It's been 5 years since that horrible incident... though the barrier was never broken due to a cost. The strong desires of monster kind hoping to ever return to the surface had slowly diminished. They knew... it was better to accept what fate had destined for them and in the end we've stayed where we've always been imprisoned... the Underground. Nothing much has really changed, apart from the new school for monsters that was built in the Ruins and some new rules were en-stated by M- the queen herself, that any human who now fell down here would be treated as an equal and not as a threat. Until this day, that's how it's always been and hopefully for everyone's sake will stay.
It was a normal ordinary quiet day in Snowdin Town. Everyone was going through their daily routines. The library was booming with readers and Grillby's was teeming with a lot of customers. One house that was stationed near the pathway out of town was carved in a mint candy green trigular roof, decorated with a ginger bread layout and two glazed bubblegum blue windows. A chocolate brown door stood on guard as the entrance with a golden crisp handle and a bell that was shaped like a candy cane.
It started in a large white and ocean blue spacious living room. Sitting upright on one of the dark blue couches, garbed in a midnight and white fluffy tufted winter coat over a sky blue long sleeved cardigan and having a pair of matching midnight wholly boots with white tuft over sea blue pants was a small human who was holding a piece of cream paper in one of their blue mitten hands.
Their short chocolate hair sat just a few inches above their shoulders, burgundy orbs slowly scanned through every last word that was written on the note. Their tanned face was filled with sadness when they finished reading it all. Their heart ached at the failure of missing to give their older sibling a last goodbye before they had set off for the long few days journey to their family's to stay with their mother at the Ruins.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye to Chara, and today was their last day too..." they pouted solemnly "So much for promising to wake up early"
An emerald leafy vine slithered over, gingerly rubbing the human's back in hopes of helping its friend to feel better about their disappointment.
"Come on Frisk, I know how you feel," said a milk faced flower with a squeaky voice its expression giving the best understanding stare it could as he looked at them with concern "But you shouldn't wallow over it for too long. Chara will be back by next Tuesday anyways. Come on... give me a smile because today's a big day, and we're going to enjoy it!" the flower cheerfully beamed, its corn yellow petals brushed up against Frisk's face giving them a warm squeeze.
Although they still weren't too happy, Frisk decided to put up a little smile in return at the male flower. They knew their friend was trying his best to cheer them up "Heh heh... thanks, Flowey"
After securely and carefully planting the flower into their zipped jacket, leaving space for Flowey's head and part of his stem, the two headed outside into the freezing weather, shutting the door behind them.
They shivered, even though they were covered quite well by the warmth of their coat; the cold was never the weather Frisk could ever get used to. Even when when they were little they always had trouble facing the winds of nature, they always became... "Achooo!," ill with it. "Uuugh... I hope I don't get another cold today" they sniffed up the fluid that was sailing down from their nostrils and blew it into a tissue paper.
"I hope not either. Just be careful not to get any of it on t-" he felt something wet drip on to one of his petals as his face slowly transform into one of disgust and he started to frantically trying to wipe it off, only to get some of it on his leafy hand "Ew,ew,eeeeew! Arrgh! Friiiisk! Help me get this off!" he whined
The human helpfully bought out another tissue from their pocket tissue pack and wiped Flowey's petals and the hand that had the unfortunate accident.
"Is that better now?" they asked feeling a little embarrassed, the flower gave a nod with a huge relieved sigh as if it was the worst thing that ever happened to him. "Next time make sure you don't get any more on me, alright?" he eyed them in annoyance but then he softened when he saw their guilty expression "Come on, let's go find smiley. He's gotta be around here somewhere"
They casually strolled around in the thick snow searching for their friend. They even asked a large polar bear if she'd seen a male short and stout skeleton with calm lemon eyes with a scar on his left, a silver heart shaped locket around their neck under a glacial scarf topped in a blue jacket while wearing black trousers marked with an ice blue stripe. Bound over his skeletal feet were dark blue fuzzy slippers. The bear rubbed her furry chin in deep thought, then remembered pointing out where she'd last seen him and told them he was hanging around with his brother. Frisk thanked her and headed in that said direction.
Soon the human and flower arrived by a very enormous mansion which still had its wreath that was hanging from the wide door and its chain of dazzling neon lights that were stuck there since last year's Gyftmas. The mail boxes on the side were the same as ever too; the left one was overflowing like a waterfall with junk mail, so much so it could've exploded. The one on the right was simply an empty shell, devoid of anything.
"And you wonder why Papyrus gets so mad at him sometimes. Jeez, the least he could do is try to empty his mailbox from time to time. What a lazy 'bones" Flowey remarked with a roll of his black beady eyes, the human girl giggled at the sarcasm in his tone as they carried on forward.
"Yeah, but you have to feel a bit sorry for Papyrus. He always continuously struggles real hard; though I think he realises that even though he isn't as popular as his brother, he'll always have those few friends who'll always hold a special place in his heart" Frisk beamed at a thought that flashed in her mind of the kind tall skeleton clad in his glorious orange armour, red trailing scarf, fiery boots and woven gloves while posing dramatically and glowing with positive energy like he always does. Flowey didn't say anything instead he simply stayed quiet as they carried on with their walk, yawning a little feeling a bit sleepy from the cold weather.
They could hear voices in the distance now with each step they took. They turned taking the split path that wove its way from between the library and skeleton brothers' house and strode down the path. The voices started becoming much clearer this time; they heard a familiar laugh of NEYHEHEHE! as they eyed each other with a look that said 'That's Papyrus alright' and they smirked in unison.
They came to the spot where the voices were coming from and laid eyes on the two skeletons.
They finally found the brothers they were looking for and saw them in the midst of a battle royal, fiercely lashing it out in a snowball fight. Well, the taller one was anyways.
Poised in his sunset wholly jumper with the words Greatest Brother etched on it, clad in maroon brown pants and smoky grey boots, showered in dazzling orange flames that were covered a little in snow while his crimson scarf fluttered about vividly in the winds like a super hero's cape, the tall skeleton was directly launching a barrage of snowballs with his left hand at his brother from below while he was in mid-air.
"I! CRIIIIMSON THE GREAT WILL DEFEAT YOU HERE AND NOW BLUE WANDERER!" he declared excitedly, brimming with confidence.
The other skeleton that was on the ground had a laidback expression about him.
He had a left eye which bore a blazing stitched scarlet scar that had permanently left that eye half closed and his vision was partially impaired. His tired yellow eyes held a hidden amusement within them while he lazily avoided the attacks that were coming at him with simple but quick sidesteps. Although his eyes often gave him a bit of a problem, he could always sense when an attack was near.
"Gotta hand it to ya Crimson, ice shot" he grinned, showing his razor sharp teeth as he played a long while dodging a few more snow bullets as his silver locket jingled in the cold breeze, scarf wavering. He saw the expression on his brother's face immediately change when he made the pun.
"N-NYOOOOH! I MAY I HAVE MISSED THOSE LAST SHOTS, BUT I'M NOT DONE YET!" he exclaimed throwing another few snowballs again before landing back on the ground for a bit of a pause. The shorter skeleton shrugged and dodged again, taking his chance he struck a blow to the taller skeleton's face with his own snowball, holding in a laugh as he imagined Papyrus scowling at him, and indeed that's exactly what happened.
"H-H-HEY! I TOLD YOU I WASN'T FINISHED WITH MY SPEECH." Papyrus glared, as he held more snowballs in his arms, his bone face streaming a little with sweat.
"Jee Paps seems like you're gettin' a little too hot. Gettin' worn out already?" his grin widened in delight when he saw Papyrus twitching his eye in frustration "Maybe you should cool off a little before you have a serious meltdown." he was minutes away from bursting as the short skeleton held it in even tighter.
"UGH! SANS! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO PLAGUE MY LIFE WITH YOUR INCIDENTAL PUNS?" flames appeared in Papyrus' sockets, he was sick of the puns his brother was pulling to mess with him.
Deciding he was going to end this battle with the greatest victory, he built up a monstrous snowball that was as big as the sun then summoned a bone and swung back charging up for momentum, " THAT'S IT, I. AM. GOING. TO DO IT! WITNESS THE GREATEST SPECIAL ATTACK THAT ALL MONSTER KIND WILL LAY EYES ON! CRIMSON MEATBALL!" the bone shattered upon hitting the mega snowball as the giant sphere flew into the air, heading straight.
Sans just stood there not moving a leg joint. He patiently waited, just watching as the snowball flew over head a few inches away from his skull, imagining this moment going all in slow motion as his eye followed; he spotted Frisk and Flowey in the background... CRASH! The ball had become nothing but a large mountain of mush.
Papyrus stood there with his jaw wide open, shocked at the fact that the special move he worked so hard putting into action had actually missed and his brother was just standing there sniggering away like always!
"OH WELL... I SUPPOSE THAT WAS 'FUN'" he sighed, disappointed at a third loss today.
"Yeah, it honestly was fun" he smiled worriedly, hearing the disappointment in Paps' tone "But uh... don't you think we'd best check on the two invisible spectators that just happened to show up just now?" he winked playfully at his brother, hoping to cheer him up.
"INVISIBLE SPECTATORS!? WHERE?" the taller skeleton quickly turned left and right in hopes of seeing them but couldn't.
The flower and human popped their faces out from under the mound a while later. Flowey spat out the clumps of snow that had went into his gob in revulsion while Frisk gently patted herself down while still lying in the snow, mesmerized by the whole battle.
In that moment Papyrus rushed in utter worry towards the two, frantically asking if they were okay while lending a helping hand to the human who took the skeleton's hand and pulled themselves out of the icy mountain.
"HUMAN! A-ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Papyrus asked with concern "I REALLY SHOULD WATCH MY OWN STRENGTH SOMETIMES, I'M REALLY SORRY THAT YOU GOT BLASTED WITH THAT SNOWBALL." he said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head with his left arm. Frisk smiled warmly letting him know it was alright "You really did your best out there. Your special move was amazing! I'm sure if you keep on practicing, one day you might just surpass your bro" they giggled making the tall skeleton blush at the praise and embrace the small child.
"THANK YOU FRISK, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL PRACTICE UNTIL I CAN BEAT MY BROTHER SOMEDAY" he proudly posed, with that same shining positivity then he remembered he forgot someone "... SPEAKING OF WHICH UM... FLOWEY ARE YOU OKAY..?" he said worrying since the flower hadn't said much, then he felt a sudden chill go down his spine as he saw a huge shadow looming over him and Sans.
"So... you thought that was funny Paps?" the flower's size had grown to about three times taller than him, his eyes burning with a deep intensity of anger but instead of baring his teeth, Flowey had an insane jagged wide gaping smirk and his eyes were glowing with a psychotic aura "NO ONE gets away in snowballing me!" he snarled already seeing the skeleton with the red scarf and orange armour fleeing for his life ahead of him "Hey! Get back here you skinny bones! I'm gonna kill you!" he roared as he gave chase to Papyrus making the extremely terrified skeleton run about in circles.
"AAAAAAAAH! S-SANS! HUMAN! ANYONE! SAAAAVE MEEEEE!" Sans just stood there, not able to hold it in any longer and burst out laughing so hard he felt his ribs might give way. Meanwhile Frisk made an awkward face but smiled anyway. They felt sorry for Papyrus.
After Sans had calmed down from his giggling fit and Flowey had finally dunked Papyrus with a mega snowball of his own, the flower was satisfied, giving a mischievous smirk as he burrowed his way back into Frisk's jacket leaving a dazed Royal Guard to recover on his own. Frisk felt bad and went over to help him despite the flower's protests, it was the least they could do after he helped them. He told them he was fine and that he actually had fun.
They re-grouped and everything was silent for a while before Flowey spoke up "Well... now what do we do?" he asked, wondering.
The others (except for Sans) stood there thinking. Papyrus then checked his watch and saw that it had been two hours since they were playing then gasped.
"OH MY GOSH I HAD SPENT SO MUCH TIME PLAYING AROUND, I FORGOT I HAVE MY TRAINING WITH UNDYNE AT SIX O'CLOCK! IT'S ALREADY FIVE THIRTY. I GUESS I REALLY NEED TO GO." He stated then he gave them a quick group cuddle before setting off, waving the three a hearty farewell and told them to stay safe.
"Well, there he goes" said Sans smiling, Frisk nodded then opened their mouth "Um... so I hope we didn't come at a wrong time or anything" they said.
"Nah, you actually came at the right time. I was just about to ask ya if you guys wanted to come to Grilbs with me. There's... something important I gotta tell ya" said the short skeleton, his right eye flashing blank for a brief second.
"Ugh, do we really have to?" Flowey pouted grumpily "I hate that place"
"Come on, I'm sure there won't be any harm in going" she smiled then... grooooowl there was a bit of a pause "I... could do with something to eat, I'm... a little hungry" Frisk grinned sheepishly.
"Boy, someone sure is starving." He teased "Well great then, it'll be on me. Sorry weed, it's two against one" he chuckled.
"Darn, well I guess we have no other choice" he grumbled as they all moved forward heading to the restaurant.
The place was booming noisily when the three had entered. As Frisk and Flowey passed by each of the tables they saw the guard dogs were playing poker and everyone else seemed to either be chatting or having a drink.
They eventually made it to the long mahogany light brown counter. They saw a coffee dispenser, a milkshake stall as well as ice maker and slushy machine which showed three flavours of apple, blueberry or passion fruit that were displayed behind it as they sat on the leather red circular stools, waiting.
They saw a tall monster clothed in a smart shirt fastened with gold buttons, red tie and a black apron approach them. His fiery flame flickered about him and he was wearing a pair of silver glasses as he was wiping a glass cup with a cloth. Plated on a silver name tag in gold letters was the restaurant owner's name, Grillby.
"Ah just the favourite customers I'd hope to see! It's been a while young Frisk, you look wonderful in that blue cardigan and that coat is very well made too" said the fire monster cheerfully.
"Thank you , dunkle Sans made it for me" the human smiled warmly at Sans.
"Oh? Well that was a rather lovely surprise you pulled for them. Always pulling the new tricks out of your hood eh?" Grillby smirked.
"Awww j-jee it was nothing. I guess I thought it'd be something to keep the kid warm." the skeleton's cheeks went a pale blue at the compliment.
dunkle huh, well that's cute Flowey thought sarcastically but he remained quiet, not really wanting to talk. He was still in a sour mood about having been dragged here.
"So I take it you all want your usual orders?" he kept his cheerful smile on bringing out a bottle of BBQ sauce for the skeleton, a small carton of chocolate milk and some fries for the flower and a large cool strawberry milkshake decorated with vanilla cream in a tall glass for the child.
After taking their things Sans paid for them and they thanked Grillby before seeing the fire monster disappear into the back room.
A few minutes into their food Sans turned his attention on them "So kid while we're at it, wanna hear a joke?" Frisk nodded their head eagerly "What's round and white, has a long orange pointy nose and branches for arms?"
"Is it... Flowey?" they turned to smirk mischievously at the flower knowing it would set him off. Flowey retaliated grumpily "W-WHAT?! I don't have a pointed orange nose mind you, nor branches for arms!" he heard them laughing.
"Okay I've got one now. What's pale, wears a jacket has a nose shaped like a horse's snout and wears a permanent shark grin?" the human asked,
"Oh that one's easy. It's you Frisk" the flower retorted still electing giggles from them, he rolled his eyes but made a secret smile quietly whispering idiots/i as he started to slowly feel better about being here.
It carried on for a while as they enjoyed making jokes laughing at and with one another.
SHHHZZZT! ... The TV mysteriously turned on, channelling monster news. The news reporter was a female unicorn wearing a violet blouse and dark orange long skirt with white flowers over it while her smooth blond hair curled a little in between her black horn. She was speaking on the microphone broadcasting about the case of the girl who went missing from ' lab a few nights ago and about how her pet was found and was now hospitalized and is under care.
Sans froze at the name of 'Aurora Nebulem'. The atmosphere around them had become quiet all of a sudden; Flowey and Frisk sat there looking surprised, never seeing him have such a reaction before ... except for that one time which they didn't want to remember. Worried the human decided to question him on something "Hey... Sans... d-did you know her well?" she asked nervously.
"Nah... I didn't know her all that much. But... she was a good kid, just like you. She always helped everyone whenever they needed somethin'. Alphys talked fondly of her all the time; loved her like she was her own daughter. That's how close they were." His eyes returned to normal again but he still showed a great amount of worry "Listen Frisk... about the 'important' thing I was gonna tell you about earlier. I have a hunch that the way that girl disappeared wasn't normal; I think it has something... something to do with your last reset" he eyed them with a serious face.
"Sa-Sans... am... am I in trouble?" they asked guiltily, feeling like they was responsible for everything, they're eyes downcast. The skeleton shook his head and reassured them that everything was going to be okay. The child sighed, feeling a little better.
"Well, then where do we go from here smiley?" Flowey stared up at him, his face grim.
"Waterfall" is all the skeleton uttered. Knots churned in the flower's stomach as he worriedly eyed his human friend; he didn't like where this was going, he had a bad feeling about it.