Darker.

Darker.

Yet, darker still.

The black faded in and out of a gray that kept you lulled into a deep sleep. A dull ache would occasionally sweep through your body, but you were able to ignore it after a short while. Eventually, the gray grew lighter and lighter until you felt yourself floating among strange symbols and lights.

"Are you awake?"

Despite nothing being near that could utter a noise, you felt the question was directed at you.

"Kalia, can you hear me?"

"I'm awake." Though you spoke the words, they were silent, and you remained lost in a limbo of abstract thought and white distortions.

"She's lost too much blood." Another voice said. You could put a name to it, but you weren't sure who the person was. "We need a transfusion."

"We should have taken her to the hospital." The first voice said angrily.

"Look around! You think this would have been good to have in a hospital full of humans? Especially after what happened to that church!"

"Please, do not fight." A third voice was calm and soothing, and you smiled at the sound.

Church...

What happened to the church? Were you there? You couldn't remember, but it felt very important to you.

Something happened that caused you a great amount of pain and you wanted to scream, the world of white around you quickly flashing red and purple like violent strobes. Then, it ceased entirely, and the waves of the two colors slowly began to dissipate.

"Damn it!"

"Please, calm yourself."

"This isn't a time to be calm! She's dying, Tori!"

"She is going to be alright, Sans."

The names rang in your head, and you wished you could see their faces. You wanted to know what these people looked like. Maybe they were doctors?

Were you sick?

Was your name Kalia?

It felt wrong. Your name was something different, wasn't it?

You felt helpless against your own mind, which stayed blank- perhaps out of spite. You tried blinking, to understand better the strange world you were in. Was this heaven? Maybe somewhere in between? You missed someone, but between the voices talking around you and the emptiness of the white that surrounded you, it was impossible to decide which of the strange voices you missed the most.

"I just want to go home." You whispered, hugging yourself tightly as you aimlessly floated.

But... Where is 'home'? You couldn't decide that either, and in your frustration you screamed loudly into the nothingness.

"What was that?"

You blinked and stopped cradling yourself to look up into the brightness.

"Do you think she...?"

"Hello?" You called out, hoping for an answer. "Can you hear me??"

"Maybe..."

"Let me out of here!" You cried, attempting to swim upward. Slowly, though barely, you started to move. "Somebody! Anybody! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"There it is again!"

"Kalia?" The voice was suddenly very loud, and new colors invaded the blank canvas of your inner thoughts. "Baby, it's time to wake up. Please, please wake up."

"sans." The name came to you and it flooded your heart with heat that stunted the air in your lungs. A wave of consiousness launched you upward with the force of a rip current.

"Kalia?!"

"SANS!"

"She's shaking the whole house! Wake her up!"

I'm coming! You let the surge of memories wash over you as you were pushed up into the sky. I'm almost there! Don't leave me here!

"Don't leave me here!"

With a gasp, an image of monsters in a blue room suddenly appeared in front of you. There was a large blue fish holding your arms, a white goat beast with flaming hands hovering over you, and a skeleton watching in the corner, his left eye burning brightly with a yellow and blue flame.

"She's awake!" Undyne grinned, showing all of her long, sharp teeth as she released your arms and turned to Sans defiantly. "See? I told you she'd push through it! She's not a wimpy loser like you or Frisk!"

"Undyne, please calm yourself." Toriel said with a worried smile. "She's only just woken up. Let's try and ease her from her slumber, alright?"

"Right, right." Undyne waved her hand passively before hurrying out the door. "I'll let the others know she's okay!"

You watched her leave the room with a slam of the door, making you flinch slightly, then you looked down at your arms and legs.

Scars. So many scars, and they ached so badly. Some of them were newly bandaged, and even in the crisp linen wraps, you saw faint spots of crimson seeping through.

"What" your voice caught you off guard; it sounded as though you had been screaming for hours- no, days "happened?"

"Sans brought you back home with the help of your friend, the witch. I had hoped she would stay until you woke, but she left soon after we brought you to bed." Toriel said softly, still attempting to heal your wounds. "Your magic is compromising your body, it seems."

"My magic." They knew about it, then. Not surprising, considering you had engulfed the entire underground facility in fire-

"Ah! Sans, what about the other monsters?" You turned to look at him and his sockets went dark. "Their okay, right? What about the humans? Some of them... Some of them were...."

His silence pulled your voice away, and tears welled in your eyes as Toriel's expression lost its calmness.

"Dear child, there wasn't anything you could do." She tried to say, touching your arm confortingly. "Sometimes, when we try to protect the ones we care about, we lose control over ourselves."

"I killed all of them? Every single one?"

More silence.

There was a knock, and then Alphys appeared with Undyne into the room, she fiddled nervously with her claws as she neared the bed, eyeing you and Toriel with sweat beading her forehead.

"H-hi, Kalia. I'm really glad y-you're awake. H-how are you feeling?"

"Like a murderer." You mumbled into the blanket, turning your head away.

She made a startled noise, then looked to Undyne for a moment before continuing. "W-well I just wanted to check up on you, s-so that we could maybe.. M-maybe we can start the testing?"

"Testing?"

"Your magic is... U-um... It's a little unstable? I have some ways we can determine what's causing the phenomena in your SOUL, but in order to do that... W-we'd have to bring you to the lab."

Lab.

Would you like to help •☺‼¶♣↕ and I to revive him?

"I can do it! I know I can, father- oh, let me grab some things first!"

"Whoa!"

You blinked and saw all eyes were on you now, Undyne holding Alphys close while Toriel had her hands out to balance herself. Sans had a bony hand towards you, encasing you in what looked like a soft blue bubble.

"Kalia, you gotta watch when you zone out like that." Undyne sighed, unnerved. "They don't build houses up here like they did underground."

"Huh? What do you mean?" You looked around and saw no changes. Did you burn something?

"K-kalia, when you were starting to wake up, you were starting earth tremors in the house. Just now... J-just now, it happened again."

"You just need to be careful." Sans said calmly with a shrug. "Maybe think about not-earthquake stuff."

"I'll do my best." You muttered, trying to assess your ability to walk. "You said Kalia.... er, Kalpana was here? She left already?"

"She seemed in a hurry." Undyne quipped. "I think she gave a note to Frisk to give you later, but she's in school."

You nodded weakly. Kalpana would be someone she could ask about her magic, since she was the only other human she knew who could do anything magical. Was this why humans didn't have magic? Monsters didn't typically cause earthquakes (none that you felt, and considering how close you lived to some of the underground, you would have) when they're in trouble or 'spacing out'. If it was directly linked to your SOUL.

.... Your SOUL?

Something wasn't right.

"When can I get this sorted out?" You asked suddenly, cutting off whatever Alphys was arguing with Sans over. "I... I just want this to go away. The earthquakes, I mean."

"U-uh, well, we can s-start whenever you're able t-to travel, Kalia." She stammered. "Just, um, d-don't strain yourself too hard. We don't have to do anything right away."

"I feel like I've been in this bed for years. I should at least try."

With that, you began to pull yourself up using the help of Toriel and Undyne, then turned your legs over the edge of the mattress and carefully slid down to touch the floor. At first, you flinched at the numbing sensation of pins and needles on the bottoms of your feet, but slowly the pain subsided and you managed to stand without aid. Sans smiled a little wider at your success, and reached a hand toward you.

"You'll need some help going down the stairs. Pap's making you some spaghetti in the kitchen."

You beamed. "I've never been more excited to eat it."

He kept smiling as you both made your descent toward the living room, and you heard the light clinking of silverware on stainless steel in the next room over. Sans led you to the couch and let you sit before moving close to you.

"Hey, what do you remember about the church?" He asked.

"You mean the fight that happened? I just remember you taking hits from Ch-"

He put a finger bone to your lips and nodded. "Right. Just wanted to make sure before I tell you this; don't mention that name here. Chara. Don't say it."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just... Just trust me on this one, Kal. We'll figure it all out later, just not here."

You glanced up at the stairs before looking back to him and nodding. He sighed, relieved, and sank back to his spot on the couch, letting his body inhabit a dent his laziness had engraved into the cushions. The others descended shortly after you sat down and Undyne sat on the recliner while Alphys followed Toriel into the kitchen.

"Mettaton's doing the news later, right?" Undyne asked, reaching for the remote on the coffee table. "Wonder if they figured anything out since they finished excavating."

"C-couldn't you go to the p-precinct for information?" Alphys stammered. "I-it's your case, after all."

"I can get the real info at the precinct, sure, but in order to know how the crowds are going to react, I need to see what they're gonna see on the news."

The television clicked on and an advertisement blared with jolly music and bright colors. You glanced over at Sans, though his attention was toward the kitchen. You wondered how long you had been asleep, and how long you had been underground for. Maybe a week? There wasn't a decoration to be found in the house, which meant Christmas had come and gone. You listened for any conversation in the next room, to hear who else might be in the house, but little more than a sizzling pan or clanging glass made a sound.

"How, uh," you watched the expressions of their faces nervously as eyes turned to you instantly, "how long has it been? Since I was gone?"

"Long enough." Toriel said, poking her head out from the kitchen for a moment before retreating.

"So a week, maybe?"

"U-uh, I think what Toriel meant was that the exact time doesn't really matter right now." Alphys pushed through the sentence fast before looking to Undyne for help without subtlety.

"She's right. Use your brain power to try to remember as much as you can. Who the leader was, where any other locations may be, or names would be the best place to start."

"Well, names- uh, some- will be easy to do, if you have a pen."

"Sure." Undyne pulled a pen from her rear jean pocket and grabbed a notepad from Alphys, who had taken it from Undyne's coat. "Do you know the leader's name? Are there several, or just one?"

"There was only one. They called him 'Father Yani', but I, uh, don't remember his real name."

"But it was a male?"

"Yeah, tall with brown hair and dark eyes. He had a really low, musical voice. Creepy smile. That's all I remember about him."

"Who else do you remember?"

"His brother, Michael, was about my height with golden blonde hair, bright eyes. He seemed to be second-in-command, but-"

"Oh, I know who you're talking about." Undyne wiggled the pen in your direction and winked. "He's the scared little kid on the surveillance tape."

"What?" You asked, bewildered. "Surveillance?"

She nodded. "The fire destroyed a lot of it, but we dug up a security room filled with tapes and monitors. Some of it isn't... Isn't worth watching, but we saw a few of the Crusaders made it out alive, along with blondie."

"What about the leader? Was there anyone there that matched Kalia's description?" Sans spoke up this time, bringing his tired eyes away from the kitchen and toward Undyne.

"None that I remember. We can bring you both down to headquarters sometime this week and you can pick him out of the crowd if you see him."

Mettaton's voice broke the followed silence, "and clear skies throughout. If you're looking for a day to flaunt your new MTT Kimono Glitz Top, I highly suggest tomorrow." You brought your eyes to the screen like the others had, watching the robot straighten out his papers. "The investigation on the recent devastation of the Metro Church of Wayward Souls is ongoing, and locals are expressing heartfelt sympathy for the families who have lost loved ones due to the fire with flowers and candles along the walkways. Meanwhile, the cult activities that have been discovered by police have been linked to the multiple hate crimes committed by the Crusaders, a group of anti-monster activists whose numbers have tripled in the last year.

"Those with missing loved ones are urged to come to the coroner's office to determine the identity of the monsters whose dust has been found. The steps taken to separate the dust is explained by Doctor-"

Undyne muted the television and sighed. "So it really was them. The Crusaders." She scratched the scales on the back of her neck. "This is definitely the largest compound we've found them in, so we can be sure their main hideout is officially taken down. Good work, Kalia."

"Yeah, but that means survivors could be hiding somewhere else, right?" You asked while glancing at the television where the news cameras were still on side-walk vigils.

Undyne nodded. "They're are plenty of em still around, but this is a devastating blow for them. I don't doubt that they will be putting vigils of their own somewhere and realizing this crap isn't worth the lives lost."

"Wishful thinking." You heard Sans mutter, only loud enough for you to hear.

Undyne continued, "There's a chance that the leader was killed in the fire, but whatever footage survived the blaze is barely readable. You two are the only ones who can- or at least are willing to- point him out of the crowd."

"So we're going to the police station, then?" You asked, catching a glimpse of the taller skeleton brother in the kitchen.

"Not yet. Alphys still needs to figure out how unstable your magic is before we bring you to heavily populated areas. We're gonna head to the lab first."

"Not until you eat something, dear." Toriel's head leaned out from the kitchen with a gracious smile. 

You smiled back and nodded, and noticed Frisk was at the balcony upstairs, watching the group from above intently. Her face seemed to hold a blank expression.

"Frisk?" You called to her, and she looked at you with a small smile. "Hey, are you gonna come down here?"

"I'm okay." Frisk quietly replied. She looked at Sans for a moment, then casually rose from her crouch and walked back to her room, shutting the door behind her.

You looked at Sans, but he shook his head. "I'll explain later. Really, it isn't you."

"If you're sure."

"Frisk has a history of her own, just like you; she wasn't born a friend of ours."

"Does she think I changed while I was in there?"

"She's more worried about me, babe. Monster torture isn't something I want to find in underground hideouts. Heh." He leaned back while looking up at the door Frisk had shut behind her. "Honestly, I've seen some bad stuff in my life time. I'm a lot older than I like to think about, y'know? That's my excuse for being lazy, at least."

"I don't know, Sans. It took a lot of work on your part to get me back home."

"Heh... Yeah, I guess you're right. You're a terrible influence on me."

Toriel and Papyrus fully emerged from the kitchen soon after with beaming smiles. "Hope everyone is hungry!" Toriel sang, making a soft gesture toward the doorway. You and the others all stood from your seats and made your way to the two of them, and inside the room was a counter full of meals consisting of spaghetti and pastries. 

"I HAVE BEEN PRACTICING MY COOKING BY BROADENING  MY HORIZONS, TALL HUMAN." Papyrus declared, posing boldly before his work. "MY ABILITIES NOW FAR SURPASS ANY MERE SPAGHETTI DISH!"

"That's great, Pap." You said, bringing yourself to the table with Sans following close behind to pull the chair out for you. Undyne and Alphys sat on your left, while Sans, Toriel, and Papyrus sat on your right. You didn't hear anything upstairs, and concluded that Frisk would not be joining the meal. The food- mostly the spaghetti- looked much more edible than it had before you were gone. You wondered how long it had been since you had clean food.

It'll be nice to eat something that isn't drugged.

The thought hit you with a sharp pang in your chest and you felt Sans' hand on your arm. Looking at him, you saw he was smiling with concern in his eyes.

"Sorry." You mumbled. He nodded and started to talk with Toriel and his brother about something you didn't care to listen to. All you could think about, right then, was the Sanctuary. The bright white walls and soft fluorescent lighting filling every corner of your mind.

"Did you drink your water?" Michael asked as you walked beside him.

You gasped and blinked, but no one took notice and you sank into the chair. The feeling of paranoia frustrated you, but with a deep breath and a validation of your surroundings the tight grip it had on your mind finally subsided. A new thought pervaded, suddenly.

"What's today?" You asked, bringing their attention back to you.

"Wednesday." Toriel replied.

"The date, I mean." You clarified, and soon the room had a wary aura.

Alphys was lightly trembling, anxiously twisting and pulling on a napkin, while Toriel lightly cleared her throat to answer. "Well, it's later, I suppose. I haven't looked at the calendar..."

"Please, you guys, this is important. It felt like I had been there for maybe two or three weeks. Am I close, or way off?"

"You're off." Undyne replied, taking a sip of her drink. "It's the third of March."

The third of March. You were gone for three months, and you were finally home on March 3rd.

"Undyne!" Toriel shot her a look you never saw before, but she quickly composed herself. "That was probably such a shock for you, dear. I apologize-"

"HA! HA HA!" You didn't hear the rest over your sudden howl of laughter, which made her and the rest of them jump nearly out of their seats. Tears streaked your face as you failed to regain yourself, your laugh echoing off the walls in the next room.

When you finally calmed down, you sighed and looked at them all with a tired smile.

"Happy Birthday to me."

I apologize for the shorter chapter. Thank you for your patience.