Frisk stood up and dusted themselves up. While smoothing their shirt, they knocked something off.
"What the-?" It was a piece of paper, a sticky note that read,
"THIS IS MY PHONE NUMBER. FEEL FREE TO CALL ME ANYTIME! PLATONICALLY. BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE YOU THAT WAY."
"We'll put it in your phone later, let's get moving."
"Right."
They left the Skeleton house and turned to go back the way they came from, past the colder than average spot they fought Papyrus at. They found a cave, seemingly carved out by the river that passed next to Snowden.
"That's a spooky cave."
"Oh yes, very scary. The imagination runs wild. Maybe it has monsters in it." Chara said with mock terror. Frisk was wordless as they entered, first from annoyance, then awe.
"Look how pretty it is!"
Water fell all around them, and the walls were aglow with gemstones of dazzling brightness and vibrant color.
"Oh, just you wait."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
Frisk was so caught up, they almost didn't notice the waterfall they almost fell into. They stopped with the screech of shoes grinding to a halt on smooth ground. They looked around, and next to them was the kid they talked to earlier, the orange and yellow creature without arms. He noticed them and became visibly more excited.
"Yo! Are you sneaking out to see her, too?"
"Who?"
"I don't know, I'll just nod." Frisk nodded frantically.
"I hope we didn't just agree to stalk a woman."
"Oh God, I didn't consider that."
"Awesome… She's the coolest, right!?"
"Okay, that's good, you don't creep on someone who's cool, right?"
"Evidently, not unless they're a skeleton."
"Hey!"
"We're out of Snowden, my part of the deal is complete." Chara said defensively.
"I wanna be just like her when I grow up." He seemed to think for a second.
"Hey, don't tell my parents I'm here. Ha ha."
Frisk gave a thumbs up, which the Monster Kid returned before turning away to look at the beautiful waterfall again.
They were about to walk away, when Frisk had a realization.
"Wait wait wait…"
"What, what?"
"That lady! The one mentioned at Grillby's. Oh no."
"What?"
"She's here, of course, why wouldn't she be, she lives here, oh no we are done for…" Chara descended into muttered ramblings, scaring Frisk more than anything else; Chara was always so calm, well, coherent, at least, and now they were completely senseless
"Who!?"
"Undyne. The Captain of the Royal Guard."
"Well uh, that sounds…" Frisk looked for anything to take Chara's mind away from this, 'Undyne,' "Hey look, there's a pretty flower!"
"Oh my God, it's an echo flower! Those things are the best!" Chara's mood immediately brightened and Frisk was relieved.
"You see, they're called echo flowers. They 'echo' whatever they last heard. It's really fun to just run around, and talk to them. Or, so I've heard." Chara quickly added. Frisk rolled their eyes, knowing they dabbled in them, probably a lot, then saw that Sans was watching them closely from a stand, covered in snow. He always looked so spooky, especially uncanny in such a surreal and beautiful place.
"Okay Frisk, we're just going to walk right by him and not respond to anything he says. Got it?"
"Got it." Frisk started walking.
"Hey kid, I'm going to Grillby's, wanna come?"
Frisk couldn't help looking up at Sans, and when he was so close, with his knowing smile and smooth features, they panicked. They nodded as quick as they could.
"Well, if you insist, I'll pry myself away from my work."
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
"I'm sorry I panicked!"
"Frisk, you need to learn to say NO!"
"I'm sorry!"
"Don't be sorry, be better!"
"Hey, ya coming?" Sans casually asked, from 20 feet away.
Frisk snapped back to the real world and nodded their head. Sans just cocked his to the side, like a skeletal question mark.
"Come on, then." He kept walking and Frisk hurried to catch up.
"We did it again."
"No, YOU did it again."
"Come on, it's hard to focus on you and everything else."
"Well, we better learn quick. Let's just get this over with." Chara sounded annoyed at Frisk's mistake and the following development, but more like a dog who peed on the rug and less than an explosive argument.
They began walking back towards Snowden when Sans caught them by the shoulder.
"Nah, not that way. I know a shortcut." He held their shoulder and began walking in the opposite direction. After a few steps, Frisk found themself at the entrance of Grillby's, with all the same familiar faces and the smell of wood all around. They looked up at Sans who winked, then said, "Fast shortcut, huh?" then started walking.
"What just happened?" Chara said fearfully.
"I-I…" Frisk just kept stuttering.
"Don't try too hard, your brain will melt, and I need that thing."
Sans had made his way to the bartop already, earning a warm welcome from everyone, so Frisk made their way as calmly as they could.
The weird yellow bird monster smiled then asked, "Hey Sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"
"Nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour. You must be thinking of brunch."
Everyone laughed and Sans beamed, smiling wider than usual.
"Wow, these guys are really trying to be happy, aren't they? If that joke is all it takes to make them laugh, even you could make a living as a comedian, Frisk."
"Ha. Ha."
Sans sat on one of the chairs and Frisk climbed on, with a little difficulty. Before sitting, they noticed a red whoopee cushion on the chair, and put it on the counter top. Frisk looked over to Sans with raised eyebrows and lips pulled tight in a straight line, expecting a confession.
Sans perked up a little, like he had a sudden revelation, "Whoops, watch where you sit down. Sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the chairs. Anyway, let's order."
"He's not fessing up."
"Yeah, he seems the type. An enigma, behind a riddle, inside a locked chest."
"What would that even look like?"
"Forget it." Chara looked at the menu. "Uh, let's get the burger. Prove to him you're a deadly carnivore, the top dog. Give him reason to never mess with you again."
"No, we're trying to make friends." Frisk thought for a moment. "But I'm getting the burger anyways, not because of the intimidation thing, but because I like burgers." Frisk knew it didn't sound convincing.
"Uh-hunh. Sure."
"Shut up!"
Frisk pointed to the burger on the menu.
"Hey, that sounds pretty good, Grillby, we'll have a double order of burg!"
They were silent for a few seconds, looking in opposite directions, when Sans spoke, "So, what do you think of my brother?"
Frisk immediately brightened and all the anxiety and fear they felt around Sans vanished. They began gushing about how cool Papyrus was, even pulling out their phone to show his number, then remembered it wasn't there yet, and put it in right in front of Sans.
"Alright kid, alright, I get it. Of course he's cool. You'd be cool too, if you wore that outfit everyday."
"Did you catch that Frisk, it means you're not cool." Chara said mockingly.
"I caught it." Frisk said annoyed.
"OOOOOOHHHHHHH!"
"He'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. Oh well, at least he washes it. And by that I mean he wears it in the shower."
"I really hope he's joking."
"I wouldn't be surprised either way."
"Here comes the grub." Grillby arrived with two burgers and gave a slight nod to both of them before grabbing another glass and cleaning it with a towel.
"Want some ketchup?"
"No Frisk, don't fall for it, I bet it's a prank!"
"You're right! Aww, but I like ketchup, and what if he's being honest?"
"Don't do it! We need food that's edible, not a ketchupy mess."
"Alright." Frisk sighed and shook their head.
"Alright, suit yourself." He took off the cap, then put it to his mouth, chugging the tomato paste until the bottle was empty.
Frisk leaned back and their eyes became huge.
"Do you like it that much?" Chara said, giggling.
"Shut up, Chara." They thought, never moving their eyes from the skeleton.
Sans continued to talk looking dead ahead. "Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree Papyrus tries real hard. Like how he keeps trying to be a part of the Royal Guard. One day, he went to the house of the head of the Royal Guard, and begged her to let him be in it. Of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight."
"Yeah, that sounds like him."
"But the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there."
"Oh my God." Frisk mentally facepalmed.
"Seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. It's, uh, still a work in progress. Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something. He turned to them.
Suddenly, a thumping sound rang in their ears. Frisk's casual smile disappeared. They looked around, and people were frozen in place, some mid-conversation, some in the middle of drinking, Grillby reaching for another glass. The room got dark, except for a circle around the two of them. Fear gripped their heart as they looked back at Sans.
"Have you ever heard of a talking flower?"
"Yes, yes we have, tell him what he wants to know, tell him quick before he kills us!" Chara was in their panicked rambling stage, but Frisk didn't have to be told twice.
"So you know all about it. The echo flower. They're all over the marsh. Say something to them and they'll repeat it, over and over."
"W-what about it?"
"What about it? Well, Papyrus told me something interesting the other day. Sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him. Flattery, advice, encouragement. Predictions. Weird, huh? Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. Keep an eye out, okay? Thanks."
Then everything came back to life, light flooded the room, the loud din returned and Grillby got back to work behind the counter. The only person that didn't go back to what they were doing before, was Frisk.
Sans got off the stool and faced the door. "Welp, that was a long break. I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long." He winked, and took a step to leave, before raising a bony finger and turning back to them.
"Oh, by the way, I'm flat broke. Can you foot the bill? It's just 10,000G." Before Frisk could even respond, Sans said, "Just kidding. Grillby, put it on my tab."
Frisk just sat there, both Frisk and Chara completely stunned, with no words to fill the silence. Eventually, they just turned around and ate both burgers. They were cold, but Grillby wordlessly came by and reheated them with his hands. He nodded again, then left using the back door.
"I think it's best if we just forget that ever happened."
"Yeah, good luck with that. I'll never look at an echo flower again. Dang it, he ruined one of my favorite flowers!"
"Well, I suppose it's time to get moving. The barrier isn't coming to us."
"But Undyne is."
"Oh come on, how bad can she be?"
Chara was silent for a few seconds. "I really hate it when you talk."
Frisk waved it off as Chara's usual cynicism, not giving it a second thought. That would later prove to be a mistake.