Anger hesitated, his instincts warning him that something wasn't right. But he decided to trust Joy—maybe he was right. They were human now, after all. Nothing bad was supposed to happen anymore. Right?
Still, his gaze lingered on the ominous red gate outside. The chains had stopped emerging, but the ones inside it were now pulsing, throbbing like veins, casting an eerie crimson glow over the landscape. The very air outside the headquarters shimmered, as if tainted by whatever force lay beyond that gate.
Joy, meanwhile, had his own observation.
"Look! Everything's turning red—like Anger! We're all gonna become Angers!"
He burst into laughter, unable to contain himself.
The others reacted in their own ways.
Fear hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. Sadness, caught between amusement and concern, glanced at Joy, unsure whether to laugh along or not. Disgust simply rolled her eyes, unbothered. Anger sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He was beginning to feel like the responsible one here.
And that was weird.
Fear finally spoke up, his voice laced with unease. "Should we… check it out? I can't tell if that thing is extremely dangerous or just… something else. But whatever it is, I don't like it."
Anger folded his arms. "We stay here. We don't know what messing with that thing would do, and if we interfere too much, we could make Asriel unstable—emotionless even." He exhaled. "We observe, we think, and we act when we actually know what we're dealing with."
Disgust stretched and let out a bored sigh. "Alright, well… I'll be somewhere else."
She turned and started walking away.
Fear frowned. "Where are you going?"
Disgust waved a hand dismissively. "A kid like him doesn't need me. He doesn't feel disgusted by anything… yet. So I'm gonna go rest."
Fear shook his head. "That's not true. He does feel disgust, but he's just… unaware of it."
Disgust groaned. "Duh! That's what I meant. He's not aware enough for me to be useful yet, so I'll pass."
With that, she disappeared into the bedrooms, shutting the door behind her.
Anger blinked. "…Well. That was something."
Joy suddenly perked up. "Hey! Guys! How old do you think he is?"
Anger turned to the screen, squinting. "I don't know, but the screen says 10."
Fear frowned. "Ten years old? But… nothing out there looks like what a ten-year-old would imagine. There are no dreams, no fantasies—just… ideas. Pureness. He's very childish, but it's different."
Anger hummed in thought. "Maybe the body is ten, but we're zero? We revived, so… doesn't that make us newborns in some way?"
Joy beamed. "Yeah! And that's so weird—it's cool!"
Anger gave Joy a side glance. "…I don't think Joy is Joy anymore."
Fear nodded slowly. "Yeah… Joy seems… different."
That unsettling thought was interrupted when Anger noticed something.
"…Where's Sadness?"
A soft voice answered. "Right here."
Both Anger and Fear turned toward the control panel.
Sadness stood there, her hand resting gently on the controls. But something was off. The control panel—normally glowing golden yellow under Joy's touch—was now blue cyan.
Fear tensed. "Uh… Sadness? Did something happen?"
Sadness exhaled shakily. "Yes, but… it's alright now."
Anger frowned. "Then… why is he refusing you?"
Fear's stomach twisted. His voice dropped to a whisper. "…He can refuse us?"
He looked between Sadness and the faintly flickering control panel.
How?