Chapter 6: Round and Round
Reset
Frisk stumbled back a few paces, her heart pounding as she struggled to find her footing in the snow. It took a moment for the buildings in front of her to register but soon the blur that was the shop and Z Inn came into focus, the human staring at them for several moments as her mind tried to piece together what had happened.
He had killed her, right after they had agreed to a Mercy Rule, he had still killed her. Frisk felt a chill crawl up her spine, wrapping her arms around herself when suddenly the images of the child's last moments flashed unbidden through her mind's eye. She had felt their dust on her as the kid fell, she had watched them die.
Just like she had watched Sans die.
Suddenly the human felt overwhelmed, it was too much, she had to, she had to do something! Stumbling forward Frisk forced herself to walk through town, trying to shove off her unwanted negative feelings and failing. She didn't pay attention to where she was going, instead focusing on remaining upright, so when a small bundle of fur crashed into her, instead of catching her balance, Frisk fell over; Cera coming down with her as they landed in a pile of snow.
"Frey wait don't go to Hotland yet!"
Oh so she was back to this morning, that was good. Barely keeping her thoughts straight Frisk sat up in the snow, staring down at the little monster who sat contently on her lap.
"Kid-"
"Nope you have to come home and see what I got you!"
Frisk stared at the little child who continued to beam up at her innocently before nodding, standing them both up and walking back toward Z Inn. Cera pulled her impatiently through the door and to the back, toward another set of stairs that led to the bunny monster's home part of the building. Frisk could hear whispering from the other kids as Cera continued to pull her but was unable to decipher their words.
Once she entered the room that Cera shared with several other girls, Frisk included, the child immediately directing her to sit down on one if the quadruple bunk beds.
"Now close your eyes!"
Frisk obeyed, closing her eyes and flopping herself back on the mattress. She was surprised to note that this did not help her raging emotions; in fact she felt more agitated than before. Inhaling deeply she tried to maintain her outward appearance of calm. "Well Cera when can I open them?"
"Right now, sit up and see what I got you!"
Doing as commanded Frisk blinked at what she saw. Cera was holding up a blue sweater with purple zig-zagging stripes along the middle. The style and color looking surprisingly like her plain striped sweater back home.
"This is for you! The mouse lady made it but I told her how it should look!" Cera stated, smile proud as she handed Frisk the piece of clothing. Frisk fingered the cloth through her gloves and felt a small smile come to her lips. "Yay you smiled!"
Frisk nodded before pausing, her hand hesitantly coming up and fingering her hood; it wasn't on all the way, ergo the spell wasn't blocking all of her face from view…She had just spent the past several minutes walking around as a human. Pushing the hood back on all the way Frisk leaned forward and rubbed the top of Cera's head. "Thank you for the gift sweetie, it gets really cold during my hours as sentry." She swallowed the lump that tried to return as the image of the whimsun flashed through her mind again, setting the sweater down next to her on the bed. "Hey Cera where's your mom?"
"Um probably at Grillby's."
And that was how Frisk found herself at Grillby's, looking around the interior of the diner before leaving; barely keeping her grip on the handle as she closed the door. She wasn't sure why that day had suddenly got so cold but she was glad that the weather had waited until she had some proper clothing to face it.
Huddling into her black shirt Frisk made her way back to Z inn, intent to put her new sweater on before continuing her search for Ma-May, the woman's excessive knowledge and directions of the areas in the Underground being her goal. If she just asked her what to do in Hotland if you find a lost kid, then she could just wait until after Doppelganger left, keep herself unseen, and then help the kid, simple.
She let out a content sigh when she walked through the door, making her way back toward the kid's room when Aire rushed toward her. "Frey!" He skidded to a stop in front of her. "Can I see your face too?"
"What?"
Aire pointed toward her darkened face. "The others told me that they got to see your face earlier and I want to see it too!"
She was about to say 'no', the word on the tip of her tongue but she paused. Papyrus himself had admitted that no humans had ever come down here, and Ma-May had let slip that she was born in the Underground, as well as her parents, so what was the harm in letting the kids see? They wouldn't know what she was anyway.
"Fine, but under one condition," she stated, arms crossed as she leaned back. "That you and your siblings," she lifted her eyes and stared at the children peeking at them through doorways and hall corners, "don't expect me to do this all the time, I still prefer to have this up, got it?" Several heads nodded, anticipated mounting as Frisk reached her hand up and removed her hood.
It was strange; she had grown accustomed to the constant buzzing the glamour made over the skin of her cheeks. Blinking her eyes she smiled down at Aire. "There ya go, my face." The little boy tilted his head at her, nose scrunching up as he sniffed. After he got a look she returned the hood to its proper place, the magic in the material buzzing over her skin once more as she rubbed Aire between the ears and continued on down the hall. Stopping in the girl's room she grabbed her new sweater, putting it on as she thought over some possible places Ma-May could be found at.
She hadn't been at the house since she had given Frisk the directions to her brother's workplace, and she wasn't inside Grillby's either; this left only a handful of places in town she could be at. Walking out of the inn once more Frisk headed toward the Librarby, her pace slowing when she noticed Sans by the decorated pine tree. So far her interactions with him had been minimal, what with him having the day shift and her having the early morning and evening shift; their conversations had been little more than greetings as they switched places. But lately she had noticed some things about his behavior that had her worried.
He was acting like her Sans did when he tried to fix something on his own, and when her Sans got into that mind set it guaranteed at least two weeks of him sleeping more and being moody before he would tell her about it. But this wasn't her Sans, so she had been ignoring it. She chanced another glance at him, ah she knew that look; he had found something or almost had, if his head tilt still meant he was debating.
"Greetings Sans," she said, tone even as she walked by.
"Sup Frey, ya heading out?" he asked.
Frisk paused and looked at him; great conversation. "Sort of, I need to speak with Ma-May before I go to Hotland."
"What for?"
"Just some more information on where the Electronic Emporium is, I just realized I don't know what it looks like." Half true, in the past timeline she had been thinking it would be easier to find if she knew what the shop looked like.
Sans eye lights dimmed, making Frisk nervous; had he noticed her lie? But he hadn't noticed her half-truths before. "Hmm, never been there before," he sounded okay but Frisk knew enough about skeleton behavior to know that trusting their tones was a bad idea. "I always get my phone fixed by Alphys."
Frisk nodded, resisting the urge to cross her arms; knowing that was one nervous tick she did not want this Sans to pick up on. "Interesting, well I still got to find May..do you know where she is?" He shook his head.
"Nah, but if I see her I'll let her know you're looking for her, kay." Frisk nodded in thanks, waving goodbye to him as she walked off. Sans just stared, his eyes trained on her as he watched her go.
Frisk found May by the entrance to Waterfall, the woman just staring silently at the path that was slowly being cleared and reinforced, the guards missing from this area today and instead focusing on the land near Hotland.
"Hey Marmee," she greeted once she reached her, ducking down just in case the woman took a swing at her.
May turned and glared at Frisk, crossing her arms as she regarded the girl. "Seriously, I should never have given you that book." She stated her tone just jovial enough for Frisk to know that she didn't mean it.
"Hey Little Woman was a good read, and if you lift the ban on it, that book will definitely put the girls right to sleep." May shuddered, trying to block out the thought of her children also inspiring a nickname for her after that.
"No way."
Frisk snickered, looking out in the faded fog to the barely seen rocks and caves of Waterfall. She wasn't sure how to ask what she needed to, but time was running short, meaning she would have to teleport if she wanted to help that kid now. "Say, are any of the guards left in Hotland or is everyone helping with the repairs?" May hummed, moving her pawed hand to her chin.
"I think there's a one man station still going, like the ones we have here, don't know who runs it though." Frisk nodded, turning her head to peer back into town, toward the skeleton brothers' home. She hadn't really seen Papyrus since the repairs had taken off; in fact that last timeline was probably the most she had seen of him in almost a week, what with repairs having him in Waterfall nearly 24/7.
"You know where it is?"
May hummed before shaking her head. "No, afraid I don't sweetie…" She paused and turned to Frisk, "shouldn't you be heading out?"
The young girl nodded, "probably, um thanks and see you later." She paused before shaking her head and heading back towards the town. She had thought to ask her some questions about the electronic shop her brother worked at but she didn't want to risk losing the kid during one of May's long winded explanations. Entering back into town she slipped behind the shed near Sans and Papyrus's house, teleporting herself to the star near Muffet's home/large pastry shop; the spider lady opening it as another shop with all the extra customers from Waterfall coming by.
Walking around the tables and crowded chairs Frisk waved at the customers she recognized from Z Inn, a few of them waving back while some of the others asked her if she was free to babysit for them later. She smiled and declined as politely as she could; stating that she currently had other plans before exiting out of the shop, continuing on her way toward the sea of monsters that was Hotland.
It took her a while to get back on the same sidewalk she was on before, lingering back as she looked for the child and Doppelganger, the second showing himself after a few minutes as he marched out of the alley he had been in before, disappearing into the crowd soon after. Frisk made sure that he didn't see her, hanging back for a few minutes before walking over to the mouth of the alleyway. She looked around for a bit before spotting the kid several feet away. Walking over she crouched down to their level.
"Hey sweetie, are you lost?"
The whimsun flinched when she spoke, falling back onto their behind and staring up at Frisk in wide eye surprise before hesitantly nodding; tears coming to their eyes as they said, "Wan, want ma-ma."
Slowly Frisk brought her hand over, rubbing the kid's head gently between their antennas. "It's okay, I'm a sentry and I'll help you find her, alright?" She received a hesitant nod before they slowly brought their arms up, the all around child signal of 'pick me up'.
The kid was quieter as she carried them through Hotland; probably because Doppelganger hadn't scared them this time around. Slowing her pace Frisk stopped near an intersection, trying to get her bearings as she looked for the MTT resort sign; one of the passerby having told her that the sentry station was near the hotel, but so far the only familiar sign she saw was that of the Healing Center.
"Don't worry kid, we'll be there soon." She whispered, trying to fight off her slight panic. She was an adult, so what if she didn't know exactly where she was, that didn't mean she was lost. Deciding that it was best to cross the intersection she moved the whimsun to her other arm, fixing her hood as it began to slip. She almost couldn't believe she had lost her bearings in another monster city; seriously the last time she had done this had been in the monster capital in the other timeline.
Frowning to herself she briefly thought over her first encounter with her dimension's Toriel; the boss monster having been the one who had spotted the human sneaking around the palace, not that Frisk had known she was by the palace, although, if not for Toriel attacking her she wouldn't have found out about her teleporting ability.
Feeling nostalgic, and with nothing to do but walk, she let her mind drift over the memories, thinking over her younger self's desire to get home after they had been separated from their teacher, her near constant picturing of her home and the general want to be there. She could still remember the feeling of fright when Toriel's flame caught her unprepared, before she was brought into battle with the boss monster. Remembers her fear as she stared up at the giant before her; feeling like a pebble before a mountain. She thinks that several moments had past while she just stood there frozen and looking up at the beast; neither attacking nor fleeing but just staring. It wasn't until Toriel told her to make a move that she tried to run, barely making it ten feet before she tripped, all her thoughts in that moment being nothing but just wants to be home… and then suddenly she was.
Granted whilst her first teleport had left her dangerously drained in magical energy it had also indirectly opened up new scouting opportunities for the humans and, as the only one among her people with the ability, her education had been put to the forefront as a result. Breathing in deeply she thought over the stamina training she had previously gone through, briefly wondering if she had the same amount in this timeline or not; considering the numerous choices and actions she'd taken to protect Hidin Town, as well as her quickly elevated status in her people's ranks.
Everything was different, and her training this time around reflected that, as during her first day of magical instruction she'd teleported to avoid an attack instead of just dodging it, though she collapsed as soon as she did; Sans would probably have called her stupid had he been there.
Looking up to the far off rock ceiling Frisk thought of him, allowing some of her grief to surface as she thought over the one difference she wished wasn't so different. She'd been working at this, at accepting that she couldn't save him this time, that, like her parents, Sans was just someone she couldn't bring back through a Reset. It was slow going, the hurt both too fresh and too old for her to properly manage it, but it was something she knew had to be worked on, and though part of her heart still whispered otherwise, she had to face the facts; her Sans was gone.
It took her nearly ten minutes to figure out how to get away from the Healing Center and toward Mettaton's Hotel, having finally found a passerby who knew the area well enough to give her directions.
Frisk smiled at the Gila monster, the off white coloration near his eyes giving his expressions a comical element as he spoke. "Oh just keep turning left or West I guess," he said, tongue slithering out as he spoke, "this place is a maze of turns. Great puzzle if you ask me." He lazily turned his head and stared unblinking at the kid, the white lines over his eyes rising as he turned back to Frisk. "If you live here long enough you won't have to follow this but here's how you move around." His tongue flicked out again, "going continuously West is recreation, East is shopping, and North is how you get to the Core, South will lead you to Waterfall," he paused once more and then continued. "Also the elevators need reservations to be used now." The scaled lizard turned his head passed Frisk, his black eyes focusing elsewhere. "Wonder why…" With that he slowly walked away, easily, albeit slowly, maneuvering through the crowds.
Frisk watched him go, noting how his scale reflected the glow around them before she took his advice and headed left. Granted this method of traveling wasn't the fastest way to get anywhere but until she learned the layout of Hotland's streets it would have to do. As she came up to Mettaton's hotel Frisk kept looking around; trying to spot the sentry station when a shack like roof covered in snow caught her eye. She paused, a sneaking suspicion developing in her stomach before walking toward it.
Yep it was just like Sans's sentry station in Snowdin. She stared at the empty wooden structure before turning her head and looking toward the hotel, briefly wondering if whoever manned this station was in there.
"Heya kid."
She did not jump, and she most definitely did not say 'eep' either.
Turning back around she found that not only was the station now being manned but that it was Sans who was doing it; the skeleton just smiling at her lazily as he said. "What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" Frisk glared, wondering if he used this joke often.
"Hello Sans," she said, her darkened face hiding a slight scowl. "I didn't know you would be the one here." She moved so that both her arms were holding up the whimsun, her center of gravity shifting back as she cocked her head at him. She really hated these types of jokes, especially back home when a stick breaking could be the last thing you heard.
He shrugged, his elbows lying across the wood as he leaned forward. "Course, more jobs means more legally-required breaks." She considered this, her irritation still present but being pushed aside as she tried to focus on the task at hand.
"Well I guess I came at a good time then, seeing as you're here instead of on break." She set the whimsun down, the little one hesitantly latching onto her arm and slowly moving to hide behind her. "Um this kid is lost and I couldn't find their parent."
Sans looked down at the kid, the lights of his eyes brightening as he came around to them from his post, kneeling down so that he was more level with the short monster. "Hey I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton." He held out his hand but the kid just flinched back, moving so that they were completely hidden behind Frisk, tears coming to their eyes.
"Want ma!" They cried, tiny hands fisting in her cloak as they moved themselves beneath it. Frisk and Sans shared a look, the skeleton's grin falling a bit as the child cried.
"Um Frey, where'd you find them?" He asked, standing himself back up and moving away from the kid; trying to make them feel better so they'd stop crying.
"Near the healing center, I got a bit turned around on my way to the Electronics' emporium." He nodded, hand to his chin as he thought aloud.
"There's a few whimsalots not to far from here, they guard the Core, probably our best bet to find the parents." Grinning he turned toward Frisk. "Not to sound Corny but that place is a-maize-ing." Frisk smiled, shaking her head at the joke.
"I'll give you a kernel of praise for that one."
"Ooh I'll have a field day with these, keep stalking like that and I'll have to call the cobs."
Stifling her laughter she picked up the kid again. "Go ahead, nothing will stop me from popping these out, they're the cream of the crop after all."
"Shucks, you seed it a-grain, mine are ear-full in comparison."
"They are kind of mealie."
He paused, gave her a look and then grinned. "Well my fry-end that one was a starch, though I could stem out some more, just for the roots." Frisk inhaled deeply and shook her head, he had done it; he had out-punned her fair and square.
With a soft chuckle she said, "Well that's it for me, I'm bone-dry."
Leading the way to the Core he offhandedly said, "O to 1 then."
Frisk actually froze, her heart suddenly pounding. She thought she could control this, that she was getting better and could maybe be friends with this Sans, but one off or odd sentence from him and she was back into her bipolar swirl of emotions; her feelings going quickly from happy to cheerless. He didn't know that her Sans and herself had similar pun battles, that he would count the times that he won verses the times she did, which was never. His words now behaving like a battering ram, destroying what she thought was a wall of firm resolve in seconds.
Clearing her throat she followed after him, glad that he had taken the lead and so hadn't seen her odd behavior. They travelled down two more sidewalks before he spoke again.
"So how you like Snowdin? It's pretty different from Watterfall huh?"
Frisk began to nod, remembered that he wasn't looking at her and so responded. "Yeah, big change, though I do enjoy working with May and watching after her kids, having them… it really brightens up any day." She smiled, those kids were special and had each carved out a place in her heart.
"Best someone can hope for down here, I guess."
That was his unhappy slump, she could tell from her position that his shoulders had dropped two inches. Great now he was the unhappy one. She had already confirmed that this Sans and hers were incredibly similar, they both had the same ticks and fake smiles, but they also had similar depression? Inhaling deeply she looked up at the ceiling, directing a silent 'why me?' to the far off rocks before quickening her pace to walk beside him.
"I guess, though I like to try and think of it as lucky."
Sans let out a small snort, "lucky to be trapped for all time, boy you are optimistic."
Frisk's eyes narrowed at his tone, she knew that attitude, not from any interaction with her Sans but rather from the people of Snowdin. They all had that tone when they talked about being underground, like escape was hopeless. And as far as she knew it was, no humans had ever come down here, there was no sibling of the prince who ended up dying, no children coming out of the Ruins, heck the royal family was still one unit. It looked like she was out of her depth with this but she wasn't going to back down.
"I am, guess its cause a friend once told me something, said that the day you stop caring is the day your world ends." She glanced around at all the moving monsters. "And I can't afford not to care if that's the result."
Sans turned toward Frey, his eyes widening. She didn't seem to notice, appearing to be lost in thought as they traversed the streets. But he could see it; she still had hope, whoever was under that cloak still had hope burning in their soul but the way she phrased that, the way she spoke. His thoughts swirled, past timelines rushing forward, snippets of conversations rushing through his skull till one phrase was clear as day.
'..seeing what comes next…i can't afford not to care anymore.'
Frey began to turn back to him and he quickly turned his head away, pushing away any lingering memories as he tried to get back into character. "Heh, must be some friend kid, to leave an impression like that."
She nodded. "He helped me to see things for the better, gave hope of the future to me and my family." He couldn't see it but he knew she was smiling. "I'd give anything to see him again." And now he had stepped his foot in it again, great job Sans.
"Um sorry I didn't-"
She held up a gloved hand. "Its fine, I need to move on anyway." And now she was crying, her voice had cracked and …he really felt like scum, cause even though the timeline was playing out differently and she wasn't acting the same, proof that the Resets weren't affecting her like everyone else, he couldn't help but feel that directing his 'scary judgment' spiel would make matters worse.
It wasn't like he wanted her to be evil or even that he couldn't trust her; she was amazingly open when asked about her past; no, that wasn't the problem here. The problem was that there was something going on, and she was the only lead he had to the anomaly. He had to be careful, see if he could get the answers without being a jerk about it.
But the matter remained of how he would get these answers, wasn't like he could suddenly be all buddy-buddy with her, they rarely hung out anyway, what with their conflicting work schedules, and he didn't want to risk being away from the Ruins for too long anyway, not if Resets were happening. So what to do?
It wasn't until they reached the Core and Papyrus texted him to make sure he was working that the answer came to him, for who else, besides his brother, loved to gossip and brag all about his wonderful friends. Glancing at Frey as she talked to one of the whimsulots he pushed down that little voice that said this plan would cause more harm than good, focusing instead on the task before him.
Frisk smiled, waving goodbye to the young whimsun as the older one took the kid, saying that they knew the parents and were thankful that they had returned the young one home. "I'm just glad we found you." She stated, standing back up from her squat position as the two monsters headed off. Turning her head she smiled at Sans, feeling good and cheerful about the conclusion of events as she dusted off her pants, starting to head back into Hotland, "Guess I should get back to my errand now," she stated, her tone happy.
Sans nodded. "Kay, I'll see ya up ahead." He said as he proceeded to walk further into the Core.
Frisk turned and looked at him over her shoulder. "Unless you have a reservation for the elevators I don't believe going that way is faster." She knew she was purposefully handing him an opening for a 'shortcut' phrase but after returning that kid she felt better, her walls stronger; enough for at least one eerily similar Sans-phrase.
Sans waved a hand back at her. "Eh it's fine; I know a shortcut."
She was tempted to challenge him, to say something like 'bet I beat you back.' But she bit her tongue at the last moment, deciding to wave goodbye to him instead. Walking out of the Core she basked in the MTT hotel's air conditioning her pace slowing to enjoy the coolness before she stopped, her gaze locked onto the glowing star just past the faulty Mettaton water fountain. She had as of yet to see an area in the Underground where at least one of these stars wasn't present or nearby, and considering that they healed and or restored her health to optimal levels, internal temperature included, she had figured they were designed to help any humans who fell down here. But that wasn't why she paused; no, she had noticed a pattern with these things and her deaths, namely how she always appeared near them right after her health reached zero.
It was barely an idea but she was considering that maybe her Resets where more linked to when she last was in optimal health, as that would sort of explain why she went back to her first day of training and then after she touched the one in Waterfall was brought back to that moment. Granted that was a shaky hypothesis and, unless she died a bunch more, it wouldn't really be getting anything more to back it.
Originally she had thought it was her Determination that directed how far back she went, but after that last battle with Doppelganger, and how determined she had felt when trying to save the kid she wasn't so sure anymore. Ignoring the star as she walked out of the Hotel Frisk continued on her journey to try and find the shop May and Tacky's brother worked at; making sure to follow the Gira monster's directions on how to get to the shopping areas in Hotland.
Although the first shop she came across was actually located right next to the Hotel and it looked more like a stall with odd wares than a full on shop.
"Ooh Catty, look at that mysterious hood."
"Oh I see it Bratty, it like totes makes for a mysterious air."
Frisk tried really hard not to trip over her own two feet, managing to keep herself upright as she turned and looked in the alleyway. A timeline and universe over and she still recognized those voices, but to be fair her Bratty and Catty had been part of some of her weirder nightmares for a while now. Seriously who in their right mind would try to set her and Pappy up for a date? Oh, she had just answered her own question; because those two were arguably never in their right minds to begin with, so that probably had something to do with it.
Frisk stared at the croc and cat monster, her instincts warring with her to flee or not, in fact she could practically see the button coming into existence before her.
"Oh my gah, mysterious hood is looking at us?!"
"Ya think it a talent agent-"
"-and they like struck dumb at the sight of us."
Both monsters laughed and Frisk took her chance, turning tail and fleeing away from them. Repeating the phrase 'no, nope, no, no, no, no,' to herself as she went. Meeting her dimension's Bratty and Catty was enough; she could not handle meeting a second version of the two.
"Awe, like they ran away Bratty."
"We must be too much for them Catty."
Peach: This was by far the hardest chapter to write, mainly because it's supposed to be a setup chapter and I really wanted to get to the next part but couldn't because I had to set up for it in this one.
You13:….
Peach: Also my partner has lost interest in this story so I had no one I could fully bounce ideas off of. That being said I am excited to keep writing this, so TTFN.
