Determined now to find out the truth of the matter, Frisk let the two be for now, continuing their fight. She followed the path that she knew led to the tree, the sounds of battle growing a little fainter, she couldn't hear words anymore but she could still hear the explosions.
The tree was just as large as in her dream, but it was in a very bad state. The bark was pitch black and rotted looking, tainted by whatever it was that Nightmare was made of. She brushed her hand against it, feeling a faint shudder through her. Frisk felt sadness, pain, greed, envy and betrayal in her heart and felt even sadder for what happened to what had been a beautiful tree and to the brothers themselves, especially Nightmare. It sounded like something had infected him in a way and spread to the tree, their mother?
Frisk looked up into the branches of the tree on the slightly darker half and saw several apples on them. The branches were leafless, the apples blacker than the bark of the tree and dripping tar just like Nightmare was. She managed to find some footholds in the tree and climbed up to the thicker base branches to where she could sit, distractedly she could still hear the fight going on and coming steadily closer. Finally finding a large enough branch for her to sit on, Frisk got comfy against the trunk of the tree and glances up, seeing a dripping apple close by her. Cocking her head at it Frisk picked it, feeling the tar cover her hands like sludge. Other than that, it looked just like a normal apple, well a black apple. Shrugging at herself and feeling Determination fill her to find out the truth, she bit into the apple.
While the texture was very weird because of the tar, she equated it to the first time Papyrus tried to make caramel apples; he had drowned them in the sticky substance and turned the apples to mush. This though tasted nothing like that, she could almost taste the taints of the tar that poisoned it and the tree, the pain inside of it, but below that she could taste something else, something that was a lot nicer and filled her again with Determination that there was more to them than just appearance.
'Tastes like apples…and dark chocolate?' Frisk mused to herself, staring at the apple after taking a bite. She continued to eat it, still feeling the taint, but the faint taste of the apple kept it at bay. Before she knew it, Frisk finished the apple. 'That wasn't that bad at all, different but good. I wonder if they all taste like that?' She thought staring up at another apple close by, her stomach rumbled. Giggling at herself, she picked that apple and started to eat. 'Yup, still the same. The goop isn't that bad when you don't think about it.' She was enjoying herself, not even noticing the fighting at quieted.
Inches from his face were several tentacles that had been ready to pierce through Dream, ending his life, frozen in mid-attack. Above him Nightmare was almost like a statue, the only thing that gave him away was his eye moving he was so still. As one the brothers turned their heads towards the tree, having sensed what was happening. Someone was in the tree, someone was eating apples from the deadened Tree of Life.
They watched, shocked, as Frisk ate one of the tainted apples without a care in the world, eating all of it and going for another. Nightmare even more so than his younger brother, for no one had ever, EVER, eaten from his side of the tree before. Eaten one of his apples in his entire existence.
"How..is she not..the taint should have killed her?" Dream muttered in awe unable to make a full sentence, watching as Frisk ate another apple. His golden eyes were wide as he lay on the ground, not even noticing the tentacles anymore or the fight.
"I don't know…" Nightmare murmured softly, slowly retreating his tentacles into his back away from Dream. The negative emotions poisoning the apple should have drained Frisk to a husk of herself, yet she was giggling to the apples as she wiped her hand from the new apple before biting into it, not even wiping the tar off. They slowly stood up from their attack positions, just staring at the human.
Frisk sensed someone watching her and paused in finishing her current apple. She blinked when she saw that the fighting had stopped without her realizing it, Nightmare and Dream watching her, both of them with eyes wide and jaws dropped. If it wasn't for their stark different appearance they would have been twins. Before she could do or say anything, she felt herself jolt from her sitting position.
With a gasp Frisk sat up, nearly flinging herself from her bed. Heart pounding she looked around her room in shock. She remembered her dream, everything this time. That had never happened before. In haste she tried to get out from her bed, absently noting that she was still fully dressed in her normal clothing of her purple and blue sweater, shorts with tights under them and socks. She must have been more tired than she thought if she had forgotten to change into something comfier.
Shrugging she hurriedly pulled on her brown shoes before racing out of her room, turning on lights in the dark hallway. She didn't care if she was making too much noise, she had to find Sans and tell him what she remembered.
But she couldn't find him.
His room was empty and disorganized like normal, but missing a certain sleeping skeleton. Frisk ran from his door to Papyrus' room only to find him missing as well. Frantic now, she tried her parents' room, empty as well.
The pacifist ran down the stairs only to find the rest of the house empty as well. Lights off and no note, but papers strewn everywhere like something had happened and they left in a hurry.
Scared now Frisk ran to the front door, seeing it hanging open, the night sky stretching over the surrounding homes, though something was wrong. On the other side of Undyne's house she could see flashes of light, fire and noise. Something was going on, fighting was happening and she had no clue why. She was about to run to where she was seeing it when something hit her in the back of the head and Frisk knew no more.
'Ugh…what hit me….' Frisk thought to herself, sitting up with a pained groan. She held her hand to her head, feeling a large bump start to form. Rubbing at it she opened her eyes and glanced around only to gasp in shock
She was back in Dreamtale.
Frisk tensed when she felt someone watching her, glancing around she noticed she was leaning against the black Tree of Life on the ground, and up above her…
"You know little star, I am sorry about that. Looks like it had to hurt, but no other way to get you here I'm afraid."
Nightmare was above her in one of the lower branches, leaning back like he didn't have a care in the world. One arm rested on a raised knee, the other swung lazily down below as he looked down at her with his blue eye calculatingly.
