"What's wrong, Comedian?" She asked, her lips spread in a large, horrible smile. Her pendant, a little locket of gold in the shape of a heart, swung from her neck with every step, pulsing with a sickly black energy. Before her stood Sans, staring at her with a single flashing eye. His smile was still in place, but it seemed fake, like a mask. But then, she'd worn a mask, too, hadn't she? Maybe that was how she knew. She shifted her grip on the knife in her hand, laughing as her other hand tightened around the small pouch it held. "You've been skullking around ever since I played with your brother~" She saw his posture shift, knew what it meant. If her grin could grow any larger, it would have. "Oh, I know what you want. You want to see him again, don't you?"
"You killed him, didn't you?" He asked, his hand rising to his throat, where a tattered crimson scarf was wound about. "Why? Papyrus couldn't have hurt a fly, even if he tried. Why'd you kill him? What'd he ever do to you?"
"He lived," She said with a shrug. "In this world, it's kill or be killed." She noticed the twitch in his expression, laughed. "What, didn't you know? I'm the one that pushed that idiot flower onto that route. 'Cuz it was fun, something to do." Then she grinned. "But I'll tell ya what. I'm a big fan of family reunions. I just had one with my brother, after all... So let's have a Skeleton Family Reunion!" Her left hand whipped up, the pouch flying. It was a thin little thing, so fragile that it broke open as Sans's hand flashed up, catching it just in front of his face. Silvery powder exploded into a cloud that settled onto him.
"W-what? Dust? What's this ab-" He broke off as realization dawned, his eyes flicking from his hand to the dust covering him, then up at her. "No... This isn't..."
"What's wrong, Comedian?" She asked, her tone cold as the depths of space. "Tell your brother how much you missed him."
His hand seized around the bag, crushing it. "I see how it is. If you get past me, it won't end, will it? You'll kill the King, then you'll go on to kill every human you can on the surface. You'll kill everyone." His hand dropped, and he took a breath. "I can't afford to not care anymore. Sorry, old lady; This is why I never make promises."
This is all wrong, she thought, feeling the excitement in her body even as her guts roiled sickly. I would never do this... Why... But she was doing it. She lunged forward, closing the distance between them with startling speed. He let her approach, his single eye alive with malevolence. He was so weak, she thought. He wasn't even trying to move! She raised her hand, raising the knife high. Light flashed from the edge of the dagger she'd once used to cut vines, then it streaked downward, describing a deadly arc that cut right through-
The place where Sans had been. She barely had time to feel shocked before bones ripped up out of the floor, punching through the soft flesh of her chest, her stomach. Pain like molten metal radiated through her for several hearbeats, each pulse dying the ivory poles impaling her crimson. Then another bone exploded out of the ground, right in front of her face, and-
The world around them ripped and tore, and suddenly, she was facing Sans again. D- Did he just kill her?! What the hell?! She felt the bag in her hand, but she didn't throw it this time. How had he-
"What's wrong, kid?" He asked, his tone grimly amused. Her eyes found his. "You look frustrated about something... Guess I'm pretty good at my job, huh?" He was amused! She could see it in his expression, a kind of sick amusement at her reactions. "So like I said," he was saying, "It's a beautiful day. Why don't you relax and take a load off?"
She lunged forward, closing the distance once again. She struck again, and once again the bones ripped from the ground. But this time, she leaped back, away from them. More bones tore through her, this time from behind, punching up through her chest, her arms, her stomach and legs. She barely managed a gurgling cry of pain before-
And there she was again, standing in front of the skeleton. The comedian. "Hmm," he said, gazing at her with that damned grin. "That expression... That's the expression of someone who's died twice in a row. Suffice to say, you look really... Unsatisfied." His eyesockets went empty, his words cold. "Alright. How 'bout we make it a third?"
She lunged forward, closing the distance quickly. He dodged her strike, then she leaped back, avoiding the first bone-spike. She leaped higher this time, soaring over the bones behind her. And as she flew, she looked back- And felt bones rip into her front. She gasped, feeling her HP drop, but she wasn't dead. Bleeding, but not dead. She reached out as she fell, palming the end of one of the bones and shoving herself back, her feet towards her direction of movement, face-down. Now she could see the bones that had killed her, and looking 'overhead' she saw the bones that had struck her front, stained crimson. They were arrayed like a wave, low in the middle but growing higher. Then her feet found the ground, and the bones were dissolving.
"Suck that, Com-" she started to say, before the sight of a massive skull forming in front of her. Three others formed around her, their jaws parting. She didn't even have time to exclaim before the skulls released massive beams of energy. She felt her soul shredding apart under the beams, then-
She was back again. "Hmm, that expression..." he said, grinning. "That's the face of someone who's died thrice in a row." He paused, thoughtful. "Hey, what comes after thrice, anyway?" His eyes went empty, his voice cold. "Wanna help me find out?"
And so it went. It took her two more resets before she got past that initial volley, during which he taunted her with every fall. "Quice? Frice? Welp, I only need to use it once." "Five times in a row. Convenient, huh? That's once for each finger. But soon..." Then she got it, she survived, and with that accomplishment, she realized something. This was just his opening salvo, the first shots of what was sure to be a horrible fight. That realization, the feeling of his gaze upon her... It felt like something cold and slimy was crawling up her spine, sending involuntary shivers through her body.
"Alright, Comedian," she said, her voice chilling with its depravity. "I hope that wasn't your best, because you and I are about to have a good, long talk~" She could see him blanch, before he covered it all up again by closing his eyes and maintaining his grin. "And by the time we're done... Oh, we'll have had such a good time~"
"You're pretty messed up, y'know that, kid?" He asked, shrugging and shaking his head. "But alright, let's play the game." She felt her grip on the knife shift, spinning it about on her palm before lunging forward. She closed the distance so quickly, her eyes focused on his chest even as her mind screamed to stop it, stop it, stop it! But she didn't stop, the worn dagger in her hand flashing out at him once again.
And once again, he wasn't there, he was elsewhere, in the space of a single step. Part of her reeled in confusion, wondering how he did it, while the other part curled in on itself, wishing it could cover its eyes, its ears. She pivoted, watching as he held up a hand wrapped in cerulean flame, a dozen bones forming in the air around him before launching themselves at her. She ducked and weaved around them, her feet sometimes leaving the ground entirely. It was on that last jump that she realized she'd been set up, the final bone streaking straight for her chest. She tried to get the knife up, to cut the bone apart as easily as she'd cut so many monsters apart-
White-hot agony bloomed in her chest and back, and she barely had time to look down at the ebony shaft sticking out of her chest before the world ripped and tore around her, everything going black for a moment before she appeared before Sans again.
"Hmm... That face... it's the expression of someone who's died six times in a row. Hey, that's the number of fingers on a mutant hand. But soon..." And she was right back at it, leaping to close the distance, dodging the stream of bones and skulls. It lasted for so long, she could feel it. Where Frisk had spent hundreds of resets fighting against what felt like the will of the underground to save Asriel, this dream version of her had spent hundreds of resets just trying to beat Sans. And though they got a little closer every time, they never quite managed to beat him. And as the resets wore on, she could feel her dream self's Determination flagging, the will behind it growing weary. Then Sans stood, panting, and spread his arms. She didn't hear what he said, didn't hear the meaning; all she knew was that she had a chance. Her dream self was so tired of fighting and dying. She knew Sans had finally seen her, was offering her the chance to stop this without either of them dying.
She finally broke free, lunging forward to wrap her arms around Sans's waist, crying loudly into his arms. She felt his arms go around her, and for a second, she thought it was finally over. Then pain exploded through her chest, her back, her legs and stomach. The last thing she heard was Sans's voice. "Get dunked on!"
Frisk didn't so much sit upright as she did bolt physically out of the bed, her ears ringing with the echoes of her scream. It took hardly any time at all for Toriel to come rushing to her room, dressed in a nightgown. Behind her, Asgore staggered into view in the hall, his crimson trident in hand. Toriel was on her almost immediately, and Frisk clung to her, burying her face in Toriel's shoulder. "My child, what is wrong?" She asked, her tone warm and soothing, her hands stroking Frisk's back. When little more than terrified sobs left Frisk, the Pwqa mother shifted slightly, and a few seconds later she felt more than saw Asgore crouch next to her, hugging her with Toriel.
"Did you have a bad dream, Frisk?" He asked, drawing a slight nod from the girl, if nothing else. She heard him sigh, and after a moment Toriel scooped her up, carrying her with surprising ease. A distant part of her idly wondered when Toriel would be unable to lift her, since her and Asgore both were incredibly strong. But that was a vague, distant part of her mind. The rest of her conscious mind was wailing in distress, very much the terrified child she looked to be despite the additional years on her mind.
"Come along, my child," Toriel whispered in her ear. "Asgore will make us some tea, and when you have calmed you can tell us about this dream you-" she broke off as Frisk shook her head, putting a surprising amount of energy behind the motion. "Do you not wish to talk about it?" Toriel ask, earning a nod from the terrified youngster. "Very well," she conceded gently, squeezing Frisk in a hug. "Then let us drink some tea, have some pie, and recover from this. And when you are ready, we can get some sleep. Would you like to sleep with me, child?"
Toriel and Asgore might be living together again, but they'd yet to start sleeping in the same room again. Slowly, Frisk nodded, her sobs slowing until only sniffles and whimpers remained. She finally raised her head from Toriel's shoulder as they walked into the kitchen, Toriel settling onto a chair while Asgore moved on to the stove, gathering the ingredients for the tea and creating a little fireball on the stove to heat the water he placed atop it not long after.
The tea was ready in a few moments, and Frisk sat in Toriel's lap as she sipped it, unwilling to so much as shift her position for fear that Toriel would let her go. She had no desire to face that dream, those memories, again. But as she drank the tea, her eyes grew heavy, and by the time she'd finished the cup, she'd begun to doze. She barely remembered Toriel scooping her up, her voice muttering softly and Asgore's responding. Then she was in a dark room, being settled onto a bed far larger than her own, a warm body nearby. The last of her resistance gave in, and Frisk fell asleep curled against Toriel's side.
She didn't dream.
When she woke the next day, it was to an empty bed. Murmuring tiredly, the girl sat up and rubbed at her eyes, looking around the room blearily. It took her sleepy brain several seconds to recognize that she was in Toriel's room, and several more seconds to realize that the alarm nearby announced it to be nearly noon. When she did, though, a jolt of panic ran through her. Today was a school day, she thought with a growing sense of panic. When a voice spoke from behind her, she screeched in surprise and no small amount of fear, tumbling off the bed into a pile on the other side.
"Jeez, kid," Sans said from the doorway when she peeked over the edge, butterscotch hues wide. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You okay?"
Frisk nodded slightly, trying to control her breathing. Then she nodded more firmly, climbing to her feet. At about 4'4", she was short even amongst her peers, but she managed not to curl in on herself as her throat tightened, staring at Sans.
He watched her for several seconds, his grin fading slowly. "Kid, you okay? You really do look freaked out." He took a step forward, pausing at the way her eyes widened, then sighed. "Is it that dream you had?" He asked. "Izzat why you're so upset?" He saw her reaction, shrugging. "Toriel said you'd had a really rough night. She wanted to stay with ya, but she had to teach, y'know? So she called and asked me to babysit ya. So, was that it? Your dream?"
Frisk took a breath, then nodded and climbed onto the bed, patting it in offer to the skeleton. He slouched his way over, climbing onto it and grabbing a pillow before lounging with his head near the foot of the bed, facing back towards her. "I-I dreamed," she began before cutting off, unsure of how to put it. Then she looked up at him, saw the worry in his eyes that he promptly tried to hide. Steeling herself, she took another breath before speaking. "I dreamed that I was in the hallway with you. The one where you first told me about what Love and Exp meant. But... It was all wrong. Everything felt cold, even though it didn't look any different. It felt empty- I felt empty, like i'd done horrible things. And- And I was... I was covered in Dust... I had a pouch of it in my hand..."
She paused for a moment, breathing a long, ragged breath before continuing. "And you were there. But... You said I'd killed everyone. That I was going to try and kill humans and monsters alike. Then- Then we fought, and... And you killed me. You killed me more times than I can count, again and again until- Y-you let me surrender. I thought- I thought I was finally being given a reprieve. I ran to you, I hugged you, and- And you killed me again. That's when I woke up, when you killed me that last time. It all- It all felt so real, Sans, it was like I was actually doing it, but I couldn't control myself and I wasn't choosing anything but to try and show Mercy like I normally do and even that got me killed and-"
She broke off as Sans pulled her against him. For just a moment, she panicked, flashing back to the hug Sans had given her before, right before he'd killed her in the dream. Then her racing heart calmed, slowly, and she wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her head in his shoulder, crying silent tears. "It's alright, kid," he said softly, rubbing her back slowly. "There ain't a monster alive that wants you hurt, kiddo, and it's all because you never hurt us. We're all alive, we're all safe. Hell, you even saved Goat-Boy. Y'did good, so don't worry about some stupid dream, huh? It wasn't real."
"Sans," she started, hesitantly. "Do you have skulls that shoot lasers?" She knew the answer before he ever spoke; the way he stiffened, the surprise in him, it told her all she needed to know. "So it was real... At least, kind of... I never did any of that stuff, but it wasn't fake... It was real, somehow..."
Sans had pulled back to look her over, and after a few moments he let out a sigh and smiled. "Alright, kid. Maybe this has something to do with all your resets. I'll look into it, see what I can dig up, alright? For now, don't worry too much about it. Until we can figure more out about this, it's just a really, really weird dream, alright?"
Frisk nodded, taking a deep, shuddering breath. Then she grinned a bit at him, reaching out to flick his forehead. "That's for using mercy to kill me," she said with a weak laugh. Sans scowled at her, folding his arms. "Aww, I'm sorry. I know you have a lot of questions to answer. You're so merci-full of them, you're bursting at the seams!"
He tried to resist, but ultimately he grinned and laughed, patting her shoulder. "If you can think up bad jokes after a night like that, you're just fine, kid."
Frisk smiled, wiping the remnants of her tears from her face. "But if that dream was that accurate, at least I know what to expect while we're training, huh?" she shook her head, then shuffled to the side of the bed. "I, uh, I should probably go. If I'm not going to school, I should at least go see Undyne about training me." She shivered slightly, a vague image of Undyne in unfamiliar armor, her eye patch missing, brushing through her mind. It faded too quickly to grasp, but it had the same familiarity to it that the dream had had. "Want to come along?" She asked suddenly, grinning. "I haven't eaten yet, so maybe we can get some Grillby's on the way?"
Sans laughed and nodded. "Sure, kid," he said, winking an eye socket at her. "Go get dressed, then we'll head on over. Don't worry," he started, and Frisk turned to face him, speaking at the same time as him.
"I know a shortcut," they both said, before dissolving into laughter. "I get it," Frisk said with a smile, giggling softly even after the first wave of laughter had passed. "Don't worry, I won't be long." Then she turned and made her way out of the room.
When she slid down the stairs of Toriel's house about ten minutes later, she was fully dressed; shorts over rather thick tights, a fitted blue-and-violet shirt under the jacket Sans had given her on that very last reset, and specially-made boots that Undyne had given her. Her hair, which had been a rat's nest when she'd woken up, was brushed and glossy-smooth, and her face bore none of the emotions that had torn her apart shortly after she'd woken up. Sans stood at the base of the stairs, leaning against the wall with a book in hand. She recognized the book; she'd seen that book on Quantum Physics every time she'd gone into Sans and Papyrus's house. She wondered if it still boasted a joke book inside, or if Sans was actually brushing up on the science book itself. "Ready?" She asked, smiling warmly at him.
He looked up as she reached the bottom, skipping the last three stairs entirely by taking a little hop and landing with surprisingly little noise on the floor. "Yeah," he said with a grin, reaching out and grabbing her hand. "C'mon, let's hit Grillby's; if we don't hurry, we'll miss the lunch-time special, and people might think I'm slacking off or somethin'." He pulled her along as he walked up to the front door, reaching out to open it.
It opened directly into the bar and grill that had once served a rather small handful of monsters in the Underground, but that had since moved to the surface to service a much larger group of both monsters and humans. Frisk didn't bother trying to sort out the how of things; Sans had been doing this since her very first time in the underground. It was mind-bending, but it was normal to her by now. Monsters turned towards the pair as they walked in, and with a bark, the heavily-armored Greater Dog bounded up, yapping happily. Smiling, she looked at Sans, who sighed and lifted her up onto his shoulders. There, she reached up to pet the Greater Dog, rubbing between and behind his ears, then ruffling the fur of his face and cooing happily at it.
It responded by licking her face, its tail very nearly becoming a propeller as it wagged. Then it bounded back to its friends, Lesser Dog, Doggo, and the married couple, Dogamy and Dogaressa. As was usual, everyone in the room greeted Sans, but as was less common, they also greeted Frisk by name, which made her shift shyly on Sans's shoulders.
He carried her up to the bar's counter, settling her onto a stool before climbing onto the one next to her. Both greeted the owner and cook, Grillby, with big grins. "I'll take a burger," Sans said, before pausing so Frisk could order.
"Mmm... Can I have a box of fries?" She asked with a smile. Grillby nodded and silently made his way to the back. The layout of the new Grillby's wasn't too different from the old one, though now it boasted not only a larger eating area, but a second floor with bedrooms and such that he rented out. The capital city of the Monsters was so big, after all, that he was no longer competing with the bunnies for customers, so the two could have their own hotels without actually cutting into each-other.
When Grillby returned a few minutes later, it was with a burger and a box of fries, which he set in front of each of them. "Don't forget to pay your tab, Sans," he said to the skeleton, turning those glasses on him.
Frisk stepped in quickly as she reached over, plucking the ketchup from in front of the Skeleton squeezing a rather large helping of ketchup onto the fries. This would not be a clean meal. "I can pay it for him," she said, shifting a little in her seat. "Since I have a government job, I'm getting paid for it, and to be honest, I don't really buy that much."
"Thank you," Grillby said, his voice like the crackle and snap of burning logs, "But I can't let you do that. It's Sans's tab. Sans should be the one to pay."
"Don't worry, Grillbz," the Skeleton in question said with his trademark grin, upending the bottle of ketchup and taking a drink. "As soon as I get my first paycheck, I'll pay off my tab in full."
Grillby gave him what Frisk was sure was the equivalent of the stink eye, then returned to cleaning glasses. Frisk looked over at Sans with a raised eyebrow, then leaned in close. "When will you be getting your first paycheck?" She asked, her tone quiet enough that Grillby wouldn't overhear.
"I'll let you know when I get hired," Sans replied, sipping at his ketchup before setting it aside and taking a huge bite out of his burger. Frisk just stared at him for several moments before shaking her head. This was the same person who had helped her to find a way to save Asriel? If she hadn't known any better, she'd have said he was a lazy good-for-nothing. That he could be counted on when he was needed wasn't clear at all by the way he acted.
Sighing, the girl started picking out bundles of fries and gulping them down, only realizing after the first bite just how hungry she actually was. Her stomach very nearly cramped up on her, though she'd eaten a rather large dinner the night before. She finished her first box before Sans, and even had time to order, and devour, a second before the Skeleton finished his burger. "You're a terrible influence, Sans," she said with a shake of her head, licking her ketchup-coated fingertips clean.
"I'm the terrible influence?" The skeleton asked, his tone innocent. "How am I the terrible influence when you just massacred not one, but two boxes of fries? Look! You're even licking the blood off your fingers!"
"Says the skeleton who drinks that 'blood' like it's water and you're dehydrated," Frisk said with a roll of butterscotch hues. Then she held up a single finger, her eyes narrowing as she focused on the very tip. It took almost a full minute, but by the time Sans finally opened his mouth to ask, a tiny flame flickered to life.
"Woah. Gettin' goat fire magic already?" He asked, watching the flame for several moments.
"Only the basics," Frisk admitted, frowning as she tried to make the flame larger. It grew slightly, and in fits, until it was about the size of a large candle's flame. "It's really hard, though, and-" before she could finish, the flame winked out. Gasping, Frisk leaned heavily against the counter, waving off Sans's hand as he reached to help support her. "And I can't hold it for long... I've been working at it for a few months now; since Mom didn't get a working stove, we can only cook using fire magic. I've been wanting to learn how to cook a bit, so I've been practicing with her old books when she's not around. It's... Really, really hard."
"Yeah, but... Just a few months?" Sans huffed a laugh. "I was right, you humans can be scary if you want to be." he shook his head, thoughtful, but when he spoke, it wasn't about the fire magic. "You ask her about healing magic?" He asked, watching her as she recovered from the strain of creating that one flame.
"Mmmph... Yeah, I asked." She waved her hand, and a moment later Grillby settled a glass of soda in front of her. Picking it up, she took a sip. "She's thrilled that I'm interested in it. I mean, absolutely ecstatic. Not so happy when she heard I was going to be training with Undyne, but she understood, I think. She gave me a few basic instructions, things I can do to get ready, but I won't be healing anyone for a while now. It's not as hard as Fire magic, but as I understand it, it's more draining even once you've mastered it."
"Makes sense," Sans said with a shrug, chuckling. "I mean, you control how hot the fire is, right?" He waited for Frisk's nod before continuing. "That means that the fire is only using as much energy as you want it to. Meanwhile, to heal, you have to actually provide all the energy that would normally be consumed by weeks of healing all at once."
"That's how Mom explained it, too," Frisk said with a nod. "She said I have a lot of potential for someone my age, but I shouldn't expect to be really good at healing until I'm sixteen or so. Until then, I can help, but any real healing still has to come from her." She sighed, gazing at her hand. "It's... I just feel kind of helpless."
"That's why Paps and Undyne are gonna be trainin' you," he said with a grin. "So you're not helpless. You know Undyne; she'll teach you how to use all your power. And in your case, I think you already know enough not to use too much power at once. She'll teach you how to get strong, stay strong, and survive. Me... I'll teach you how to give the guys troubling you a really bad time."
Frisk stiffened slightly, glancing up at him at that phrase before smiling wryly. "I guess you will," she murmured. "After all, you gave the dream me a really, really bad time..."
Sans paused, then reached over and patted her shoulder. To her credit, she didn't flinch away. "Kiddo, I'd never lay a hand on you, y'know that, right? As long as you keep that certain tenderness in your heart, you'll never find a more firm ally than me."
"Thanks," she said with a smile, her hand rising to pat his hand. Then she sighed, hopping off of the stool and turning to face him. "I guess we gotta go see Undyne now, huh?"
Sans chuckled, plucking the bottle of ketchup from the counter as he dropped down. As if used to this, Grillby placed another in its place, waving to Frisk. Frisk waved back with a small smile. "Yeah, we might ought to. C'mon, kid; I know a shortcut."
It was as easy as stepping around the corner for her to get to Undyne's new house on the surface, with a brief interim of blinding light and darkness. Much like the one underground, her house was shaped like a fish, but apparently, the mermaid had learned a lesson from her last home.
For one thing, the kitchen was no longer an actual part of the house. Instead, it had been built separate, and the distance between the two buildings was separated by ornate blue tilework that looked very much like water. For another, the scales of the fish were no longer wood, but thin, carved stone over fireproof tiling. Alphys had become the de facto cook for the pair, and while it wasn't the delicious meals Frisk enjoyed with Toriel and Asgore, the meals at least didn't end in the kitchen being consumed in flame.
Glancing behind her, Frisk gazed at the road behind them, the tree they'd stepped out from behind the only one in the yard. "I can't wait to figure out how you do that," she said, turning her gaze to the skeleton at her side. He just laughed, leading her up to the front door.
"Kid, it'll take you a few years to figure out HOW I did it. But doin' it isn't that hard. Get some trainin' from Undyne, and you'll manage it." He winked at her. "Remember my book?" He asked with a teasing grin.
"I want to forget," she complained, one hand rising to her temples. "I got about eighteen deep before I gave up on it."
"Eighteen? Wow, kid, most people stop around four. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised that you'd be the one to go farther than anyone else." He chuckled, then raised his hand and rapped on the door.
"Who is it?" Called Alphys's voice from somewhere near the back of the house. Frisk could almost hear her making her way through the building.
"Latin," Sans called back, altering his voice with a hand over his mouth.
"Latin... who?" Alphys called, a frown clear in her voice. If she realized her mistake, it was too late to correct it.
"Latin us in would be nice, Alphys," Sans replied, his hand dropping. The door lock rattled, the door opened, and the diminutive yellow fire drake stalked out, reaching up to swat at Sans with a soft-cover book. Judging by the bright colors on it, it was a manga.
"That was bad and you should feel bad," Alphys huffed, before her eyes found Frisk and she grinned. Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around the human, hugging tight. "Frisk! It's good to see you! Papyrus has been here all night trying to-"
"Is that Frisk?!" Called a voice from the back, rough from a lifetime of shouting. Undyne was there in seconds; dressed in her usual black tanktop, jeans and boots, she would look normal... Were it not for the look of desperation on her face. "Frisk! Tell him I'll train you! He hasn't stopped begging since he showed up last night! I had to lock him in the closet to get any sleep, and he got out this morning!"
Right on the mermaid's heels came Papyrus, his white armor shining in the light, his scarf catching some of the breeze. "Do you mean it, Undyne?!" He asked, grinning.
"Yes, I mean it! You can go home now, Papyrus, I'll do it!"
"Nyeh-heh-heh!" Papyrus exclaimed. Sometimes, Frisk wasn't sure if it were his laugh, or just a kind of tic he had. "Another win for the great Papyrus!"
Sans grinned, walking over to grab Papyrus's hand. "C'mon, buddy. We should let them figure things out before you get involved in training, too."
"I suppose," Papyrus started, pausing as he frowned thoughtfully. "Oh, I know! I can make Frisk that spaghetti now! Come along, Brother; I, the great Papyrus, have an obligation to fulfill!" The taller skeleton very nearly dragged Sans away, rushing towards the road. He only had a chance to glance back at Frisk and wink before Papyrus had pulled him out of sight, leaving all three in bemused silence.
"Well, that was..." Alphys began, before a massive sigh of relief issued forth from Undyne.
"I love the big lug," she said, leaning against the house, "But sometimes it's like, like... You know?"
Frisk just nodded and smiled, tucking her hands into her jacket pockets. "So, he came here last night and just started pestering you?" She asked, smiling wryly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen."
"It's not your fault," Undyne said, waving the apology off and giving her trademark grin. "But you know, if I'm gonna train you, you're not gonna have it easy. Every morning before school, every afternoon after, and every night before bed; you're going to work your butt off until I say otherwise. Got it?"
Frisk stared at her for a second, uncertainty tugging at the very corner of her heart. Then Determination steadied her confidence, and she managed a cocky grin in return. "I've got it. So long as you know that I'm going to keep working until I can beat you, too!"
Undyne laughed, reaching over to slap Frisk's shoulder. "That-a girl! Alright, let's go! Alphys, get drinks ready; Frisk here's not going to rest until she falls over! Frisk, let's see how many laps around the house you can manage! Let's go!"
Frisk was off in a second, moving at something between a sprint and a jog. She knew that this was going to be rough, knew it was going to wear her out something awful. But she also knew that by the time she had finished Undyne's training, whenever that was, she wasn't going to be pushed around by strong humans. I just hope I survive, she thought with a wry smile.
If it gets to be too much, I can filet a fish.
She almost stumbled to a halt as that thought flashed through her mind, her smile forgotten. She didn't; she knew Undyne'd know if she slowed, so she kept moving. But that thought.. It didn't feel right. It felt slimy and cold and cruel, so unlike how she normally thought, how her words normally sounded in her head. The only time she'd ever heard a voice quite like it had been...
Had been in her dream. Swallowing, the girl took as deep a breath as she could manage. She wasn't going to run from those thoughts, or pretend they weren't there. When she saw Sans next, she'd explain them. And whatever happened, she resolved on two things. First, she would never do what those thoughts seemed to urge, what that dream had shown. Not if she had to jump off another cliff to avoid it.
And she would find out why these thoughts, that dream... Why all of it was surfacing now. She would find out. And she would fix the problem.
A/N: H'OKAY! So, to be perfectly frank, I'd intended this chapter to be about ten pages, but at the point I'm adding this Author's Note, it's only about eight and a tiny bit of change. For that, I apologize sincerely; you guys deserve ever word I can put out. Unfortunately, this was as many as I could put out for this chapter. I suppose there's a bit of a curve for both myself and Whisperfen, him as entirely new to Fanfiction, and myself as someone who's used to shorter, more radical chapters. I'm trying to draw things out with this story, make things more organic, but it's proving uncomfortably difficult. But not to worry! I, the Great Lost Cookie, shall overcome this obstacle soon enough, and give you all the chapters you deserve! Nyeh-heh-heh!
I gotta say, though, I have some issues with how I linked things together for this chapter, but on the whole, I'm quite happy with how it came out. I hope you all enjoy it too, and of course, any criticism is welcomed. I think I know what kind of schedule myself and Whisper will be coming up with. Each of us will be taking two weeks or so to write our chapters, and if all goes well, the chapters will be staggered in such a way that you guys see a new chapter every week. At least, that's the ideal I've set for myself; Whisper, of course, has his own style and time limits.
Alright, so this should be going up on the 18th. If so, then my next post will be out, at the latest, on the 2nd of May. However, if I finish it earlier, I'm not going to wait before posting; I'll throw it out immediately, provided it's after Whisper's chapter goes up. That's all for now, then, I guess~ Take care everyone, and as always, Stay Determined!
~Cookie