~Melody~

It sounds like it came from over here...

Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you...

Are you okay? Here, get up...

Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is...

...

"FAAYYYEEEE! GET OFF ME!" Brayden yelled. Faye had landed on Brayden... again.

"Sorry..." Faye mumbled, falling into the water. 

The children had landed in some kind of garbage dumb. A large waterfall was beside them. There were small platforms made of wooden planks. Melody shook her head. What was that voice she had just heard? Who was Chara? Who was speaking to them?

"Did any of y'all get a weird voice in yer head talkin' bout someone named Chara?" Clover spoke up. She was rubbing her head.

"Yeah!" Brayden replied. "My head hurts!"

"This is a theory, but Chara may be the fallen angel, or the only human who fell before us." Percy said, examining his notes. 

The eighth human perked up at Chara's name. The name seemed to scare them.

"Then who was speaking to Chara?" Cody asked.

"I don't know," Percy stammered. "I don't know anything."

"Now, now, Percy, we'll figure it out." Melody told him, helping him stand up. "What is this place?"

"Golden flowers." Faye observed the flowers they had landed on. "Like the ones we landed on when we first came here."

"I have a feeling that the flowers are somehow connected with the story of the fallen child." Percy commented, taking more notes. "They show us their memories."

"THIS PLACE IS CRAZY BIG!" Brayden yelled, running off. He ran into a pile of junk. "GUUUYSSSS! I'M STUUCCKKK! Oh hey, I found a Kit Kat! Nice!"

"Brayden, don't eat that!" Melody yelled. 

She raced over to the pile of junk. Some of the brands in the trash were familiar to her. She pulled her friend out. He had found lots of other garbage as well as that Kit Kat. Melody took the Kit Kat out of his hands and gave him a glare.

"Melody! Give it baaaccckkkk!" Brayden whined. 

He wrestled her to the ground, trying to take the Kit Kat back.

"Where does all this garbage come from?" Clover asked, trudging through the water. 

The others followed her. Cody ran over to Brayden and Melody. Melody was holding the Kit Kat away from Brayden, not letting it get in his reach. They were fighting nearby a large waterfall with a wooden platform in the centre. The eighth human stood on the wooden platform. Faye and Percy joined them. Percy was taking notes, trying to figure out how the rubbish got into the Underground.

"Guys, please don't fight!" Cody pleaded. 

He wheezed, realizing he was still injured from the Undyne encounter. That reminded Melody of that awful experience. She hoped they wouldn't run into Undyne again. Clover came over as well. She took the Kit Kat from Melody and waved it in the air.

"Give it to me, Clo!" Brayden said, standing up.

"Don't, it'll make him sick!" Melody told Clover. Melody and Brayden eyed each other.

"If y'all are just gonna fight over this, then no one can have it," Clover said. She snapped the Kit Kat in half and threw it over the waterfall. It floated away. Brayden groaned.

"Clover, that's littering!" Melody snapped, standing up.

"All of this is littering, Melody," Clover retorted, folding her arms. "And look, Brayden didn't get the Kit Kat. That's what ya wanted, right?" 

Melody couldn't argue with that. Brayden pouted. Meanwhile, Percy had figured out the garbage cycle.

"The waterfall flows from the ceiling of the cavern, occasionally bringing a piece of trash. It will fall into the bottomless pit below. Over a long period of time, quite an amount has built up." the purple child explained. 

Melody wondered how he figured that out. Well, he was Percy. He knew how to figure things out.

The kids walked through a narrow room. Garbage was floating beside the walls.

"This place is disgusting," Melody commented, cringing. "How do we get out of here?" 

She heard a strange-sounding honk. She yelped in surprise and jumped into Brayden's arms. The eighth human gave her a funny look. Their hand was rested on an old bike. Everyone else started laughing.

"MELODY!" Brayden yelled. 

He dropped her, brushing his arms off. Melody groaned. She couldn't believe she had just done that. How embarrassing.

"A beat-up desktop computer," Percy was examining a computer. "This thing is ancient! I haven't seen a computer like this for a long time." He checked the inside. He gasped, suddenly sounding emotional. "Empty! Wh... who could do this to a computer? WHO COULD DO THIS TO A COMPUTER!?" He realized he had just yelled. "I... um..."

"You're a geek, we know." Melody sighed. 

"Hey, there's some Astronaut Food in this cooler," Faye was standing beside an orange cooler. She held up some Astronaut Food. "You can heal yourself, Cody!"

"Thanks, Faye!" Cody grinned, taking some of the Astronaut Food. 

"Undyne." Clover muttered vengefully. She was eyeing her brother.

"She was mean, wasn't she?" Melody sighed, eyeing Clover. "I don't want all that stuff to happen again. But you're not going to try and kill Undyne just because she hurt your brother, are you?" 

Clover stormed off. 

"Well goodness me!" Melody made a mental note to keep an eye on Clover. 

Melody sighed. She missed Toriel. Toriel was a real mom - she would know how to look after everyone.

Melody noticed Percy looked excited about something. Nearby the cooler was a colourful DVD case.

"It's a DVD case," Percy said, rushing over to the DVD case. He sounded panicked, excited and a lot of other things. "It's a DVD case for Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. One of my favourite anime, even if everyone says it's cringe." He raised his arms. "The Underground is officially good now. I know that for sure. If there is anime, it is a good place. Very very very good." He opened the case. 

"It is empty." He sounded dead inside again. "I changed my mind. We are in Hell."

"It's just weird cartoons." Brayden said, crinkling his nose. 

"Brayden Valiance, anime is not weird cartoons!" Percy exclaimed. His voice sounded like it was full of emotion for once. "Anime is beyond cartoon! Anime is my solace! It's magical, it's full of magical girls and magical people and magical plants and shouting and colours and-"

"Percy, calm down." Melody placed her hands on Percy's shoulders. "Anime'll be somewhere here. We need to get a move on, okay?"

"But Mew Mew Kissy Cutie..." Percy sighed. 

The others were giving each other weird looks. Melody led Percy away from the anime. They passed a dummy like the one in the RUINS. Brayden cracked his knuckles.

"I'mma beat it up!" he yelled. He punched the dummy at full-force, knocking it over. He cheered victoriously.

"Poor dummy..." Faye sighed, eyeing it. 

Cody looked upset as well. Melody, meanwhile, was relieved. There was an exit ahead! That was until the dummy came to life and blocked the way.

"FOOL!" they screamed. They were a floating dummy with angry eyes. "You think you can hurt ME!? I am a ghost that lives inside a DUMMY!"

"No need to diss yourself there," Faye commented. She had a stupid grin on your face. "We can already see you're pretty dumb." 

Everyone groaned.

"SHUT UP!" the dummy yelled. "My cousin used to live inside a DUMMY, too. Until... YOU ALL CAME ALONG! When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat... but the things you all SAID...! Horrible! Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE! It spooked them right out of their dummy!"

"The dummy in the Ruins." Percy realized.

"Oh, no, I'm so sorry!" Cody pleaded. He sounded sad. "We didn't mean to offend your cousin!"

"HUMANS!" the dummy yelled. "I'll scare your SOULS right out of your bodies!" 

They turned bright red. They shook like they were furious, which they obviously were. And then a battle started. Melody sighed. She just wanted to leave. 

Mad Dummy blocks the way!

MAD DUMMY 7 ATK -40 DEF. Because they're a ghost, physical attacks will fail.

"Futile!" Mad Dummy screamed. 

Little dummies launched balls of cotton at the kids. The stick kid protected their friends as best as they could. Melody got some cotton in her hair. She sighed. Faye sneezed. It was so adorably petite everyone stopped and stared at her.

"Sorry, cotton allergy..." Faye apologized.

"Cotton allergy?" Clover asked. She frowned. "We can't fight with that! That's not fair!" She glared at the dummy. "Hey! My friend's got a cotton allergy. It ain't fair if she gets sick!"

"Cotton allergy?" the dummy asked. They looked evil. "Well, if I can't use cotton-based attacks... I'LL USE SOMETHING MUCH MORE DANGEROUS! Haha. Haha! HAHA! DUMMY BOTS! USE MAGIC MISSILE!" 

Robot dummies appeared around the kids' SOULs. Their eyes flashed a dangerous red.

"Oh no... this is my fault..." Faye said, looking upset. "I'm the dummy... I shouldn't have sneezed..." 

The robot dummies unleashed a bunch of missiles.

"Scatter." Percy spoke. 

The kids raced out of the way. Melody had no idea what was going on. The eighth human was leading the rockets towards the dummy. They hit the dummy with a loud explosion.

"DUMMIES! Hit the humans, not ME!" the dummy screamed. "DUMMY BOTS! TRY AGAIN!" 

The genderless kid gestured for everyone to replicate their actions. The kids swirled around, leading the missiles towards Mad Dummy. Tons of magic missiles hit the dummy, making them furious.

"Dummy bots! You're awful. Awful! AWFUL!" Mad Dummy yelled. Mad Dummy is hopping mad. 

The kids stared at each other. They spared Mad Dummy again. Even more missiles chased their SOULs. They repeated what they did the previous turn. Mad Dummy looked furious.

"(No... no way!)" Mad Dummy exclaimed. "(These guys are useless! GAH! I will use explosives instead!)" 

Mad Dummy glares into a mirror, then turns to you with the same expression.

"Explosives don't sound very good..." Faye commented, looking anxious.

"Any way we can spare this thing?" Clover asked, folding her arms. The eighth human nodded. They made more funny gestures.

"Again?!" Brayden groaned. "Seriously!? This is sooo booorrriiinnggg!" 

Melody really wanted to leave. The eighth human shrugged. Mad Dummy screamed something. Little dummies appeared around the kids' SOULs. They flashed red and charged towards the kids. The eighth human avoided them, hoping the others would copy. Melody almost got hit. More rockets appeared. The children moved around in a big circle, then led the rockets up to Mad Dummy. The ghost got hit again.

"All of these guys are useless!" they screamed. They looked very ticked off. "Who cares. Who cares! WHO CARES! I DON'T NEED FRIENDS!" 

A knife appeared next to their head. "I'VE GOT KNIVES!" 

A knife threw itself at the kids. The eighth human shoved them all out of the way, even though it wasn't really hard to dodge. Melody guessed it was paranoia.

Mad Dummy frowned. "I'm... out of knives." They started shaking intensely. "BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU ALL CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! YOU'LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME... Forever. Forever! FOREVER! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" 

The kids gave each other worried glances.

"MAKE ME!" Brayden challenged, glaring at Mad Dummy. 

Suddenly, it started raining on the dummy. Mad Dummy went a bit ballistic. Clover covered Cody's eyes.

"Wh... what the heck is this!?" Mad Dummy asked. They looked disturbed. "Ergh! Acid rain?! Oh, FORGET IT! I'm outta here!" 

They disappeared off-screen, the bike horn honking in the background.

"Who saved us?" Cody asked, clinging to his sister's arm. 

Napstablook appeared. Their large eyes were watery. 

Cody gasped. "Napstablook! Thank you!"

"It's nice to see you, Napstablook." Faye told them, smiling.

"... sorry, i interrupted you, didn't i?" Napstablook asked, sounding depressed. 

Melody liked Napstablook. They were a little down in the dumps, but she found them easy to relate to. Even though the kids had only met them once. 

"as soon as i came over, your friend immediately left..." Napstablook sighed. "oh no... you guys looked like you were having fun."

"Don't worry 'bout it, pardner," Clover reassured the ghost. "We weren't havin' fun. That guy was tryna kill us."

"They set off my cotton allergies..." Faye said, holding her nose.

"oh... well, you're welcome, i guess..." Napstablook replied. "i still feel bad... i only wanted to say hi... oh no..." 

"Don't feel bad, Napstablook," Cody told them, smiling. "We really appreciate it! Right, guys?" 

"Sure," Clover shrugged. 

Cody glowered.

"well... I'm going to head home now..." Napstablook said. "oh... um... feel free to 'come with' if you want... but no pressure... i understand if you're busy... it's fine... no worries-"

"WE GET IT!" Brayden interrupted. He ignored Melody glaring at him. "And we wanna go to your place! Where is it?!"

"this way." Napstablook replied. 

They floated north. The kids followed them, finally leaving that Garbage Dump. They came to an area with pathways going in different directions. 

Napstablook turned around and faced the kids. "hey. my house is up here. in case you want to see... or in case... you don't." 

They floated up the middle path. The eighth human did that weird thing where they stood and stared at something for a few moments. Then they went up the path Napstablook went.

"Guys, wait," Percy spoke up before Brayden chased them. Everyone turned and stared at Percy. "I didn't want to say this in front of them, but... I feel like there's something more going on with the stick-wielding child. I don't have any clear evidence, it's more of a feeling. Somehow, somehow... I can tell they're a big part of the story. So is Chara."

"I kinda feel like that too," Clover agreed. "Almost like... I know 'em from somewhere."

"Yeah," Faye said. "They've done some really cool things but... something feels off about them."

Melody stared at the path. She thought about how strange that eighth human acted sometimes. Yet they were so nice and they were brave and a whole bunch of other things. She could see why everyone liked them. They had saved everyone's life a few times. Yet, in a way, they were a bit... dodgy. They always seemed a little anxious or guilty. Melody thought it was so strange. She hoped one day, the eighth human would tell them all the truth.

After all, honesty was policy. Percy walked up to Melody. He mumbled, "I had a weird dream about it, Melody. A dream about something really awful."

"You did?" Melody replied.

"I... I didn't want to say it in front of everyone else," Percy said. His usual dry, monotonous voice sounded a little... scared for once. Melody raised her brow. "But I saw the absolute worst income." He paused. "I saw someone... slaughtering us all... then the world was destroyed."

"What?" Melody asked. "But who...?"

"It was not clear, but I distinctly remember glowing, red eyes," Percy replied. He stared at the eighth human. "Much like them."

Melody felt uneasy. She realized that something terrible was indeed happening.

"Oh... you really came..." Napstablook was wearing black headphones. 

The kids were inside their small, wooden, blue house. There were cobwebs in the corners. CDs were on the floor. A fridge was in the corner. There was also a TV and a computer. 

"sorry, i wasn't expecting that... it's not much, but make yourself at home..." Napstablook mumbled.

"Don't say that!" Cody insisted. "Your house looks... great!" 

Melody, meanwhile, was inspecting Napstablook's CDs. She noticed their headphones. She raised her brow.

"You like music?" she asked, staring at Napstablook.

"yeah, i guess..." Napstablook replied. "i like to make my own songs sometimes..." Melody played one of the CDs. It was called 'Ghouliday'. It was basically a bunch of ghosts making noises. 

Napstablook looked up. "oh, this one. once you learn the lyrics, it's hard not to sing along... ooo ooo oooo, ooo ooo oooo, oo oo ooo oo ooo..."

Melody raised her brow. The other kids were looking at each other.

"Um... nice...!" Cody attempted to compliment Napstablook. He chuckled, sweating. Melody played another CD. 

It was called Spookwave. It was pretty sp00py.

"dang... that ambience..." Napstablook commented. "it's like my whole body is being spooked..." 

"Yeah, mine too." Faye said, looking a little scared. 

Brayden pulled a silly face and took comedically oversized steps.

"I'm a ghooooossstttt," he said, making his voice sound echoey. "Boo!" 

He managed to scare Cody, who clung onto his sister.

"Well, I'm a ghost hunter," Clover retorted. She grabbed Brayden like she was going to give him a noogie. "And I got you, pardner."

"I don't remember that happening in Ghostbusters." Percy said, eyeing them.

"Oh for goodness' sake," Melody grumbled, folding her arms. "You two are being very rude. We're houseguests!"

"Yeah, and Napstablook might find us making fun of ghosts kinda mean..." Faye pointed out.

"Do real ghosts even act such a way?" Percy asked, sounding inquisitive.

"i don't mind..." Napstablook said. "make yourselves at home..." Melody sighed. She played the next CD which was called 'Spooktunes'. It sounded like the last song, but less echoey. "oh... a classic spooktune... they don't make songs like this anymore..."

"It's... um...!" Cody said, biting his lip. "It's music!"

"This is so weird," Melody told Napstablook. "I've never heard anything like it. I thought Percy's AMV music was weird. But this! This is... just weird."

"AMVs are not weird." Percy grumbled, adjusting his glasses.

"oh... i'm sorry..." Napstablook apologized. "it's just my ghost tunes... oh no..."

"You say 'oh no' a lot," Melody told them, folding her arms. "You don't have to."

"i'm sorry..." Napstablook apologized. "oh no...." 

Melody sighed.

"HEY! I'M HUNGRY!" Brayden yelled, looking at the fridge. "HEY! NAPSTA! I WANT SOME FOOD!" 

Melody glared at him. He groaned. 

"May I please have something to eat, Napstablook?" he asked, grinning wide.

"oh... you're hungry... i can get you something to eat..." Napstablook floated over to the fridge. They... supposedly brought something out. "this is a ghost sandwich... do you want to try it..."

"I CAN'T SEE IT!" Brayden yelled. He smiled. "Yeah, I'd like to try it." 

He tried to bite the ghost sandwich. He phased right through it. Clover started laughing. She found it funny for whatever reason. 

Brayden glared at her. "HEY, SHUT UP CLOVER!"

"Brayden! You can't say that!" Melody told him off.

"oh... nevermind..." Napstablook sighed. "after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage... it's family tradition... do you all want... to join me..."

"I already do." Percy sighed, adjusting his glasses. Melody gave him a look.

"Me too," Faye agreed.

"But Faye! You're not garbage!" Brayden yelled, staring at Faye.

"No, I like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage," Faye replied. "I don't think I said I'm garbage... am I garbage?"

"NO!" Brayden answered almost immediately. "YOU'RE NOT GARBAGE! You're... non-garbage! Yeah! You're NON-GARBAGE!"

"What does that mean?" Faye asked, looking up.

"It means you're not garbage!" Brayden answered.

"What am I then?" Faye asked, slightly confused. "Garbage or non-garbage?"

"Non-garbage!" Brayden responded. "So lie on the ground and feel like non-garbage! 'Cause that's what I'm doing!" He slumped on the ground without waiting for instructions from Napstablook. He ended up falling asleep.

"well... just copy your friend, I guess... and move when you want to stop..." Napstablook said. 

They lied on the ground as well. Everyone else copied them. They lied in a big circle, facing the ceiling. Melody stared at the ceiling. She eyed the eighth human, who was lying next to her. They gave her a smile.

"Hey," she whispered. "Forgive me if I disrupted your concentration, but I just wanted to say... thank you. Those performances were a lot of fun. I didn't know you had so much talent! Oh, and thanks for saving my life." 

Melody didn't think about what Percy had said. The murderer couldn't be them, right? They were a nice child.

The eighth human shrugged. They kept that smile on their fade.

Melody sighed. Suddenly, everything around her changed. The floor became like the galaxy: bright and colourful stars were everywhere. It was almost hypnotizing. She felt so tired looking at it, but also very sad. It looked like a piece of art her parents were obsessed with once.

"Sorry, again," Melody whispered, waking the eighth human. They didn't seem to mind. "But... I just thought of something sad, and... I wanted to... talk about it." 

The eighth human looked okay with it. 

"Thanks," Melody smiled. "Well, a while ago, you see, I used to live somewhere else. I used to go to this very fancy and very cool girls school! A finishing school, I believe it's called. It's how I learned my manners. I also did quite a lot of ballet. Anyway, this is... a bit of a story. My dance group had been practicing for this big show. I was so excited! It was going to be 'my thing'. But then..." She frowned. "My parents ruined everything."