Another chapter already? Yeah, I'm definitely on a roll! Hope this chapter is to your liking!
Chapter Three: Blackouts
Alphys was thoroughly engrossed in an episode of anime when her door was nearly blasted off its hinges. She jumped violently, the remote flying out of her claws.
"Undyne!" she called, more in surprise than cheerfulness. "Wh-what's going on?"
"Just need your science-y knowledge. Right now." Undyne snatched the remote off the couch and switched off the TV. She plopped herself down on the coffee table so she could face Alphys.
Alphys was usually quite pleased to see Undyne but to have her smash through the door and interrupt her show while her OTP was flirting wasn't her idea of a peaceful afternoon. Then again, these things were to be expected when Undyne was your friend.
"What's wrong?" Alphys asked, swallowing her annoyance.
"Frisk." Undyne said simply. At Alphys's confused expression, she added "she's sick. Mentally."
"You mean c-crazy?" Alphys gave a nervous little laugh. "Frisk isn't crazy."
"Then why'd she try to kill Papyrus?"
Alphys straightened up on the couch at these words. "She did what?"
"Well if you'd let me tell you!" Undyne snapped.
And she told Alphys all about the cooking lesson she'd just finished. Alphys stared at her open mouthed for a second before pulling herself together.
"Well… that sounds like an accident."
"Come on!" Undyne rolled her eye. "Mess up the pots and pans on the other side of the room to distract Papyrus and then splash a whole pot of scalding hot water on him? If it had been any of the rest of us, we'd have burns all over!"
"Yes." Alphys agreed. "But it was Papyrus."
"So?"
"So maybe sh-she knew it wouldn't hurt him." Alphys gave Undyne a somewhat nervous smile.
"Or maybe she didn't know it wouldn't." Undyne said darkly.
"She freed the whole Underground." Said Alphys. "She can't b-be that bad. Can she?"
"You know what, if you won't believe me, I'll talk to someone who will." Undyne snapped. "Don't let me interrupt your cartoons."
Alphys was stung by these words but she still wasn't convinced that Frisk was up to anything terrible. A girl who had shown her friendship when very few had before couldn't have tried to kill anyone. She simply didn't have it in her! Alphys winced when Undyne slammed the door behind her but decided to wait until she was calmed down before calling or texting. Undyne had a terrible temper and Alphys wasn't about to get on the wrong side of her now!
BREAK
Undyne stomped away, causing several people around her to look up in alarm. She ignored them. She knew that, by all accounts, she was completely overreacting to the situation. And had it just been the spaghetti incident, she would have let it go. But Frisk's red eyes, that was another problem altogether.
She stopped, realizing she'd forgotten to tell Alphys about Frisk's eyes. Oh well. Alphys probably wouldn't believe her anyway. So who could she talk to about this? Certainly not Toriel. And Papyrus wouldn't believe Frisk was evil even if she'd gone on a killing spree. Asgore, well, he would probably be no help at all. So that left Sans.
Undyne got out her phone, thinking that she should have called Sans straight away. He always seemed to just… know things, almost like he had some kind of ability to see into the future. Undyne had noticed this in the first week she had been on the surface; Sans acted like he'd known Frisk for years. Lazy as he was, there was definitely more to him than he let on and if anyone would believe that Frisk was up to something, it was him.
"Hello?" came Sans's voice through her phone.
"Sans, I didn't know who else to call." Said Undyne without preamble. But something weird happened and… you got a minute."
There was a brief pause before Sans responded. "Yeah. I've got all the minutes you need."
"Great. Meet me at the park next to Alphys's place."
"Uh… now?" Sans sounded tired.
"Yes now!" Undyne shouted before hanging up.
Ten minutes later, Sans could be seen sauntering over to a park bench, where Undyne sat, looking very impatient.
"So what's up?" he asked.
Undyne didn't spare a second in regaling him with the story, including the red eyes this time. Sans nodded slowly.
"Okay." He said thoughtfully. "That's… weird."
"So now what? Is she nuts or am I nuts?" Undyne blurted out.
"It's just strange that you'd be telling me this now when I…" Sans rubbed his face. "Okay, I'm about to tell you something you should not tell Papyrus."
"Done. Or… not done. What is it?"
"I've been having some… dreams." Sans paused to think for a moment. "I don't remember all the details and I thought it was nothing the first couple of times. But now you mention this, they might be… uhh… hmm, how do I put this? Flashbacks? To stuff that hasn't happened, at least not in this timeline."
"In this… what?" Undyne's mouth hung open a bit. She was clearly bewildered.
"Not too many people know about this and I don't want it getting out," said Sans in a low voice, "but this timeline is… sensitive to change. And we are too. Any second, we could get thrown back in time with no memory of what happened here."
Undyne eyed him with a suspicious expression. "That's more insane than Frisk trying to kill Papyrus."
"Yeah, you always say that, or something like it, every time I've tried to tell you in any other timeline." Sans chortled. "At least, I vaguely remember that. Can't exactly recall every timeline with crisp detail but… all right."
"You're nuts."
"I'll tell you something I couldn't possibly know. Something you'd have had to tell me and then forget about it when you got reset." Sans leaned forward slightly. "You like Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2."
"What?" Undyne jumped back. "No I don't!"
"You do! You only pretend to hate it because Alphys does."
"If you tell Alphys, I'll kill you!" Undyne snarled.
Sans laughed. "Wouldn't matter if I did! My death could get reset at any time and then you wouldn't remember that I told Alphys anything. And, lucky for you, Alphys wouldn't know you lied to her."
"You better hope it gets reset if you say a word about it to her!" Undyne punched her palm with a tightly clasped fist.
Sans held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. "I just hang onto this information as a way of convincing people of the timelines. I've got something on all of you, something I could only know if you told me. Just in case this exact situation happens."
"Y'know, Papyrus complains that you're lazy but now I think he's full of it."
"What Papyrus doesn't know, at least in this case, won't hurt him." Sans gave her a sharp look. "And I mean what I said. Don't tell him."
"I'm not telling him anything. Do you know how paranoid he'd be? Every bout of déjà vu, we'd hear about some previous timeline we both know he doesn't actually remember." Undyne paused for a moment. "And that's all assuming I believe you. Which I don't. That could have been an educated guess."
"Yeah, you were always the hardest to convince. I made sure to prepare for that as well." Sans smirked. "So, and mind you this took the longest to get out of you, I happen to know you still carry around your security blanket from when you were little. And that you keep it locked up in a safe in your bedroom."
Undyne's face flushed a brilliant scarlet. "Why the hell would I have told you that?"
"I have my methods."
"Well… don't you dare…"
"Tell anyone? Have I told you any of the dirt I've got on everyone else?" Sans shrugged. "That's not important. 'Sides, we could get reset and you won't remember this conversation at all."
Undyne fidgeted, making a kind of growling noise low in her throat. She sounded like she wanted to punch Sans's lights out but was holding herself back.
"So the timeline stuff, that brings me to Frisk." Sans continued as if Undyne hadn't looked murderous. "She's got the power. She can reset timelines herself. And only she will retain memories of it. Hell, she's not even a she, not strictly speaking. Sometimes she's a he. Her gender can be a bit… tough to pin down. Some kind of weird outside influence but hell if I know what that is." He paused for a second to collect his thoughts. "I'm going to go to my home in the Underground. Sometimes… I can tell."
"Tell what?"
"Whether the timelines have been disturbed. And if they have, that might explain why…" he shook his head. "Never mind. I'll give you a call if I detect anything."
"Oh no!" Undyne snapped, hopping to her feet. "I'm not sitting idly by waiting for you to give me news, if Frisk is in serious danger, I'm doing what I can to save her or die trying."
"Suit yourself." Said Sans, not looking too concerned. "Trouble is, it isn't just you whose life is on the line here. And if Frisk is under some kind of timeline based control, there's no telling what she'll do next."
"How do you know Frisk isn't just some psychopath whose only showing us her true colors now?" Undyne asked, walking in step with Sans.
"Because I have a theory that Frisk isn't as in control of the situation as she seems." Sans quickened his pace. "You're just gonna have to trust me."
Undyne sighed irritably but decided to follow Sans anyway. She hated the secrecy but if Frisk was under someone's control, she knew the that the less she knew, the safer she was. For now.
Exposition chapter. Yawn. I hate having to write chapters like this. Hopefully it was interesting. Next one should be pretty exciting!
Don't forget to review!
~KateMarie999