Chapter Text
It was a normal night in the Dunes. Ceroba was in the saloon, trying to forget the sorrow of her husband’s passing by watching Kanako and the Feisty Five. She also indulged in a bottle of ‘adult soda’, but only one, as she needed to be sober for Kanako. She stepped outside for a breather, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of white.
She went to investigate, and found a large white puddle next to the northern fence behind the jail. It seemed to have a gooey consistency. She rubbed her eyes, but it was still there. She began to wonder if someone spiked her drink when she wasn’t looking when suddenly, it seemed to shudder, before congealing to form a blob about the size of a small child. It approached her. She summoned her staff, shouting “Stay back!” It moved yet closer. She readied a ball of fire magic. It was not deterred, and continued until it was about to touch her. She shot the fire at it, and it seemed to absorb the fire before collapsing back into a puddle.
It convulsed several more times, getting faster and faster before shining with a blinding light. When the light subsided, Ceroba opened her eyes to see… her younger self staring back at her. Her copy opened its eyes, before saying “It sure is nice to have a form again!” The shock wore off on Ceroba enough for her to exclaim “Who the hell are you!?”
“Me? Oh, I’m not important. I’m here to talk about you.” it replied.
“What do you want with me, then!?” she shouted, readying her staff and magic once more, although she doubted it would do anything.
“Easy there, I’m just trying to help you out. You can’t hurt me anyway, don’t even try.” The entity raised its hands in a placating gesture.
“Help me with what?” She kept her guard up, but calmed down slightly.
“Your husband’s legacy, what else?”
The shock was evident on Ceroba’s face as she said “How do you know about that?”
“I’m probably going to regret this, but I’ve never been one for lying so I’ll just tell you the truth. I’m from a higher plane of existence, one in which your world is little more than a video game.” It braced for the shock of that revelation, when…
“You expect me to believe that?” Ceroba questioned with an eyebrow raised.
“Yeah I did actually. Not too sure how to prove it to you either, other than with knowledge I shouldn't have, but I could’ve just come from the future. Anyway, getting back on topic here, helping you out.”
“You still haven’t explained how you're going to do that yet.”
“Oh don’t worry I will. But first, I need to ask a question to figure out what period of time this is. That being, and apologies if this touches a nerve, is Kanako alive?”
“...She’s alive right now. Is something going to happen to her!?” Any calm Ceroba had until then shattered.
The nonchalance of the entity also shattered for a very brief moment, before it said “Oh nice. Well now nothing will happen to her, because I’m here to warn you: Don’t ever inject your daughter with the serum.”
“Was that seriously something I was going to do!?” Ceroba became indignant at this.
“Yeah it was a major plot point in the game. Well that was certainly a shock, but now I have to figure out what to do until the human falls.”
“There’s another human coming!?” Ceroba had about enough shocks for a lifetime at this point.
“Ah shit, I forgot to mention that earlier. Yeah their name's Clover, they love cowboy stuff, and they will either be timid and scared, completely obsessed with vengeance, or the kindest person you ever met, depending on the timeline. Hard to predict their actions when you don’t control them, although my money’s on the first one.” The entity gave a shrug at the end.
“You ‘controlled’ this human?”
“Yeah they were the playable character of the video game. Don’t worry, I only ever played the game having them be kind. And the reason for my money being on the first one, and our first objective, both involve Alphys.”
Ceroba raised an eyebrow at this before speaking, “The royal scientist? Why?”
“I’ll explain when we get there, not that you would believe any of it anyway. The reason I need you for this is that apparently even in this world I’m stuck to being a teenager.” The entity rolled their eyes at the last part.
“You’re actually a child?”
“Yeah crazy right? Anyway I need somewhere to sleep so I’ll be going to your house. You should probably go get Kanako before joining me, and don’t reveal my presence to anyone else, not that they’d believe you anyway.”
Ceroba still had two more questions left to ask, however. Well actually she had a lot of questions but only two that needed to be asked at the moment. “Wait, before you go, what even are you?” And why are you helping me of all people?”
“I’ll start with the second one, cause it’s an easy answer. You were my favorite character. As for the first, I dunno, some kind of sludge goo? All I know is that I can absorb magic to take the form and abilities of that monster. Or I can turn back into a blob, but then I can’t talk. Don’t know how I know any of that, but I do. Anyway, good night Ceroba. I’ll see you tomorrow after you figure out what to do with Kanako. I’ll be in Chujin’s office, cause it’s the only available room.” The entity ran off before Ceroba could say anything.
“Am I really about to go through with this?” she muttered to herself.