Undertale: The Machine
Chapter 7
Unknown Isolation

Whimsun groans…

They wriggle, slowly and surely, their eyes crack open, breaking the long sleep from their being. They notice that the fire is still going. Unless they're mistaken… it's even stronger than before? But that's not possible. Whimsun was knocked out and couldn't stoke the fire… unless… Whimsun sits up and looks around, noticing Frisk isn't anywhere to be found.

Is he… dead…? Did he explode into dust like everyone else, blending in perfectly with the snow around them…? Whimsun merely moans to themselves, trying to warm up by the fire. However, they hear a twig snap behind them and they shoot back!

"YAAAAAA!" Whimsun screeches, diving as far away from the voice as they can, leaping through the fire, causing it to flit from their movement. Whimsun pokes their head up a bit to see Frisk carrying a bundle of sticks.

"Good morning." Is all he says. Whimsun notices something strange about Frisk. He's not wearing a shirt! Why in Asgore's name would he not be wearing a shirt, it's FREEZING out here!

"Do you like my shirt? You were shivering so much when I woke up that I thought you were gonna freeze!" Frisk says. Whimsun looks down to notice that they're wearing Frisk's light blue striped shirt.

"You… did this for me? But… I was supposed to be the one to save you…"
"We've saved each other multiple times now. I guess that's just what friends do." Frisk confirms, throwing the branches onto the fire, the satisfying crackle breaking out. Frisk sits down by it and Whimsun takes his shirt off. They throw it back to him, and he puts it back on.

"Thanks." Whimsun says sadly.
"No problem. So… you pulled me from the river and started a fire, huh? You're a strong little monster."
"N-No… I… I didn't pull you from the river."
"Huh? Then who did?"
"That guy… that guy who blew up the bridge and knocked you down here."
"Huh? Why?" Frisk asks. Whimsun diverts their eyes.

Because he found it strange that a murderer like you would befriend me: sounds like a very weird thing to say… Whimsun instead says nothing.

"Well, whatever the case… we're down here now, and I don't think even with your help I can get back up."
"Yeah, but I spotted a small path over there."
"I noticed that too. I was waiting for you to wake up. It's been hours. Are you good to walk?"
"I was good enough to jump through fire at a moment's notice!" Whimsun jokes. Frisk laughs and nods.
"That you were." Frisk stands up and warms his hands up one last time by the fire. He stomps it out and looks towards the forest behind them.

"I guess we should go." He says. Whimsun nods and hops onto his shoulder. They both proceed into the cold lower Snowdin forest, quickly the illumination of the cave rocks above acting as a false sun fades, and the darkness sets in. Be it from fear or the cold, Whimsun chatters besides Frisk's ear. Frisk takes careful steps over small gorges, pushing trees over to make bridges, or using Whimsun's help to see below them to see if it's safe to walk.

After a few hours of bumping around in the darkness, they can finally make out the light of the cavern ahead. They rush forward as fast as they can and soon they can see without squinting again! They sigh in relief before noticing a small lake in front of them. A frozen waterfall above seems to be feeding it. Luckily a large avalanche seems to have occurred here, and a pattern of rocks and ice formations seem to be suitable for climbing this cliff face. Whimsun urges Frisk to be careful as he begins to jump, walk, sidle, and climb up the rough but pliable surface. They begin to reach the top before slipping!

"AH!" Frisk yells before being caught by someone strong!
"Oh, thank you!" Frisk says, looking up to see someone in a full suit of armor. The person pulls him up and Frisk dusts himself off of snow.
"No problem, be more careful… next… time…" The person says, looking Frisk up and down. Frisk looks over and cocks their head.
"Is something wrong-"
"HUMAN!" The armored person yells out, drawing a solid metal sword!
"ACK!" Frisk yells as they slash down! Frisk and Whimsun run deep into a nearby cavern faster than they can chase and they hide behind a small waterfall! Frisk gulps as the guard looks nearby, but gives up.

"I gotta tell the queen about this… another human's fallen, how did it get this far?!" They mutter, running out of the blue cavern.

"Geeze, what was that all about?" Frisk mumbles.
"I don't know, but with that guard and that one guy, I think it's safe to say that you're not safe down here…"
"But why? I haven't done anything! Where is Toriel…? Dang it, we have to meet Asgore and straighten this out." Frisk says, popping out of the waterfall and looking deeper into the blue cavern.

"Y-Yeah…" Whimsun says to themselves, fluttering behind Frisk. Together they tread cautiously into this new area.


Rotation 7

September 16th, 2015. He wasn't wrong. There's no use fighting it anymore, we're stuck in an infinite loop. I've received all of the notes from the other Gasters. Determination, save points, and now... everything Frisk did for the whole year.

He was looking for the prince. The dead prince, Asriel. He died during my time as Royal Scientist, it was a tragedy. Why is Frisk looking for him? Well, I'll abridge the hundreds of paragraphs of notes from Gaster 6 into this small message, then delete those notes from Rotation 6. Apparently the first thing Frisk does after ascending to the surface is going to live with Toriel, then he... "Saves his game" in her house, before leaving to live his new life. As expected, he acts incredibly aloof, as if he's seen everything before. He goes, wins a lottery, and uses the money to charter a private jet to every country on the planet, and explores it all, crying Asriel's name out. How many times has he done this now? At least six times now, but probably even more. Does he even remember doing this?

Once the year is almost over, he returns home to Toriel, and they have some sort of one year anniversary where the monsters ascended to the surface. The king and the queen, who are apparently no longer married, gather to Frisk, and they gather around the fireplace, eating butterscotch pie, talking about how their family is complete again. But something always ruins the mood. Frisk starts to cry and runs away. At the end of the day when everyone is asleep, he returns to his save point. "Not here either..." That what he apparently said. Gaster 5 and Gaster 6 both recalled this action.

This is starting to frighten me. Does Frisk have any memory of doing any of this? Has he trapped himself, and all of us, in a one year time loop, where he attempts to find Asriel even without memory of his past actions? But that's not possible, he knows how to win the lottery, he MUST remember everything, then why does he perform all of the same actions over and over again. Is it insanity?

There's something else, though. Isn't Asriel still alive? Reading Alphys' notes, she talked about a sentient flower. I don't know why, but I have a hunch. I'm going to dedicate this year looking for a flower...