The Fallen

by EeveeGen9988

If only they had realized climbing Mount Ebott was a bad idea, they would have never gone up it in the first place. Now they have fallen into the Underground, and all they have to do is find a way to escape… hopefully. For [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm]

2. The Frosty Forest:

The Fallen:

I do not own Undertale, Toby Fox does!

This story is written for [Shibuya Operation Story Storm].

…

Part 2: The Frosty Forest:

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Todd kept his pace steady as he followed after Toriel; adjusting the buckle on the satchel she gave him earlier. His friends followed behind him while his sister held onto his hand, not looking at him as they slowly neared a huge ajar door in a compact room that Toriel stopped in. Todd could only guess that Archie and Marley got through already.

"This is the end of the Ruins, my children," murmured Toriel as she stared at the door, not moving as she went on, "From here on, you must be careful. You should be wary of any Monster you meet, for any of them could be a part of the Royal Guard..."

"Why can't you tell us which ones are members?" asked Edgar curtly as he adjusted the dark grey coat he had, keeping a wary look on his face as he stared at the goat woman.

Toriel simply lowered her head. "I have not left the Ruins for months... and I only know of how King Asgore has created the Royal Guard to kill you children."

Todd nodded. "We'll keep an eye out for them."

As Toriel turned around, she smiled. "I do not know what has changed since I left, but I know you children will be able to tackle the challenges ahead together."

Before Toriel could walk over to the door, Winnie shot from Todd's side and hugged Toriel. For a moment the Monster froze, soon relaxing as Winnie squeaked, "We'll miss you, Miss Toriel! Thank you for letting us stay at your house!"

"You are welcome, my child," Toriel replied quietly, "and I will miss all of you..."

When the small blonde let go of Toriel, Todd came over and put his hand on his sister's shoulder. "And we won't forget your generosity."

Toriel nodded, soon heaving the door open more. The moment it gaped before them, Edgar and Angie went through right away while Todd gently grabbed onto Winnie's hand and led her forward. As he walked, he noticed how sad Winnie was as she looked back at Toriel who was closing the door now. The moment it was closed, hearing his sister give a sniffle, he couldn't help but frown. He wished Winnie wouldn't be so sad, but he knew that Winnie had taken a shine to Toriel so quickly. It would take a while for her to get over the fact that they couldn't stay here…

Before long they reached an archway at the end of a long hallway that opened automatically, and they all met nothing but a torrent of cold. Todd heard Winnie gasp in surprise before the wind died down, leaving them staring at a field of snow that stretched far ahead of them.

"I can see why she gave us coats and boots," grumbled Edgar as he stepped down onto the snow, making crunches as he took a few more before he turned to gaze at them. He adjusted his glasses deftly. "Hopefully she packed some matches for us."

"She uses fire magic, so I doubt it," said Angie with a grimace, puffing out a cloud of mist when she sighed. "I don't think Monsters would need to use them."

"Yes, that would make sense," said Edgar, unimpressed.

As Todd walked out onto the snow, he noticed how they were flanked by nothing but dark trees that stretched high above them. He wondered how trees could grow in a environment such as this one, seeing how the sun didn't seem to reach them from this far down...

He looked to his sister, surprised she wasn't squealing with happiness like she normally did when she saw snow. Instead she seemed a little more subdued, making him frown. She must have been upset with him still after he yelled at her, and he didn't blame her for that. There was never a time when he yelled at her, so it must have been bothering her as much as him…

"Hey, Todd, do you think we'll have enough food for now?" asked the brown haired girl as she glanced at him.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure we will," said Todd with a shrug, soon smiling when he added proudly, "Winnie made a lot of Spindlesnap cookies with Toriel last night, so we have plenty."

It was a strange cookie, to the very least. Apparently it was a cookie that was a mixture of pumpkin and gingerbread… the very idea of the combination was unappealing… But he couldn't quite complain, his sister made the cookies, so he didn't want to upset her by not eating her cookies at some point.

"And how are we supposed to live off of cookies alone?" asked Edgar with disgruntlement as he started walking forward, prompting everyone to follow him as he mused, "If you must know, it will harm our health with all that sugar…"

"Miss Toriel said stuff about food having different propur-" Winnie stopped, screwing up her face before she soon cried out with a beam, "Properties down here!"

"Hmm, different properties?" echoed Edgar as he continued forward, not faltering in his steps as he mused, unimpressed, "I can hardly believe that."

"But Toriel said so!" protested Winnie as she clenched Todd's hand, making him grimace slightly from the pain. "She said stuff about hunger and healing you!"

"How could food heal you?" questioned the tall boy as he started to cross a bridge, reaching the other side and turning to them. As Angie went across, Edgar sighed. "That's hardly believable, Winnie."

"But Toriel said so!" protested Winnie again, her face reddening suddenly and Todd heard her sniffle. "She did!"

"I'm pretty sure things are different down here than where we come from," said Todd aloud as he started to cross the bridge with Winnie, making sure he kept a firm grip on her hand to make sure she didn't fall off of it. He knew Winnie wasn't happy about how Edgar didn't believe her, but he knew that things had to be different for Monsters. After all, the Underground wasn't exactly the same as it was on the Surface.

After they met up with the others on the other side, they continued on, soon reaching a crossroad. Todd could tell that going north wasn't an option due to the water he could spot from afar, so the only way they could go was forward again. But as they reached a small shed a little further on, he heard a hissing sound. For a moment he stopped, looking around before he heard something quietly being hissed.

"Todd…"

Widening his eyes, he looked around again in confusion, blinking as he turned to Edgar and spoke in a hush, "Edgar, I think I heard something call my name."

The taller boy raised an eyebrow, soon hardening his eyes as he whispered back, "Are you sure you're not hearing things?"

"I'm pretty sure, Edgar, but I think I'll go check it out," said Todd, letting go of his sister's hand and glanced at her. As she looked at him sadly, he murmured gently, "Stay with Edgar and Angie, I'm going to be back in a minute."

All Winnie did was lower her head, not looking him in the eye. Right away Todd felt hurt, he wasn't used to Winnie treating him this way before. He tried to pretend that didn't upset him, keeping his shoulders from slumping as he turned away to slowly inch forward.

He strained his ears for the thing he heard, wondering if he was hearing things when he heard it again. This time, he stopped to look at the little hut, blinking before he started to approach it. When he stood right at the counter, something whipped up without warning. "Todd!"

"Gah!" Todd cried out, jumping up before he slowly lowered his arms that he whipped above his head from shock. When he looked into the hut, he relaxed as he sighed in relief. "Archie…"

Standing in the shack was Archie; except he looked worse than the last time they saw each other. He seemed more frazzled than he normally did, his hair was disheveled, and all he did at the moment was shiver. As soon as Archie grinned at him, the orange haired boy patted him hard on the shoulder as he exclaimed, "B-Boy am I glad to see ya, Todd! I-I didn't think you'd come out here, since, y'know, you seemed so set on stayin' in the place we left!"

"But why are you in the hut?" asked Todd slowly.

"W-We're in the hut because animals keep trying to kill us!" hissed Archie before he grabbed Todd's shoulders, making the dark brown haired boy yelp when he was heaved over the counter and into the shed. The moment he landed on his butt, he groaned before he heard Archie speak in a hush, "We would have come back for you guys, but those animals wouldn't leave us alone!"

"You didn't kill them, did you?" asked Todd nervously as he noticed how Marley was also here, yet all she did was hug herself as she madly shivered. It was sort of strange not seeing her in a bad mood for once…

"Of course not, we ran like heck!" hissed Archie before he shook. "Who'd ever think fighting those animals are a good idea!? They're not normal!"

"I know they're not, they're Monsters," replied Todd blankly.

The brown-eyed boy grimaced. "Yeah, that's a better way to call 'em."

"No really, they're known as Monsters." As the bushy haired boy stared at his best friend, he went on, "We met this one Monster called Toriel who told us how we're stuck in a place called the Underground!"

"Whoop-de-doo… wh-what else could they call it?" hissed Marley with a chatter of her bright teeth, shaking as she rolled her eyes. "I-I can't believe you're making things up at a time like this, T-T-Todd!"

"But I'm not!" he protested before Marley hmphed at that. "Ask Edgar, he'll tell you the same thing!"

"Edgar's here!?" shouted Archie, shooting up to his feet at once and whipping his head out from the hut. "Hey, it's everyone!"

Todd got up as he heard approaching footsteps, standing behind Archie as Edgar came up and looked inside. Upon meeting his gaze, the taller boy sighed. "Of course… who else would be hiding in a shed?"

"Sh-Shut up, Edgar!" hissed Marley as she slowly got to her feet, shivering madly as she snorted, "I-It's not like we had much of a choice!"

"And why's that?" asked her brother, raising an eyebrow boredly.

"Creatures keep trying to kill us!" spat Marley as she jabbed a finger in his direction. "Or are you blind!?"

"Calm down, screeching like that will draw more Monsters towards us!" hissed Edgar as he glared at his sister. "Just be quiet, and listen to us for a few minutes. We found out some useful information about this place while you guys were gone."

With a huff, she shook her head before Archie asked incredulously, "You did!?"

"If you hadn't been fleeing from every threat, you would have learned about them," added Angie with a blink of her green eyes.

"W-We didn't run away!" protested Todd's best friend indignantly, shaking as he shouted, "We just made some distance between 'em and us so they wouldn't kill us!"

Edgar gave out a sigh. "That's basically the same thing…"

"No it's not!" Archie clenched his gloved hands. "It's strategy!"

"You don't normally make strategies, you run into anything that presents itself before you," mused the black boy as he stared at them, looking thoroughly unconvinced by that.

After a long pause, Archie lowered his head. "Guys… I'm trying out strategy."

Angie gave out a snort of laughter. "Wow… I would have never expected that from you."

"Hey, come on, guys," said Todd as he moved up to stand beside his best friend, gesturing to Archie as he went on, "Why can't we focus on the fact that we're all together again?"

"Yeah, Todd's right!" piped Archie as he plopped his gloved hand on Todd's shoulder, making Todd grimace from the force that was delivered to his shoulder blade. "Everyone's together, so let's be happy and get this show on the road!"

"But there's a problem." Todd turned back to the orange haired boy, frowning as he explained, "We're in danger."

"Wow, we couldn't have known that!" Marley whined out rudely. "With the creatures that have already tried to kill us, it's not so obvious!"

"Could you take a moment and listen to what Todd has to say," cut in Edgar curtly as he crossed his grey-sleeved arms, shaking his head as he scowled. "This is serious."

When Marley decided to not reply to that (surprisingly), Todd gave out a sigh before he went on, "There's these Monsters that are in a group called the Royal Guard, and all they do is hunt and kill Humans."

As Archie turned to him, his brown eyes wide with horror, Todd inhaled shakily before he closed his eyes. "We need to be careful for now on. We shouldn't split up anymore, just so that we can all look out for each other. If we don't…" He exhaled with a shake of his head. "We could all be killed."

"Wait, so does that mean all these… monsters… are all a part of the Royal Guard?" asked Archie in confusion, and at once Angie and Edgar audibly groaned at that.

"Not exactly, it's an elite band of Monsters that patrol around the Underground. I don't think every Monster is a part of it, nor is expected to search for Hu-" Edgar stopped, grimacing as he finished flatly, "Us."

The thick haired boy saw Archie scratch his chin, frowning as he seemed to be pondering about the information. Soon he grinned, giving out a laugh as he chirped, "We should just avoid 'em, then everything will be alright!"

"But we can't!" sternly hissed Todd as he narrowed his dark blue eyes. "They're probably everywhere- and there's no way we can pass by them without being seen."

"Oh…" Archie grimaced at that. "Well, at least we can try!"

"Archie, we should try our best to, but Todd's right," said Angie sadly, crossing her arms as she sighed. "This is the Monsters' home- their home turf. We're the visitors who don't have all the knowledge of what's around every corner, so this won't be a walk out of the park for us."

Marley sneezed, and Todd turned to see her clench her arms around her abdomen as she clattered her teeth. "W-We kind of noticed that, A-Angie!"

"Yeah, well, I'm just trying to lay out the stakes here," grumbled Angie as she brushed some of her hair out of her face, soon blinking at them as she asked, "Anyway, when are you guys going to get out of that shack?"

With a grin, Archie vaulted over the counter, prompting everyone to scramble back to not become a landing pad for him.

As Todd watched as Marley shakily walked over, he turned to see that there was a backdoor that had a latch. He put stretched his arm across Marley, stopping and making her scowl at him as he pointed to the exit. "We might as well use the door?"

Marley opened her mouth, soon closing it grimly before she held up her head sharply, snorting out as she turned and went straight towards it. "I know, it's not like I was going to jump out of here like Archie did."

"You're a ballerina, Marley!" shouted Archie as he swung around to look into the shack. "Why not?"

"Only idiots would jump out of here," came Marley's reply as she opened the door, strutting out as her shoes squished at her every step. "For all I know, ice could be hidden under the snow."

With a shrug to Archie, Todd followed her out, shutting the door carefully before he joined everyone. At once Archie seemed to take the lead, silently assigning himself to the task… like he always did. Almost everything Todd did with his friends, Archie would be in charge; he was always their leader… Although, Archie did say that Todd was the second in command, but Todd could only understand that their strong friendship came into play for that. Yet… despite the many times that Archie did this, Todd felt a bit uneasy this time. He couldn't help but wonder if Archie and Marley only got to this place so far, and if that was true, Archie once again could be leading them into the unknown…

"If he keeps racing off, or pushes us forward... he could land us in danger. …Or worse, we could all get injured." Todd couldn't help but grimace from what Angie had said earlier as they climbed the mountain.

Quickening his steps, Todd came into Archie's pace, flanking his best friend at the head of the group, keeping his gaze forward. As much as he wanted to trust his friend, the fact that they all ended up here still struck a bad cord with Todd. The time that he shouted at his best friend made him feel even worse, because it was true; Archie was the one who brought them here, even if it was unintentional that they ventured into more than they thought they would… All of these bad feelings stirred in him, and Todd hoped they wouldn't end up in more trouble than they had been.

As they came across another crossroad, Todd could spot something from the distance. He froze, instantly grabbing his friend's arm and made Archie squawk out, "What the-"

"I see a Monster coming!" hissed Todd as he desperately skimmed the area, soon locating a path to his left that he nudged his friend towards. "We have to hide!"

At once Archie's surprised gaze transformed into an alarmed one, and he instantly turned around and half-shouted to everyone else, "This way! Quick!"

"Wait, you can't be seri-"

"Edgar, now's not the time to question this!" said Todd quickly. "A Monster's coming!"

Todd went straight for his sister, grabbing her hand as he pulled her along quickly. He ignored her yelp, hoping she wouldn't trip from the speed he was going at as they all went towards the path he saw seconds ago. He heard footsteps, and he knew whatever was coming, it must have been heavy… and he might have heard something that sounded like clanging metal. But that didn't make him as alarmed when he found that the path ended abruptly at a river, its dark current sloshing moderately as they all stopped.

"Wow, it's the river, again," hissed Marley as she shook her head. "Seriously, who's idea was it for us to go here?"

"I didn't know there was a river!" countered Todd in dismay as he gawked at it.

"Uh, didn't you notice it when we passed through the first branch of paths?" asked Edgar flatly as he crossed his arms. "I was trying to tell you that."

"There's no time to argue, hide!" Angie instantly ran for the trees, making Todd stare at her in disbelief as she disappeared the moment she passed through the pine needles.

"Well, that's a better idea than what you came up with, Todd," said Edgar as he went towards the trees also, soon having Marley dash after him through an awkward tread. For a second Todd shared a look with Archie, watching as Archie gave a shrug before they both went for the trees as well.

The moment he passed through the pine trees, he let go of his sister's hand before he crouched down, looking through the masses of pine needles the best he could. He noticed how his sister trembled beside him, her eyes looking watery as she breathed shakily. At once he took ahold of her hand, feeling her shaking cease as he continued to silently watch from where he was.

Once again the footsteps sounded, heavier this time, louder as Todd spotted a figure lumber out towards the river. For a moment he held his breath, shocked at the size of the being that stood beside the river. He couldn't tell what it was, but he knew for certain its size must have measured exactly to its strength.

It then occurred to him that they might have left some footprints…

'Please oh please don't notice them!' he prayed desperately as he bit down on his lower lip hard, breathing shakily. 'Don't notice them, don't notice them-'

For a few moments the figure stood stationary, silent, then it turned and plodded back the way it came. The moment the footsteps faded away was when Todd heaved out a sigh of relief, relaxing as he turned to his sister who didn't exactly share the same sentiments as him.

"Looks like it's clear," whispered Archie warily as he crept forward, leaving the coniferous trees and Todd cautiously followed him, not letting Winnie go as he did the same. As he joined his friend, who stood near the edge of the clearing, he could only stare down at the large footprints that sank deeply into the snow when Archie exclaimed in amazement, "Whoa! That thing must have weighed anvils!"

"Well, you might be right for once," noted Edgar as he leaned down upon coming up to them, tracing his hand in the groove before he adjusted his glasses. "These are not normal footprints…"

"Uh, yeah, you would think animals' are different than ours, Edgar!" spat Marley as she huffed.

"Monsters. They're known as Monsters, Marley," said her brother flatly, earning an eye roll from her. "They have qualities of animals, but they're a different species completely."

"Ugh, why can't you stick out your facts to someone who wants to hear them?" asked Marley in a growl, looking away as she huffed again, "We all know that they're not normal, so don't brag about it!"

"Then please use the proper terminology for them." With that, Edgar pulled out his notebook and started jotting in it.

As Edgar continued to concentrate on his writing, Todd let go of Winnie's hand and looked down at her. Upon seeing her anxious face, he asked gently, "Are you okay, Winnie?"

Winnie only nodded, her cheerfulness seemed to still be dulled and that made his heart sting a little. When he saw that Archie was staring at him, he quickly blinked as the orange haired boy frowned at him in confusion. Todd realized that the strain between him and Winnie wasn't unnoticed, and that made him feel somewhat more guilty that he caused it. He simply smiled at his friend, soon murmuring, "I'm glad we got away from that Monster."

"Yeah…" Angie gave a nod, soon smiling as she looked back from where they came. "For a second I thought that Monster was going to find us."

"Luckily you came up with hiding in the trees," said Edgar, surprising Todd from how pleased he sounded for once. "That was a sound idea, Angie. It saved us."

"Nah, it was just instinct." As the brown haired girl rubbed the back of her neck, she blushed slightly as she laughed nervously, "I seriously didn't think that it would have worked, just… I was hoping that it wouldn't look for us when we actually hid there."

Instantly Edgar frowned, furrowing his eyebrows as his voice dropped. "I see…"

Within seconds the clearing took on a silence, one that Todd felt uncomfortable in. Upon looking at everyone's faces, he knew it was going to be hard for anyone to not be bothered by the fact that they nearly encountered a Monster… And for all they knew, it could have been the one that killed them.

"…So, what should we do now?" asked Todd after a while, his voice crisp and clear from how quiet it was.

It was a second later when Angie turned to him. "We should wait."

"Ugh, not this again!" spat Marley as she scowled at the girl, marching up to her as she shook. "All you want to do is nothing!"

"It's not nothing!" Angie turned back, her green eyes sharp as she tilted her head to meet the taller girl's brown eyes. "If that Monster went the way we came- and if we went out now- it could see us and attack us!" Before Marley could speak, Angie cut her off as she went on fiercely, "And if it didn't- then we'll be following its footsteps! When it realizes we're following it- it will turn back and attack us!" After that, she crossed her arms. "We need to wait it out."

"So what you're saying is we're sitting ducks!?" screamed the black girl as she clenched her fists. "Why should we wait then!?"

"If we wait long enough…" Angie turned to Archie as she gave him a smile. "Then we'll create enough distance between it and us."

"Hey! That's what I said!" piped Archie as he clenched his fists, doing a fist pump as Todd could tell he was shining with pride. "I knew my strategy would work!"

"Ho boy…" Edgar placed his hand over his face, shaking his head as he groaned, "Don't give him false encouragement, Angie."

"What do ya mean by that, Edgar!?" growled Archie as he turned on the boy, placing his gloved hands on his sides as he scowled. "Are you trying to say I shouldn't get praise!?"

"I think you missed the point by a landslide, Archie." Edgar sighed.

As Archie turned to Todd, he frowned. "Err… what's he talkin' about, Todd?"

Todd could only grimace in response. "I have no clue."

"In any case, I think Angie might have a point." As Edgar got up, he slowly looked over towards the deep footsteps that led away from them. "We might as well wait for a while until we're sure that the Monster won't come back."

His sister at once threw him a scowl, about to open her mouth (most likely to scream at him) when he raised his hand. "Before you make any objections, Marley, think about it: We're in danger, so we better be sure that we're not going to be ambushed if we set out now."

"Ugh, I've been stuck in a shed for the past few hours, and now I have to stand out here with you guys!?" she spat, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. "I need space, Edgar! I'm sick of this!"

Just before Edgar replied to that, Todd stepped in and put a hand on her shoulder. In response she jerked away, glaring darkly at him before he withdrew his hand, and spoke, "Okay, maybe we've all been spending a lot of time with each other… But we have to be careful."

"I don't care, I need to be alone!" shrieked Marley, making the dark brown haired boy edge back warily as she stomped her foot down in front of her. "It's not like I'm blind, so lay off and let me be!" With a frustrated growl, she turned around and stalked off, startling Todd.

After she was gone, Todd could only turn back to Edgar who was rubbing his temples with a grimace. "We shouldn't let her go off on her own-"

"Todd, just let her be," curtly said his friend as he sighed sadly. "She's stressed enough as it is, and let me tell you that she doesn't appreciate company when she's not in a good mood."

"She was like that the whole time with me!" Archie cried out as he joined them, rolling his brown eyes as he grumbled, "Yammerin' on about how I got her stuck down here, and how horrible the monsters were…"

"That's exactly why we need to let her be." Crossing his arms, the boy in the dark grey coat closed his eyes, shaking his head as he went on, "I know my sister very well, Archie… and it would seem that she's caught some cabin fever."

Archie's eyes became saucers the moment Edgar said that, exclaiming with incredulousness, "So being in that shack with me caused her to get sick!? I didn't know anyone could get sick from that!"

At once Edgar groaned, "That's not it."

"You said she's sick!"

"No, Archie, stop." With a mutter under his breath, Edgar scowled at him. "Cabin fever is where people tend to get irritated if they're stuck indoors for too long."

"But how does that work if she's been in a shed with Archie?" asked Todd in confusion as he tilted his head to one side. "She hasn't really been there for too long."

"More like a day!" added Archie quickly.

Angie ambled over, looking straight at Edgar when she asked curiously, "Could you mean to say that she's been with us for too long?"

With a nod, Edgar sighed contently. "Yes, that's what I meant."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The messy orange haired boy shook his head wildly, scowling at the taller boy as he growled, "You said it was cabin fever, not people fever!"

In response the boy sighed. "It's a form of explanation that I hoped you would understand, but clearly you failed to see the similarities," mused Edgar in an air of disappointment, turning away as he put in, "Right now, the best thing we need to do is let Marley have her alone time and she'll come back."

"Err…" Todd frowned. "How do you know if she will?"

"I'm her brother," responded Edgar flatly. "Who else would she complain to if she's alone?"

When it would seem as though the conversation wasn't going to continue, Todd closed his dark blue eyes and thought, 'Well, he's got a point… as always.'

As the group dispersed, seemingly going off to do their own thing in the clearing, Todd turned around to find that Winnie was on her hands on knees where the Monster had been standing before. Furrowing his eyebrows, Todd frowned. 'I wonder what Winnie is doing?'

The moment he halted beside her, he saw that she was learning over, bunching something up with her small hands. When he knelt down, Winnie instantly shot her head up, her crystal blue eyes wide as he asked softly, "Hey, Winnie… what are you doing?"

At once she looked at the ground again, making Todd feel a sting of hurt again that she was ignoring him when she slowly met his gaze. Opening her hands up, there was some snow resting in them.

"I want to make a snowman," she said quietly, making him widen his eyes as she went back to fidgeting with the snow she currently had. For a while he watched her, wondering why it was taking her so long to make a sphere of snow. He was soon struck with the feeling that she might have been struggling with it.

"Is the snow too powdery?" he asked in concern.

"No, it's too cold…" she whimpered, her blue eyes half closing in sadness as she sniffled, "And it keeps melting…"

Todd instantly felt bad for her, knowing that making snowmen in the winter was one of her favorite things to do. In fact, he always helped her, seeing that she couldn't put the body together without him. It was something that they both enjoyed… and he knew that making one would make her feel less miserable that she wasn't home.

Just as he was about to ask if she wanted help, he flinched upon hearing Archie's loud voice. "Hey Big Bro and Lil Sis, whatcha doing here?" asked the boy boldly as he trotted over, making Todd look up to see the boy grinning merrily at him.

"Winnie's trying to make a snowman," he replied mildly, earning a big nod from his best friend.

"That's awesome!" piped Archie as he looked down at Winnie, soon frowning upon seeing her expression. "Whoa… what's with the long face, Lil Sis?"

"The snow's too cold for her hands, and it keeps melting," explained Todd as he blinked. "She can't make a snowball."

"Oh, pfft- That's the problem!?" asked Archie in disbelief, shaking his head. "Why didn't ya call me over sooner!?" Without warning Archie started to shuck off his gloves, throwing them on the ground as he waved his hand to them wildly "Use my puppies! It'll be a cinch!"

Todd could only stare at Archie for a few seconds, stunned by his kindness before he smiled warmly. "Thanks, Archie…"

"No prob', Bestie!" cried Archie as he plopped down beside Winnie, cross-legged as he looked down at Winnie. "We can't let Lil Sis down, y'know?"

That was the thing about Archie… Even though he didn't have any siblings, Archie was always there for Winnie when Todd needed him. It was nice to depend on Archie during those times...

When Todd looked back at his sister, the blonde was staring at the gloves before she gazed at him. "I-Is it okay…?" she asked shyly.

"Of course it is, go ahead!" Archie had his arms crossed, grinning gleefully as he chuckled. "I threw them off my paws for a reason, Lil Sis!"

Hesitantly Winnie reached over for them, letting the snow she was working with flutter onto the ground as she slowly put them on, instantly sniffling when they merely slid off her tiny hands. Todd at once scooped them up, putting them on and gathered a wad of snow in his hands, kneading them until he formed a small snowball. Gently resting it before Winnie, he started on another, catching his sister's surprised gaze for a few seconds as he patted it together. "Go ahead, Winnie, I'll get the other two ready for you."

When she slowly brought it over, she started to roll it on the sheet of snow, gradually enlarging it as Todd finished the second one. The moment he placed it down, Archie lunged for it, grinning as he started to roll it on the ground as well, shocking Todd before he heard Winnie giggle. Upon seeing her smile, Todd let himself do the same as warmth bubbled in his chest, starting on the next one.

As soon as the last one was done, he saw that Winnie rolled hers to twice its size while Archie's was already as large as Todd's head. "Hey, Winnie," he murmured, making her look up as he asked, "Do you want to work on the head?"

With a grin, she nodded. Her eyes sparkled as Archie shouted, "I call dibs on making the large snowball!" As he got to his feet, he had to lean forward as he started pushing it through the snow, his head bobbing up and down as he worked. Todd could only let out a laugh when Archie tripped over it, shooting his hand up when he hollered, "I'm good!"

Todd felt his spirits lift as he continued on his snowball, exhilarated by the activity he hadn't done in a long time. He didn't remember the last time he felt this happy, but at least it got his mind off of the fact he wasn't home.

When everyone was done, Todd and Archie scavenged through the trees, looking for fallen branches that they could use for the arms when they realized none of them were good enough. So they went back to find that Winnie was sorting through a pile of pebbles, soon plucking out one and putting it with the small pile beside her. The moment she was done, Todd handed Archie back the leather gloves then the orange haired boy pushed the semi-large snowball over. It didn't take long for the middle piece to be hefted on, and then at last Todd placed the head in its rightful place.

Taking a moment to look at it, Todd realized it wasn't centered, but he didn't care about that. All he did care about was the happiness that Winnie radiated as she gazed at their creation.

"So, Mr. Snowman has no arms, and we don't have a top hat…" Archie grimaced, shaking his head as he sighed.

"Well, we made a snowman, Archie," said the dark brown haired boy as Winnie pressed the dark stones into its chest. "Does it really matter?"

His best friend shot him a startled look. "Snowmen need top hats, noses, pipes, arms… and we don't have that!"

"We have limited resources, Archie," said Todd as he shook his head sadly. "If we knew we would fall down Mount Ebott, knew we would be in a snowy forest… do you think we would have a top hat ready?"

For a while the boy in the mottled orange and brown t-shirt stared at him blankly, frowning as he soon replied, "Okay… you're right about that." After a pause he exclaimed, "But what about the nose!? Every single snowman has a bright orange carrot for the nose! We need the nose at least!"

Well, Todd had to admit that was true. He never saw a snowman without one…

"I got the nose!" chirped Winnie as she quickly unbuckled the satchel, making Todd look down at her in surprise when she pulled out a carrot. "Miss Toriel gave me some because she said it will make me see better!"

"Alright!" Archie shot his clenched hand into the air, fist pumping as he whooped eagerly, "We got something for Mr. Snowman!"

"Mr. Snowman will be able to smell now!" Winnie reached up, screwing up her face and grunting, as her arms couldn't reach high enough. As she let her arms go limp, she sniffled in defeat, "I can't give him his nose."

"Hang on for a moment, Winnie." Todd instantly leaned down, meeting his sister's gaze as he smiled brightly. "I'll help with Mr. Snowman's face for you…"

Winnie grinned at him, cheerfully handing him the snowman's nose and he pushed it in carefully, making sure to slant it slightly to give it character. Upon facing his sister again, she handed him some of her pebbles and he nodded, putting in the eyes and smile for their friend. He had to wonder whether or not Monsters also made snowmen… but if they did, he could only assume they didn't look like theirs.

Stepping back, he studied the snowman for a while until he nodded. 'He looks good. I think he's pretty happy to be here.'

"What do you think of our snowman, Winnie?" asked Todd as Winnie tilted her head up to look at him.

With a grin, she squeaked merrily, "I like Mr. Snowman! You made him so happy, Big Brother!" She gave him a hug, making him smile as she giggled. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Winnie."

"And what about me!?" asked Archie cheekily, putting his hands on his side. "I made sure Mr. Snowman had a good body!"

"I'm sorry!" Winnie gasped, releasing Todd as she scurried over to embrace Archie. "Thank you, Archie!"

As Winnie hugged him, Todd couldn't help but frown at how Archie shivered. At once Todd went over, pulling off his coat and handed it over to his best friend. When Archie stared at it, Todd spoke firmly, "You must be cold."

"I'm not cold, Todd, I'm a man!" protested Archie as Winnie let go of him, gazing at him in concern as he went on, "I can brave the frosty-"

"You're only in shorts and a t-shirt," said Todd flatly, pushing it towards him as he lightened his tone. "And who else will be my best friend if you freeze?"

Slowly Archie formed a grin, swiping the coat and slipping it on. "Well, well, well… no one else is awesome enough to replace your man Archie!" He didn't fasten it, leaving it open. Todd could only imagine the bold boy did that to make his outfit look cool.

As Todd spun around, he noticed that Marley was marching back. He smiled, happy that nothing happened to her when she was gone. As Todd ambled over to Edgar, the glasses wearing boy spoke flatly, "Did you have enough time for yourself, Marley?"

Marley was silent for a few seconds before she rolled her eyes, huffing as she growled, "None of you had the idea to follow me, thankfully!" With that she crossed her arms, sharply looking away as she hissed, "Ugh, I'm tired of this stupid forest… Let's go already!"

Edgar merely adjusted his glasses, soon speaking as he stared at her, "I think we had adequate time here, so I guess we should."

"Anyway, why do you all have jackets?" hissed Marley as she coldly stared at them. "Here I am freezing my butt off and you don't even offer me one!"

"We got them from Toriel," replied Angie as she crossed her arms. "And if you had mentioned this earlier, we would have gladly given you one, Marley."

"Then give me one!" spat Marley as she snorted. "I'm cold!"

For a few seconds Todd could only stare at her, surprised at her tone. He felt something was off about Marley, but he couldn't quite figure it out. Normally Marley would be screaming her head off, but right now she was simply acting rude… He only dismissed his thought; it must have been one of the rare occasions that she wasn't as angry as she usually was.

Slowly Angie took off the grey coat she had been wearing, keeping her green eyes narrowed as she stretched it towards Marley... then the taller girl abruptly snatched it with one swipe of her hand, snorting as she pulled it on stiffly. As Archie was about to take the lead again, Marley shoved past him, strutting forward without looking back.

"Sheesh… I didn't think I'd get body-checked!" growled Archie as he rubbed his shoulder, scowling after the black girl. "What's up with your Sis, Edgar!?"

"Don't mind, Marley, Archie," said Edgar flatly, shaking his head before he started to follow his sister. "We all know she's never in a good mood, unless she's preforming for her audience."

Todd could only give a shrug at that, knowing that it was a true fact. When dancing Marley wore a smile, when spending time with them she constantly scowled. Marley was Marley; he could only assume that every time she complained it was her way of showing that she enjoyed being around them… Or, at least he imagined it was.

---

After going through the snowy forest for a while, Todd could only enjoy the silence it held as they passed through each area.

They didn't encounter any Monsters due to how Marley appointed herself as their scout, going ahead to check if the coast was clear before they continued. Of course, Todd wanted to tell her how worried he was that she could get killed if she kept doing this, but he thought better of it. Marley would probably yell her head off at him if he mentioned it. And he knew Marley was the fastest of all of them, so going with her to scout would only draw more attention to themselves… He steered that conversation away, only keeping his concern constant for her as they continued forward.

Soon after a long walk, they reached a wide clearing where they encountered another shed, that looked identical to the one that thy passed. Todd glanced at his surroundings, noticing how there was some strange shapes in the snow all around him. He knew from the furious scraping of Edgar's pen that Edgar also found them to be peculiar…

"Ugh, do you have to write in that dumb notebook now, Edgar!?" growled Marley as Edgar wrote without falter, seemingly too focused to have heard his sister. "We'll never get out of here if you make us stop every time you want to fiddle around with it!"

"I think this calls for 'fiddling', Marley," said Edgar with a sigh; bringing the cover over the page he had been on before he pocketed his notebook. "Something happened here, which begs the question of what."

Marley wrinkled her nose. "This is nonsense! I can't believe you're doing this!"

Angie gave the girl an annoyed look as she crossed her arms. "I have to agree with Edgar on this one, Marley…" At once the black girl scowled at her. "Something happened here. I don't know what, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Exactly." Edgar nodded. "Something has happened here, and I'd like to know what." With that, Edgar headed off to examine one of the strange dips in the snow.

"Ugh, you can't be serious!" yelled Marley as she stomped down, shaking her head with dismay.

"Oh give it a rest, Marley," growled Angie as she leaned against the shed. "We shouldn't gloss over this."

Just as Marley seemed ready to blow up in rage, Todd heard pitter-patters coming from nearby. When he turned to face whatever it was, he cringed the moment he saw a bipedal Great Pyrenees dog in shiny grey armour was trotting in their direction. It seemed to be humming a happy tune with his tail wagging to the beat.

"Oh crud, it's a monster!" exclaimed Archie in alarm, making Todd whip his head to him in shock. Before Todd could tell his best friend they had to be quiet, he heard the dog Monster give out a yap. Upon facing the Monster, he saw that they were staring at them, slowly bringing their goggles up to their forehead as they blinked their wide eyes.

"R-What the-" The Monster gave a sniff, soon blinking again as he frowned in confusion. "I've never tasted this scent before! R-What is it!?"

Todd quickly grabbed his sister's hand, stepping backwards as he felt sweat roll down his face. 'Oh no…' He saw how the shiny armour that the Monster wore had the same symbol from the ruins. 'Don't tell me this is…'

"Captain said to attack trespassers…" muttered the young looking dog, looking at them again as he slowly drew his creamy paw behind his back. "And… unknown scents count for that, right?" After a second or two he grimaced. "I think so?"

'Is this one of the Royal Guard members!?'

Suddenly he sharply drew out a dagger, bringing it slantwise and face down in front of his chest as he shakily stood his ground. "M-My first battle… I'm so excited about this!"

Todd noticed that Edgar was far away from them, still checking a few of the indents in the snow as he made notes. He seemed unaware of the threat that was here. 'Oh no! Edgar!'

Before Todd could give out a shout to warn Edgar, the Monster gave an ecstatic growl, "Trespassers, you r-won't get past Rover!"

Right away he began running towards them, his dagger rising in the air as Todd immediately thrust himself and Winnie out of range of the Monster's charge. The moment Todd landed, he heard a thud from behind him. But he ignored it as he quickly reached for his revolver, raising it up only to find that the Monster had fallen over nearby him. 'He fell over?'

For a second the Monster was on his hands and knees, his dagger a little ways from him as he shook his head wildly with his tongue sliding out as he panted. "I-I can't believe I missed! It was the first attack, and I didn't even scrape them! I'm supposed to… I'm supposed to…" After he got up slowly, he pawed at his glistening grey armor before he breathed in deeply. "Rover, focus… You need to focus, Rover!"

As Todd readied his shot, he realized that the Monster was leaning over slightly, wagging his tail. "Maybe I should try my technique? That should r-work…" Soon the creamy bipedal dog began to take on an orange colour, making Todd widen his eyes as the Monster clenched his paws. "Yeah! I'm going to attack you this time, trespassers! Don't move out of the r-way!"

The Monster became a bright orange the moment he fell to the ground, rolling straight towards them rapidly. Before Todd could get out of the way, he felt the Monster collide with him, making him scream out as he was sent flying. The moment he landed safely in a snowdrift, he looked up, frantically trying to find his sister. Luckily she was safe with Marley, who was pulling her towards the shed, and he gave out a sigh of relief. 'Winnie will be safe…'

Bringing his attention back to the battle, Todd saw that the Monster continued to roll around on the ground. From the looks of it, the Monster was bulldozing through snowdrifts towards Archie who was trying his best to get away from the fast orange dog.

'What happened!?' thought Todd as he watched the dog soon return to normal, standing up to lunge for Archie with two daggers. 'He turned orange!? What's going on here!?'

When Archie stopped, he turned to face the dog Monster who panted, seemingly exhausted from his attempt of murder. After a long moment of staring at the young Great Pyrenees, Todd's best friend yelled in frustration, "Stop attacking us! We're not going to hurt you, so lay off, pal!"

"But you're trespassers, trespasser!" protested the dog as he panted. "I need… to attack you!"

"No you don't, we're not here to fight!" Archie gathered snow into his gloved hands, and with a grunt he chucked a snowball. "Take this, doggie!"

It flew over the Monster's head, falling to the ground, which made the Monster yelp in surprise, "Oh my gosh! Snow, snow! R-Woo-" For some reason the Monster starting yipping with delight, prancing around in the snow. "Oh how I love snow, oh how did you know that!?"

Archie could only stare at the dog Monster in disbelief, backing away as he shook his head wildly. "Wait… why are you happy about my attack!?" asked Archie in dismay.

Instead of replying, the dog Monster continued to twirl around until he fell over, shaking before he sighed contently. "Ah… that r-was fun."

As Todd got up, he kept his revolver in his hand as he slowly approached the giggling Monster. Clearly Archie was trying to scare it off, but for some reason this Monster… Rover from the sound of it, thought that Archie was trying to play with him for a second? That didn't make any sense…

Unless, Todd pondered as he stared at the Monster, the dog Monster was still young.

"R-Wow, as much as I r-want to play more, I need to fight you!" exclaimed Rover, getting up and crouching. "Sorry, trespasser!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa!" The orange haired boy started to wave his hands around as he shook his head. "I'm trying to defend myself!" yelled Archie in irritation. "Not play with you!"

Before Rover could try to attack him again, Todd quickly shot a bullet at the dog's hindpaws, missing luckily. As Rover's head shot up in alarm, Todd started waving his hands above his head as he yelled, "Get away from him!"

"Oh! You made that sound!" cried Rover, tugging on his goggles as his tail became stiff. "R-Well then! I'll get you for startling me!"

Swiftly turning sideways, immediately becoming orange, Rover barreled over towards Todd. Before Todd could shoot another bullet, he moved to the side, but he feared it was too late because the dog Monster was about to hit him… Suddenly he felt strange as the Monster phased through him, rolling to the ground on the other side before hopping to his paws. The moment Todd turned around he had to bring up his revolver to block the two daggers that were jabbing at him one at a time in a crisscross, grunting as each one met his weapon. After a while of struggling with protecting himself against the strikes, the bipedal dog pushed him backwards onto his spine.

"Big Brother… no!" cried Winnie fearfully from afar as Todd widened his eyes, having the Monster loom over him while his forepaws held onto the daggers hard. Before Rover had a chance to drive his daggers into Todd, Todd rolled himself away, grimacing when snow pressed into his face briefly before he got up shakily.

Upon turning to the dog Monster with his revolver ready, he could only stare at the milky dog when it yelped, "Oh my gosh! You like rolling around in the snow, too!?"

"Huh!?" Todd widened his dark blue eyes as the Monster trembled, his tail wagging enthusiastically. "What do you mean…? I just rolled on the ground-"

"Oh my gosh- so trespassers like to roll around in snow like me!?" Rover seemed to be astonished as he continued to babble under his breath, "R-Wow! I have to r-wonder if they all do!?" With a shake of his head, he sighed as his tail froze and sagged on the snowy ground. "But… they're trespassers. A-And I need to fight them."

Again Rover thrust his daggers at Todd, causing Todd to roll away from the attack and earned a shrill squeal from the Monster, "Oh my gosh! The trespasser did it again! R-What does that mean!?"

'Why's Rover so excited about me rolling around?' thought Todd in confusion as he gazed at the seemingly hyperactive Monster. 'I'm trying to dodge his attacks!'

"Keep rolling around, Todd!" Turning to the sound of the voice, Todd gawked at Edgar as he waved his dark hand back and forth. "Just do it!"

"Why should I-" Before Todd could finish, he leapt back to avoid another attack, tumbling and rolling the moment he landed wrong. "Gah!?" As he landed on his face, he faintly heard animated barking from nearby. 'What's Edgar getting at with this?'

When he propped himself up, he stared at the Monster who was no longer holding his daggers, instead clapping his paws precipitously together and yelping. Before Todd could retrieve his revolver, the Monster dashed over to him, hoisting Todd above the ground as he exclaimed ruefully, "Oh my gosh, how can I fight you r-when you like rolling around like I do!? I don't r-want to fight you! R-Why r-was I fighting you! R-Why should r-we fight!?"

"Err… we shouldn't then?" suggested Todd nervously as his feet dangled in the air, hoping he won't get dropped and have his spine broken.

"Oh my gosh, I shouldn't fight someone r-who shares my hobbies!" cried the Monster in horror, instantly bringing Todd to his breastplate as he squeezed the life out of Todd. As Todd writhed in the embrace, gasping for breath, he heard the creamy bipedal dog whine sincerely, "You are right, trespasser! I can't bare the thought of killing you! So I r-won't, I promise you!"

Todd plummeted into a pile of snow, feeling dizzy as he struggled to reclaim the oxygen he lost from Monster's affection. As he heard the pitter-patter of Rover's paws ebb away, he heard the dog Monster howl, "I need to tell the Captain and the rest of the Royal Guard about you guys!"

At once Todd's blood went cold, and he forgot to breath for a moment. 'Rover's part of the Royal Guard…' He closed his eyes, letting himself go limp against the snow around him. 'Oh no… I was right...'

Before Todd got up, his hands were seized, pulling him up which caused him to cringe that Rover was back. He wondered why the Monster was back so quickly when something cold landed in his hands, and then Rover flew off into the distance in a hurry. As he watched the Monster disappear from his sight, he could only stare down at his hands that held strange tiny golden triangles. When he brought his hands closer to his face, he realized that there were odd looking numbers engraved in them.

'W-What was that about…?' thought Todd in confusion, shaking slightly before he felt himself flop down on the snow. 'What are these!?'

"Excellent work, Todd," said Edgar as he came over to join him, finishing his writing with a stroke of his pen that he clicked. "I'm surprised it actually worked."

"Worked?" echoed Todd in confusion, looking back down at the triangles that spilled from his hands.

"Yes, if you happened to listen to what I had to say," replied Edgar, unimpressed, picking out a triangle from Todd's hands. "And through luck, you did." As he studied the tiny triangle, he soon tapped his chin and mused, "Hmm… if I had to guess what he gave you, it has to be some form of currency."

"Currency?" Todd screwed his face up at that, shoving the strange triangles into his pants pocket and collecting the fallen ones right after that. When he picked up the last one, he squinted his eyes as he asked quietly, "How could you figure that out, Edgar?"

"Naturally, if you take a moment to look at the numbers they have on them, you can tell that it is." After a moment or two, Edgar brought out his notebook again, beginning to scratch down on it with his pen, occasionally glancing at the triangle Todd held. "I think you made the Monster so happy, Todd, that it couldn't help but express that through giving you money."

"Hah, that's rich," hissed Marley as she hopped over to them, her ballet flats squishing as she landed beside her brother. With a flip of her black hair, she rolled her eyes. "There's no reason for any of those creatures to do that for us! You keep saying we're enemies, so why would they want to donate money to us?"

"Marley, there's no reason for you to question gratitude," noted Edgar sternly, staring at her with a frown etched on his face. "We might as well make due with it."

"Hmph, we're lucky we got out from that stupid hassle!" With that, she strutted away.

As Todd got up, he slowly put away the strange piece and skimmed his eyes over the area. When he spotted his revolver, he started heading towards it when he heard Edgar quietly muse, "That Monster… he said he was going to talk to the Royal Guard and his captain?"

Quickly Todd slipped his gun back into its holster, pivoting back as he grimaced. "Yeah… he did."

"Guys!" Upon turning to his best friend who was pointing in the direction they had to go, the orange haired boy held a horrified expression as he exclaimed, "It said it was going to tell those guards we're here! We're toast! We're dead!" Snapping his attention to Edgar, the boy grabbed his shoulders and began to wildly shake him. "What are we going to do!?"

"Archie, you're going to knock Eddy unconscious!" scolded Angie as she dashed over and fought to pull them apart, sending a glare to the twelve-year-old as she growled, "You're not making the situation better right now!"

"But still!" Archie waved his arms frantically in the air. "Game over! Game over!" When he stopped, he grabbed his hair as he yelled out with fraught, "It's going to rat us out!"

"I know he will, so that's why we have to get away from here now." As Edgar sighed, he adjusted his coat before he put his notebook into a side pocket. "But, I think we made an ally."

"An ally?" questioned the dark brown haired boy in confusion. "But Rover's going to let them know where we are!"

Edgar took a moment to tip his glasses up, silent for a few moments before he shook his head. "He won't attack us. There's a chance that he will try to stop them from attacking us."

"And what if he doesn't?" asked Angie sternly as Todd felt someone grab his hand, making him instantly worried when he saw his sister was shivering frightfully. "What if his captain orders him to kill us?"

The black boy frowned. "Then there's a chance that he'll do that, Angie. But we'll never know for sure until we see him again." After a second he sighed. "For now, we can only hope."

Todd stared at Edgar in worry. 'But… the Royal Guard will still know we're here.' As Edgar and Archie started to walk off after Marley, Archie continuing to freak out about the fact that they could be killed, Angie gave Todd a look of concern when he didn't make a move to follow them. Todd closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down, quivering while doing so. 'We blew our cover… They're going to kill us! All of us!'

---

After Todd calmed down, they went after everyone else. The moment they caught up was beside a field of ice, which had many thick icy pillars in them. Todd could only look at Edgar who was tapping at his chin, shaking his head soon as he spoke, "It appears to be a puzzle."

"Funny, how we finally get a puzzle after all the walking we did," said Angie with a sigh. "I have to wonder if the Monsters around here are lazy about them…" When she took a glance at the icy spikes, she grimaced. "So what do you think, Eddy?"

Edgar gave her an unimpressed look for a few seconds before he closed his eyes. "Hmm… I think we need to find a way across the ice field with the spikes in mind."

"Oh, pfft- that's easy!" At once Archie sprang onto the ice, letting out a yelp as he slid fluently towards the edge. "Wa-gah-"

"Archie!" shouted Todd in shock, taking a step forward only to faceplant onto the ice.

"Big Brother!" screamed Winnie in horror. "No!

"Todd!" yelled Angie. "Why did you do that!? You're going to fall over and die!"

Before Todd could reply, he fell over the edge. A second or two later, he felt ground below him, rolling over to find that Archie was beside him.

"Ow…" Archie grimaced as he whipped to sit up, rubbing his back as he groaned. "I didn't think the ice was that slippery!"

"Me neither…" agreed Todd.

For a few seconds he stared up, expecting to see the land that they fell from only to see the sky. 'Huh? I thought we fell over the edge?'

"Whoa!? Todd-" Abruptly he was pulled up, having his head turn and in his field of vision he could see his sister and friends standing beside an ice field. "Didn't we fall!?"

"Well yeah, we did?" replied Todd with confusion.

"T-Then how did we get here!?" exclaimed Archie with shock, pounding his fist down into the ground. "This is nuts!"

'Yeah, it is…'

This sort of reminded him of the time in the Ruins when he tried to jump across the stream… Maybe the Monster who made that puzzle was the same one who made the ice field's?

When they got back, Angie let out a gasp as she ran over to them, giving them both a hug at the same time. "I thought you were dead!"

"We kind of teleported…" Todd shrugged, grimacing as he pointed in the direction they came from. "It's like the switch puzzle?"

"Ah, so some form of magic is in play here," noted Edgar dully. "Why am I not surprised?"

Angie let go of them, and suddenly Todd felt his arm get struck which caused him to yelp. When Archie received the same treatment, Angie screamed, "I thought you guys were dead! You shouldn't have jumped onto the ice when we don't know where to move to get across!"

"Uh… sorry?" Todd frowned at her, soon rubbing his arm. He felt as though he might get a bad bruise later on…

"Now that we got a demonstration of what not to do…" Edgar adjusted his glasses, writing something down before he turned to the ice, pointing his pen at it. "We should figure out what we should do."

"And what do we do, Edgar?" asked Marley with a snort.

For a while Edgar seemed to be studying the ice field before he turned back to his sister. "We should go for the icicles. If we could grab onto them, in the right order, we should be able to get across unharmed."

Angie gave a nod at that. "Yeah. We should." She gave a scowl to Todd and Archie. "Especially for you two."

"Hey!" protested Archie with a scowl, shaking his fist at her. "I was testing how easy it was to fall off! I didn't want any of you guys doing that and get hurt!"

"Sure you did," said Edgar, unimpressed. "Now why don't you try again, but this time think about where you put your feet, Archie."

Todd watched as Archie gritted his teeth, clenching his dull pinkish grey gloves before he marched forward. "I will gladly take one for the team, Edgar!" he said cheekily, smirking as he pushed up his sleeves. "I'm a tough man, and it doesn't matter how many times I need to do this so we all get safely across!"

With that he stepped on the ice.

After a long time of getting on and falling off the ice field, along with Winnie giving Archie Spindlesnaps when he looked far too injured to walk anymore, Archie slid across a narrow path and yelped, "Guys! Help! I can't stop slid-"

Archie disappeared into a shroud of trees.

"Oh no, we lost him again!" groaned Angie with a facepalm.

"I don't think he fell over the edge," mused Todd, turning to sprint back to the place Archie constantly fell to over the course of tackling the puzzle. When he found that Archie wasn't there, he returned to everyone and smiled. "Guys, I think he solved the puzzle."

"Oh, that's a relief…" breathed Angie, placing her hand on her chest.

"Well then, did anyone pay attention to which pillar he chose to slide to?" asked Edgar flatly, only receiving blank looks in response. "Nobody? And here I thought at least one of you did."

"Did you pay attention, Eddy?" asked Angie mildly, crossing her arms.

"Of course I did." Edgar gave a sigh. "I wanted to make sure someone else did, so we could have more than one person to guide everyone through this."

"Eh, I get what you mean." Angie gave a shrug at that. "I can't blame you for wanting that."

"I'll go next!" spat Marley sharply, pushing herself to be in front of Edgar. "I'm sick of standing here, I want to get out of here as fast as I can, so tell me where to go, Edgar!"

"Very well." Edgar cleared his throat before he began, "Go straight ahead where you are right now, Marley, and aim for that far pillar."

"Ugh, alright…" growled his sister, stepping gingerly on and drifted forward. As soon as she got to the pillar, she wrapped her arms around it to steady herself before she yelled, "Now what!?"

"To your left, catch that pillar!" yelled Edgar as he used his hand to cup his mouth, gesturing to his left with the other. When Marley did so, Edgar continued, "Now come back to our direction-"

"Don't tell me one thing at a time, Edgar! I'm not a two-year-old!"

"Everyday you seem to be one…" Edgar shook his head at that with a sigh. "And I have to be mature for the both of us…"

"What was that!? I didn't hear you!"

"I said, come back in our direction, take a left, then go in the direction Archie went!" yelled the black boy with a hint of anger sliding into his voice. As Marley started doing what he said, Edgar started to rub his temples as he muttered under his breath.

Todd could only furrow his eyebrows, wanting to ask Edgar about what he meant before Todd thought better of it.

As Marley glided through the same narrow trail Archie went, Edgar turned around and gestured behind himself. "Now then, who's next?" asked Edgar wearily.

With a quick look to Winnie, Todd leaned down to his sister. "We should go next." When Winnie's blue eyes widened with fear, he pulled her close and murmured, "I'll be right with you all the way, Winnie."

When Winnie hesitantly nodded, Todd kept a firm grip on his sister's hand as he brought them to the brink. "Ready?" Winnie squeezed his hand harder, nodding again before he faced the ice. "Okay, let's go."

Stepping together, Todd made sure they didn't veer off their course, not letting himself loosen his grip on his sister's hand at any time. When they finally got to the final pillar, they headed towards the sliver of ice that Archie and Marley went across. As they passed through a shroud of trees, it was very dark, and Todd tightened his grip, trying not to move a muscle until they stopped at the other end. He saw that his sister had a snow formation that looked like a candle on the top of her head, and he couldn't help but laugh at it.

"You have a snow heart on your head, Big Brother!" squealed Winnie in laughter, and the snow candle she had on her head crumbled apart when her head shook.

"And you had a snow candle!" chuckled Todd, soon having snow float down from his head. He took off his cowboy hat for a second, swiping off the leftover snow before he put it back on.

The moment Angie and Edgar joined them, they set off again towards the path before them. From the looks of the other path, he felt as though it wouldn't be wise to try that one out. So they walked for a short while, only stopping the moment that they caught sight of Rover. Todd's breath hitched as he saw that Rover wasn't alone...

"I'm telling the truth!" barked Rover, facing a bipedal Doberman that was leaning on a staff that they held boredly in their brown paws. Their white speckled ears were longer than a normal Doberman's, and their paws had longer grey claws. Their armour matched the same one that Rover wore, with the symbol of the Ruins in the middle of the breastplate. "A trespasser rolled around r-with me, and there r-were five other ones!"

"Oh, Rover, I keep telling you that there's no way a trespasser would simply play with you," said the other Monster coldly, shaking her head as she tapped her staff in annoyance. "I want you to go back to your sentry station, and actually look for trespassers." She gave a pat on his head, clicking her tongue while doing so. "I know you've been a member for a week, but you shouldn't be fooling around with me and the other elites…" She then sighed. "You need to take your job seriously."

At once Rover's ears flattened. "B-But I did…" When he turned around, he jumped, pointing towards them, which made Todd stiffen. "R-Wait a minute! Roxie! They're standing right there!"

"Rover, stop trying to convince me that-" As soon as the Doberman Monster turned her head slightly, her eyes widened for a split second. Then they narrowed as her lips pulled back, and she snarled, "Trespassers!"

"I kept telling you that, Roxie…" whined Rover sadly, whimpering as he looked at the ground, "And you didn't even believe me…"

The moment the Doberman Monster met his gaze, she sighed. "Okay, maybe I should have listened to you, Rover. ...Deep regrets all around…" To Todd, it sounded like she wasn't sorry at all. It made him sort of frustrated that she was treating Rover that way.

As Roxie dismissively gave a gesture to shoo him off, she growled, "Go inform Rufus that we have trespassers, Rover!" After swinging her staff up, hunching over in an aggressive stance, she growled coldly, "I'll deal with them…"

"O-Okay…" whimpered Rover before he went off in the other direction, his limp tail was dragging on the ground.

The moment that Rover was gone was when Roxie swatted the ground with her staff, pointing her long sharp ears forward as she snarled icily, "State your purpose, trespassers! I will rip your throats out if you don't!"

"Sheesh! Take a chill pill…" Archie grimaced as he spoke casually, "We're just going on by…"

"I know you're traveling, but I know that I've never seen scoundrels like you before!" growled Roxie as she narrowed her eyes into slits. "I've lived in Snowdin all my life, patrolled Snowdin Forest all my life, know all the Monsters from all over…" With a jab of her paw towards them, her long claws unsheathing, she spat harshly, "So who are you! What are you!? Answer me!"

"We're not going to tell you that!" spat Archie with a shake of his head. "We really need to go home, so leave us alone!"

"Home?" For a moment the bipedal Doberman stared at them suspiciously. "What do you mean you need to go home...?"

"I said, we're not going to tell you, so back off!" As Archie clenched his fists, he glared at the Monster.

When the Monster breathed in deeply, her brown paws immediately tightened around her staff. "Something smells fishy about you… I've never smelt your scent before." As Archie was about to speak again, Roxie went on, "You don't smell like you're from the Underground…" As her hackles rose, she shakily breathed in as she shook her head. "I-It can not be-" Her eyes became slits at once, and she let out a loud roar, "You're Humans! That's why I can't identify you- you're filthy Humans!"

At once she thrust her staff in their direction, letting out a series of growls as she leered at them. "I can't believe you got this far, but that doesn't matter! I'm going to slay you right here, right now! For what you did, for what you all did!"

She pushed one of her paws towards them, sending out a white cluster that hurled straight towards them. "You selfish MURDERERS!"

Todd moved himself and Winnie out of the way, soon having to quickly dodge the explosion of hail that flew in their direction. When he brought out his revolver, he could see that the Monster was heading straight towards them with her staff reared back.

"I heard all about your devious deeds in the Old War!" screamed Roxie as she wildly swung her staff, making Todd yelp as he tried to get them out of harms way. "You took the lives of us Monsters- you stole it because you wanted us gone- you made yourself stronger through absorbing our SOULS!" Huffing, she rumbled out a growl, "I can't stand you..."

"What war!?" yelped Archie when the Royal Guard member nearly whacked his head, skittering across the snow as the Monster let out a snarl. "I don't know what you're talking about!?"

"Oh, but of course you wouldn't know! They probably never told you of all the wrongdoings that they dealt to us!" With another thrust of her paw, more clusters blasted from it, making Archie and Angie zigzag awkwardly to avoid them. "Human cowardice hasn't died, has it? You reek of it right now! You're no different than any of them!"

"Stop! We're not going to attack you!" yelled Archie as he stopped, shaking his fist at the hostile Monster.

"Then taking your lives, and collecting your SOULS will be easier!" Her staff started to glow blue. "I want you to die, so don't you dare try to run away, Humans…"

'Her staff-' Todd widened his eyes in horror as Archie continued to glare at the Monster, taking a step towards the Monster as he continued to scream. 'She's going to do something!'

"Archie!" he yelled desperately, watching as the Monster slowly waved her staff sideways, creating a brilliant wall of blue light before her. "Get away!"

Before Archie turned to him, the wall of blue was shot forward. As soon as Archie tried to run away, he cried out in pain when it struck his body. He fell to his knees, and Todd saw how red dripped down onto the snow from under the dark brown coat Archie wore.

"I won't let you escape when you're still alive!" yelled Roxie as she readied another blue wall, shooting it towards Archie within seconds. "Die already!"

Before the attack struck him, Angie pushed him away, getting hit instead.

"Angie!" cried Todd in dismay as the brown haired girl tumbled across the ground.

Angie stiffly started to get up, clenching her fists as a cluster of white was hurled towards her. Before she could move out of the way, she jerked sideways with a scream, narrowly missing the attack that exploded upon impacting the ground. She crashed to her knee, attempting to get up again, but then she stopped. Slowly Angie put her hand on her leg with a sharp intake of breath, sliding it down to her boot while grimacing.

Todd widened his eyes as he watched her, willing her to get up and run... but for some reason she wasn't… She still rested her hand on her boot, not making an effort to get up now.

"Get up, Angie!" yelled Archie with frustration. "She'll kill you!

"I can't!" shouted Angie shrilly.

"Why can't you!?" asked Todd with worry, taking a step forward as her stared at her. "You need to!"

Angie breathed in and out quickly, and soon her forlorn gaze met Todd's as she shouted raggedly, "Get out of here! I can't move!"

The shaggy brown haired boy shook his head, keeping his feet firmly to the ground as he watched as Roxie's paw reared back. "No!" he yelled out distraughtly, "we can't leave without you!"

"Just do it!" she screamed hysterically before Roxie hurled a huge white cluster at her, shaking her head madly as he thought he caught the sight of tears trickling down her cheeks. "I don't want you guys d-" She was struck, flying backwards before landing with a sickening crack.

As Todd gazed at her, he felt his blood go cold the moment she wasn't pushing herself back up. He shook his head, mentally yelling at Angie to get up when he noticed how a tinge of blue glowed from her chest, and soon a light blue coloured heart rose up and floated above her limp figure.

"One down…" growled the Monster, swinging around to Todd as she adjusted her grip on her staff. "Five more to go…"

Suddenly Todd's arm was grabbed by Edgar, and instantly he was tugged away as he heard Edgar speak, "We can't stay here!"

"What about Angie!?" cried Todd as he struggled to look back at his friend. "We can't leave her!"

"She's dead, Todd!" croaked Edgar, sounding wretched as a stone bridge came into view. "And we're going to end up like her if we don't go!"

The dark blue-eyed boy let Edgar steer him away, breathing heavily as Angie's still body flashed through his mind. 'Angie's dead…' He felt heat behind his eyes as he and Edgar raced across the bridge. 'Angie's dead…' He bit his lip, closing his eyes as lukewarm liquid started to spill from his eyes. 'ANGIE'S DEAD!'

The moment they got to the other end, Todd dug his feet into the ground, preventing Edgar from going any farther. As the black boy gave him a disbelieved look, Todd sobbed harshly, "Why did she do that!?"

For a few seconds his friend stared at him, frowning before he looked away. "I… It was for us… If she hadn't done that, Archie would have been the one who's dead right now-"

"What does that matter!?" shouted Todd as he shook. "She's dead! She's dead because of us- because of that Monster!"

"Todd, I hate what happened as well," said Edgar sadly, not looking at him as he stared off into the distance. "She shouldn't have died… I wish it couldn't have happened, but it did." With a pause, Edgar looked back, and Todd noticed the boy's eyes trickled with tears. "We… we need to regroup, and we need to hide from the Monsters. We need to try to not be affected by this, even if it's hard to, so that we can not get killed as well."

"But-" as Todd began to wail; he heard thuds from behind him. He was about to pull out his revolver when he saw that Archie was limping towards them, and Winnie was holding his hand with her head lowered. Todd widened his eyes slightly from the dark red stain on Archie that slipped from Archie's shirt down to his shorts, slightly dripping still. As soon as Todd heard Archie's laboured breathing, Todd ran over to meet them, catching Archie the moment he began to fall forward. "Archie!"

"H-Hey," rasped Archie as he struggled to move his head up, blinking slowly as he frowned. "That was rougher than I thought it would be…"

As Todd snaked his arm around Archie's back and under the orange haired boy's arm, he began to help his best friend off the bridge, gently resting the orange haired boy down on the snow before taking a seat beside him. When he took a look at Winnie, he asked sternly, "Do you still have some Spindlesnaps left, Winnie?"

Winnie blinked for a bit, her bleak expression tore at Todd's heart as she went to the satchel. She took out a few russet and yellowy orange mottled cookies, breaking off a few pieces before offering them to Archie. As the boy began to nibble at them, a few seconds later he was wolfing down any that Winnie handed to him. After swallowing five cookies, Archie jumped up, grinning merrily as he patted his stomach. "Man, those cookies were good!"

Todd let out a sigh of relief, glad that the Spindlesnaps worked their wonders on his best friend once again.

"Where's Marley?" asked Edgar sharply, looking around as he soon stared back to the bridge. "Did she get killed too?"

Archie only rubbed the back of his head. "I… I sort of heard her say somethin' about distracting that dog monster…"

"You let her do that!?" snapped Edgar suddenly, clenching his fists as he glared at Archie. "She could be dead!" Just as he was about to march towards the bridge, he stopped when Todd spotted someone heading towards them. With a sigh of relief, Todd saw Marley strut towards them, shaking off the powdery snow that clung to her pink tutu.

"There you are!" spat Edgar as he crossed his arms, moving back to let Marley past as she continued to swipe at the snow on her. "What do you think you were doing!?"

"Ugh, don't get temperamental, Edgar!" hissed Marley as she raised her chin up, rolling her brown eyes as she growled, "I was just making sure Archie and Winnie got away…"

"You're normally one to run away from danger, Marley," grumbled Edgar as he glared at his sister. "Next time, do that."

Marley simply snorted, crossing her arms.

"B-But, Angie's…" Winnie sniffled, looking down as she pressed her small hands to her eyes.

Todd closed his eyes, feeling the thick sting in his heart as he felt heat behind his eyes again. But this time, he remembered what Edgar told him. As much as he wanted to mourn Angie right now, they were still in danger. And if they grieved… they probably would be killed. Plus…

Painfully Todd stepped forward, wrapping his arms around his sister as he shook. "I know, Winnie… I hate this too. But we need to go, we can't stay here."

He had to be strong for his sister. He had to be, no one else could do that for Winnie right now, not even Archie. And if he wasn't strong for her, it would hurt her more than Angie's death did.

In response, his sister cried in his embrace.

---

When everyone recovered enough from the events that had happened, they found themselves in what seemed to be a town. The first sign told them it was Snowdin.

Todd could only be amazed that they were so close to a town, but he didn't quite feel up to exploring it. Right now, they had to prioritize getting out of here, but he could tell that his sister and friends needed rest. Not only because of the recent events, but because of the fact that they had a long trip through Snowdin Forest.

Edgar suggested they should find a place to sleep first, so Todd sadly knew they had to ask around.

Todd caught the sign that said 'SHOP' swinging from the first building, and he felt as though it might be a good place to look. So they did.

All five of them entered the shop, immediately surrounded by orange walls, glowing from the lantern that rested beside a weary old looking rabbit that was sitting at the counter. It wore a long lilac coloured dress with a dusty green shawl over it, so he felt it must have been a female Monster.

As they were about to reach the counter, the creamy-furred rabbit squinted their eyes from behind their spectacles and peered down at them, jolting at once.

"Humans!" spat the Shopkeeper, her grizzled voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "How dare you enter my shop!" Without a moment to lose, the old rabbit instantly lunged for a broom that had been leaning against a shelf.

At once Winnie screamed, clutching onto Todd's arm as the Monster raised it above her head, about to swing it down when a cheery voice chimed through the shop.

"Granny, I got the thread you wanted me to-" Upon turning around, Todd spotted a bipedal purple-furred bunny who wore a frilly tank top (which caused Todd to wonder why she was wearing something that conflicted with the weather) and grey slacks enter the Shop. She stopped at once when she looked at them, her round eyes stark with surprise as she looked up at the older rabbit. "Granny, what's going on?"

"Violet, be a good dear and let Granny deal with these fleas," said the grandmother sweetly, apparently restraining her anger a little as she readied her swing again. "These are not customers-"

"Whoa there Granny, we just wanted to browse your wares!" protested Archie as he shook his fist at the old rabbit, making her glare at him. "And that makes us your customers!"

'Huh?' Todd turned to his best friend in confusion. 'We're not here to do that…?'

"Wow, such service this place has…" added Marley with a sneer. "Throwing their customers out and threatening to attack them with a rickety broom? I've seen better hospitality in other stores…"

'Uh…?' Todd had no clue what was going on.

"Bite your tongues!" spat the Shopkeeper as she struck the ground, nearly swatting Winnie who was by now hyperventilating and trembling beside Todd. Todd narrowed his eyes, stepping in front of his sister protectively as the Shopkeeper went on crabbily, "I have a say in who shops and who needs to hop out of here, Humans! I can refuse my service to anyone who poses a threat, especially if they are disgusting Humans!"

Just as she was about to deal another blow, a gasp sounded from behind Todd, "What are those!?" The grandmother stiffened when the little rabbit hopped over, standing in front of Archie and blocking him from the angry Shopkeeper. "So cool!"

As Todd turned to the Monster child, he saw that she was excitedly bouncing up and down as she gushed, "I've never seen gloves like that before- or that neck thingy!"

"Violet-" The grandmother snorted as the little bunny didn't seem to pay attention to her.

"What thingy?" asked Archie as he frowned at her in confusion, soon widening his eyes as a grin spread onto his face. "Oh! Did ya mean my bandana?"

"A 'bandana'...?" The moment the purple bunny stopped, she tipped her head sideways as she pointed and asked, "Is that the neck thingy?"

Upon slipping it out of its tie, Archie held it out as he boasted, "This is a bandana, you can wear it around you neck-" He put it around it neck, earning an ooh from the little Monster before he wrapped it around his forehead. "-and… you can have it on your head! It makes anyone manly!"

"Whoa! So it's a neck thingy that can be worn on your neck as a triangle and a scarf on your head, and it makes people manly!?" asked the bunny in awe.

"But of course, it has my abs drawn on it!" chirped Archie smugly, jabbing his thumb into his chest. "How else can it be so manly?"

Everyone stared at Archie who continued to grin.

"Seriously…?" groaned Edgar as he slapped his forehead. "He's telling a little kid that?"

"That sounds so wrong…" groaned Marley as well. "I feel ready to throw up from hearing that disgusting information."

Todd could only shrug. "I didn't know it was his abs… so I guess it's a bragging right?"

Edgar only stared at him, not even saying anything. Todd could only realize that there were no words to describe how horrible his opinion was on Archie's bandana.

The little Monster wasn't disturbed by the information surprisingly enough; she was wide-eyed in awe as she murmured breathlessly, "That's so cool…" At once she pivoted to her grandmother, her clenched small paws pressed against each other as she asked aloud in astonishment, "Granny, how come we don't have that?"

"It's not for Monsters!" snapped her grandmother.

"But we should have it!" yelped the bunny before she whipped to Archie, hopping up and down. "How much do you want for your…" She paused in her hop and speech, silent for a second or two before she continued to ask, "Bandana... and gloves?"

As Todd watched the grandmother's face flush with red, Archie's face became white as a sheet. "W-Wha- H-How much?" he asked nervously. "What do ya mean by, 'How much'?"

"Don't you dare try to haggle for it from that Human, Violet!" growled the grandmother as she trembled in anger. "You know our policies! We don't buy trash from customers, nor do we ever consider doing it with those disgusting fleas!"

"Aw…" whined Violet as her face fell. For a few seconds she stayed saddened before she perked up. "Oh! Can I borrow it?"

"Violet!" snarled the hostile Shopkeeper. "Did you hear what I said!?"

"I only want to make designs for it, and when I'm done I'll give it back to you!" said the little Monster anxiously, soon clasping her hands together as she bowed her head. "Please! I really like how they look!"

"But why do you want to make designs for them?" asked Todd warily.

"I want to sell them in the shop!" chirped the bunny, grinning as she explained, "One day I'm going to be running this shop, so I want to sell the wares that I think every Monster will want!"

"Until my dust is scattered, I won't let those atrocities be sold!" growled the grandmother coldly.

"And I think a bandana would be cool to have, it's a two-in-one accessory!" piped the frilly tank top wearing Monster as she gave a thumbs up. "It's so cool!"

"Well, well, well." Archie grinned back, his eyes glowing as he spoke, "I knew I would make a sensation one day…"

"Did you?" asked Edgar flatly.

"No, not really until now," replied Archie which caused Edgar to give him one of his renowned unimpressed stares. "But I know now it'll be a sensation!" He turned to face everyone as he exclaimed joyfully, "I'm leaving my mark on the world, guys! Isn't it great!?"

Todd watched as Edgar and Marley sweat dropped, soon turning to Archie as he chuckled, "Yep, it sure is, Archie…"

Winnie nodded happily with a smile. "Yeah!"

"I promise to give them back as soon as I can!" said the little Monster as Archie handed over his gloves and his 'manly' bandana. "How long are you staying in Snowdin?"

At once Todd stiffened, meeting the eye of the Shopkeeper who leered at them closely. His throat suddenly dried up, and he knew that there was no way they should tell the Monsters how long they were staying. For all he knew, they could alert the Royal Guard, then Todd, his sister, and his friends would all be killed by them… just like Angie was.

When he shot a wary look to Archie, Archie's grin fell and he blinked soon, turning back to the little Monster who continued to stare at them expectantly. "Uh… we're not sure."

"Oh, then I'll try to be fast so I don't miss you guys!" chirped Violet as she giggled. "I'm going to start on them now!" Before she ran out the door, she swung back and shouted, "If you need a place to stay, check out my Grampy's inn! You can check it out on the other side of the building!"

"Violet! Don't you dare invite these fleas to stay!" scolded the Shopkeeper, soon glaring at the door that was closed hard. After a few seconds her eyes slid over to them, and Todd could only cringe when she raised her broom again. "Get… OUT!"

"Run!" he shouted as he grabbed Winnie's hand, bolting away as the Monster went hurdling towards them.

The moment he got out onto the snow, he made sure he wasn't close to the Shop entrance when the Shopkeeper stood in the archway. For a long time she glared at them darkly, soon snorting before she reentered the Shop. As soon as she was gone, Archie, who was staring at the door, shook his head. "Sheesh… that Monster was such a sauerkraut!"

"No kidding…" As Edgar panted, he adjusted his glasses as he frowned. "She nearly broke my spine in half on the way out!"

"Ugh, what's what Monsters are!" Marley growled as she crossed her arms. "Horrible creatures that are trying to make us want to kill them!"

"But of course, we won't," replied Edgar as he turned to his sister. "It would give them a reason to want to kill us more, Marley."

All Marley did was turn her head away from him. "Hmph, I guess so…"

For some reason, Todd felt that the way she said that didn't seem quite right.

"Well, now we know where we can rest…" grumbled Edgar as he pointed to a door on the other end of the building. "We might as well go in."

"Yeah," said Todd with a grimace. "Let do that."

Todd went in first, hearing his boots clack against the hard floor of the wooden room as he spotted a counter ahead of him. Within moments he noticed how a huge grizzled maroon rabbit sat behind it, who had a white curly mustache and beard that dangled just below its chin. It was wearing a brown checkered vest over a long-sleeved white shirt and had small glasses near the end of his pink nose. Todd could assume that was the grandfather that Violet spoke of.

He was chatting with a small peach-furred rabbit, who wore a orange dress and had a white bow resting between her upright ears, who had her full attention on him. She blinked when she turned her head sharply to them, gasping the moment all five of them stood a few steps away from the counter.

"Grampy!" she softly exclaimed, tugging on his paw which caused him to look down at them.

With a few lazy blinks, he gave a chuckle as he spoke deeply, "I can see we have Humans in our company... What a day to see them again."

"H-Humans?" questioned the little bunny timidly, gazing at them wide-eyed as she leaned backwards. "L-Like the ones Granny told us-"

Right away Todd took a step back, grabbing Winnie's hand to prepare himself to run when the older Monster chuckled. He moved his paw behind the bunny, pushing her forward as he spoke calmly, "Ah-ah… we do not discriminate our customers, Ginger." He patted her head lightly before he continued, "Remember, we are to welcome them with warmth and care in Snowed Inn… We treat everyone with tolerance, be lenient no matter any reason that tells us to act otherwise." Inhaling, he closed his eyes. "After all, these Human children do look weary."

Todd slowly relaxed, soon looking to Archie when he asked in surprise, "So you're not going to bring out a broom like Granny did back there and-" He swatted his hand on the counter with a loud thud, startling the little Monster and causing her to jump. "BAM!"

The old rabbit chuckled at that. "Do not fret, Human children, I do not mind your presence here. Unlike my wife, Evelyn…" He blinked as he sighed. "After all that we have seen during the Old War, it was enough to make her hostile of any that walk the streets."

"So you're not going to throw us out?" asked Todd warily, keeping his gaze on the Monster.

"Of course not, we see many kinds of Monsters come and go around these parts, so it is a rare treat to have Humans come to my establishment," said the older bunny proudly, twitching his nose as he went on, "If I scared off any customer that came to stay, my family would be shivering in a cold hole right now. We need to be more welcome to any that are different from us, even if we have the right to hate them." He gave a wink to his granddaughter, who gave a few nervous nods in response.

For a few seconds he leaned down, soon bringing out a parchment that he placed on the counter. With a twitch of his nose, he closed his eyes. "Welcome to Snowed Inn, travelers. Do browse our accommodations, and please let us know your fancy."

Todd gave a glance to his sister and friends before he let go of Winnie's hand, moving towards the counter and picked up the parchment. For a few seconds he read it over:

- Snowed Inn's Accommodations -

One bed, one Monster - 50 G
One bed, two Monsters - 56 G
One bed, three Monsters - 62 G
Two beds, two Monsters - 72 G
Two beds, three Monsters - 78 G
Two beds, four Monsters - 84 G

Scratching his head, Todd was quite bewildered by the pricing. It sure would be expensive to stay here… He knew that there were five of them, so until he knew what type of accommodations everyone would want, he wasn't sure how much they had to dish out in the end…

...If only he knew what 'G' was.

Upon looking back to his friends, he gave the parchment to Archie. "Okay, what type of rooming do you guys think we should get."

"Ah, beg my pardon. Before you decide, I forgot to mention that one of our rooms is currently occupied," said the old Innkeeper, closing his eyes as he stroked his fluffy mustache. "We only have three rooms left."

Marley sent a glare in the old Innkeeper's direction, soon looking at the parchment when Edgar was done with it. As she started to read through it, Edgar mused flatly, "It would seem as though the Underground isn't falling behind on inflation…"

"Yeah, no kidding!" said Todd with a grimace. "Why isn't it cheap?"

"Most hotels and motels, from what I heard, are expensive, Todd," noted Edgar with a bored look. "The same rules apply here."

"Th-This is the only inn in a-all of the Underground," said the little bunny Monster quietly, cringing the moment Todd and Edgar looked at her. For a few moments she twitched her nose before she went on nervously, "G-Grampy thinks the prices might r-rise one day if someone else st-starts one as well!"

"Oh shush, my inn is the only one the Underground needs." With a snort of amusement, the old Monster's eyes sparkled as he patted his granddaughter's head, flattening her ears slightly in doing so. "I would like to see what some other Monster thinks is fine accommodation…"

When everyone had looked through the parchment, Todd soon asked curiously as he gazed at them, "So, which ones should we get."

"I don't want to share a room with anyone!" hissed Marley with a snort, turning away from them instantly.

"Duly noted." Adjusting his black glasses, Edgar soon blinked before he faced Archie. "I'm fine with sharing a room…"

"Alright! It'll be just like when we were five!" cheered Archie, punching Edgar in the arm and making the black boy wince and grimace. "I'm down for sharing a bed-"

"I meant, 'I'm fine with sharing a room', but I strongly suggest we have our own beds," said Edgar flatly, making the curly haired boy falter slightly. "As much as I like nostalgia… I don't like it that much."

Rubbing the back of his head, Archie sheepishly tapped the wooden floor with his foot, letting out a chuckle. "Yeah… I'm down for that, no prob' at all, Edgar."

Edgar merely rolled his eyes in response, looking extremely unimpressed.

When Todd leaned down to his sister, he murmured to her as he looked into her blue eyes, "I think that leaves us sharing a room, Winnie. We should ask for two beds as well."

Winnie gave a nod at that.

As soon as they faced the counter again, Todd remembered something. The moment that he put the parchment back on the counter, he met the Innkeeper's eyes as he asked, "Um… what's 'G'?"

"So I guess you Human children do not know," chuckled the Innkeeper, soon reaching his large paw into his pocket before he held it pawprint up. When Todd looked at his paw, he saw a tiny golden triangle. "Our currency may be different than yours, now that I recall… This is Gold, commonly known as G to us Monsters."

"Oh!" Todd widened his eyes before he met Edgar's gaze. "I get it now." Meeting the old rabbit's eyes again, Todd nodded to him. "Thank you."

"It is no problem, Human child," said the Monster heartily. "Ever since we have come to the Underground, some parts of Human society, such as their currency, make Monsters uncomfortable. So King Asgore created a new currency to benefit us." He then chuckled. "King Asgore can be rather fickle at times when naming things, but I am rather fond of the name. You could say his inability to make good names makes him more of a Monster like the rest of us."

Todd furrowed his eyebrows, pondering about the praise he was hearing. He could only assume the Monsters always saw their king in a good light… unlike Toriel.

"Now then, have you decided upon your accommodations?" As the old Monster set his gaze on them, Todd nodded. "What will it be?"

"Two, two beds for two~ and one, one bed for one~" sang Archie cheerfully as he grinned.

The Innkeeper chuckled warmly at Archie's jingle.

"How did you even say that without biting your tongue?" asked Edgar flatly, turning to the orange haired boy.

With a laugh, Archie replied, "Who doesn't like a tune, Edgar? And who's to say that I would've done that?" He gave a thumbs up. "I told Grampy here what we wanted!"

"Indeed." Edgar merely adjusted his glasses.

"How about it, Grampy?" asked Archie cheekily. "Two, two beds for two~ and one, one bed for one~"

Right away the old Innkeeper's eyes glowed warmly, and he nodded. "Very well, that will be 194G please."

Edgar furrowed his eyebrows when he put his hand on his chin. "Hmm… will this be able to cover it?" For a few seconds Todd stared at Edgar, wondering why he wasn't giving the Monster the amount they owed when Edgar's eye caught Todd's. Edgar sighed. "Will you please do the honours, Todd."

"O-Oh!" Todd widened his dark blue eyes, rubbing the back of his head instantly. "Got it…"

After he placed all the G he had on him on the counter, the Monster began to quietly count them up until his sad gaze rose up to them. "I am sorry, Human children, you are 169 Gold short."

"Wait- how much do we have!?" asked Archie as his eyes widened.

"You currently have 25 Gold," responded the old Innkeeper sadly. "I am afraid that none of you can have a room."

"Aw c'mon, Grampy!" The orange haired boy pushed his hand down on the counter, shaking his other one as he spoke in dismay, "Can't ya give us some slack!?"

"I run a business, and I keep to my policies, Human child." The large rabbit dipped his head. "I am sorry."

Todd hung his head, sighing as he murmured, "It's alright… I can understand that you need to earn your living, sir."

As he grabbed Winnie's hand, ready to turn around to leave the inn, he heard Marley growl, "Hold it!"

Todd widened his eyes as Marley began to flick out Gold from the pockets of her coat, the old rabbit Monster catching the ones that were about to hit his granddaughter as a large pile soon formed.

"Marley!? What the-" Archie waved his hands around wildly as he shouted in appal, "Where'd ya get the bucks!?"

"Gold, Archie," corrected Edgar, earning a pout from Archie briefly. When the black boy turned to his sister, he crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "Now then, would you tell us where you got the Gold from Marley?"

The girl simply huffed, turning her head away as she crossed her arms. "I picked it up whenever I came across it."

"When!?" shouted Archie. "How long!?"

"Ever since you guys waited in that stupid clearing," snorted Marley with a growl, half closing her eyes as she raised her chin up. "Do we have enough now?"

The Innkeeper took a while to count up the Gold, soon pushing a small pile back to them when he nodded. "It would seem as though you had luck in finding the Gold, Human child."

"Ugh, it was on the ground, nothing else!" spat Marley as Todd went over to gather up the leftover Gold. "Can we please go to our rooms now!?"

For a while the Innkeeper was leaning under the counter, humming before he got back up and gave three differently coloured monochrome keys to the peach-furred bunny. "Ginger, would you be a dear and show our guests to their rooms?"

Ginger gave a shaky nod, soon taking the keys and hopping under the counter. Todd could only assume she was sitting on a stool before as they followed her up some stairs, reaching the next floor. It was dimly lighted and Todd could see four brown doors in the long wooden corridor.

"U-Um…" For a second Ginger blushed, fumbling with the keys before she nervously held out one. "O-One Monster, o-one bed room?"

Marley snatched the grey key from her, making the bunny Monster jolt in surprise. Her upright ears dropped down before she turned slightly to point. "E-End of the hall… t-to your r-right."

Right away the tall girl stalked down the hall.

For a few seconds the bunny quivered, wide-eyed before she blinked, turning back to them. She shakily held up the next key. "U-Um… T-Two Monsters, t-two beds room?"

"Aha, that would be us!" cried Archie boldly as he grabbed the dark grey key, not as forceful as Marley was, and trotted down the hall. "Where to?"

"E-End of the hall, t-to your l-left."

"Thank you!" With that, Archie shoved the key into the lock.

Edgar gave a nod to the Monster before he walked over, entering the room Archie just bolted into.

When the Monster raised the last key, Todd leaned down and held out his hand. It seemed to catch the granddaughter by surprise, but she soon dropped the silver key into his hand. "T-To your left," she timidly said. G-Grampy will switch out the b-beds for the o-ones that will be n-needed…"

As she went past Winnie, Winnie gasped before she went to his side, hastily opening the satchel before running after the peach-furred bunny. Todd turned around to see that Winnie was handing the surprised Monster a cookie, and he smiled gently at that.

He quickly opened the door, pushing it open to find himself in a small room. Two beds sat in the corners, with a tall skinny lamp sitting between them that gave out a soft glow. Todd blinked before he went to sit down on one of them, gathering his hands together until his sister came into the room. The moment she hopped onto her bed, letting her legs dangle as she sat, Todd spoke, "It's a pretty nice room, huh?"

Winnie smiled slightly, soon lowering her head.

For a few seconds Todd stared at her, wondering why his sister was so silent when he heard her sniffle.

"Winnie?" he breathed softly.

"Y-Yes, Big Brother?" she squeaked nervously.

"Is something wrong?"

Winnie didn't reply, instead giving out another sniffle.

At once Todd frowned, getting up to close the door. After he locked it, he joined his sister, taking a spot beside her on the bed. "Hey… are you okay?"

The moment Winnie started to quiver, she gave out a whimper, "I don't want to be here… I want to be home!"

"I know, Winnie," he said sadly, closing his eyes as she continued to snivel. "But we'll get home, I know we will."

"B-But I want to be home now!" she cried as she let out a sob. "W-With Mommy, a-and Daddy… I miss them!"

"Shh… me too, Winnie…" he murmured as he pulled his sister close, rubbing her back as she shook. "Right now, more than anything, I want to be home. Even at Toriel's house… I wanted to be home."

"…T-Toriel was like Mommy…"

With a sigh, Todd grimaced. "Is that why you didn't want to leave, Toriel?"

"Y-Yes…"

Slowly Todd looked up, opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling. "I'm sorry about before."

Winnie looked at him, her blue eyes stretched as she asked timidly, "A-About what?"

"I brought us out here…" He shook his head. "If I hadn't gotten angry at Toriel's house, we wouldn't be here." He trembled as he croaked, "Angie wouldn't be dead, and we'd still be with Toriel where you, me… everyone would've been safe. I…" Todd scowled, breathing heavily. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. I knew what was out there, but I still made us leave, putting us all in danger!"

Todd released his sister, grabbing wads of his hair and pulled at it slightly. "It's all my fault! I could have prevented this, but I didn't! I'm making everyone suffer!" With a shaky breath, he clenched his eyes closed. "We wouldn't be here if it weren't for me! I shouldn't have brought you along that night, but I did! I can't stand myself for doing this to you, Winnie! Why-"

He felt a hand rest on his arm, and he slowly opened his eyes, turning to his sister as she stared at him sadly. "Y-You're not bad, Big Brother… You're not bad."

"But I am, Winnie!" he croaked, shaking as he tightened his grip on his hair from the stress he felt. "I brought you along with me that night because you were scared of being left alone, and now… we're stuck here!"

She hugged him gently. "I-I still think you're not bad."

He was about to deny that when he breathed in deeply, glancing at his sister before he grimaced slightly. "I'm sorry, Winnie…"

"Please don't feel bad, you're good," murmured Winnie as she leaned against him. "I love you, Big Brother…"

With a sigh, Todd bit his lip. He couldn't believe he was ranting when all he was trying to do was to comfort his sister. It was horrible that he was being rude to her, and he attempted to push away his stress as he closed his eyes. He returned her hug for a few seconds before he got up, putting his hand on her shoulder then went back to his bed.

"I love you too, Winnie."

---

Todd awoke the to pounding on the door, jerking up with alarm to blearily stare at it before he pulled his blanket off of him. As he walked over to it, he jumped the moment it abruptly swung open, banging against the wall just as Archie bolted to him.

"There's loads of Monsters outside!" shouted Archie as he seized Todd's shoulder's, making Todd flinch the moment he hissed, "I saw that Rover monster talkin' to them! We gotta go, Todd!"

"Are you sure?" asked Todd seriously.

"Yes, there's no time to lose, Todd," said Edgar sternly as he turned sharply into the room. "I just saw them go into the Shop below us."

"And why is that important…?" asked Todd tiredly as Archie finally let go, rubbing his eyes as he let out a yawn.

"Todd, that Shopkeeper hates us!" snapped Edgar with frustration. "She's going to tell them we're here!" Todd widened his eyes in horror, watching the black boy leave the room hastily. "If we go now, we might be able to get out of here before they encounter us!"

Right away Todd ran to Winnie's bed, shaking her awake as he spoke quickly, "Winnie, we have to go!" The moment she got herself up, blinking sleepily, he went to grab his cowboy hat, his revolver and its holster, and slung on Toriel's satchel. As Winnie got out of bed, he grabbed her hand and apron after putting the frying pan into the satchel, making her yelp in surprise as he hissed, "Quickly! We don't have time to tie on your apron!" After that he put Winnie's apron into the satchel before striding out the door.

As Todd and Winnie stepped out into the hall, Marley spat as she was pushed forward by her brother, "Edgar! Stop shoving me!"

"You'll thank me later for this!" said Edgar curtly as his sister growled, running ahead while slipping on her coat. "Hurry!"

As they ran down the stairs, Todd and Winnie got to the bottom last. The Innkeeper had been showing Ginger a burly book when Archie yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted towards the door, catching the Monsters' attention, "Thanks for not throwing us out!"

"Don't you dare tell them we were here!" snarled Marley as she followed Archie out the door, and Edgar trailed after her.

Todd gave a glance to the Innkeeper, stopping briefly at the counter to give back the keys. With a nod to the old Monster, he murmured, "Thank you for letting us stay here… We appreciate what you've done, and we won't forget this."

"Oh you're welcome, Human child," said the Monster contently with a nod, stroking his fluffy mustache. "It was grand to see another Human again."

"Bye!" called Winnie as she waved, and Todd pulled her along as quickly as he could. "Thank you!"

As Todd got out the door, running after his friends who were ahead of him, he heard a familiar voice. "Oh my gosh, there's the trespassers I told you about!"

Todd could only widen his eyes in dismay as he turned his head around, spotting Rover beside a huge bipedal grey and white Sheepdog who had a long, thick white mustache that hung limply below his shoulders, "Rufus! That's the one that rolled around r-with me!"

"Ah, good work, Rover," rumbled out Rufus, nodding as the bangs that lay above his eyes shifted. "Do you know if Roxie's around?"

"I have no clue, but she said she r-would handle them!" whined Rover as his ears folded down. "I haven't seen her since then!"

Rufus slightly grimaced at that. "Strange…" For a few seconds he shifted before he turned to two identical white bipedal dogs that stood with them. "Martin, Harvey- go find Roxie and get her here!"

"Yes, Rufus!" barked the two before they ran off in the other direction.

"Theodore, Jessie, Rover-" The huge Monster unsheathed a long sword, holding it in front of him as he pointed it at Todd. "With me!" he roared, growling out harshly, "Let us smite down these Humans!"

"Humans?" echoed Rover with confusion, tilting his head to one side. "R-What Humans!?"

"The Humans that are getting away, Rover!" growled Rufus before he pointed at Todd. "That's a Human, Rover! Now be a good chap, and let's have at them!"

As Todd turned around, bringing out his revolver as he pulled Winnie along, he heard Rover shout, "You mean r-we have to still kill them!? But they played r-with me!"

"Oh come on, Rover, must you go back on your pledge?" grumbled Rufus as Todd heard heavy thumps from behind him. "If you're not going to aid me in killing them, then you really need to reconsider your choice for joining the Royal Guard!" Todd quickened his steps upon hearing the heavy footsteps behind him. "Theodore! Jessie! With me!"

Just as he passed by a library (that he swore was spelt wrong, but didn't double check to make sure), he felt Winnie's hand slip from his. He halted at once, swinging around to yell out as Winnie slowly got up from where she had fallen, "Winnie!"

He reached down, pulling her up with a grunt when he froze upon seeing that the Sheepdog Monster's long sword was raised above them. "You have met your end!"

Todd quickly pulled Winnie out of the way Monster's slash, having to pull Winnie close and widened his eyes when the sword started to turn blue. Upon stepping back, Todd yelped when a series of orange knives were thrown at him by a Monster that looked like a Bulldog and calico cat hybrid. Swiftly as he could, Todd moved back and forth through them upon remembering how Rover's rolling attack didn't harm him if he wasn't still. He took a brief glance to find that the long sword was swung at him again, freezing up in shock only to widen his eyes that it didn't hurt him. 'It didn't hurt me!? How!?'

"Big Brother!" upon hearing Winnie's cry, he turned to find that another Great Pyrenees was standing beside him with two short swords ready. This caused him to yelp as he struck his revolver at the incoming attacks when he had no time to dodge. When the Monster growled, he took the chance to pull Winnie away and started to dash away with her.

As he got them over to where a river ran alongside him on his left, he shrieked when something struck him in the back. "GAH!?" He crashed to the snowy ground, releasing Winnie as he screwed his eyes up. Pain coursed through his back, and he breathed heavily as he struggled to get up, trying to regain his balance when crunches in the snow informed him the Royal Guard members were catching up. Todd attempted to walk forward, crying out in agony before he buckled over, feeling the pain continue to pang through him as he felt Winnie tug at his hand desperately. It was almost unbearable to keep standing…

'I can't… move…' he thought fearfully as he gritted his teeth. 'I'm going to get us killed if Winnie stays with me! She has to leave me behind!'

He shot a look at his sister, shouting out shrilly as he grimaced from the intense throbbing he felt, "Winnie, run!"

"But what about you!?" cried Winnie as he pushed her forward, only for her to turn back to stare at him in horror. "Big Brother!?"

"Just go!" he grounded out as the crunches grew louder. "They'll get you if you don't!" When she stared at him petrified, shaking her head while trembling, he wailed, "Just go! I can't bear the thought of you dying, Winnie! I don't want you to die!"

"No…" whispered Winnie weakly.

"There they are, Rufus!" came a sharp female growl from behind Todd. "Good throw, Theo! You got the older one wounded!"

"Thanks, Jessie!" howled the other member. "Let's do this!"

"Yes, the time as come for the Canine Unit to claim glory for taking down these Humans!" yelled Rufus, and Todd saw a shadow fall over him. Winnie let out a shriek, edging back as her hands covered her mouth. Todd could only watch her eyes grow wide as Rufus continued boldly, "King Asgore will be pleased that the SOULS he wants are collected! And that will bring us closer to breaking the BARRIER, freeing all of Monsterkind from the Underground!"

Todd trembled, staring at his sister as he croaked out sadly, "Go… please…"

Winnie began to cry, backing away more as Todd stared at her sadly. 'Go…' He closed his eyes, shaking as he willed his sister to get to safety. 'You need to live…' His heart thudded against his chest, his back ached in agony as he felt it seep out blood, and he bit his lip. 'I love you, Winnie… this is for you!'

"Todd!"

His eyes widened upon seeing Archie and Edgar running towards him, Edgar pulling Winnie to Marley as Archie continued to dash forward.

"What are you doing here!?" yelled out Todd in horror as his best friend nearly got to him. "Get out of here, Archie!"

"I'm not going to let you die!" yelled Archie as he grabbed the revolver that Todd now noticed was a feet away from him. Upon lifting it up, Archie charged towards him while clenching it. "You're the only one who can be my Bestie, Bestie!"

Before Todd knew it, he heard the clang of metal, and he heard a bang go off. Rufus grunted in pain, and from the corner of his eye Todd noticed something flaky falling to the ground beside him. "You… you don't know when to give up, do you, Humans?"

"I'm not going to let you kill my best friend!" Todd was tugged to his feet, pulled behind Archie as he swung the revolver back and forth, making the three Royal Guard members back away. "Get back! I have a revolver, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Todd noticed how the Sheepdog Monster had grey dust trailing from his shoulder, and he widened his eyes as he watched it drift away. 'Dust…?'

"Tough talk for a Human who will soon die…" growled the Calico Bulldog Monster, snorting as he flipped the small knife in his paws. "Your SOULs will be ours, the Underground's, King Asgore's…" He reared his paw, flipping the knife up in the air before catching it as he curled back his lip. "I won't miss, Rufus."

"Then bring them down to their end!" shouted Rufus as he leaned down with a grunt, trying to retrieve his fallen long sword. "Have at them with all you got!"

"Die!" shouted the Calico Bulldog Monster, swinging his paw forward.

"No!" shouted Archie distraughtly.

Just as the knife shot at Todd, Todd was shoved to the ground. He heard a painful gasp, and he raised his head to find that Archie had blood oozing from his chest. As Archie slowly stepped back, breathing huskily, Rufus halted in front of Archie and slashed his long sword at Archie, knocking the orange haired boy down. Within moments he raised it again, driving it through Todd's best friend's chest.

Todd numbly stared at Archie, watching the blood spill from where the sword was embedded in Archie's chest, hearing a sickening crack as Archie went limp. Within moments that the sword was pulled out, which was slick with scarlet, an orange glow filled Archie's chest before an orange heart sailed up from it.

"Smashing work, Theodore!" remarked Rufus before turning to Todd. "Now then, it's due time to finish off this one…"

Todd blinked, feeling nothing as the long sword was raised above him. He didn't have the energy to move, he couldn't when his best friend laid dead before him.

The boy he did everything with…

"We'll do it one day, Todd!" Archie's voice rang through his mind, the one that promised him that they'd climb the mountain together, and Todd could picture his grin. "You and me, Bestie! Maybe other peop's if we get mor' friends! We'll climb that Mount Ebott!"

"Yeah, Archie, let's do it! I wanna see what's up t'ere!" Todd remembered how happy he was back then, how naïve he was back then... "We're Besties, we got to do it toget'er! I don't wanna to go wit'out you, so don't you forget me!"

"Of course not, Todd! We are Besties!"

"Yeah, Bestie! Always!"

…Was gone.

Before he could feel the sword go through him, he heard it clang for some reason, not hitting him. He felt himself get pulled away, watching as Marley stood in front of the Royal Guards, turning his head to see that Edgar had his arm and revolver…

He absently glanced back at Archie's body, watching as his blood poured out of it.

---

To be continued…

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! =3

…

EeveeGen9988: *all the vacuums EeveeGen9988 used are plugged, and confetti is still on the ground* …Well, I guess I need to go back to using a broom… *hastily grabs the broom and starts sweeping*

It was a little bit hard transitioning to this part of the story, considering how things were left off in The Cavern… so I have to wonder how I'll manage the next chapters…

Sadly, this chapter would have been posted on time if I hadn't been roped into some things the day before the last posting day… But I guess it can't be helped when people need you. *shrugs*

Anyway, see you in two weeks for the next installment! =D

…

Item Check:

- Spindlesnap Cookies (10): A biazzare hybrid between pumpkin and gingerbread, it is said that these cookies require an acquired taste to enjoy them. Heals 4 HP.

- Carrots (5): A simple carrot that's good for your eyes, fit for any snowman. Heals 7 HP.

- Small Triangles (25): Strange golden triangles that Rover gave you, Edgar believes its some kind of currency.

Gold (21): The currency of the Underground, also known as G. Apparently Monsters would rather have triangle coins instead of round ones.

- Silver Inn Key: An old fashioned key for one of the inn rooms at Snowed Inn.

- Winnie's Frying Pan: A small frying pan that Winnie loves to carry around, it packs quite the punch...

- Winnie's Apron: The apron that their mother made for Winnie, Winnie never seems to take it off unless she needs to sleep.

- Bullet Pouch (250): The bullets that their father makes for Todd's gun, using them wisely would be best.

...

Fun facts about the chapter's development!

- Initially the plan was that Angie would have died in the last chapter, causing Todd grief and a drive to leave the Ruins to try and find Marley and Archie before it was too late! But then he would only find that Archie was killed before he got to Marley. So it would have been just Todd, Winnie, Edgar, and Marley going through Snowdin Forest… Yet, when I thought about it, it wouldn't be fair to not give Archie his time to shine, and it wouldn't make sense that Angie should die in the Ruins because it would create some issues for the story's canon and canon in general since Toriel has mentioned that there's no way Asgore would go back to the Ruins! So changes had to be made!

- The original plan was that Marley was going to sell Archie's belongings behind Todd's, Winnie's, and Edgar's backs in order to get enough funds for them to stay at Snowed Inn, and Todd was going to be furious with her for doing that.

- There was a conversation planned for Todd and Archie to have about the strain between Todd and Winnie, but it never worked out so it was cut from the chapter completely.