//------------------------------// // Friends in the Darkness // Story: The Moon in the Dark // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As Woona once again passed by the bucket of umbrellas, she took another one to keep the rain off of her as she kept going. As she moved into an area filled with rain, however, she paused. "Chara," she asked, "where are the clouds?" What clouds? Chara asked curiously, somewhat amused that she'd already put the events of the Legendary Artifact chamber behind her. "Rain comes from clouds," Woona explained firmly. "So if it's raining here, there must be clouds. But there are no clouds." She gestured towards the distant cloud free ceiling of the cavern. "So...how can there be rain?" The rain vanished in a puff of logic. "Really?" Woona marveled, moving her umbrella to see the puff of logic. Her eyes then went flat as she moved the umbrella back over her soaked body. Glancing around, she spotted a puddle. Walking up to it, she proceeded to give her reflection the stinkeye. In the puddle, she could see Chara giggling, but there was something different about him. What are you staring at? he asked finally. "Your eyes...they're brown," Woona replied softly. She then smiled. "A really pretty brown-" Chara vanished from the reflection, and fell completely silent. Woona could still feel him inside her, but apparently something had upset him. Shrugging, Woona kept walking, deciding to let Chara adjust on his own to whatever had caught him off guard like that. As she walked, she spotted MK in a covered alcove to the side of the path. "MK!" she called out happily. "Hey Woona!" MK called back. "You got an umbrella? Awesome!" "Wanna share?" Woona offered, holding the umbrella higher in her magic so MK could duck under as well. "Sure!" MK agreed readily, dashing to get under the offered shelter. "Let's go-say, how come you're so wet?" Woona sighed. "I was trying to figure out how the rain worked without clouds." "What are clouds?" MK asked curiously. "Something I'd read about," Woona replied, deciding to not mention coming from the surface. She virtuously told herself that it wasn't a lie, since Toriel had a whole book on clouds alone that she'd read cover to cover. The self-justification made her feel much less guilty when she felt Chara's amusement at it. "So how does the rain work?" "Oh, we just studied this in school!" Mk proclaimed excitedly. Scrunching up his face, he carefully recited the lesson. "Water seeps through from the surface to make stalactites. When the water reaches the end of the stalactite, it falls to the ground as a raindrop, creating our water table. There are a lot of stalactites in Waterfall, since it's apparently directly under a lot of water from the surface, which is where the waterfalls that give the region its name come from. Because water flows down the stalactites frequently along this particular path, it undergoes frequent rain showers." He smiled widely. "I get good grades! Mom says I have to do good in my studies if I ever want to join the Royal Guard and be like Undyne!" Woona giggled at the last tidbit. "That's fascinating," she murmured, having enjoyed learning so much new information about the Underground. Since Toriel had wanted to be a teacher, Woona had done her best to be a good daughter for her Mommy by being a good student. "Eh," MK replied, managing to shrug shoulders he didn't actually have. "I don't really like school. But Mom knows her stuff, so I listen if I ever want to be like Undyne. She's so cool!" MK bounced happily as he got into his subject matter. "She beats up the bad guys and never loses!" He shivered in excitement. "If I was a human, I'd wet the bed every night, knowing she was gonna beat me up!" He let off a playful laugh. Woona shivered before continuing. After all, even if she wasn't a human, Undyne still wanted to beat her up. Woona continued to lead the way along the path, listening to MK babble about his life and whatever past events popped into his head. She was interested in what he had to say about 'Mr. Dreemur', the King...but he quickly sidelined into talking about Undyne again. Woona almost suggested a word association game just to see how many words it would take for him to connect anything to Undyne...but she was pretty sure at this point the answer would always be 'one'. Woona paused at one point along the path when a wide open vista gave her a distant view of a massive castle. She wasn't surprised that MK paused as well. Despite that, she decided to keep moving. Reaching the end of the rainy section, Woona returned the umbrella to a bucket. She then found she was confronted by a high ledge. "This ledge is way too high to climb," MK murmured. "Yo, you wanna see Undyne, right?" Woona thought about that. While she wanted to avoid Undyne until that 'traditional FIGHT' Papyrus had told her about, she knew she'd have to face Undyne then. She couldn't keep running away. "Yes," she confirmed. "Hop up, then!" MK offered, moving to brace himself against the ledge. Seeing what he was offering, Woona scampered up his back to his head. She hopped up to try and reach the ledge, but couldn't. "I can't get high enough!" she exclaimed. MK stared up at the ledge. "Then jump after I do!" he instructed. Bunching up his legs, he jumped as high as he could. When he reached the peak of his jump, Woona leapt off, catching hold of the ledge and scrambling up onto it. "I made it!" Woona called out, looking back down at MK. "But...what about you?" "Don't worry!" MK called back. "I always find my way through!" With that statement and a wide grin, he turned and rushed off, pausing only long enough to push himself back up when he tripped on his sleeves. Giggling at his antics, Woona continued onward, the cavern brightening as she walked out onto a high wooden bridge with distant twists and turns. Things seemed like easy sailing. But as she continued, she felt the same eerie sense she'd had when Undyne attacked her the first time. Deciding not to take chances, she ran for it. As she ran, she noticed spots on the bridge glowing in her vision. Avoid those! Chara instructed her. As Woona dodged around one, spears erupted from the spots Chara'd marked in her sight. "Undyne!" Woona gasped in fear, continued her headlong dash. She could see Undyne below her on another set of wooden platforms, sending her magic upward to attack. The bridge was filled with twists and turns, making it a very confusing and inefficient path, but the gaps between bridge segments were rather narrow. Using her wings and magic, Woona leapt across the gaps to keep running. This action seemed to surprise Undyne, who raced to keep up, sending her magic after the little pony. Before long, the bridge split into numerous divergent and intersecting pathways, and Woona wasn't certain where to go. She couldn't see far enough, and she couldn't stop while Undyne was chasing her. This way! Chara barked, making part of the path flash yellow in Woona's vision. Without hesitation, Woona followed Chara's directions, dodging around the spears as they formed. An odd image appeared in her mind from Chara's. ...why is Flowey wearing a slinky black dress? And why is Asgore a dragon with a key around his neck? ...never mind, Chara replied softly as they reached a very large platform. Just keep running. Before long, Woona came to a dead end, the bridge platform jutting out into darkness. What now? Woona shrieked in her mind. Jump! What? Trust me! With no other options as Undyne approached behind her, Woona leapt into the void. The only light for her to see by came from her soul, surrounded by the grey fog that was Chara. Seeing that grey fog, she knew...Chara was getting better. As the void swallowed her up, that knowledge filled her with DETERMINATION.