FRISK
LV 1
HP 36/40
G 10
When Sans said that Hotland was getting weird, Frisk didn't know what to expect. But she thought at first it would actually be a good thing, what she saw: in patches there was color, and stepping in those patches there was heat. It was reality, she knew it. There were patches of reality all around her, and it was a wonderful feeling to be back in it after being outside of it for so long. The first time she saw it, she'd run right into the fuzzy, buzzing patch and spun around in circles with a smile.
It was great to feel heat. It was great to feel something.
Sans smiled at her from outside the patch. "careful, kid. it might look pretty but that's how i got trapped in here."
Frisk stopped, although she didn't step out just yet. "You didn't jump in the Core?"
he laughed, "jump in the...? nah, that'd probably kill me or somethin'. is that what you did?" Seeing Frisk turn red and shake her head hard, he chuckled. "well what happened was i stepped into a patch like this, and when i interacted with things a bit i felt something change. so now i'm here." Looking around, he added," there's a couple more of these patches now than there were before."
"Can we get back with them?"
He shrugged, "i dunno kid, they seem to be only one-way."
Frisk nodded, finally stepping out and shuddering when the life disappeared from her surroundings. The moment she'd walked out of the threshhold she heard more strange buzzing and static. "That sucks. So we're still stuck here?"
"i guess for now," Sans shrugged. When Frisk have him an unhappy grimace, he winked lazily and said, "heyy, don't worry about it. i'm sure you'll think of somethin', kid."
The child went back to normal at that, that is having a little smile. "Where do you think Papyrus and Undyne are going to come in?"
He started to walk down the pathway towards the stairs to the old hotel, with the child quickly following behind him. "i have no idea. i'm just guessing that it will be somewhere around the hotel, since that's where i went."
With no other ideas, Frisk decided that was as good a place to wait by as any. So she agreed without a word. But as she reached the first step to the hotel, the girl heard a buzzing behind her, and then she could swear that there was also talking. "Uh?" When she turned around, she didn't see anyone. But the talking was very distant, only audible because of how loud it was.
"!" Realizing, she caught Sans' sleeve and tugged before he could leave her behind.
"hm?"
Frisk ran from the steps in the direction of the voice, "Papyrus!"
"oh." Now Sans was running after her too - which was a good thing, because Frisk didn't stop running until she'd reached the ladder and she would have disappeared from sight in just a few moments. Gripping the ladder, sleeves pulled over her hands, she looked to the bottom and then slid down with a squeal and a scraping, squeaking sound. It took far less time to go down ladders in this place than it took to go up them. Even if she had to pay attention and catch her foot on one of the buttom rungs before she hit the ground.
This time she didn't quite execute it perfectly, and nearly jolted off of the walkway. Luckily, she didn't seem to need to go any further. Stepping off the ladder, she could hear much better - and then see - Papyrus and Undyne walking in her direction. Not missing a beat, she started to run towards them too with a cry. At first he hadn't noticed, continuing on speaking, "WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND IS HOW HE GOT SO FAR AHEAD WHEN-" but Undyne saw Frisk first, and she shoved the skeleton's shoulder. "HUH?"
"Look!"
Papyrus saw her just in time to catch Frisk when she went to tackle him in a hug, "OH! HUMAN! THERE YOU ARE!" And far behind her, with Papyrus holding her in his arms, even Frisk could hear Sans wheezing. "BROTHER! YOU FOUND THE HUMAN!"
"yeeep," he said, still struggling to catch his breath. "it wasn't easy, they went wandering around everywhere..."
Even while she was being talked about, Frisk kept on hugging Papyrus until he put her down himself, patting her on the head like a puppy.
... She knew it wasn't the best thing for him to be here, but she still was just so happy to see him, and remembering her, that for that time she'd forgotten what Sans said completely. And of course, then the child tackled Undyne, who almost fell over when wearing her heavy armor. "Woah! Guess you didn't like being here by yourself, huh!" She laughed, picking her up.
"ABOUT THAT..." Frisk turned as best she could in Undyne's arms towards, Papyrus, who was checking on the exhausted Sans. "WHERE IS THIS PLACE EXACTLY?"
"It's, um." Frisk looked over at Sans, who shrugged. "Um. Some kind of alternate world, I guess."
"WOWIE!" Papyrus spun around at his surroundings in wonderment, "I'VE NEVER SEEN AN ALTERNATE WORLD BEFORE! IT'S VERY... ... ..." he paused and looked around with a squint, gloved hand on his chin. "... BLANK AND DEPRESSING. ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN?"
Frisk nodded. And then she shoved her hands in her pockets. "I wanted to call you guys, but I broke my phone."
"YOU BROKE YOUR PHONE? NOT TO WORRY, HUMAN." Frisk had barely looked up before she found a small, red-colored, magic cellphone being put in front of her face. "YOU CAN TAKE MINE."
"R-really?"
"OF COURSE!" As Frisk smiled wide and flipped the phone open Papyrus paused again, squinting as he remembered. "ACTUALLY, I WAS MEANING TO TRADE WITH YOU ANYWAY."
This made the child hesitate on the lock screen of Papyrus in his date outfit. "You were? Why?"
"Alphys installed some kind of thing she wanted you to have for when we found her scientist friend," Undyne said. Sans, from where he was standing, flinched. Frisk, seeing that, flinched as well, but it seemed that Papyrus and Undyne didn't notice. "Some kind of tr-"
"UNDYNE I WANTED TO TELL THEM THAT PART!" Papyrus went to Frisk's side and started to slide through the phone for her. "ALPHYS INSTALLED A REALLY COOL APP ON MY CELLPHONE!"
She was so busy glancing back to Sans occasionally she didn't realize when Papyrus already had the app open, taking the phone from her again with a big smile on his face. "LET ME SHOW YOU, HUMAN!"
There was a beep as he turned it on, making a blank orange screen on the phone. Then, causing Frisk to jerk upright again, Papyrus started to talk in a mode of speech she found very familiar. "👍✌ ✡ 👎 💧❄✌ 👎 💣 ✍ ✋💧 ❄ ❄ ✋💧 👍 ✍✍✏"
The phone crackled for a moment, and then out of it came a very familiar voice, "CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME? ISN'T THIS COOL?!"
Frisk's eyes grew wide and she let out a huge gasp. It was a-!
"THAT'S RIGHT! IT IS A WINGDING TRANSLATOR! ALPHYS SAID IT WOULD BE REALLY USEFUL!"
"S-say-!" Frisk began to bounce up and down before she even realized it, "Say something else!"
"SOMETHING ELSE? OKAY! ✋❄ ✋💧 ✋📪 ❄ ✌❄ ✌ ✡ 💧📪 💣✌💧❄ ❄ 💧✏"
This time the phone didn't miss a beat, and Papyrus' voice came out the other end with just a little of the volume reduced, "IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MASTER OF TONGUES!"
"AaaAAAAAH!" Frisk bounced higher, her smile wide, and she then ran over to Sans.
Sans, who was staring off at some patch of wall without quite facing the others, having caught his breath for now. He snapped back to attention when Frisk shoved the phone in his face. "uh-? ...what? what is it, kid?"
"SANS SAY SOMETHING INTO THE PHONE!"
"...something into the phone?"
The phone only crackled a little. Papyrus stomped his foot, "NO! NO! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"
Frisk held the phone out to him, the app open, although she lowered it just a little. Instead of the big smile she wore seconds before, she had begun to chew her lip as she stared. His shoulders relaxing, Sans took the phone out of her hand, "oh, i get it. 💧 💣 ❄ ✋ ✋ ❄ ❄ " Sans' voice as repeated back by the phone was so quiet that the child almost didn't hear it. "something into the phone."
"SANS YOU HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING COOLER THAN THAT!" They both could hear Papyrus shouting from behind. Frisk anxiously smiled at Sans as he gave her the phone back. Only when he widened his own smile back at her did she release a relieved sigh, clutching the phone and bouncing while he talked again, "💧 💣 ❄ ✋ 👍 ❄ ✌ ❄ ✌❄📬" Soon enough, it became, "something cooler than that."
"SANS TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY! OKAY FINE, BRING THE PHONE BACK TO ME, HUMAN!"
Frisk bounced her way back to Papyrus with a squeal. Undyne smirked, "This place is pretty creepy, but you seem to be getting along okay in it huh?"
"This! Is! Great!" Was all that the girl said as Papyrus continued to talk wingdings into the translator. "It works so well!"
"OF COURSE IT DOES!" Papyrus said proudly. "ALL THE APPS ON MY PHONE ARE PERFECT!" Nevermind that it was Alphys who had installed it in the first place. "AND THAT INCLUDES ANY THAT WILL AID US IN OUR MISSION TO FIND DR. GA-"
He stopped.
The sudden silence made everyone look up. Frisk and Sans, in particular, did this each with twisted expressions on their faces. Papyrus looked like he was frozen in mid-speech before he closed his mouth. He began turning his lead left and right, very silent, rubbing his hands together. No. Rubbing his right hand.
"Pap?" Undyne walked over and waved a hand in his face. "You alright?"
"I...I..." Papyrus had begun to tremble.
"bro, i'm right here." Sans had closed the distance between himself and his brother before Frisk had even noticed him move. His eye was glowing bright blue, although not in the way she had seen happen before. Her gut began to turn as she looked at them both, and she put the phone deep into her pocket.
She had never seen Papyrus look this afraid. To be honest, she hadn't thought that he could look this afraid.
"Oh my god..." his voice was uncharacteristically-quiet. "Oh my god, he's here isn't he? He's here somewhere-"
Sans' voice was getting a little louder. "y-yeah, he is, but it's gonna be fine-"
"He is!? He's here!? Where!?"
"What are you talking about?" Undyne's eyes met with Frisk's, and the child took a step back from her. She mouthed, 'Are they talking about Dr. Gaster?'
Chewing on her lower lip, clutching her locket hard, Frisk nodded.
More mouthing, 'Uh what's going on?'
Frisk didn't reply that time. She walked back up to Papyrus, feeling sick.
Sans was holding on to his hands, "just breathe, okay? it's gonna be fine, look, we're all older now, he's not gonna-"
She spoke very quietly, "Papyrus, are you okay...?"
"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Hearing him return to his normal volume made Frisk back up quickly, and unconscious of her Papyrus took hold of Sans' jacket, "SANS! TAKE US BACK!"
"uh-" More sweat. "-i would if i could, bro-"
"N-nyeh-!" Releasing his brother the next instant, Papyrus began to breathe. Not in a normal way, the way that Frisk breathed, but in a very sudden, halting, jerking way. The kind of breathing someone did if they didn't have any oxygen. "HAVE TO...GET OUT...!"
"-we're going to get out, okay? we're gonna get out soon, i promise, you're not even gonna see him-"
"Woah, dude, drink some water and chill!" Undyne held out a water bottle, the likes that Frisk had often seen her carrying to hot places nowadays, but Papyrus wasn't even looking at her. He wasn't looking at anyone.
What was he seeing?
What was he remembering?
The skeleton kept trying to breathe in that raspy version of breathing, not responding to any of them anymore. Frisk scrambled back to him, unsure how to act but trying nonetheless.
You hug Papyrus.
It doesn't seem to make him feel better.
The only one still talking was Sans, his voice steady even while beads of sweat were going down his skull. "hey, it's okay bro', c'mon. look at me pap, we're gonna leave real soon okay? we don't have to go looking for that guy, it's all gonna be okay, c'mon..."
These noises echoed across the discolored, silent Hotland until fading away in the distance.
Quite a lot of sound coming from above me. I have my suspicions of who, precisely, is making the racket. But only because there are no other living things in this plane of reality, my mad "followers" of mine aside.
Speaking of which, I have yet to see any more. I wonder briefly if the shouting I hear is because of the human stumbling onto and, foolishly, rescuing another one, but on further listens it doesn't sound like a fight. There aren't enough blasts from Subject 1. Sans. His emitters give him a primary advantage in any fight against any other monster.
This makes me glad that he probably isn't fighting one. After all, if he found my piece before I did, he could theoretically keep it for himself.
No, it's not him who's making that noise. It doesn't sound like the human either.
Who... is that?
It's very loud, very loud indeed. And it rises and falls, an inhuman wailing.
I recognize the voice, now, but I can't make out the words. Perhaps... the words don't really matter when the meaning itself is clear. I can recognize the tones of hysteria.
First one, and then the other. They come, and then they remember. They're appearing like demons waiting to remind me of the things that I've done, just when I manage to get my consciousness back. And unlike Subject 1, who displayed quite an understandable aggression, Subject 2 is panic- displaying a fear-based reaction instead. Whether it's because of finding himself in this dead world, or perhaps because of ...remembering me, who dwells inside it, it's not important.
...It's...
...noisy, and interrupting my concentration on the task at hand, so I'd like for it to stop. But I don't know what to do about it. I certainly can't approach them, not like this, not when they remember everything and certainly not when I'm still healing. But if they didn't remember...? No, that's a pointless speculation. It's impossible to make them forget except by removing me from their reality. Which is, in any case, beyond my means.
The task at hand... the task at hand... what was I doing again? That's right, studying the bright spots I've been finding in Hotland. They were not here when last I was, and they certainly were not here when I was scattered across multiple planes. At least, I do not remember them being so. So since that's the case, something is terribly wrong for them to start cropping out now.
On the one hand, it's a very good feeling for me to have at least a trace of the true reality back, even if it's just small spot where this reality has begun interceding into the old one. On the other hand, this means that in that true reality, where everyone else resides, there are growing spots filled with this dead place instead.
How could this have happened? Is it my fault? Perhaps getting four new inhabitants was too much for this world to take. Then, would our return set it back to normal? Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to this question beyond a "maybe."
I will need to apply more research to this problem.
And that means... for the moment, ignoring the distractions above this walkway.
Author's Note: Well with that, for the next couple chapters at least, I don't think there are going to be any more Gaster translations down in this box because the phone will do it instead. Yay for me! :D
This chapter turned out not being as long as I thought it would be because I'm splitting it, so there you go.
Next Chapter: In True Lab (I'M SORRY IT DOESN'T QUITE MATCH)