Facing The Heat
Hey guys! I actually managed to get this chapter done in a reasonable timeframe this time! I hope you all enjoy!
...
Undyne stiffened. "What?!"
Papyrus was a little worried, but steeled himself. "The other humans who fell. What happened to them? I mean, I know what happened to Yellow Soul, but what about the other five?"
"Papyrus, why are you worried about this?" Undyne asked.
"Because I need to make sure my friend is safe. And not only her, but King Asgore too. A-A friend of mine told me that King Asgore decreed that all humans were to be killed whether they had done anything bad or not. He...He said the human was the last one, that the king would kill her...that there were six coffins in the basement..." Papyrus blurted out, his bones rattling. "It-It doesn't sound like the Asgore I know...I know how kind he is...he's helped me so much...but Undyne, I can't lose the human like I lost Dad!" Tears filled his sockets. "I don't want anyone to get hurt...Please Undyne, you have to tell me the truth. I know you and Sans hide things from me to try to protect me, but please, I need to know the truth."
Undyne's eye softened. She pulled Papyrus into a hug and guided him to sit in a chair. "I don't know who the hell told you this, but things aren't like that. Look, Asgore's not going to hurt our little friend. The second she tells him she's going to help us break the barrier, he's going to jump on the chance to free us without having to fight her. Hell, he'll probably adopt her and her little sister knowing him. And...about the other humans who fell...he didn't kill them all. Three of them died in accidents. One killed some monsters and the family members of those monsters fought together and stopped them before they could hurt anyone else. And the very last one who fell, Purple Soul...They got past me into Hotland, and they got to the castle. They attacked Asgore. He had no choice but to kill them. It hurt him to do it, but he did what he had to." Undyne clenched her fists, and then she sighed. "That's...That's why I did what I did to our human, Paps. I didn't want him to get hurt again. Physically or emotionally. Papyrus, you asked me to be honest with you, and I will. Monsters are desperate to see the sun, and Asgore wants so badly to give that to us. And now that he can without hurting the kid, I promise you he'll take that option."
Papyrus nodded and hugged his friend softly. He felt a little better, though some worry still lingered. Still, he vowed to think positive and do whatever he could to make sure his loved ones were safe.
The door opened and Sans strolled in, carrying a greasy Grillby's container and a shake. "Hey guys. Got you your snacks...Is everything okay? Paps, have you been crying?" He walked up to his brother, looking concerned.
"He was just a little worried about the human." Undyne told him before Papyrus could brush it off and tell Sans that he just got something in his eyes or some other nonsense.
"Aww, Paps, don't worry. She'll be fine. But I can check on her when I do my shift at the hot dog stand this afternoon if it makes you feel better." Sans reassured him, patting his brother's shoulder.
"It would." Papyrus admitted. "Thanks, Sans."
...
"Now how the hell do you work this thing?" Frisk muttered, pressing every button on her phone as she walked through the stifling heat. It was beeping and vibrating as notifications from Alphys popped up, but she couldn't even figure out how to get a better look at them or call Alphys or anyone else, or access her items. She had never had a cell phone before the Underground, let alone one like this that was even fancier than the smartphones she had heard her classmates brag about having.
Come to think of it, did she even have Alphys' number?
"Chara, can you help me figure this out?" she asked her ghost friend.
Chara shook her head. "My last phone was a flip phone. I've never seen a phone like this before...Frisk, watch out!"
But it was too late as Frisk, still trying to figure out her phone, turned the corner, not seeing the small volcano monster that was doing the same. She tripped over the little monster, tumbling to the ground. "Ow..." She sat up, rubbing her hurt knee, and turned to the monster she had tripped over. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay!"
The monster gave her an adorable smile that reminded her of Tina. "I'm okay!" It then saw the tiny scrape on her knee. "But you're hurt! Here, I'll help!"
"Don't let them! Vulkin think their boiling lava is a healing medicine. It's not." Chara warned her and Frisk rolled out of the way just in time as the friendly little volcano shot several bolts of hot lava at her.
The little Vulkin looked very confused and a little hurt when Frisk dodged their attempts at healing. Frisk felt the need to comfort them. "Hey...thank you so much for trying to help me, but lava doesn't heal my kind like it probably can yours. It's too hot for us. It could really hurt me, okay?" Vulkin looked down sadly and Frisk gave them a hug. "But you were so nice to try. I bet with practice and learning different techniques for different monsters, you'll soon be able to heal everybody!"
Vulkin perked up immediately, nuzzling into the hug. Frisk winced a little as they were pretty hot, but didn't pull away. "I will, nice strange monster! I'll work really hard and be the best healer ever!"
Frisk grinned as she let them go. "I know you will!"
The little Vulkin then dropped some gold at her feet. "Here! You can buy a Nice Cream! It'll make you feel all better until I learn how to heal!"
"Aww, that's really nice of you. But you don't need to do that. It's just a teeny tiny scrape. It's not even bleeding. See?" Frisk tried to reassure the little creature as she tried to return its money.
Vulkin pushed it back to her. "But I wanna help!"
Frisk knew it was not going to take no for an answer. "Thank you. You're so sweet, you know that?"
The little Vulkin lit up like a Christmas tree, their cheeks glowing red. They bounced away happily and Frisk waved goodbye. "Okay, that was just too cute." she thought to Chara, her heart practically melted into a puddle.
Chara was smiling too. "All Vulkin are like that. You did really well with them, Frisk."
"I learned from taking care of Tina. They're a lot like her minus the boiling lava." Frisk headed into the next room where two conveyor belts waited. There was another notification from Alphys about calling her, but her phone didn't ring, so she jumped on the first conveyor belt she saw, wobbling a bit, but keeping her balance as it carried her across, letting her off on the other side. Another notification appeared on her phone, again saying something about calling but Frisk couldn't read the whole thing.
"Any time now, Alphys." Chara muttered as Frisk jumped on the next set of conveyor belts.
These took a series of winding turns and sharp corners as they whisked Frisk to the other side, and the human girl was clutching her stomach when she climbed off. "Ugh, I feel like I'm going to hurl."
"You know, Undyne always pukes on these things too." Chara mentioned.
Frisk groaned. "Please don't talk about puking." She waited a moment until her stomach stopped doing somersaults, then continued on her way.
Another status from Alphys appeared on her phone. She tapped it and was finally able to read it fully, holding the phone close to her face as she squinted at the small letters.
*I HATE USING THE PHONE I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS LMAO
"You're not the only one." Frisk muttered, still trying to figure out how to call. "I hate this phone...Don't tell Alphys I said that..."
Chara rolled her eyes. "How could I? No one can hear me, remember?"
"Sorry."
"Hey, I was just messing with you."
...
They entered the next area where a small plane was sitting near a set of air vents, its engine revving quietly. For some reason it was wearing a cap with thin ribbons streaming from it. Frisk started to walk up, wondering how an intact human airplane had got into the Underground and why someone had put a hat on it, only to jump back as the plane whirled around to face her, glaring at her.
"Oh. You're another monster." Frisk blurted out intelligently.
"Yeah. And?" the plane asked, rolling her eyes. "Idiot human." She turned away and glared in the other direction, but Chara noticed her looking at Frisk with a faint blush on her cheeks.
"That's Tsunderplane. She seems mean, but does she secretly like you?" Chara teased, thinking Tsunderplane wouldn't be able to hear her.
But Tsunderplane rolled back around and glared at Chara. "No way! I do NOT like that human just because they were all sickeningly sweet and nice with Vulkin or anything!"
Chara and Frisk's eyes went wide. "Wait. Did you actually just hear and see me?" Chara asked in shock while Frisk was still trying to find her voice.
"Yes, you're standing right next to that other human I certainly do NOT like and are being a smartass! Do you think i'm stupid or something?" Tsunderplane growled and shot some small bomb bullets at Chara. They of course went right through Chara, but a few grazed Frisk, making her yelp. Tsunderplane looked concerned, then immediately covered it up with a look of annoyance. She moved back a little, "accidentally" bumping Frisk with her wing as she did, making the small human stumble a little.
"Geez. If you like her, take her out to dinner or something instead of trying to kill her." Chara muttered under her breath as she checked on Frisk
Tsunderplane tensed. "I TOLD you, I do NOT..."
"Hey! Both of you, stop it!" Frisk yelled and both Tsunderplane and Chara looked at her. Wanting to make peace, Frisk smiled disarmingly at Tsunderplane and approached, but didn't get too close. "Hey, don't mind Chara. Sometimes she goes overboard with the teasing."
Tsunderplane's cheeks somehow went red. "Human...I...Whatever. Here." She opened a cargo hatch on her belly and dumped some gold at Frisk's feet. Before Frisk could say anything more, the airplane monster took off.
Frisk gathered up the pile of gold. "Well, that was weird."
"Sorry, Frisk. I didn't know she could hear me. Didn't mean for you to get hurt."Chara apologized.
"Eh, don't worry. Nothing some of Papyrus's spaghetti can't fix." Frisk told her, taking a container of said spaghetti out of her backpack and taking a bite. Her eyes then widened. "Chara, do you know what this means?!"
"You're the first human in the history of ever to have an airplane fall in love with you?"
"No...Chara, she SAW you! And she heard you! Someone else besides me can see and hear you now!" Frisk told her, grinning widely. "Maybe more people will be able to see you soon! We can tell your family you're here, and now that someone else can see you, they'll know I'm not lying or hallucinating! We..."
Chara frowned softly. "No."
"No? But Chara..."
"I can't."
"Why not?" Frisk eyes were full of concern, and Chara turned away, feeling even more guilty at the look on her friend's face.
"I can't tell you. Not yet. Please, Frisk," Chara whispered, looking down. "Just give me more time."
Frisk finally conceded. "I...all right. But, you should tell them sometime. They love you, Chara, and they miss you."
They won't after what I've done. Chara thought to herself before giving Frisk a fake smile. "I know."
They continued on, and Chara floated behind Frisk so that Frisk wouldn't see the guilt written all over her face. She still hadn't told Frisk that Sans had seemed to hear and feel her during the Shyren concert. Yet another thing she had hid from her friend. And now Tsunderplane could see and hear her. Would more monsters start?
She wasn't ready for this. If they knew she was back, she would have to face what she had done. Everyone would hate her. Wasn't it better to be a good memory than a bad reality?
She wished she could just disappear. But Frisk needed her. Yet Frisk was only in danger because of her.
Frisk glanced back with worried eyes and Chara tried to fake another smile. It felt like it was splitting open her face. Frisk of course noticed and got even more concerned, but didn't push her further, respecting her space. Chara felt even more guilty for making her worry. She was truly awful for doing this. She was a demon. And she was too cowardly to tell anyone the truth.
She felt the sins crawling on her back.
...
Frisk was still very worried about Chara, but it wasn't the only thing tying her stomach in knots.
She hated. Those. Freaking. Air Vents.
Whose sadistic idea for a puzzle was to create vents that would propel you from one spot to the other, sending you flying perilously over hot steam and lava and nearly making you lose your lunch all at the same time?
"Hey, that's the most fun puzzle in the Underground you're thinking about! Where else do you get to fly?" Chara said playfully. Her smile still wasn't real, but she looked like she was feeling a little bit better, so Frisk rolled her eyes and went along with it.
"Yeah, I'd rather keep my feet on solid ground, thanks." Frisk told her.
Chara just shook her head. "Baby."
As Frisk took a deep breath, trying to steel herself for the next set of vomit comets, she heard her phone ding again.
Alphys updated Status: Omg ive had my claw over the last digit for 5 minutes omg I'm just gonna do it! I'm just gonna call! A minute later, Frisk's phone rang, but before Frisk could even figure out how to answer it, Alphys hung up.
Frisk shook her head. "Am I really that scary to talk to?"
"No, she's just weird."
...
After a few more air vents, a dizzying ride on a conveyor belt to nowhere, and Frisk stealing an old fry pan someone had left on the ground like the kleptomaniac she was and squeezing it into her backpack, they finally found the right path, only to realize it was blocked by a line of orange and blue lasers. Frisk's phone rang again, and she tried to answer it, cluelessly pressing all the buttons but accidentally hanging up instead of answering. "Chara, help! I don't know what to do!"
"I'm not sure how to help you with your phone, but don't worry. I know this puzzle. The orange lasers you can walk right through. They only hurt you if you don't move. The blue lasers are like blue magic, so hold still when one passes over you. It can't hurt you if you don't move. Whenever it moves out of your way, go forward." Chara instructed.
Frisk obeyed and went through the puzzle, being extra careful. She was grazed by one of the blue lasers, but not badly hurt.
More status updates came from a clearly worried Alphys.
*Oh no the human didn't answer! did I make her mad?
*what if she's hurt I should have called her sooner
*Omg i forgot to give her my number so she cant call me back
*im total trash, lol
*Heres a picture of me
It said that Alphys had posted a picture, but Frisk couldn't figure out how to view it. She felt awful. She didn't want Alphys to feel bad about herself just because Frisk had no clue how to work a smartphone.
"Frisk, don't feel bad. We'll find someone to help you with your phone and then you can call and explain it to Alphys." Chara soothed. "She'll understand."
Frisk felt a little better as she headed into the next room via another air vent. Three paths lay ahead of her. Picking at random, she chose the northern one first, but the door was locked, forcing her to go back. Not knowing which way to go now, she chose the left path.
After jumping off the air vent, she realized the path was completely blocked off by a blue laser. Two monsters were trapped on the other side with nowhere to go, but didn't seem concerned, standing and chatting with one another. Both were wearing school uniforms, long starched white sleeved shirts with black skirts and orange ties. One was purple with long horns and floppy ears and was standing with one foot on a skateboard as they talked with their friend, who looked remarkably like Grillby but had bright green flames and was more slender.
Frisk walked over, careful not to touch the laser. "Hey, are you guys okay?"
The girls turned to her. "Yeah, we're fine, but we were just hanging out and a bunch of puzzles just suddenly reactivated out of nowhere!" the monster with a skateboard told her with a distinctively female sounding voice. "Now we're stuck here, which means...We don't have to go to school today! I'm Stella, by the way, but everyone calls me Skateboard Girl because I'm the best skateboarder in the Underground." she bragged lightly.
"I'm Fuku." the other monster told her. "Think you could call someone to get us out of here? My phone's out of battery and my lovely friend here decided it would be fun to take selfies while skateboarding last week and totally destroyed her phone."
"Aww, Fuku, don't you want to cut class with me?" Stella asked, pouting playfully.
"We don't even HAVE school today. Spring break, remember?"
"Oh yeah..."
Frisk hid a giggle. "I'll try calling Alphys..." She paused, blushing in embarrassment. "Um, could one of you tell me how to work my phone, please? I just got it today and the touch screen is kicking my butt."
Before the two could answer, Frisk's phone rang, showing Papyrus's number. She again started hitting buttons, trying to answer it. "Damn, why won't it pick up?"
Fuku came closer to examine it, careful not to bump the blue laser. "You've gotta slide the green button with the phone shape on it to the right." she told her.
Frisk did, managing to get it on the second try and held the phone to her ear.
"Hey punk, what's with not answering your phone?! Alphys is worried sick!" Undyne yelled through the phone, making Frisk have to hold it away from her.
"Sorry, Undyne. Alphys gave me a brand new smartphone, which was really, really sweet of her, but I couldn't figure out how to answer it, or do anything with it, until Fuku showed me." she explained.
"Ohh. Yeah, they can be tricky. I broke two of mine trying to figure out how to work them. Don't worry, punk! I'll call Alphys for you. "
"Can you let her know someone activated the puzzles in Hotland and two girls are trapped behind a blue laser by the...Um, where are we?"
"Space Battle Puzzle room, the left one." Stella explained.
Frisk told this to Undyne, who said she would tell Alphys right away. She hung up, and less than five minutes later, Alphys called.
"Human! I, um, I'm so sorry about this! I should have told you how to operate your new phone before you left, and I, um..."
"Hey, don't worry about it. I should have asked and I forgot." Frisk assured her.
"It..It's okay! I'll walk you through it now! But first...Undyne told me you said someone r-reactivated the puzzles and..and two girls are trapped by a laser?"
Frisk nodded even though Alphys couldn't see it. "Yeah, the Space Battle Puzzle room. The left one."
"Hold on, let me pull up the camera...okay, I can see you. Y-You're right...Every single one of the puzzles have been activated. I-I think this might be Mettaton's doing..." She didn't sound at all surprised by this. "B-But don't worry! A-As the Royal Scientist, I have some tricks up my sleeve. I'll h-hack into th-the Hotland laser database and take the laser out!"
The laser flickered out right after she said this and Stella and Fuku stepped out, Fuku looking relieved and Stella looking mildly disappointed. They both thanked Frisk and Alphys and headed off.
...
Alphys stayed on the line with Frisk, talking her through how to use her new smartphone, from using the contacts, texting, and dialing to looking things up, posting on the monster social media sites, taking pictures, and using her dimensional boxes.
Frisk did the two space battle puzzles with Chara's help and got through the rest of the area while listening to Alphys, smiling as her new friend spoke. As Alphys talked, her stutter decreased and she began to speak more confidently. Frisk was throughly enjoying talking to her. The scientist was clearly smart and had a witty, if a little self-deprecating, sense of humor.
They were still chatting as Frisk entered a cool, air-conditioned room with a light blue tiled floor. But as she progressed, the lights dimmed, then the room grew pitch black. Frisk felt a cold shiver of dread running down her spine. She had a feeling who was behind this. "Chara, can you see anything?"
"No, but I've got your back. Just be careful."
"H-Hey, it...it's kind of dark in here, isn't it?" Alphys sounded nervous again. "Don't worry! I'll hack into the light system and brighten it up!" The lights quickly turned on and Frisk blinked at finding herself on the set of what looked like a cooking show, standing in front of a counter. The kitchen was fully equipped with a fridge, microwave, a large stove, and a window cheerfully painted to look like the sky.
"Oh no..." Alphys groaned.
Mettaton suddenly popped up dramatically from where he had been apparently hiding under the counter. "OHHHH YES! Welcome, beauties, to the Underground's premier cooking show! He waved his hand and a light up banner appeared on the counter that read "Cooking With A Killer Robot."
"Pre-heat your ovens, because we've got a very special recipe for you today!" Frisk tensed, pretty sure he was going to say that the recipe was for roasted human. "We're going to be making...a cake! My lovely assistant here will gather the ingredients. Everybody give them a big hand!"
Frisk once again smiled awkwardly and waved at the camera as canned applause filled the room and a shower of rainbow confetti was dumped over her. She knew something deadly was coming, but had no idea when or what it was.
"I'll keep an eye out. Just play along." Chara whispered to her and Frisk subtly nodded.
"We need sugar, milk, and eggs. Go for it, sweetheart!" Mettaton encouraged. Frisk nodded, not wanting to anger him. She looked around for the ingredients and saw them sitting right on the counter. She sidestepped over, keeping her eye on Mettaton the whole time.
"That's it, darling! Show the camera your best side!" Mettaton told her. He sounded amused.
Frisk examined the ingredients to see if there was a bomb or something in any of them. There wasn't, so she gingerly picked them up one by one and carried them to the counter warily, still watching Mettaton.
"Perfect! Great job, beautiful! We've got all the ingredients to bake the cake. Milk, sugar, eggs...Oh my! Wait a magnificent moment! How could I forget! We're missing the most important ingredient!"
"Frisk! Get away from him! He's got..." Chara started, but Mettaton quickly reached under the counter and pulled out a massive chainsaw, making Chara's words moot.
"A human soul!" Mettaton said disturbingly cheerfully. He revved it up and began moving menacingly towards Frisk, who backed away, trying to get to the door.
And then Frisk's phone rang. Mettaton sighed and grabbed it from her before she could even do anything. "Hello...? I'm kind of in the middle of something here.
"W-Wait a second! Couldn't you make a...couldn't you use a... Couldn't you make a substitution in the recipe?!" Alphys asked worriedly.
"...A substitution? You mean, like a different, non-human ingredient?" he asked. "...Why?"
"Uhh, what if someone's... Vegan?" Alphys stammered.
Mettaton paused. "...Vegan."
Frisk could hear Alphys start to panic. "Um, well, I mean..."
"That's a brilliant idea, Alphys! Actually, I happen to have an option right here! MTT-Brand Always Convenient Human-Soul Flavor Substitute! A can of which...Is just over on that counter!" He passed Frisk back her phone and waved to the other side of the room where a little red and white jar sat innocently on a tiny counter.
"So he just happened to have that, sitting on the other side of the room, the whole time?" Chara asked incredulously.
"It's probably a trick." Frisk thought.
"Well, darling? Why don't you go get it?" Mettaton requested. Frisk warily went over, expecting him to try to stab her in the back.
That didn't happen, but as soon as Frisk reached the counter, it rumbled and then lowered into the ground before shooting up into the air, a leaning tower of what looked like a lot of other small counters.
If Mettaton had a face, he probably would have been smirking. "By the way, this show runs on a strict schedule. If you can't get the can in the next one minute...We'll just have to go back to the original plan. So...better start climbing, beautiful!" He activated his jet boosters and shot into the air.
Alphys suddenly called again. "Oh no! There's not enough time to climb up! F-f-fortunately, I might have a plan! When I was upgrading your phone, I added a few...features. See that big yellow button that says "Jetpack? It should have just enough fuel to get you up there..."
"Wait. Alphys put a jet pack on your phone. One with just enough fuel to do this very obscure task?" Chara asked suspiciously.
"Alphys, there's a bunch of big yellow buttons here!" Frisk pointed out frantically, too freaked out about possibly getting murdered to hear Chara. She struggled to find it, flipping through the ten zillion icons that were on her smartphone, trying to read the tiny letters on the icons as fast as she could. She saw a yellow one and thought it was the jetpack, so she quickly pressed it, then both she and Mettaton jumped about a mile as a bolt of yellow light shot out of her phone, hitting the tower of counters and making it shake precariously.
Mettaton quickly steadied the tower before it fell. "Darling, give me that before you destroy my set!" He snatched the phone out of Frisk's hands and hit the actual jetpack button before handing it back to her, surprising Frisk.
The phone transformed right in her hands, getting larger and forming rocket boosters. It floated in the air and then sent out metal straps, wrapping them around Frisk's back.
"Now you have one minute, beautiful! Better get that can!" Mettaton said as he zoomed towards the top of the tower. The jetpack shot up, carrying Frisk up with it.
Mettaton laughed and threw eggs down at her. Frisk quickly shifted her weight, dodging most of them, but still got hit by some. As they ascended, bags of flour and cakes rained down on Frisk and she dodged as best she could, but her clothes still ended up being covered in a goopy mess of ingredients. The seconds were ticking down, and she reached the top with only a few seconds to spare.
Mettaton sighed dramatically. "My, my. It seems you've bested me. But only because you've had the help of the brilliant Doctor Alphys! Oh, I loathe to think of what might have happened to you without her! Well, toodles!" He flew off, then immediately returned. "And...about the substitution...Haven't you ever seen a cooking show before? I already baked the cake ahead of time! So forget it!" He then flew off again.
Frisk growled and grabbed the can as the jetpack gently floated her down. "I nearly got killed and I'm covered from head to toe in fucking cake batter all to get this stupid thing, so I'm keeping it!" she fumed aloud.
Chara shook her head in amusement. "Frisk, you don't even know what that is."
"I don't care!"
Frisk carefully pulled off her jetpack and watched as it transformed back into a cell phone. She stuck the can of whatever in one of her dimensional boxes like Alphys had shown her, then spotted the eggs, milk, and sugar sitting on the long counter, scooped them up and put them in her box as well.
Chara laughed. "Feel better now that you've revenge stolen from Mettaton?"
"Frankly, yes. All he does is waste these anyway. At least now they'll go to a good cause. I can feed Tina for days with all this." She looked proudly at her new treasures, then cleaned herself up as best she could at the sink before starting to head off. Her phone rang and she picked it up.
"W-Wow! We...We did it!" Alphys said, clearly relieved. "We...We really did it! Great job out there, team!"
"It's all thanks to you, Alphys. You saved my butt out there again. I don't know how I can ever repay you." Frisk told her gratefully.
Alphys squeaked in clear embarrassment. "D-Don't worry about it. I'm just h-happy to help!" She sounded a tiny bit guilty about something, though Frisk assumed she was still just beating herself up over Mettaton's malfunction. Chara however, looked a bit suspicious.
"Seriously, Alphys, you're awesome." Frisk told her sincerely, wanting to cheer her friend.
Alphys let out another little squeak at all the praise. "T-T-Thanks. Now, uh...let's keep moving forward!"
Not wanting to embarrass Alphys further, Frisk let it go and left Mettaton's set, going back into the oppressive heat. After a few steps, Alphys seemed to calm down and spoke again. "S-See that building in the distance? That's the Core, the source of all power for the underground. It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity, by...Uhh, anyway, that's where we're going to go. In the Core is an elevator directly to Asgore's castle. And from there...you can go home." Alphys then hung up. Frisk grinned, glad she was getting closer and closer to her sister.
...
"Frisk, did everything about that cooking show seem just too...convenient to you? Alphys installing a jetpack on your phone that had just enough fuel to get you up that tower she should have never known about?" Chara asked her friend as Frisk boarded the R1 elevator.
"Well, installing a jetpack on a phone is a little...random, but I'm not surprised about the fuel thing. How much fuel could a phone jetpack actually have? Maybe it was just a prototype or something." Frisk suggested, wanting to defend Alphys, though she had to admit Chara had a point.
"There's more to it though. Mettaton just HAPPENED to have a can of "human soul flavor substitute" sitting on a counter that was already rigged to go up like that like he was expecting Alphys to call and suggest the substitution. It's like this was all rehearsed or something. Everything except for your little laser mishap."
"You're right. And Mettaton actually helped me with my jetpack instead of leaving me stuck there and killing me after the timer went out. He might have said it was to keep me from destroying his set, but he could have just destroyed my phone if that was the case." Frisk realized, feeling a little stupid for not seeing it sooner. She leaned against the wall as the elevator ascended, rubbing her forehead. "If he actually wants me dead, that was pretty counterproductive. But if he doesn't want me dead, why the hell is he doing all this in the first place?"
Chara shrugged her shoulders. "He's a TV star. Ratings maybe?"
"Maybe. I've only seen TV at school but I have heard my classmates talking about TV shows and I know people do some pretty crazy things for television. But I'm still keeping my guard up just in case this is all a set of weird coincidences and he is actually trying to kill me. We'll see what happens next time...if there is a next time. If anything else "convenient" happens, we'll know it's just an act." Frisk thought as the elevator doors slid open and she stepped out.
"That makes sense." Chara agreed as she followed Frisk out and the two continued on their way.
...
Sans was relaxing in his hot dog booth and debating taking a break to check on the human now that the lunch rush had subsided when he spotted her walking down the path towards him. She hadn't seen him yet and was looking at her phone, giggling at something on it. For a brief second, he thought he saw Chara, looking over the kid's shoulder as she once had with him when they took turns playing on the gameboy his dad built for him, and then heard her faint giggle fill the air.
He blinked and it was all gone. His soul ached and he shook his head. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he stop seeing and hearing his long dead best friend? He needed to stop projecting her onto the human. It wasn't fair to the kid, and it certainly wasn't fair to him, or Chara's memory.
He needed to accept that she was gone.
He pushed his feelings away and waved to get the human's attention. "Hey kid!"
She jumped for a second and took her eyes off her phone. When she saw him, her eyes lit up. "Sans!" She hurried over to him. "How are you doing?"
"Pretty good. Just working the 'dog stand today. Want some? They're only 30G."
She smiled. "Sure, I'll have one." She counted out 30G.
"Cool. What do you want on it?"
She shrugged. "Surprise me."
He grinned as he built her hot dog. "Okay. You know, kid, I RELISH customers like you." He held out a bottle of relish playfully, making her giggle, and poured a good amount on her hot dog. "it impresses me when people MUSTARD the courage to try my weird food combinations." He poured on a bit of mustard, then added some pickled onions. "Without people like you to buy my stuff, I'd be in a pickle. And when I try to make the Sans Supreme at home, Paps thinks I'm NUTS." He slathered just a bit of peanut butter on her hot dog and handed it over. She shook her head as she giggled.
Another achingly familiar giggle filled the air again. "You know, Sans, you're DOG-gone weird."
It was Chara's voice, the words exactly what she would have said if she was here, the teasing inflection unmistakable. He saw her again, those beautiful brown eyes sparkling, the signature blush bright on her cheeks and she was giving him that smile she used to reserve only for him.
He clutched his head, squeezing his sockets shut. His head pounded. He was hallucinating. He was going crazy. He needed to stop this before he made himself hurt more than he already was. She wasn't there. She was gone. She would never come back and he needed to let her go.
"Sans? Sans are you all right?" It was the human again, her voice concerned. He opened his eyes. It was just her again. Hallucination Chara was gone.
He took a deep breath. His skull slowly stopped pounding. "Sorry, kid. Just a bit of a headache."
She frowned worriedly. "Do you need me to call Papyrus?"
He shook his head. "Nah, it feels better now. Probably just means I need a nap. I only got eight hours of sleep last night and I'm BONE tired." She didn't seem convinced. "Aww, kid, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Just go get your sister. I promise if it gets worse, I'll go home. Okay?"
She felt his forehead much like Papyrus did when his brother was worried he was sick. Realizing that he didn't have a fever or anything, she finally relented. "All right. Just call me or Papyrus if you need anything, okay?"
He nodded. He swore that once again he saw Chara. Her smile was gone and she looked just as concerned as the human who was actually there. He did his best to ignore the hallucination and smiled at Little Red Soul until she finally left.
When she was no longer looking, he finally let his smile droop. He needed help. Maybe he should go back to that grief counselor.
Or go to Grillby's and drink until he forgot why he was upset. That idea sounded appealing but he reluctantly dismissed it. The last time he had done this, he had passed out at Grillby's and ended up terrifying Paps. He didn't want to make his brother worry any more than he already was. Papyrus was going through enough already.
Before he could decide what to do, he heard a yelp and quickly turned to see what it was. The human had been cornered by a Pyrope. He quickly got up to help her, but she pacified it before he even got to her side, though she did end up with a few bad burns.
He quickly went to heal her, his eye lighting up as he started to do a soul check to see how hurt she was, but she smiled reassuringly, told him she was okay and pulled one of Papyrus's containers of spaghetti out of her bag and took a few bites. Her soul glowed and surged with energy. It practically sang with power.
For a second, he got a double image and two sets of stats, but it quickly settled back to her normal stats.
Little Red LV 1
HP 20/20
AT: 10
DF:10
0 EXP
She's filled with Determination.
He felt a cold chill up his spine. Determination. It was what he theorized had let Flowey the power to control time, to do with it whatever he chose. And the evil flower had so much of it, was practically made of it.
But did Little Red, with her powerful human soul, have more, even with her low HP? Was this why Flowey hadn't reset or even loaded, despite the fact that things weren't going his way?
Was the power of Reset now in her hands?
She was asking if he was okay again. He snapped back to reality. "I'm fine, kid. Are you okay? Those burns looked pretty bad. I was worried." It was the truth, even if it wasn't what he was currently worried about, and she bought it and relaxed a little. He told her he was going to go to Grillby's and she let him go, though he still caught her giving him a concerned look.
He hurried to the ferry and told the River Person to take him to Snowdin, sitting there deep in thought and ignoring whatever it was the River Person was talking about this time.
Thinking back on it, he had noticed something odd about the kid. Something powerful despite her not so good HP. She had handled the cold in Snowdin for hours before she finally succumbed to it, even with clothes that now that he looked back on it were extremely unsuited for the weather, something he hadn't noticed at the time because he was a skeleton and didn't feel the cold. She had fallen from a very high bridge, hit her head and had a mild concussion but was still coherent, even witty, despite it. She was way too thin and malnourished, and while she seemed to suffer some effects from it, it was like something was negating the worst of what she should have suffered. All of those things could point to high Determination.
But he needed to know for sure. He needed to test that this was for real and not just a product of whatever was going on with his mind, like his hallucinations of Chara.
The boat reached Snowdin and he hopped out, saying goodbye to the River Person and not really hearing what they were saying as he rushed to his lab.
He needed answers.