Brother's power in it.
"Solas doesn't like to fight, it makes brother sad. But Solas must always do his duty." Solas said.
Searcher nodded his head, before he looked at Fear. "This ends now Fear!" He said. "No more games!"
Fear pulled out another gun. "No! This was meant to my moment of glory, that Soul is rightfully mine! And no Death Gods, Demi Gods and Guardians are going to take that from me! I am in control here! I am the one who decides your Fates, so you should just lay down and die!"
He fired the gun, even as Searcher summoned a skull to act as his shield from the bullets.
Fear just smirked before he used Blue Magic to curve the path of the bullets, sending some of them around the skull.
Solas caught the bullets and he yawned, why did people think that battles were exciting?
Searcher just grinned at the Guardian, before he took a shortcut, reappearing behind Fear and swinging his Dad's scythe.
Fear used a Gun to block it, but the scythe cut right through it.
“Please hold still and die.” Solas said, swinging his own scythe.
Fear took a shortcut and he reappeared a few metres away. Solas's scythe had cut the jacket of his suit.
"You little Brat! My Suit was ruined from one of the traps and you just made it worse!"
“Big Brother took pictures for Solas, it was really funny.” Solas giggled.
Searcher heard someone laughing and he couldn't help but to giggle as well, at the same time as Solas.
Fear growled. "It's not funny, ya little shits!"
Searcher didn't know what came over him, but he growled, as his eyelight lit up. "Shut up Fear! Or I will scrub your mouth out with soap!" He was so mad about Fear swearing in front of the Guardian, but why did he feel this way?
“Big Brother doesn’t like bad words.” Solas said, giving Fear the sad eyes.
Fear just ignored the sad eyes, sending Gaster Blasters after both of them, but he was shivering....
Searcher frowned, but his mind was working in overtime, what did Fear want? He was clearly after Ink's Soul, but if this Temple was like the other Temples that he had been too, the Soul would not be here...
But what if, Fear did not know that it wasn't here? He seemed so sure that the Soul would be here, it was almost like he had been given information that it would be here...
Searcher's eyelight went wide once he realised what was going on.
"You've been talking to your Counterpart in the other Multiverse that was created when the original Multiverse was spilt into two!"
"Big Brother always said that Fear was smarter then an average bear." Solas said.
Searcher snickered.
So, the Freak Child was smarter then he looked, to figure out that he had been in contract with the other Fear....
"And you have been talking to yours!" He snarled.
Searcher laughed. "I can't believe that you are such an idiot!"
"What do you mean by that?" Fear growled.
Searcher crackled. "Because the Soul was never here from the beginning! My Fate never put the Soul in a Temple!"
"WHAT?!"
"Yes, Solas was wondering why the False Lover came here, Inky's Soul is not here." Solas replied. "Big Brother found it funny that people think that it is in the Temples."
Searcher was laughing so hard that he was using his Dad's scythe to stop him from collapsing, because he was laughing too much.
Solas sighed, this was cutting into his Big Brother time. He idly dug though his item pocket and he pulled out Moon chocolate, he nibbled on the treat and he watched the drama, as Umbra would say.
"THIS IS NOT FUNNY!" Fear screamed.
"He needs volume control." Solas muttered.
Searcher wiped the laughter tears away from his eyesockets, before he summoned a Gaster Blaster. "Let's get back to business."
"Try not to break my Temple, Big Brother built it and it's where I stash my toys." Solas sighed, licking the last bit of chocolate off of his fingers.
"Well, if I had a cool Temple like this, I could have a skylight or something, so I could kick the meanies out of my Temple."
"Big Brother said, that when I can sing things into existence via codes with Fate's blessing, he'd give me one." Solas pouted, and well, to say the least.... him and singing codes were not a good mix. "Brother's Jacket was fixed after all."
"Well, I guess that it's the old fashioned way then." Searcher grinned.
"STOP IGNORING ME!" Fear screamed, right before several bone attacks attacked him from below.
"He's still there?" Solas said bewildered. "Solas has to remember that Big Brother can only watch right now, so Solas has to keep an eye on the invaders."
"Yeah, and I have a feeling that a certain 'Parent' has already called dibs on Fear."
"Parent? Oh.. Parents." Solas muttered "Big Brother mentioned them, Brother was like Papa for Solas."
"Really?" Searcher asked.
"Yes, Solas has a Mama too." Solas said, and he could not explain that, yet.
'Why do I have a feeling that someone is laughing at me?' Searcher thought to himself, right before Fear charged towards them, and right into an open portal that Searcher had opened for him.
----
Fear swore as he landed outside the Temple.
"So, you're Fear..."
He got up and he slowly turned around to see the blazing red-blue eyelight of an angry Mom.
Geno cracked his knuckles.
Fear whimpered.
----
Solas sighed as The False Lover vanished, he vanished his weapon and he walked back to his throne, before he sat down.
At this point, he had to wait until Searcher Challenged him.
He clenched his fists, which were hidden by his robes, he... didn't want this.
Win or lose, he lost.
Why did Fate create him like this?
Umbra would lose him, and he would be left alone in Fate's chains.
But he would be with Mama.
Solas leaned his face down, waiting for the last two invaders, Reaper's and Searcher's, decision.
----
"I wonder which Parent found him first?" Searcher asked. "It could be Dream, or Mom, or even Nightmare..."
He stopped talking when he noticed the look on Solas's face. "What's wrong?" He asked, as he put his Dad's scythe down, before he walked over to Solas. "Why are you so sad? Does it have to do with why I have been feeling this call ever since I entered this Temple?"
Solas said nothing and he sighed.
He would rather not fight.
But... it was built into his very core coding, by Fate.
Searcher just said nothing, he just listened to the call, and he carefully wrapped his arms around Solas.
"Solas is the last Temple Guardian that you must defeat." Solas said quietly, he seemed to be enjoying the hug. "Your Path to the Soul will stop otherwise."
"I know.... I challenge you for the Key Piece Kid..."
"Are you prepared for all that will follow, the good and the bad. You will breath joy and sorrow, for the final Key?" Solas asked formally, dropping the child speech, since this was important.
He hated to speak like this, it wasn't him...
"Yes..."