Hey guys, welcome to the next chapter.

I, uh, don't have much to say? Life's been weird, as it always is.

Reply:

Madmalitiangamer: Aww thank you.

Enjoy, and remember, I don't own Undertale

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Black. There was only pitch black.

Her footsteps echoed through the nothingness, and Frisk thought for a moment that there was possibly a floor, or something to make sense of this emptiness. But there was no floor. There were no walls, or a ceiling. Only the reflection of her form that faded at her knees.

With every step it was like a ripple, her colors reaching out until they finally faded at a certain point.

Frisk looked around, unsure, yet this all felt familiar. So very familiar.

Cupping a hand to her mouth she cried out into the void. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Her words too echoed and warbled into nothingness, the tones her voice held twisted and split until they spread into their own strings until they petered out.

Frisk could only hug herself, and she finally noticed the cold of this place.

Every breath turned into a cloud, and the darkness seemed to take a blue tint, if that was even possible. A cold clung to this emptiness, and her soul cried for her to turn around. Her footsteps continued though, as they too echoed through the nothing.

Her feet hit grass, a patch of golden buttercups, and purple brick walls surrounded her. A gasp left her, and there he was.

Flowey.

Poor lonely Flowey.

He was sitting in the center of the patch of flowers, looking up at the light in the sky, waiting. A wistful look in his otherwise broken expression.

The part of him that was Asriel was gone. All that was left was a bitter shell of himself, and yet he seemed lost in himself. No longer bitter, no longer vengeful, just lonely.

"He won't be able to hear you Frisk." A dualtone voice said.

Frisk didn't dare turn around, to the girl that had been haunting her. Those red lines where eyes should be, or that painted on crescent moon turned upright.

"Frisk, look at me." the voice demanded, causing Frisk to grip her hands into tight fists. Anger built up in her.

"Why did you drag me back down here Chara?"

"Chara?"

Frisk furrowed her brows, curiosity overriding her senses. When she turned though, it wasn't Chara waiting for her, but Gaster.

A cold lump sat at her core, as she stared into the error code that made up his form. Numbers and symbols running in vertical lines, the only thing not shifting were his dual colored eyes. Cobalt and neon orange.

"Do not worry child, I am not here to hurt you. Only to talk."

Frisk scowled at him. "What could we possibly talk about? I saved the monsters, I freed them from the underground! Even if Flowey didn't come with, I offered it to him!" Her voice sounded more pained than she thought possible.

Gaster only smiled patiently at Frisk. "Frisk, the angel from the above, there are monsters you have not saved."

This hit her, harder than she thought it should have. Who? Who did she miss? Who didn't she save? She searched his dual eyes for information, but he was unreadable.

He went to speak, but before he could she gasped loudly and sat up in a blinding white room. She panted heavily, and when her eyes focused she was staring at a sleeping Alphys. Adjusting to the room she noted that she was in a sort of hospital room, though there were some machines used for measurements. She wasn't really sure what kind though.

A groan came from the golden woman as she huffed and shifted, then soft snores returned. Frisk looked at Alphys with concern, her eyes lidding as she noted how dark it was in the room. Yes, there were some lights, but the overheads had been shut off. Stars were visible from the single window in the room, though she was concerned. Maybe it had been a short time that she had been here, but the piles of papers and graphs and notes didn't give her much hope.

Frisk shifted to leave the bed, and as she plucked a wire from her arm a loud beeping sound came from one of the machines, startling both Frisk and Alphys.

"OHGODFRISKNOTAGAIN!" Alphys whirled around and blinked at the lack of Frisk lying in the bed. Looking up at the startled human she chuckled and pushed up her glasses. "Oh good, you're awake!" she let out a deep breath and put her clawed hand to her chest.

With a few button pushings the machine was silenced, leaving Frisk with a blaring question. Again? She eyed Alphys as she yawned. "What did you mean by 'again' Alphys?"

"Hmm?" Alphys blinked at Frisk, then smiled nervously. "Ah, yes, w-well." she adjusted her glasses. "You sort of...c-cut out for a few m-minutes."

"What does that mean?"

"Ahmmm….Y-you sort of e-expelled your s-soul, is what I m-mean."

Frisk pailed as she stared at the older woman. "I...died?"

A sort of groan-whine sounded from Alphys. "Not exactly. Your h-heart beat was still going, b-but your soul w-was not with you."

"Ah." Frisk stared at her hands, her mind racing and yet was still hazy and bogged down by unconsciousness. Though, she had strong questions that stood out in her mind. "How did I even..get here?"

Alphys' smile only became more nervous as she looked around the small room, with walls made from pull-around curtains on a ceiling tram. Lights from outside the small area reflected and left a dull glow on the white curtains. "Papyrus." Frisk became fully alert at that.

Oh gods, oh stars, him and Sans were probably going through the same thing, but most likely worse. She chewed her lip at the idea of the two skeletons in any pain.

Alphys stood to her feet and padded over to Frisk's side, grabbing a damp cloth and pressing it to Frisk. It felt nice against her heated skin. "He s-sort of arrived the w-way he does, w-with you and Sans s-scooped up in h-his arms, and he c-collapsed on the spot. T-thankfully our h-human s-staff was there, b-because the m-monsters sort of short circuited where they stood." Alphys laughed half-heartedly.

Frisk eyed Alphys and rested a hand on her shoulder. The short reptile jumped at the contact, but only smiled timidly at Frisk. "Is Gabby okay? Undyne?"

Alphys started to sweat, then glanced around the room, not wanting to meet Frisk. "G-gabby bounced back soon enough, b-bless that sweet child. Undyne t-though, she is still f-feeling the toll this t-tremor did."

A stiff silence. "How about you? How are you doing?"

Alphys laughed and shrugged, fiddling her hands. "I-it was rough, b-but I j-just ate some monster ramen and I f-felt good as new. S-speaking of which…" She shuffled through some things and pulled out a cinnabunny. "H-here, eat this. Y-you should feel good as n-new."

The pastry filled Frisk with warmth, as she felt her body start to tingle and then wash over with a sort of minty feeling. "Hmm!" She blinked and eyed the thermometer held up to her. Frisk held it in her mouth and watched as it recorded her temperature. 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

"W-wonderful. Better th-than the 101.8 from e-earlier." Alphys took the little gauge and jotted down some notes.

Frisk finished the pastry and sighed as her body tingled from actually having something in her system.

Though, something itched in her. Under her skin. It wasn't anything physical, but it couldn't be ignored. She tried to look around the curtains, into other areas of the room to only see dividing curtains for others. Alphys watched her young friend from the corner of her eye, her hand still jotting down notes while her attention was turned to Frisk.

"Um...so...how long have I been in here?" she asked nervously, still looking around.

Alphys glanced at her piles of notes. "Seventy-two hours." She almost whispered, and she flinched from the sudden attention of the human.

"What?!"

Alphys laughed nervously and scratched at her scales. "You needed rest. T-the boys h-haven't really w-woken up yet either. S-seems monsters o-on your block and c-closer to t-the mountain got the brunt of the v-vibrations."

Seventy-two hours. Seventy-two hours?! Frisk pushed herself up from the bed, the wires still attached to her popping off as she walked out of the makeshift room.

"F-frisk!" Alphys called after her. The human didn't care though, she needed to see Papyrus. She needed to see Sans.

She passed many monsters recovering well, she passed many monsters still incapacitated. Furry monsters, scaly monster, even specter monsters, but no skeletons. Well, there were a couple small families of skeleton monsters, but they weren't her skeleton friends.

There were even a handful of humans that were knocked out from the blast the mountain sent to those in the town. But that didn't really matter to Frisk though.

Then, finally, a flash of unmistakable blue caught her eye, and she dove into the small room set up just like hers.

Papyrus and Sans. Oh bless whatever was watching over her. She stood next to Papyrus, looking him over. He seemed weak. She pulled up his stats, and sighed in relief at how there were only five health points missing. She almost collapsed to her knees at the weight off her shoulders. A soft snore from him in his trademark way reassured her that he was going to be okay. She ran a hand over his skull, and a smile rested on the skeleton.

Frisk then turned to Sans, who seemed worse for ware. Thankfully he was small enough to not take up too much space on the cot, so she took a seat next to him and took in his features. Despite being shaken up by whatever hit them he was still peaceful.

She tried to pull up his stats, but a buzzer sounded in her ear. A womp or a buzz, something like that. She furrowed her brows and tried again. Same sound.

Soft padding sounded from behind her, and stopped just next to her. Alphys sighed as she pushed up her glasses. "He w-wont let anyone check him."

Frisk bit her lower lip, trying to think of something. She needed to know he wasn't just hanging on by a fraction of a health point. It was even a miracle that he survived the first tremor if it was anything like what she just went through.

She sighed deeply, taking one of his hands and pressing it against her lips. She stared down at him as gripped his phalanges tightly. She started to hum softly as her eyes slid shut. A green glow started to travel down his hand, down his arm, and a soft green glowed around him. Alphys gasped, flittering around Frisk and staring at her in a panicked way.

"Frisk, don't! You're out of practice with your magic!"

"I don't care."

"B-but Frisk, you're not a child a-anymore, a-and we aren't in the u-underground anymore! The r-rate of you falling only r-rises th-the more you use a-any of your m-magic!"

Frisk shook her head, the fear of Sans being to the point of dusting if he even moves too much for her to bear.

Alphys started to hyperventilate. "Frisk! You could die!"

"Kid...stop." Frisk's eyes snapped open as she stared down at Sans, and instantly the green glow around them died out. A scowl was on his face as he looked up at her through one lidded eye. "Listen to the nice doc and knock it out." He huffed as blue sweat formed on him.

Frisk could only smile at him, but then the room shifted, tilting, as forms of things jutted and left echoes of themselves. The world was spinning and thankfully Alphys caught her. Sans sat up instantly, his eyes wide and his hand outstretched.

"Crap." He muttered, scooting over as best as he could so that Frisk could lay down next to him. The weak human groaned as she grabbed her head and covered her eyes.

"Ugh...you weren't kidding about the magic thing…" she mumbled, panting as the world slowly corrected itself.

"What were you even thinking kid?" Sans snapped as he stared down at Frisk, who uncovered her eyes to look at him.

His soul sank at the tears in her eyes. "I was thinking I didn't want you to die…" she pressed her lips tightly together and she looked away, covering her eyes with her forearm.

Sans sighed and flopped onto the bed, groaning at jostling himself. "I told ya I'm fine kiddo. I may only have one health point, but I know how to protect it." he sighed, staring up at the ceiling and counting the squares.

Frisk laughed bitterly and nodded into her arm, causing Sans to look at her. "Yeah, silly me for being so worried about you."

He rolled onto his side to look at her fully. "Kid, while I appreciate it, I ain't worth dying over."

The look in her eyes made his soul race.

Alphys cleared her throat as she stood next to them with a bicicle. Splitting it in half she gave each of them a half, before pulling up a seat and taking notes.

The both of them felt refreshed, ready to tackle the world, and at this time a loud yell from behind Alphys made the three of them jump.

"DO NOT WORRY, FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL GET MY BROTHER AND MY FRIEND TO THE HOSPITAL!" Papyrus shouted as he sat upright in bed. Sans and Frisk gawked, and Sans was at his side in an instant. Alphys had disappeared, only to return quickly with a nicecream.

Papyrus blinked at Alphys, then at his brother, and finally at Frisk, who were all watching him with concern.

He could only smile and tilt his head in confusion. "NYEH?"

Soon enough they were at peak health and discharged. Sans tried to get as much information out of Alphys as possible, but she was like a metal trap. She could only give them information that Frisk had gotten out of her; they were there for seventy-two hours, Papyrus was a champ in getting them there quickly, and monsters from their block and closer to the mountain were hit the hardest by this latest tremor.

Frisk trailed after the brothers, a distant look on her face. Three days. Three solid days. It wouldn't have bothered her so badly if it had felt like that, but no, it felt closer to an hour. Being in that void, talking with Gaster…

She stopped in her tracks as the snow started to fall around her.

Sans took note of this as he stopped as well. He glanced at Papyrus, who was looking between his older brother and the human Frisk. The human that saved them all those years ago, looking distant and fully troubled by something.

Sans clenched his fists before turning to Papyrus with a goofy grin. "Go on ahead bro, I'll take care of the kid."

Papyrus nodded, before realization struck him. He needed to be gone! He was supposed to be checking in on the monsters in the neighboring towns, and he had been sleeping for three days! With a twirl and a zip Papyrus had disappeared down the road.

Frisk sighed as she rubbed her face, exhaustion clinging at her even though she had gotten more sleep in the past three days than she had in years. Soft footfalls went in one ear and out the other, and only when his fingers touched her shoulder did she realize she wasn't alone. She shot him a tired look. "Do you...wanna talk?" Sans looked her over.

Frisk shook her head, then nodded, then paused, before going with resting her forehead against his shoulder. She knew what she had to do.

She had to go back to the underground, with all intentions of going it alone, and figuring out whatever Gaster wanted her to do. Her bones groaned at that idea, as the chill in the air became more intense.

She didn't like that idea, but what else could she do? Either he kept setting off what was hurting her friends, or else she would be struck down at her weakest by the little demon child that kept stalking her for no reason other than some sick form of vengeance.

His arms wrapped around her and pulled her close, and in an instant they were blipped out of the cold and into his room. He then flopped down onto bed, dragging her with.

Another nap, hopefully a long one, and when the sun rose she would make her trek up the mountain. She would slip out before anyone would notice.

She gripped his jacket, clinging to her dear friend, and into the void she slipped.

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