Chapter 3: Snowdin - Part 1
"This place looks…" Frisk began. "It looks…"
"Awful?" Sans said, still with a skeletal grin on his face. "Disastrous? Trashy? A hell zone? Don't worry kiddo. I doubt anyone here will feel offended by whatever you say about it. Snowdin has seen indeed seen much better days."
The town didn't prove much better once they finally crossed the surprisingly sturdy bridge. In fact, what surprised Frisk about it was that it had managed to somehow look worse up close. All the clumsy-looking buildings on the verge of collapsing, the decaying look and feel, and the countless marks of ruination everywhere were now in clear, uncomfortable detail. That with the addition of the gruesome stench that Frisk could tell seemed to be a mixture of month old clothing, spoiled food, the uncleanliness of wet animal fur, and burning wood and oil, just made this town already completely unforgettable in a sorrowful way, like a funeral for an old friend.
Frisk looked around, saddened and shocked, at the dozen of monsters of many types who paid no heed to the newcomers, who looked almost as miserable as the town itself. She counted so many new creatures she had never seen, which most humans had never seen, including a lot of ones resembling human-sized animals, standing upright and wearing, although torn and dirty, clothes like humans. Mostly they consisted of bunnies and hares with a few mice, equines, a single bear, and other mammals Frisk didn't recognize. That's not mentioning the ones with fewer or even no animal characteristics in general, including one that looked like a black-eyed, imp-like figure with horns and a devilish face that was clearly forcing a smile, a group gelatinous mostly round, colourless blobs of various sizes and wearing differing torn hats or fake beards, a fleshy, reptilian-like creature with long ears and an impish tail, and there was even one humanoid creature that seemed to be purely made of green fire, wearing torn clothing Frisk couldn't understand why it didn't burn. But she didn't think much of it. She, in fact, tried to not think much of this, not because she didn't really care or wasn't at all impressed, but rather she didn't want to. She even found it hard to accept just the slightest joy she felt at what she knew should be a groundbreaking sight for a human.
Frisk had been waiting these last few hours to feel joy and excitement at seeing a town full of strange monsters and creatures from the old fantasies and folktales come to life before her sight, but now that she finally stood there, in what was now just the ruins of a happier time she long missed all the possible joy and excitement she selfishly had now was drowned by the overwhelming grief and pity.
"What in the world happened to this town?" Flowey asked the bulging skeleton, sounding more befuddled than Frisk had ever heard him so far.
"What hasn't happened to this town rather?" Sans replied. "Ever since the war ended, all manner of things were thrown this way in the decade and a half that followed. Oh, yeah, there was a war down here Frisky, just in case you humans were out of the loop on your monster history."
"We've heard that," Flowey said. "Or she did rather. I kinda had a few memories about that era and… ok, a lot of it was missing so I kinda learned as well. But it was more of a dusty recap rather than anything."
"Wait a minute Flowey," Frisk began as she just realized something. "I seem to recall that you said you fell into your coma around like 3-5 years ago or something. Yet according to the teens back there, the war officially ended in over a decade and a half or more ago. Shouldn't you at least have some memories of it? Or at least of how this town actually looked? I know you have some sort of amnesia, but forgetting an entire war and the state of a town feels kinda… stretching it."
"Well I was technically born after the war actually," Flowey answered. "I'm not that old, geez."
"Oh sorry," Frisk said. "But… shouldn't you have at least remember some sign of decay?"
"Of course there were some signs of decay," Flowey replied. "The town had problems yeah, a couple of empty buildings, plenty of homeless monsters and whatnot. But this? Snowdin wasn't nearly THIS bad, and I can assure you, I remember it well. I mean, it was admittedly already kinda one of the worst looking places down here 5 years ago, but this is like a whole new level of awfulness."
"That makes a bit of sense," Frisk replied. "It's just… I don't know. I expected more."
"Well, I think the real question is," Flowey began. "How in the world did this place manage to turn this bad in just 5 years?"
"No idea, you tell me," Sans answered, still grinning. "Hell, last year, I thought that was finally the worst Snowdin could get. But somehow, lo and behold, the cool people of Snowdin, pun intended, found a way to sink even further down. If I had to mindlessly throw out blame like an Undernet commenter, then I'm guessing it's a mixture tax increase, poor leadership and the capital seemingly just leaving us to our own devices while at the same time not letting us have a mayor or even say in the matter for some reason."
"Jesus," Frisk muttered softly as she looked around the town.
She saw that the inhabitants were finally looking and paying some attention to Sans and the two newcomers, although with seemingly little care. She was partly relieved to see that none of them seemed to recognize her as a human, although a creeping worry of that still lingered in her mind.
"Of course there was also The Royal Hunt," Sans suddenly blurted out. "Been making this place worse for years during their… let's say antics for the children that might be listening."
"Hang on," Frisk said. "I want to ask you something. What do you know of… The Hunt. And also, do you know anything about… about…"
Frisk found it hard to continue. She didn't know why but just muttering the name seemed impossible and it brought shivers through her body.
"About Mickey?" Sans asked casually.
Frisk stopped in her tracks and looked at him with slight unease.
"Uhh yeah," Frisk said, sounding worried. "How the… how did you know I was gonna ask about him?"
"Eh, I'm good at reading others," Sans answered simply and stopped as well.
"Right…" Frisk said, unconvinced. "You're not like… a mind reader or anything?"
"Of course not," Sans replied. "That would've made my jobs much easier."
"Mmh," Frisk simply said. "Is that true Flowey?"
"Yeah, he's not," Flowey confirmed. "If he was, maybe he wouldn't be so dumb now would he."
"Maybe not," Sans replied. "I'm sure I still would have my science degree though."
"Ugh right," Flowey said. "Forgot about that whole thing."
"Anyways," Frisk began, wanting to get back on track. "What do you know about Mickey?"
Sans became eerily quiet, and his seemingly endless smile didn't seem to be holding itself together. The chump skeleton then looked down at the ground like a terrible memory came flashing forth.
"I think I should be asking you something," he said and looked back up.
The smile on his face was gone, and Frisk who had gotten used to it, found it uncomfortable to not see him smiling, even though she knew human skeletons shouldn't even be able to do that in the first place.
"How do you know about him?" Sans asked simply.
"Umm," Frisk began. "There was this… this weird guy in the ruins. He told us about him. That we should keep away from him or something. Then there were some monsters in the forests, some teens who told us more, but not enough to go off on."
"Hmm," Sans said, thinking. "Alright, I can buy that."
"But what do you know about him?" Frisk began. "I mean… you must know something about him, right?"
Sans stared at her in silence, as if he was unsure how to proceed.
"So how do I put this," he began. "Well… I can't tell you kiddo."
"Can't tell us what?" Frisk asked.
"About Mickey," Sans answered. "I can't tell you anything about him. Sorry."
"Oh come on!" Flowey said with clear frustration. "How in the world do you not know about Mickey? You know practically everything that happens down here."
"It's not that," Sans said. "In fact, I know plenty about him. But I can't tell you. Not any of it, sorry."
"Why not?" Frisk asked.
"Well I'm afraid I can't give you a satisfying answer to that either," Sans said.+
Frisk began to grow slightly frustrated. She felt like she was running in circles, trying to catch something that always seemed to be close, yet always turned out to be farther than she thought.
"You're not afraid of him, are you?" Flowey suddenly asked.
"Pfft, of course not," Sans said.
"Uh-huh," Flowey said, unconvinced. "Then why won't you tell us eh?"
The skeletons face turned pale again, pale as a dead man's face could be.
"Well truth be told," he began. "What I meant to say was… it's not my life I am afraid for."
Frisk felt her frustration vane at that response. Only slightly, but still in some essence.
"Oh," she simply replied.
"Who's life then?" Flowey inquired. "Your brother's?"
"Maybe," Sans replied. "But I am sure there are others in town. Others, that are… maybe not so happy with either their lives or others. And considering the state of this place, you might find them surprisingly plentiful."
"Hmmm," Frisk replied.
She stood there on the road looking at the bloated skeleton, who's weird smile, slowly but surely crept up again. Then she gave out a short, but clear yawn. As she did, Frisk felt that the tiredness was finally getting to her
"So anyway's," she said after she finished yawning. "Flowey said that there was an inn here somewhere in town. I'm guessing that place is out of the table."
"You're guessing right then," Sans added. "The inn went out of business, what, two years ago? Maybe longer. Replaced by a free homeless shelter and charity by the owner and her sister. Hell, we even passed the place a short while ago."
Frisk gave out a short, but clearly disappointed sigh.
"Figures…" she muttered.
"What businesses are even left standing here?" Flowey asked, looking around in shock.
"Well there's Grillby's," Sans said and pointed up at the wide building they were standing by.
It was a dirty, torn down building the size of a normal house, with a large broken sign that clearly used to spell "Grillby".
"Then there is also the library," Sans continued. "Still don't know how that place is still around honestly."
"But what about the newspaper businesses?" Flowey pried. "Or the orphanage?"
"Oh yeah, the orphanage is also still standing, although barely," Sans said. "Not in the greatest condition now and most of the kids there have moved to the homeless shelter, as its cheaper and has a better service. As for SNPB? Yeah, that's been gone a long time. They don't even have newspapers in town here anymore."
"Do you, uh, think the shelter could still spare us a room?" Frisk asked. "I haven't slept for like 24 hours and I'm frigging exhausted."
"Ehhhh," Sans began and smiled apologetically. "Sorry kiddo, but I doubt it. I think the owners have their hands full today. In fact, they always do. They currently have like half the town living there these days."
"We can still check though, right?" Flowey asked. "Even sleeping on a dirty floor seems better than on a snow-covered street."
"Sure you can," Sans said. "Just don't expect much. Besides, if there is spare space, then it's most likely being kept for someone less fortunate. No offence… or rather, no opposite of offence in this case."
"Ugh," Flowey said and rolled his eyes.
"I guess that makes sense," Frisk said, almost muttering.
"Of course, you could always stay at my place," Sans added.
Frisk felt a sudden shock from that offer and felt a tinge of unease grow at the consideration of it. She also didn't miss Flowey's sudden shaking.
"Me and my brother's place I mean," Sans continued. "We live at the edge of town and we have some spare room, food and even some spare mattresses and blankets-"
"Oh no!" Flowey quickly said. "No, no, no! Frisk, we are NOT gonna stay a whole day hanging out with this… annoying, unfunny trash bag!"
"It'll, uh, just be a few hours at most," Frisk replied, still uneasy.
"Oh, so you are considering it?!" Flowey replied. 2Geez Frisk, after all the things we've been through?! Are you really gonna betray me like that?!"
Frisk heard a few whispers coming from the townsfolk around them, and when she looked up, she saw more than a few prying eyes.
"God, can you calm down with the melodrama Flowey?" Frisk said. "Some of these monsters are staring at us right now. In case you didn't know, we're trying to look inconspicuous."
She smiled and waved awkwardly to the prying monsters.
"Uh, hi there," she said clumsily.
"I mean you don't have to take my offer," Sans added.
"Yeah, I appreciate it," Frisk said. "But sorry. I think we should check out other options first."
"Oh, don't be sorry, I get it," Sans replied. "Not many people can handle my hilarious jokes after all."
Flowey rolled his eyes while Frisk chuckled lightlyþ
"It's not really that," Frisk replied. "Ok, it's that… nevermind."
"Can't stand hearing the flower whine all the time?" Sans asked.
"Hey!" Flowey said, insulted.
"No it's-" Frisk began.
"Eh, it's fine by me," Sans added. "Welp, I guess we'd be parting now. But my offer still stands though, if you decide to change your mind later."
"Don't count on it," Flowey said.
With that, Frisk watched as the chubby skeleton walked away from them, his back facing them. Once he was far away enough so that his distant figure could fit in Frisk palm, Flowey gave out a short sigh of relief.
"Thanks for that Frisk," he said. "Even though you only did it to stop me from whining."
"It's not that," Frisk replied.
"Yeah, yeah, you're so sweet," Flowey replied.
"I'm serious," Frisk replied. "And no offence, but it's got nothing to do with you. It's just that I… I still don't really trust that guy."
"You mean Sans?" Flowey said and chuckled. "That sounds funnier than any "joke" that guy's made so far. Because if I, of all creatures, say he's trustworthy despite my obvious… distaste for him, then you have to be either deaf or really paranoid, and the latter would surprise me greatly considering you always went headfirst into strange noises in the woods."
"Eh, this is different because… because of… of Gaster," Frisk answered.
"Hmm," Flowey replied.
"Because he's the son of this Gaster," Frisk continued. "Y'know, the creep. The scientist guy. The one I dreamt of."
"You're still scared of him?" Flowey asked with slight surprise. "You haven't even met him. I think."
"Frankly, I don't even know why I am scared og him," Frisk confessed. "I just… am."
"Well, I think Sans doesn't like his dad either," Flowey answered. "Don't think anyone does."
"Sure," Frisk said. "But it's just that… I don't know. I know about the whole don't judge a guy by his parents kinda thing, but I just can't help it. Every time I look at that guy, he just… reminds me of him. Of my nightmare. So yeah, this Sans guy kinda creeps me out."
"You seemed to be good at hiding it then," Flowey replied and smiled. "Honestly, call me crazy or selfish, but it all seems to point that you're simply doing this for me."
"No I'm-!" Frisk began before stopping herself. "Nevermind. Let's just go check out this inn or shelter or whatever now."
"Hmm, yeah let's," Flowey said.
With that, she turned around and headed back in her steps.
"So the skeleton said we passed it," Frisk said. "Hope you remember where the place is. Or was rather."
"Sorry, I wish I could help you two but I can't," the donkey monster behind the counter said.
"Seriously?" Flowey protested. "Are you frigging kidding me?"
For a shelter that was supposed to be able to accommodate about half the town, the place in question was surprisingly small. It was clear that this place was simply a refurbished, wooden inn, that had been merged, although clumsily, with a neighbouring house, possibly as a makeshift attempt to fit more rooms without having to actually build them, possibly because of monetary reasons.
The counter by the entrance resembled one from a motel on the surface and was mostly made of cheap, used wood that had clearly seen better days. Then there was a torn red sofa by the outside door, and the light bulb above that kept flickering wildly. Frisk was able to glance a bit at the sleeping rooms behind the counter, where uncontrollable chatter and cries merged. From what she could see, Frisk felt that the word "cramped" was perhaps not a strong enough descriptor for this situation. Each of the rooms she saw had occupied bunk beds by each wall, monsters sleeping on the floor, and a drunkard here and there, all of whom were struggling, yelling and some even thrashing for more space.
Behind the wooden counter stood a strange monster resembling a donkey standing on two feet and with a lime coloured mane, possibly artificial. He was wearing nothing but torn jeans and a dirty, white tank top, highlighting the unattractive skinniness of his seemingly meatless body, and his face was so tired and crumpled from stress and sleeplessness that despite being just a young adult, the donkey monster could be easily mistaken for a senior by someone who wouldn't know any better.
"I am not frigging kidding you, flower," he said tiredly. "We are literally full. Sorry."
"We can just sleep on the floor," Frisk said. "I mean, I don't think we really need to have pillows or anything."
"Sorry lady, but I meant that we are literally full," the donkey replied. "As in almost every inch of this place is taken, so unless you want to sleep on top of someone or perhaps under, then you best go someplace else. And it's not just a problem of space, as there's also the food, the heat-"
"We're just gonna rest here a few hours," Frisk said. "We can live without food."
"Great, but I can't say the same about the heat," the donkey continued. "Or lack thereof of rather. We have literally had a few monsters die from hypothermia some nights, and judging by your clothing and lack of fur, really don't think you'll last the night unless you know of any powerful heat magic we've never discovered. Plus, plenty of the guys and gals here are loud snorers, so even if the rest wasn't an issue, I doubt you'd get any proper rest either way if that's what you're looking for. If you ask me, I think Grillby's is a much better place to stay."
"Great…" Frisk muttered.
The rebellious, and tired parts of her wanted to protest, but she just managed to stop herself. She decided there was no point in making a scene. Flowey, on the other hand, seemed to show little to no restraint.
"Look, mister," the flower began. "I don't know why or when Isabell decided to make you the owner of this place-"
"I'm… not the owner," the donkey said. "At least not regularly. I just work here you see, and currently, I'm taking over for a while. While she's away. The owner I mean."
"Oh, where is she then?" Flowey asked, sounding more demanding rather than requesting. "Let us know we can go tell her in person that she shouldn't be abandoning her job like that when there could be people in need!"
"She's… busy attending a funeral," the donkey answered.
"Oh," Flowey said, sounding a bit disappointed in himself. "Alright I… guess that's… understandable then."
"When do you think she'll be back?" Frisk asked the donkey monster.
"I don't know," he answered. "Maybe in 3 hours in the least."
"3 hours?" Flowey exclaimed. "The heck are we supposed to do until then."
The donkey monster gave out an exasperated sigh.
"Look, flower," the donkey said. "I have no idea. I am just doing my job and frankly, I don't think miss Isabell will say anything different either. If I were you, I'd just drop it ok? Sorry, but we are packed for now."
"Alright," Flowey said, sounding a bit more understanding, although reluctant to be. "In that case, when do you think that this place will have room."
"Don't know," the donkey answered. "Maybe tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?!" Flowey exclaimed. "But I don't think we aren't even gonna stay that long in town!"
"Look, I wish I could help but this is just how it is," the donkey answered, sounding tired and mildly frustrated. "Now I'm sure there are other monsters around town willing to spare a room. If not Grillby, then most likely those two skeleton brothers. They're the sons of Gaster y' know? I'm sure they have a lot of room and cash to spare."
"Oh don't you dare suggest those two doofuses-" Flowey began.
Before he could finish his tirade, Frisk had placed one palm in front of his mouth, shutting him up.
"Alright, let's just go Flowey," Frisk said, sounding almost as tired and frustrated as the donkey.
She looked up at him, who seemed very grateful for her gagging him.
"Look, I'm sorry about my, uh, friend here," she said to the donkey monster. "He's not usually like this. I think. He's just in a lot of shock right now and… yeah sorry."
"Mhmm," the donkey simply said with a hint of annoyance.
Still holding her mouth over the flower whose face turned red as he made feeble muffled protests, Frisk used her other loose hand to adjust her bag clumsily and headed out the door. Once she finally did, she heard the donkey behind her give out a breath of relief.
"Jesus christ Flowey," she said as finally removed her palm.
"Gah!" Flowey exclaimed. "Gods! What the hell- I mean what the heck Frisk?"
"Look I've had to deal with people like that," Frisk began. "I mean like you. The way you were acting, and trust me, it's not fun to be on the other end of that. In that… donkey guys shoes."
"Ugh, alright, fine," Flowey said bitterly like an angry kid caught lying. "Maybe I did go a bit… overboard with that, and I'm sorry, but you saw that guy right?! It wasn't like he was any better now was he?"
"How was he-?!" Frisk began before dropping it. "Look. I know you don't like to hear it, but maybe he was right. There are plenty of places here that haven't crumbled yet. There must be some here willing to give us a room to rest."
"Yeah and then they'll rob us and or kill us while we sleep," Flowey began.
"Gee and you said I was paranoid," Frisk said.
The flower then gave out a short sigh, the sigh of someone who had reached a final, dreadful resort.
"Guess we'll just have to sleep at the skele-bros after all, huh?" he said.
"What?" Frisk replied, beginning to sound nervous again. "Oh, we don't have to if-"
"No, no," Flowey began. "I may not be able to stand the older one, or even the younger one at times, but they are at least trustworthy. The only monsters in town that I trust. That I can recall that is. Well, maybe except for Grillby and his lot, but it's been a few years and unlike him, the skele-bros are at least predictable."
"Umm, alright," Frisk said, clearly feeling uneasy still. "But before that I uh… let's just look around. Just for a bit."
"Wait, seriously?" Flowey asked and chuckled. "Are you really telling me you're enamoured by this shi- I mean dirt hole?"
"Ehh," Frisk began. "Not really. It… doesn't look great, but umm, I dunno."
She looked once more around the town, at the saddened state of the monsters. Then, she saw something, something that suddenly brought back a sense of wonder, and made her realized why she wanted to stay a bit. What Frisk merely saw, was one unfortunate monster, a starved, anorexic cow monster in torn clothes, walk up to a pile of logs in a ruined house, and then just casually lighting it on fire without even touching it like it was nobodies business. At that moment, despite still feeling sorry for the state of the place and it's inhabitants, she felt also felt a spark of awe return as she was just reminded of where she was, of the unbelievable reality of this place.
"Well, maybe I am a bit… enamoured," she began with slight but growing enthusiasm. "I mean, why wouldn't I be? This may not mean much to you but look around. These are all frigging monsters. Creatures that for the longest time I've believed to be from myths. From fairytales even. And not to mention, all the frigging magic. It just… it kinda feels awesome in a way."
"Hmm, I'll be sure to let these monsters know that," Flowey said sarcastically as he watched a drunk and dirty bear monster dig through a trash can. "I'm sure they'll appreciate your gesture."
"Yeah, I just realized that what I said may have been inconsiderate," Frisk said. "I just can't help it. This is all so weird and… incredible I guess. I… now that I think about it… I kinda wanna see more."
"You're a weird girl," Flowey said. "Whatever. I'm up for exploring a bit. Just any excuse to be away from the skeleton brothers for a longer period of time is fine by me. Where do you want to start?"
"Hmm," Frisk said, thinking. "Well… I think Sans mentioned something about a library here. I really wanna check it out."
"Oh, so you're a bookworm eh?" Flowey asked.
"Pfft, no," Frisk answered. "I don't even read much in fact, except in class. Last time I fully read a book on my own must've like 8 years ago or something. But this is different. Because monsters and magic are involved. Hell, now that I think of it, including monsters and magic into basically anything makes it instantly better."
"I don't really think I'll understand your kind," Flowey stated bluntly.
"But if it's still standing as Sans said," Frisk continued. "Then there must be a shit ton of things to learn. All the history and stories of this world, the cultures and… my god, I just want to absorb it all right now."
"Eh, I think we'd better not take to long," Flowey said. "I really don't want to be here much longer. Now I just want to rest, and get out of town as quickly as possible."
"Why what's wrong?" Frisk said, noting the sudden urgency in his tone. "Is it the skeleton brothers or-"
"It's not because of them," Flowey said. "Ok, it kinda is, but mostly not- whatever. It's just that… now that I'm looking at this town, I kinda… I'm kinda starting to feel… to feel…"
"Sad?" Frisk asked.
"Oh, no, no," Flowey said unconvincingly. "I… I don't feel sad. Not even a bit. Don't even think about it."
"It… it's alright to admit you feel sad," Frisk said. "I mean, I do and I don't even know this town. What? Are you afraid I'll laugh at you again like back in the forest?"
Flowey didn't say anything. Just stared down at the snow-covered road like she knew the answer.
"That was different," Frisk said. "I mean, it was still kind of a dick move and I'm sorry, but I was laughing because I was surprised not because you were scared. Like, if you truly feel sad here I won't judge you."
"Really?" Flowey said unenthusiastically while still looking at the ground.
"Yes," Frisk answered.
Still looking away, Flowey gave a short sigh.
"Alright, fine," Flowey said. "Perhaps I feel a teensy bit sad but… no, wait. T-that shouldn't be possible. I shouldn't be able to feel sad. I… I… what's going on? Why do I feel this? I'm not supposed to be able to feel any of this. Why am I…?"
"What are you talking about Flowey?" Frisk asked, worryingly.
"Nothing," he answered, sounding somewhat teary. "Nothing I…"
He sighed and closed his eyes for a bit.
"Let's just get to the stupid library, ok?" he then said. "I really can't stand to look at this town much longer. The library is to our left and has a large, misspelt sign the last I remember. We won't miss it."
"Hmm, alright," Frisk said, feeling a tinge of worrying suspicions.
With that said, she with her companion in her bag, began to walk down the snow-covered road to her left.
Late author's note:
So yeah, if you are one of the two peoples or less that give a crap about the author's notes... yeah, sorry about the late notes.
But anyway, here we are in Snowdin, the town that is, which might be farther than where most fanfics get to if I were to brag. Now, this is a chapter/arc I have been looking forward to writing because here is where the major deviation from the standard UT AU route begins. I have teased that a lot of the fic will involve new areas of the underground never seen in the game, and I have so many ideas I am excited to develop. There will also be new characters and monster types... god I am excited.
This is also a short chapter, and it was originally going to be much longer, but then I decided to split it in two... bla, bla, bla.
But I will say ahead that there might be a slight delay, as usual, NOT with the next chapter, but the one after. I ain't gonna spoil, but I will say that that chapter will involve some pretty heavy subjects which will be revealed at the end of the next chapter as a sort of cliffhanger- whoops, I am saying too much.
Anyways, I'll see you soon my readers. The next chapter will most likely be out next week, but I am terrible at promising those things so... let's just hope for the best.