S - 2 - Questioning



"Please, please, please, please, pease, please!" I had been begging the core to just work! 


"Brother, I have found something in the instruction manual." Papyrus alerted.


"Instruction manual?!" 


"Brother, did you forget that the core had an instruction manual?"


"...Maybe."


"You need to connect the magic stabilizer to the storage lane."


"Thanks, Paps. You're the best." 


"I am the Great Papyrus!"


I did as Paps told me, and lights started to turn on...and they stayed on! I started thanking Paps repeatedly as I checked the systems; he really is the best! As soon as I had fully stabilized the systems, I decided to start my search for any type of food; I knew that there were no more stashes, but surely there had to be something..maybe there were some forest fruits? I hoped so. As I walked through the dust-filled underground, memories of my isolation started to come back to me; I didn't know how many times I had walked down these paths..it must have been millions. When I reached my house, I decided to search for food before checking on the others; they would have been getting hungry by now, and I didn't want them to starve before we were checked on. I started searching the forest, trying to find anything edible..it didn't have to taste good, just be edible. To my joy, there were a few tree berries that I had passed up while in isolation, and they were still good; that was utterly amazing. It took a few hours, but I had successfully - with Papyrus's help - collected enough berries to last us..a week? At most? It would have to do. After that, I started to make my way home. 


I found the lights in my house on when I approached it; that meant power, and power meant..electricity? It meant we could use the VCR, at least; I figured that watching a few movies would have been exciting, since everybody liked movie nights..we would have had a lot of time for that. When I reached my house, I opened the door, finding..nobody. They must have decided to explore..I hoped they stayed out of my study. After placing the tree berries in the kitchen, I walked upstairs, finding the door to my study..cracked open. They had found it, all right; I knew it would have happened sooner or later, but I should have warned them, first. With a sigh, I opened the door, finding my family reading the books I had left behind so long ago..


"Dusty?" Killer noticed my presence.


"You could've asked.." I hinted.


"You were gone for so long!" 


"I had to find some food; I've got enough to last maybe a week, but we need to ration it.."


"Dust.." Nightmare looked at me sadly. "Why didn't you tell us?"


"..." I didn't want to talk about that now. "How about we go watch a movie?"


"All right.."


"Tell us why after?" Error hoped.


"Maybe.." I nodded.


"Do ya have any blankets?" Killer was cold.


"Yeah..you guys get comfortable downstairs; I'll get pillows and blankets."


"All right!"


The others went downstairs to the living room, and I walked over to my old bedroom; I had never thought I'd return..but things didn't always work out that way, did they? I walked over to what had used to be my bed, reaching for a few folded blankets; I had actually cleaned my room during my isolation, much to Paps's ecstasy. After grabbing six of the softest blankets in the bunch, I moved for six pillows, but Paps helped me carry most of the stuff; he's the best. We went downstairs to meet the others, and everyone received a blanket and pillow to snuggle with..I wondered why they hadn't picked a movie yet.


"Do you guys have anything in mind?" I wondered. 


"Question." Error stated.


"Yeah?"


"Where are the movies?"


"Um..right here?" I gestured to the cassette tapes.


"Those are movies?"


"Yeah? Don't tell me you've never seen a cassette before.."


"A what?"


"A cassette! What there were before DVDs?"


"Aren't those, like, ancient?" 


"..." I could hardly believe what I was hearing; was I really that old?


"How do they work?"


I sighed. "You take the cassette and pop it in the player; it's not that hard."


"Okay..what movies do you have?"


"Mostly black and white stuff; I think there are a few color films.."


"Anything you think we'll like?"


"Maybe..let me check."


I looked through my cassettes, eventually settling on a color film about some family living in a surface town in what they called the "Old West." I inserted the cassette into the VCR and hoped it would still work; to my utter surprise, it did. I was contented when we were met with a title screen, clicking the remote a few times to start the movie.


"Got 'ny snacks?" Horror was hungry.


"We're not eating today." I answered.


"What?!" Everyone exlaimed.


"Rationing is tough. I can make what we have last about a week, but we're just going to have to go hungry until the one month point; they promised to check in on us to see if my 'claim' that there was no food was true..I just hope they keep to it, or we're quite literally going to starve to death."


"Ya mean we have to go three whole weeks without food?!" Killer groaned.


"I'm going to go back out tomorrow to see if there's anything else; I might have missed something." I hummed. "Chara, could you help Paps? You're a ghost, so the dust won't affect you."


"I guess." Chara agreed.


"Thanks."


"How would the dust affect us?" Nightmare questioned. 


"Other than promoting utter insanity, it's sticky at times, and there are a multitude of illnesses caused by prolonged exposure to dust."


"Why aren't you affected?"


"I think I've had them all..at least most; I've built up an immunity to them."


"What are they like?"


"..." I considered telling them, but.. "You don't want to know."


"Okay.."


"Let's just enjoy this movie for the first time."


"First?" Horror repeated.


"We're likely going to be here for twenty years..get comfortable."


"..'Kay.."


After that discussion, we began to watch the movie, which I knew by soul; I had watched it at least a hundred times in the past, but I was willing to watch it again. My family seemed to enjoy the movie, which was good; they were likely to see it another thousand times in our exile. In any case, I was a bit unsettled during the movie; I hadn't expected them to go through my study to see my..everything. I honestly hadn't expected anyone to see what was there..I was utterly insane when I wrote most of the stuff there, anyway. I hoped they hadn't seen too much, but I really should have asked them not to go inside before anything happened..it would have made everything so much easier. When the movie ended, the others started talking about their favorite parts; they weren't going to talk to me until I was ready, thankfully. It took a few minutes before Nightmare finally posed the question, and I was..a bit unnerved; I had so much that I had never expected to talk about..but that didn't exactly matter. I had to tell them; it would have only been fair.


"So..about everything.." Nightmare sighed.


"How much did you see?" I asked. 


"Enough to know that you weren't alone here for merely 'a little bit.'"


"I'm sorry.."


"It's all right, Dust..things like that aren't easy to talk about."


"I just didn't want you to worry about me.."


"We understand."


"So..do ya really have nightmares?" Killer hoped not.


"..You saw that?" I had hoped that they wouldn't have.


"We found a description.." Error admitted. "I think we can finally give the 'worst nightmares' award to someone.."


"They don't scare me, if that's what you're worried about."


"How often do you have them?" Nightmare wondered.


"..Um..every time I go to sleep.."


"We could have helped.." 


"No, it's really fine; nightmares don't scare me anymore; I actually like them."


"How?" Horror wasn't acquainted with that.


"I don't know..it just happened that way."


"Well, in any case, you don't have to answer our questions if you don't want to." Nightmare noticed my hesitance.


"Thanks..I'll answer some stuff if you want, but just..not everything."


"Fair enough. What was that last pacifist like?"


"Depends on who you're asking about."


"How a-about you?" Cross questioned. 


"Well, I started out not trusting it, since I had been remembering resets for a long time by then. I just went through the motions, enjoying Paps's happiness; he's the best. One year in, the kid decided to pay me a visit..I was home alone that day, as I knew I would be, and it knew, too. I let it in, and we sat in the living room. It took out the reset button, and I thought my life was over again..but that didn't happen; it lifted its fist, and it brought it down. Instead of pushing the button, the kid broke it. I thought that was the end; I thought I was free. There were no resets anymore..I grew up, and I was happy, but..when that monster died.." 


"Shh, you're not there.." Nightmare hugged me tightly; I hadn't even realized that I was crying.


"I'm sorry.."


"You don't have to be sorry, Dust; it's okay."


"I-it's not okay!" I sobbed; I had spent years trying to forget.. "I-it took..e-everything.."


"I'm startin' to realize why ya don't like humans.." Killer frowned.


"Maybe we should watch something else..or take a nap?" Error decided that it was enough.


"Yes, that seems like a good idea." Nightmare agreed, laying me down on the couch; I didn't struggle. 


I fell asleep rather quickly, descending into a dusty nightmare; I felt good to sleep after that. I didn't want to think about my past lives..they had been fun while they lasted, but I didn't want to dwell on them; that would have just led to more pain. I had to think about my current life, not my old one; my old life didn't even exist anymore..there was nothing I could do. I had enjoyed my old life's thriving, and I had honestly loved being free for a while; I wished I could have done more, but didn't everyone have that regret? I had to move on..I had a new life now, and I had a wonderful family who loved me. I just had to let go of my past lives; they weren't important anymore. I woke up feeling happier than before, most likely due to the fact that I had regained my composure. My family were in the living room, talking to eachother; I found myself joining in on the conversation, which was about knives - Killer must have instigated it. I found myself forgetting my past lives once more as their memories were pushed back into my soul; I didn't have to think about what I had blocked out. When I noticed the others getting hungry, I decided that it was time to ask.


"Who wants to eat?" I offered.


"Me!" Almost everyone shouted; Nightmare was quiet, and Error had gotten the message that he wouldn't have been eating for a while; he didn't need food to live, and, unfortunately, we couldn't waste resources.


"All right, I'll get something."


I walked to the kitchen, finding the tree berries I had found before; according to my ration program, everyone was going to get one berry. It wasn't much, but it would have kept us alive, at the very least. After grabbing five berries, I returned to the living room and handed them out to those who were eating, including myself.


"Tree berries?" Killer looked at me pleadingly.


"They're all we have." I shrugged. "I survived for three years on these things; you can last a month."


"Ugh.." Horror eyed his berry as I ate mine.


I sighed, swallowing my berry. "I can go down to the river and get you some water to swallow it."


"R-really?" Cross was hopeful. 


"I'll be back in a few minutes."


At that, I left the house and started for the river, which was thankfully close by; I would have gone to Waterfall, but the water there was tainted with dust, and I didn't think that my family wanted that with their berries. It only took five minutes to gather enough clean water for the task at hand, but I gathered a bit more, just in case. After I had filled a bucket with clean water, I covered it with a towel to prevent any dust from entering and headed back to the house, where my family still hadn't eaten their berries. Everyone was gifted a glass and some water, and the berries were eventually eaten without the cruel taste affecting the others. Surviving this exile was going to be a challenge, but I knew we could do it.


We were a family, and we would stick together.


~~~chapter end woot~~~


Dust bean tell things to bean gang.


Thanks for reading my secretive writing!


Bye!

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