I do not own Undertale. Toby Fox does.

Thanks to R. Moonstalker for editing.

Chapter published 1/16/17.


Frisk

'Eleven left,' Chara counted down.

Frisk nodded, turning away from the dust of what had once been a cute little dog with a sword and shield. "May as well check this thing," he whispered, trudging through the snow to the large orange box nestled between the trunks of two trees. He quickly read the sign next to it. "Huh, so this is some sort of magic, 'always the same box' box?"

'Correct, Frisk. Anyone can access it, but each person will only see their own items within. Asriel and I used to do all sorts of pranks with these things.' She laughed quietly and longingly. 'Oh, I got us in so much trouble...'

He opened the box and cocked an eyebrow. 'If each person only sees their own, how come I can see these gloves?'

'Well obviously items become public use if the person... dies... oh.' Then Chara's voice muttered something quiet that sounded almost like 'good riddance'.

He picked up the gloves in his hands and turned them over. They were made of a tough pinkish leather, and looked very human-sized. Frisk shrugged. It was cold anyway, and his hands were starting to go numb. He tossed his plastic knife into the box, closed it, and put the gloves on. They felt well worn around his hands; the warm cushions on the inside were worn in places, causing parts of his hands to contact the bare leather. Whoever had lost this - one of the previous humans no doubt - had clearly cherished it dearly. Still, feeling was already returning to his fingers. This was definitely a plus.

'You should use those as your weapon,' Chara suggested. 'Punch people with them.'

'Wouldn't it be better if I used the plastic knife, though?' he wondered.

'You'd think so, but no. It's a quirk of monster biology. These gloves clearly have some sentimental value, they're your best bet.'

Sounded strange, but if it was magic then it was magic. 'If you say so, Chara. I trust you.'

'Right, trust,' she sighed. 'At any rate, I feel you should press forward. Pickings are becoming scarce out here.'

He nodded and left the box behind. There was nothing to the north but a fishing rod, so east it was.

It was a beautiful area, he had to admit. Ebott Town never got snow, so all he'd ever had were pictures. Frisk, true to his no-moping pledge, took the time to enjoy himself. He didn't go so far as to make snow angels - Chara warned him his clothes would get wet - but he had fun making snowballs and splatting them against the trees, watching as the powdery stuff burst and some of it clung to the trunks. Above his head the treetops arched to dizzying heights, beneath a cavern covered in distant, sparkling blue stones.

"Hmm, where could he be?" came a new voice. Frisk leaped into the air, spinning around and searching for its source. He spotted it in no time. It was another skeleton, like Sans, but this one was taller.

Much, much taller. Nearly twice Frisk's height! His eyesockets didn't have pupil lights, but were taller and slanted. He was dressed in some strange armor, comprising of boots, a dome around his hips, and a large chestplate over his ribs. Black sleeves covered both leg and arm bones, down to orange boxing gloves on the hands. An orange cape fluttered around the skeleton's upper spine.

Then the skeleton looked away from the shoddy cardboard house he was inspecting, glanced Frisk's way, and narrowed his eyesockets. Frisk instinctively tensed. If Sans could do... that to him, then what could this second, taller, armored one do to him?

"Aha! You there... hmm, I don't think I've seen you around before."

Frisk froze, and pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yes, you! Have you seen my lazybones brother around anywhere? Cool skeleton like me, about as tall as you, smells like ketchup, wears these unprofessional slippers ill befitting a sentry?"

Brother. This was Sans's brother. Whose brother Frisk had just killed. "Um, sorry, can't say I have," he lied politely, walking forward. "I'm new here, who are you?" Could this skeleton be the Gaster that Chara'd told him about?

"Oh ho, so I was right! Well small fleshy skeleton, I am..." The skeleton struck a pose, the bone on his skull molding to close his eyesockets. Apparently they weren't literally human skeletons, just magical monsters that closely resembled human skeletons. Made sense. "... the GREAT PAPYRUS! Head Sentry of Snowdin, soon to be member of the Royal Guard!" The newly christened Papyrus turned back to him, his fixed smile seeming to grow bigger. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Frisk," he said queasily, stepping even closer. Right into swinging range. Frisk took a deep breath, summoned his fighting spirit, and swung with his right fist.

He missed. He swung right by Papyrus's spine, where a normal person's stomach would be. Papyrus's left hand came down and clamped on his hand. His grip was surprisingly strong and Frisk froze in shock. "Oh, you wish to show me your gloves? Well I think they're splendid! Almost as splendid as mine!" Suddenly Papyrus narrowed his eyesockets, and gently moved Frisk's arm up and down. "Waaait a second. Heavy arms like you're filled with water. New in town. And that strange body, it's almost like..." Papyrus let go and pointed at Frisk as though accusing him of a crime. "... like you're descended from a skeleton!"

What?

"Aha! You must be a human!" Papyrus struck a pose, his hands on his hips with his cape fluttering in a chilly breeze. "You thought you could sneak past me, but none can sneak past Papyrus, the un-sneak-past-est! Prepare yourself, human! For puzzles! Tricks! Traps! And fun! I'll be up ahead setting things up. Nyeh heh heh heh!" The skeleton turned around and dashed off, 'heh's drifting after him.

'An energetic fellow, is he not?' Chara asked.

'I guess. What did he mean by puzzles, though?'

'Remember how Toriel told you that puzzles are an old monster tradition?'

'Bwah - here too?!'

'It would appear so. Tread lightly, and keep searching.'

He nodded and approached the cardboard house Papyrus had been next to, reading the all-caps message. "Expertly crafted... who could have... royal guard." He furrowed his eyebrows. "Note, not yet a very famous royal guardsman." His mouth quirked upwards into a smile at that. "Alright, onwards and upwards I guess."

He came across another small house before long, similar to Sans's sentry station. But smaller, and with a wooden doghead carved on the roof. There was another sign next to it, warning him not to move. So, obviously, Frisk was going to move.

'Frisk, you shouldn't move.'

He froze with one foot in the air, and slowly lowered it. 'Why?'

'I have neglected to mention a possible aspect of monster magic to you. Patience magic, or more commonly known as blue magic, is a type of power some monsters have. They create a light blue magical projectile instead of a white one. The advantage is that patience magic takes low power, so one can create a great many such attacks that cover a large area. The trade off is that patience magic won't hurt you if you stay absolutely still, Frisk. If you see a light blue projectile, do not move and you will come through unscathed.'

'Good to know.'

'While we're on it, there's also bravery magic, it's the exact opposite of patience magic. Orange projectiles that only harm you if you are not moving.'

Seemed simple enough.

It turned out Chara's warning couldn't have come at a better time. The next monster was another dog monster, this one wielding blue magic. The anthropomorphic canine swiped a sword at... at nowhere near Frisk, but from the swordtip a blue ghost sword emerged and swept the area. Frisk dutifully stood still, wincing and clenching his muscles as the magic blade swiped clean through him. But true to Chara's word, he was unscathed. Then he pummeled the dog into dust.

'Ten left?' he asked hopefully.

'Hmm... no, still eleven,' Chara corrected. 'It must only count for those wandering in the woods, not sentries stationed where they ought to be.'

Great. He headed past the station, passing by a few bone-shaped treats with... singed ends? The trees turned from ominous, reaching monoliths to snowy pines, rustling in a gentle breeze. He kept searching, poking in and around the trees, walking forward and - whoa!

Frisk's arms flew out to the side and pinwheeled as his feet slipped on a sheet of ice. He skidded forward a few feet, then pulled himself to a wobbling stop. He glanced around; all around him the snow was covered in a thick sheet of black ice, making it almost impossible to see until he was already slipping. In the middle of the ice patch was another sign. He waddled his way over to the sign, shoes slipping precariously with each pain-staking inch he traveled. He grabbed onto the sign to keep himself in place while he read it. "North ice, south ice... oh for goodness sake. Well at least I know where Snowdin is now." He continued east. Whatever was north, it couldn't be too important. Besides, he thought he saw something up ahead...

He approached, and was treated to a clearing in the woods. It looked like the ground around him fell off, leaving a patch of snow-covered land elevated above the treetops. The snow was mostly cleared away, patted down into a dense mat. On the other side of the snow 'arena' stood... Papyrus, with something like a blue egg in his hands. His left foot was forward and his cape fluttered.

"Ah ha!" he shouted, pointing at Frisk. "You finally arrive human, to the first of many dangerous puzzles designed to capture you!" Frisk looked around. What puzzle? "Why, I can feel the tension in the air like static! And so will you, for you see, THIS!" The skeleton gestured to the featureless snow, placing the orb into his free hand. "Is the Invisible Electricity Maze! I designed it myself! Whenever you run into the walls of this maze, this orb here!" He hefted the ball. "Will electrify you!" Papyrus's eyesockets turned worried for a moment. "Not enough to do any real harm I hope. I mean I know humans are made of water... but only one way to find out!"

Frisk eyed Papyrus nervously. Invisible... electricity... maze? He looked at the packed snow closely, searching for any indication of where to go. Finding nothing, he sighed. He just had to bite the bullet. Frisk gingerly stuck a foot out...

"AYAAAAAAGGAAA!" screamed Papyrus, loud enough to make Frisk leap backward.

Papyrus's cape stood high in the air, crackling with static. The skeleton looked at his orb, up at Frisk, then back at the orb. "Nyeh. Of course, silly me! The orb will only electrify the closest thing to it! It does not know you are doing the puzzle instead of I! I'll just give it to you." Papyrus walked forward, and Frisk tensed up as the towering bone man approached, holding the crystal to Frisk. "Here, hold this!" he said, dropping it at Frisk's feet before rushing back... leaving a clear trail of bootprints in the snow.

Frisk eyed the orb nervously and tapped it with his snow-soaked shoe. It clinked like glass. He looked up at Papyrus, who stared at him expectantly. "Um... couldn't I just beat this puzzle easily by not picking up the orb and walking across?" he asked. Sure Papyrus's prints showed the path, but still...

"Well... I suppose you could. But that's entirely against the spirit of the trap! Why, it should be a great honor to take part in the monster tradition of making each other suffer through terrifying puzzles for every simple task!"

"I don't know. That shock looked like it really hurt..."

"Oh you'll be fine! You're a human after all, humans are tough!" But hadn't Papyrus also pointed out Frisk was also filled with water? "You can certainly do it! Or you can fail at it and I capture you. Either way, it's a win win!" he said, beaming.

Frisk sighed, and picked up the orb. Alright, he could do this. Easy peasy. Just follow the bootprints. He walked through, the hairs on his neck rising as he put one foot into each of Papyrus's giant prints. He imagined solid walls around him, ready to fry him. But before long, he made his way through and stood on the other end, next to Papyrus. He dropped the orb.

Papyrus leaped into the air, jaw open. "Wowie! You got through so simply! You must be really good at puzzles! Nyeh heh. But this was only your first trial, human! Nyeh heh heh, prepare yourself, this next puzzle will baffle you for sure!" he boasted, before running away before Frisk could step in and swing.

Asriel didn't reset him so he could try again, so it must've been okay. Or maybe Asriel wasn't watching him as closely as he claimed...

He continued on. There was an abandoned cart with a folded yellow/red umbrella over it. On its side was the word 'Nicecream' painted in bold red. He cringed and continued on. No, something cold was the last thing he needed. Frisk crossed over a small wooden bridge, and found another drake monster huddled around a tree, trying to clean its shades off.

'Ten left,' Chara intoned a few seconds later.

He kept looking. There was a hole in the ground near the end of a long track of compressed snow, like for golf but... bigger. Though he couldn't see any ball to kick into said hole. There was another pair of houses further up, with dog head carvings on their roofs. The houses were simply labeled as 'His' and 'Hers'. Between the two houses was another teen, with an outrageously oversized head atop which sat a hat made of icicles.

'Nine left.'

Past the hole, the elevated cliffs continued, and here Frisk found Papyrus again.

In between them, there was a piece of paper, a flat slab of stone, and a pencil. "Oh ho, you made it!" Papyrus said, beaming. "This next puzzle was supposed to be made by my brother, Sans. But he's not around." A stab of guilt. "Probably off taking one of his... six hour naps."

Wait, wasn't that just sleeping? Did Papyrus... not sleep?

"... so I took the liberty of checking over his puzzle, and improving upon it! Nyeh heh heh! Go ahead, take a look."

Curious, Frisk approached the paper and picked it up. He read it over once, then again to make sure he was seeing this correct. A giant ice cube with a bear face asking him to help with this puzzle. The nonsense words 'anutum, ccokl, tiernw, naneic, nltoeeks, imcga, snpigr, scienstti, tboor, erumms, lnetaricie, tgsoh, and nsertom'. He looked up from it, at the skeleton. "... this is just a word jumble."

"Nyeh heh heh! It is! Far more engaging than the word search my brother had prepared. Junior Jumble is without a doubt the greatest word based puzzle out there! I can see you are stumped already!" Junior Jumble. Well wasn't that patronizing? Still... he could use something to take his mind off things.

"Done," he said a few minutes later, putting his pencil down.

"Wowie! You did it!" Papyrus beamed. "Humans are amazing, they truly have a good appreciation for - " Ring! Frisk jumped and reached for the phone Toriel had given him, but it wasn't ringing. Papyrus pulled a phone out from under his chestplate, however, and held up a glove. "Hang on, this is my boss." Ring! He brought it to where his ears would be and answered. "Hello, this is - "

"PAPYRUS!" a woman's voice rang from the other side of the phone, loud enough to startle Frisk back a few steps. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Hello Undyne!" he greeted. "You're being extra shouty today!"

"I SAID WHERE ARE YOU?! THIS IS IMPORTANT! THERE'S A CRAZED HUMAN LOOSE IN SNOWDIN!"

Papyrus narrowed his eyesockets. "I'm quite aware there is a human in Snowdin, Undyne! They're quite appreciative of my puzzles, too. It's a little much to call them crazed."

"Oh my GOD Papyrus you've gotta get outta there! Alphys's been watching the human through her cameras, he's been killing everyone he can get his fleshy little hands on! GET OUT OF THERE, NOW! I'm coming to Snowdin, get as far away from the human as you can!"

"Okay, alright! I'll be over by my house." Papyrus pulled the phone away and eyed Frisk nervously. "Sorry human, but duty calls." The skeleton's gaze dropped to his gloves, which were slowly being caked in a fine layer of gray dust. The monster's smile grew more... strained. "I'm... sure this is just a phase. I, the Great Papyrus, will set up an incredible obstacle course of puzzles for you in Snowdin once you get there. Until then! Nyeh... heh?" he said warily, backing off and running away from a dumbstruck Frisk.

'So, it would appear someone has been watching you through cameras,' Chara chimed in as he disappeared into the distance.

'Anyone you know?'

'No. But whoever Alphys is, to have access to the Underground's security cameras, she would most likely have to be the Royal Scientist. Which does not bode well for Dr. Gaster's survival.'

'Oh. I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. I was never close to him anyway. His hands always creeped me out, and understanding even a word he said was a nightmare.'

'Right. Well we still have to find some more, I'm thinking I should backtrack - '

The trees rustled.

Frisk spun around and faced them, hands up to protect his face and ready to punch. Out of the pine leaves came... a white samoyed dog. Not like the two he'd killed so far; this one was bereft of any clothing and weaponry and stood on all fours. It was a surprisingly large dog; it came up to Frisk's neck!

"Arf arf!" it barked, jumping back and forth around Frisk, sending up small puffs of snow.

He sighed, clenching his fists. 'Well, eight left I suppose,' he told Chara, before stepping towards the dog. It froze in place, and looked up at him, panting with its tongue out and tail wagging fiercely. He clenched his right fist and swung at its nose...

... only for his fist to swerve aside and swing at the air. He hadn't felt anything push him. His hand just... didn't go the right way. Frisk backed up in surprise. "What?" he whispered, confounded.

The dog stopped panting.

Frisk swung again, with his left fist. Like before his swing just went aside, completely avoiding the dog's poofy fur. Its ears drooped, its tail stopped wagging, and it whined. "What's going on?" he asked, this time trying to kick the dog. His leg went up, but then moved to the side and too far up, making Frisk lose his balance and fall back-first onto the snow. "Ah! Cold!" he yelped, getting up and spinning around, trying to brush the snow off his back.

"Arf!" the dog barked, urging Frisk to look back at it. It got up on its hind legs and rested its forelegs on Frisk's shoulders. He grunted, stumbling to support the dog's weight as it whined at him with giant puppy dog eyes.

Then it licked his face.

"Agh! Ew, gross!" he stammered, pulling away from the dog and wiping his face. It was even worse because it was cold out!

'Frisk, why are you not hitting it?'

'I can't! Something keeps pushing me away.'

By then the dog walked away, under the nearest pine tree. It turned back to face Frisk and barked again, tail and ears coming back to life. He stared at the dog. The dog stared back, whining quietly and nudging its head occasionally, as if trying to point towards the woods.

'... I believe it wants you to follow it, Frisk.'

He shrugged. "I guess. This place is crazy enough anyway." Without further ado he headed off the beaten path, following the dog into the thick brush of Snowdin Forest.

Snow-laden branches whipped at him in the dog's wake, roots and logs hidden by snow threatened to trip him, and more than once he caught a face full of pine needles. The dog seemed to take it in stride, occasionally glancing back to make sure Frisk was still following, all while its tail wagged hypnotically. Now and then there was a steep drop, and Frisk had to carefully maneuver down boulders without rolling his ankles.

Eventually, the dog arrived back on a path. Frisk looked around, and when he turned back the way they came he started backwards in surprise. Before him was a massive cliff face, riddled with cavernous holes. From within the blackness, multiple pure white eyes stared at him, blinking and swiveling. Staring. Judging.

"Arf!"

Right, the freaky magical dog.

He followed it to the edge of the mountain, forcing himself not to look at the steep, steep drop around him. The dog led him to a massive tunnel in the mountain. Inside, the ground was slick with greenish-blue ice, forcing Frisk to take careful, sliding steps forward. The dog padded forward effortlessly, occasionally stopping for Frisk to catch up.

The ice gave way to a small, dark chamber, lit only with luminescent mushrooms the size of his legs. A few patches of hardy grass stuck out of the dark stone. In the faint light, Frisk could see the outline of a locked purple door, emblazoned with the same symbol Toriel had worn. The dog approached it, and walked clean through the door. Frisk gaped as the canine was seemingly swallowed up in stone. He stepped up to the door and placed his palm onto it, wondering if he too would go through...

Nothing. Just cold, regular stone.

"Alright, this is seriously creeping me out," he whispered.

Click!

"AH!" he screamed, jumping away from the door. His fears proved unfounded when it simply swung inwards, the dog sitting there and facing him with a smile on its black lips. Frisk placed a hand over his heart and slowly walked in. "Don't do that," he muttered. Behind him, the door closed all on its own.

Inside was... actually a cozy room. It was nice and warm, so Frisk took a moment to rub his hands together and savor the toasty heat. The floor was green carpet, and the walls were blue stone carved to look like ocean waves. A surprisingly classy chandelier hung from the ceiling, providing ample light. Scattered around the room were a dog-shaped pile of white fluff, a black video game case, a desk and computer, an incomplete jig-saw puzzle, and a coiled up length of rope. In the very middle of the room was a turquoise sheet, riddled with holes.

"It's, um, nice," he said. The dog padded over to the blanket, grabbed it in its mouth, and dragged it back to Frisk before dropping it at his feet with a bark. He gathered up the blanket in his hands. It was warm and fuzzy, and smelled like dog hair. "Thanks. Good, uh... boy?" he guessed. The dog nodded. "Good boy. But... the old prince, Asriel Dreemurr, is after me. Won't he be able to find me?" The dog shook his head. "Alright. But you know he's a time traveler, right? Couldn't he just - " Again, the dog shook his head, smiling as smugly as a dog could.

'It can protect you? Or perhaps this chamber can? It existed even in my time, and nobody had ever been able to open it. It predates the migration of monsters to Snowdin and beyond, predates the monsters being forced into the Underground entirely. You may very well be safe in here, Frisk.'

'That's great. So... I'm - ' He was cut off by a soft growl in his stomach. "Oh, sorry," he told the dog.

"Arf! Arf!" Then the dog ran towards the nearest wall, leaped... and phased right through it.

Frisk blinked, and bundled up the blanket in his hands. It was getting hot; he took the moment to take his shirt off, then take off the green striped sweater he'd taken from Toriel's house, and put his purple striped shirt back on

Moments later the dog returned, holding a brown paper bag in his mouth. He padded over to Frisk and dropped it at his feet. "Arf!" Then, panting, he ran away and leaped onto the chair by the computer. The dog sat in it and swiveled around happily, tongue wagging.

Meanwhile Frisk opened the bag, and was instantly greeted with the smell of salt and grease, prompting his mouth to water. It was a burger, a paper boat of potato fries, a bottle of water, and a few packets of ketchup. "Oh my God," he whispered, grabbing the burger and lifting it to eye level. The buns squeezed under his hands, the lettuce was fresh, the mayo just thick enough, and the burger... what kind of meat was it?

'It's not meat,' Chara said, answering his unspoken question. 'What few domesticated animals the monsters could bring with them are kept for eggs. It's all imitation meat. Still, magic goes a long way for consistency and flavor.'

Good enough for him! Frisk took a bite, and groaned. The taste was incredible. He chewed the bite and swallowed, feeling the monster food disintegrate into energy down his throat. He ate half the burger before putting it back and taking out the fries and ketchup. He squeezed a packet or two onto the fries and started eating them. "You know," he said aloud. "I wonder where he got these. It tastes a lot like McDaniel's."

'McDaniel's?' Chara asked.

"A restaurant chain on the surface. When I was younger the matrons, and sometimes the older kids, would always take us there to eat. Lots of fast food, greasy and probably super unhealthy. Tasted so good though." He chomped down a few of the crispier fries. "Wonder if there's something like that down here?"

'Your present meal suggests there probably is.'

Frisk ate the fries, then finished his still-warm burger. He washed it all down with the bottle of water, full and happy, and looked towards the dog. "Thanks," he said.

"Arf!" he barked happily, looking Frisk's way and wagging his tail.

'You should get some rest,' Chara said. 'You've been through a lot, and it appears we are safe at the moment.'

Right. He spread the blanket out and curled over it, wrapping it around his body. It was more than large enough to wrap around him, though the holes left much to be desired. Still, he'd bunched up enough of it under his head to count as a pillow. He tossed off his shoes and socks, then took off his dusty gloves and tossed them into the corner.

"Night, Chara. Night, strange dog."

"Arf!"

'Good night, Frisk.'

His eyes shut, and he was out like a light.


Please do leave a review, let me know what you think.