Chapter Text
The first time Seam had heard about that cursed door, it was from Jevil.
Seam had finished selling a few trinkets to a few residents of likely Snowdin from their house, which also doubled as their seap sometimes, before Jevil had popped by into their house. He had snuck in like a slippery snake, somehow going undetected by Seam, before he jumped up on their table and made his presence known.
“UHEE-HEE-HEE! WHY HELLO THERE, MY DEAR MAGICIAN!” Jevil called out, catching Seam attention with a boisterous pose.
Said magician did little more than flinch when the jester yelled out, turning around and seeing their friend. This was quite a normal occurrence: “Ah, hello, friend.” They welcomed softly, or as soft as their gravely voice would allow, “Here for a game? Or would you perhaps like to just talk over a cup of tea?”
Uncharacteristically, Jevil froze for a moment before he deflated, his tail twirling around his leg as he glanced to the ground, “UH, THE LATTER, PLEASE.”
Seam tilted their head slightly, squinting their good eye at their friend. He appeared a bit…nervous? But what could he be worried about?
Best to ask questions later; it would be rude to keep their friend waiting for their promised tea.
As they were making two cups of tea, the jester hopped off the table and dragged out another sitting mat for himself, with one already there for Seam. Jevil plopped down and crossed his legs, bouncing one of them as he waited.
Hmm, their friend wasn’t talking. Strange, usually when Seam made tea for him, Jevil was talking about something or would turn the conversation for the mage to talk about their day.
They paid him a glance as they moved over to grab the tea packets before the water finished boiling in their electric kettle. The Jevil was just staring at the table absent mindly, not blinking, either thinking about something or nothing at all.
Something must have happened. Seam grabbed one tea packet and from a box on a shelf but took something else out of a neighboring box, a hot cocoa packet.
Jevil's favorite drink was hot cocoa, but he usually didn’t drink it due to the area that he lived in the Underground, Hotland, plus they usually did not have it on hand to make, so it was typically a rare treat that he got when the two performed in Snowdin.
This time, though, Seam did find a few packets on sale in that snowy area and decided to buy them for their dear friend, mostly for a rainy day like this.
So, after a bit, they sat down on their mat and placed both cups on the table, sliding over the jester’s cup to him. The cup of hot cocoa stopped short of the end of the table, Jevil snapping his head up and blinking a few times before looking up at them.
“OH?” The Jester turned his head down after he left his face and stared down at his cup, “I WAS LED TO BELIEVE THAT YOU HAD NONE, NONE OF THIS.”
The Mage shrugged, “I just realized I had a few, you looked like you could use some.” They replied offhandedly, taking out the tea packet from their tea cup and putting it on a coaster, “Though, it does seem like you have something on your mind, friend. Is something the matter?”
Jevil bit his own lip, “IN A SENSE.” He answered, “BUT FIRST, BEFORE I CONTINUE, I MUST ASK.” There was a brief pause from the joker, hesitating on what to say, “SEAM, YOU LIVE IN WATERFALL, HAVE BEEN FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE, YET HAVE YOU SEEN A CORRIDOR THAT SOMETIMES IS THERE, BUT WHEN YOU TURN BACK, IT HAS LEFT NOTHING, NOT EVEN A SPECK, SPECK OF DUST?”
“A corridor that vanishes?” Seam summarized, resting their head on one of their plush paws, “I’m afraid not, nor have I heard about it.” The mage had lived in this area of the underground their entire life, so they were more than certain that if this hallway existed, they would have seen it by now, but it didn’t seem like Jevil was lying or playing a trick.
“AH,” Was all that left from his mouth for a moment, “WELL, IT IS REAL, A HALL WHERE ALL THERE IS JUST SILENCE, NOT A SOUND OF ANYTHING.” Jevil explained to them, “THOUGH, IN THAT HALL, IS USUALLY NOTHING FOR THE HANDFUL OF TIMES I HAVE BEEN GRACED BY IT. THAT MAY BE WHY YOU’VE NEVER NOTICED THE HALL, CLEVER FRIEND, YOU SIMPLY NEVER REALIZED YOU WERE IN IT.”
Another sip of tea, “Where is this hall?” Seam wondered, “Perhaps I can go see if I can find it, especially since it seems to be bothering you.” They weren’t sure what they could do about a disappearing hallway; they had no magic to either make it fully appear or disappear, but maybe what Jevil needed was for someone else to know that it was real, that he wasn’t going mad.
“IN BETWEEN WHERE THAT CRYSTALIZED CHEESE IS AND THAT TELESCOPE, FOR USUALLY A HALL DOES NOT LIE THERE, BUT RARELY, THERE IS ONE.” He elaborated, “HOWEVER, THE HALL IS NOT WHAT BOTHERS ME. IF ANYTHING, I FIND IT NEAT AND A TREAT TO SEE, SEE.”
“Then what does?”
“TODAY, THAT HALL WAS THERE, MY SIXTH TIME SEEING IT. YET THIS TIME IT WAS NOT BARE, BUT SOMETHING WAS THERE. SOMETHING STRANGE, STRANGE…”
Jevil didn’t continue, though, instead holding onto his cup with a tight grip, and he stared down his own reflection. His face was flat, nearly ineffable. But then his leg started to bounce more rapidly, and he was giving a wide, strained smile.
While this wasn’t the first time Seam had seen Jevil like this, the times they did were few and far between. Seam stretched out their paw across the table, offering it to their dear friend.
“Jevil?” The Mage softly spoke out.
“AHA!” The jester snapped out, flinging his head back and letting go of his cup, “OH, I SURE DO PLAY THE ROLE OF A FOOL WELL, I MAY BE ONE! A FOOL, A FOOL!” He cried out, but then gave a long, tired sigh, placing his face in his gloved hands, “I DON’T KNOW WHY I FELT THAT WAY…SO AFRAID.”
Jevil shuttered at the end, once again seeming lost, but now Seam knew he wasn’t lost, just confused.
So, the cat got up, moved over to the side of the imp, and sat down next to him on their knees. They debated on wrapping an arm around him, but left it for now. “What made you so afraid?” They whispered to him.
Jevil removed his face from their hands, which no longer showed a fake smile but a true frown, “A-A DOOR.” He answered, his usual cheerful elocution faltering, “IT WAS AS PALE AS THE FULL MOON, OR AT LEAST ACCORDING TO THE TALES THE OLD TURTLE TOLD ME. IT WAS NEARLY EQUAL IN SIZE TO YOU, ONLY HAVING A FEW INCHES ON YOU, YOU.” The jester turned to look up at them, with Seam noticing how wide his eyes were, hands trembling as he grasped onto his legs, “A-AT FIRST, WHEN I FIRST SAW IT, I THOUGHT IT WAS STRANGE, A CHANGE IN THIS WEIRD HALL, BUT AS I WENT CLOSER TO IT, FEAR WAS ETCHED INTO MY VERY SOUL! IT BEGAN TO GROW, GROW, UNTIL I HAD MY HAND ON TOP OF THE KNOB, FOR IT FELT AS IF A GREAT WEIGHT WAS ON ME. MY BREATH UNEASY, FOR IF I OPENED THAT DOOR, I KNEW A TERRIBLE THING WOULD TRANSPIRE!”
A pale door in the middle of Waterfall? That did sound out of place, even more so than a mysteriously vanishing and reappearing hallway, but how did it scare Jevil of all people? “Did you open it?”
Jevil shook his head, “YOU KNOW ME, IT IS RARE FOR ME TO COWER, YET FOR THIS, I COULD NOT BRING MYSELF TO OPEN THE DOOR, NO MATTER HOW CURIOUS I WAS!” He explained, taking a steadying breath, “ONCE I PULLED MYSELF AWAY FROM THE DOORWAY, I STOOD FOR JUST A MOMENT, TOOK ONE LAST LOOK, AND RAN! I DON’T KNOW WHY SUCH FEAR OVERTOOK ME, BUT IT WAS QUICK, STRONG! A TERRIBLE SENSATION!”
Seam put their arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer, “You said you knew that something bad would happen if you opened the door, how?” They could guess a few reasons why, like how it stood out compared to the rest of the area or how everything just went silent around it, but what reason scared their friend from opening it?
“I DON’T KNOW, BUT THAT DOOR…SOMETHING ABOUT IT FELT WRONG, LIKE A DEMON DWELT BEHIND IT.”
Irony aside, considering Jevil was an imp monster, that was another oddity. Did something actually lie behind that door? What could it be? Could it simply be another monster’s home? Some monsters’ abilities were strange to say the least, but to the Seam’s knowledge, no form of magic could simply cause someone such extreme fear just by being by it.
Their friend was still shaken by it, and the cat’s curiosity was growing, so they asked, “Do you want me to go and try to find that door?” Maybe it would be best to find out what was behind it, even if Jevil felt like something terrible was lurking behind it.
“NO, NO!” The jester blurted out, violently shaking his head, “THE CHANCE FOR YOU TO EVEN GLANCE AT THAT DOOR IS SO, SO LOW! WHATEVER IS BEHIND IT CAN STAY, IT ISN’T WORTH SEARCHING FOR PANDORA’S BOX!”
Seam gave a low hum, moving their hand to the top of the Jester’s hat, resting it on top of the space between his horns, trying to recall what ancient human myth he was referencing for a moment, “And if I find it by chance, what should I do?”
Jevil retracted his neck back a bit, though a bright and wide smile had suddenly formed at the contact, but he quickly focused again, “I’D SAY TO LEAVE IT, BUT DO AS YOU PLEASE.” He answered, “HOWEVER, CAT, I FEEL LIKE A CERTAIN SAYING MAY APPLY ODDLY WELL TO YOU.”
Oh, they already knew which one, “Curiosity killed the cat?” They gently kneaded the Jester’s head, earning muffled, giddy laughter from the Jester
Jevil gave a playful wink, “UHE-HEE-HEE! THAT’S THE ONE!”
Seam continued patting the jester’s head, neither of the two talking, with him soon leaning more into them as his tail slowly, but contentedly, wagged. They swore, sometimes Jevil acted more like a cat than them! Imps could be so strange…Not like Seam knew any outside of the Jevil, though.
However, the jester broke the peaceful silence,“...THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.” His voice was much quieter than when he usually talked, but it was fitting this time.
Seam slowly blinked, “Hm?” They let out before realizing what he had said, “No need to thank me, I did what any friend would have.” Or perhaps should have would be better to say.
“MAYHAPS, BUT I FEEL LIKE MOST WOULD HAVE STOPPED LISTENING AT THE MENTION OF THE HALL.” He replied, “I SOUNDED MAD, MAD.”
“You did, I admit.” How could he not? Seam maybe should’ve written it off as a hallucination or something of the sort, but they didn’t, how could they? “What you described doesn’t completely make sense, but it also didn’t completely not make sense either.” A small laugh escaped them, “Ha ha, perhaps we are both mad in a way? I don’t really care as long as you feel better.”
For it was the truth, there was sense in Jevil’s words, the Underground was inherently magical at times for one reason or another, maybe due to the spell that sealed them down here or just the sheer amount of monsters living there.
Seam was then suddenly pulled down by Jevil into a tight hug, “I DO, I DO!” He exclaimed brightly, “OH, DO MY INSIDES FEEL AS FLUFFY AS YOUR OUTSIDES!”
Angel, does their friend say some strange things at times. Still, a smile formed on their mouth, patting the Jevil’s back once or twice, “Well, then I’m glad!” They replied back before standing up as the jester let them go, “Say, how about we finish our drinks before they get any colder? I’m fine with cold tea, but I’m not sure how you find cold hot cocoa.”
Jevil nodded, “LET US.. THEN, IF YOU’D LIKE, PERHAPS A QUICK GAME?”
The topic of that strange door soon faded away, leaving both of their minds in favor of a more joyous evening. Seam wouldn’t have minded if things had stayed that way; they would have enjoyed it. But that topic wasn’t content on staying lost for long, though.