Chapter 8: Frozen
The twins shoved open the large doors leading out of the Ruins with all the strength their tiny bodies could hold. The door was resistant, but eventually with a loud CREEEEEEEEEEAK! The doors opened finally as the twins looked outside, so to speak, for the first time since they'd fallen in the Underground, they were greeted with a snowy wonderland.
"Whoa!" The twins gasped at the snow covered landscape, for but a moment, the children forgot they were still Underground.
"F-Flowey...How is this possible?" Aku asked, stunned. "How can there be snow when we're UNDER the ground?"
"Magic? I wonder about that myself sometimes. Heh." Flowey said, shrugging its little leaves on its stem.
Snow fluttered about the tall, thick trees, some reaching so high, the twins couldn't even see the tops of them. The forest around the twins was so tightly clumped that the only way through was a deliberately made trail that started at the Ruins going forward in a straight line. The doors shut with a loud BANG! Behind the twins as soon as they stepped forward, making the twins jump from the loud echoing noise, the door behind automatically locking with a soft click!
The twins turned, "Welp, I guess we cannot go back anymore.." replied Aku as she took a deep breath.
"Y-Yeah...the only way through, is forward I guess…" Otaku exclaimed, shivering slightly in his purple and blue striped sweater breathing deeply as well. The air before his nose froze into a breath of fog. Otaku hugged himself, stuffing his hands into his sides, tucking them into the pits of his arms to warm them up, as Akumu pulled up her hood, readjusting Flowey to sit more on the nape of her neck and shoulder, keeping the little flower warm too as the two continued to walk forward.
Up ahead, Sans had been awoken from his perch inside of his post when he heard the loud BANG of the doors slamming shut, peeking from the sides of his little hut, he saw the two twins heading his way, the same one's he'd met a couple hours ago when he'd visited Frisks grave earlier that day. His eye sockets widened in alarm. 'fuckfuckfuck...so that lady couldn't stop them?! goddamnit!' Sans cursed, his left eye light burning bright with red magic flowing from it as Sans brought up a hand, snapping his fingers as he teleported away.
Akumu's foot hit a sturdy looking branch buried in the snow, nearly tripping over it as she'd let out a gasp and stumbled a bit, just barely managing to catch herself from falling when Otaku had reached out, grabbing the hem of her black and red striped hoodie. "Careful sis!" He called, helping her to keep her balance. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It just startled me. I didn't even see it." Aku said, sighing. "Thanks bro." She said as she continued and kept going. Otaku following close behind, being mindful of the branch as he stepped over it. The snowy trail seemed to expand forever. Above them, unbeknownst to either of the twins, Sans appeared inside one of the trees, crouching in the darkness as he stood on one of the tree branches, closer to the ceiling of the Underground. His carefully glowing red eye light being the only thing to even mark his presence as he summoned up a Gaster Blaster. Sans's Blaster was a white Skeletal dragon looking skull with 4 eyes and vicious fangs, as he made the attack charge up a beam.
A few yards away, just out of their blurry vision, the path was broken up by a large wooden barred fence. Flowey perked up. "Keep going! There's a bridge… and a large clearing behind it. The forest might thin enough for us to move around in!"
Aku nodded, jostling the little flower as she and Ota started to head towards the gate.
CCCRRRRAAACCCKKKK! The twins jumped, as if right on cue and directly behind them, the branch was incinerated into nothing. The snow surrounding that part of the path also appeared melted, and a deep crater appeared blocking the path.
"Hurry!" Flowey hissed. "Don't look back!"
The twins nodded, immediately picked up the pace and took off into a short little sprint. They only stopped when the bars of the gate became prevalent enough in their vision to inspect. "Oh no. It's pretty tight…"
There was a gap there, right in the middle of the trail. A bridge spanned the distance. However, the gate was quite sturdy and the logs were close together. If they were careful, the twins might be able to fit through one at a time. "Go, go go!" Flowey urged, as Akumu let Otaku go first, turning behind him, as she pulled out her sickles, ready to fight whoever the hell it was that incinerated the branch, as Ota squeezed through.
As soon as Otaku was through he turned around, "Okay sis you're turn!"
Sans, once more teleported again, this time appearing behind the boy, just as Akumu turned towards the gate. Flowey noticed Sans as he screamed trying to warn Otaku; "K-KID! LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!"
But it was too late, as Sans had shot forward, grabbing the boy by the collar of his sweater, he held him for a few seconds off the ground, the skeletons arm outstretched in front of him as Otaku gasped, weakly kicking about, trying to reach the ground he was barely a centimeter over. Since he, Akumu and Sans were all at around the same height.
Sans's left eye was flaring a deep, almost blood red in color as the area around them had turned black, signifying a battle was starting. He turned the boys SOUL blue, lessening Otaku's weight to make it easier to hold him as he began punching the crap out of Otaku, still holding him off the ground by the collar of his sweater, each hit doing only 1HP of damage, but Otakus SOUL trait doubling the damage to 2HP per hit. Sans continued to punch until Otakus HP had hit 10. Sans then threw the boy up in the air, using Blue SOUL magic to make the boy fly higher, and suddenly sharp white bones appeared from the snow as Otaku fell waiting to impale the child, the second that he landed back down again.
Otaku looked to the ground as he fell, noticing the bones. He screamed, helplessly flailing, trying to somehow stop his fall or even move away from the sharp bones. Just as he almost hit and fell on the bones however, someone else had summoned several bones vertical to them, catching the boy as he landed with a THUD, the wind escaping Otakus chest as he heaved, and another voice rang out loudly, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, SANS!"
Akumu looked shocked, from the other side of the gate, as a much taller skeleton monster suddenly appeared.
Sans himself wore a black and gold-lined coat fit around their shoulders, hardly covering up the dark red shirt that he wore beneath. The hood of it was very fluffy, so fluffy gold fur puffed around his neck, shoulders, and the back of his skull. Black shorts with gold stripes led from his coat down to the hem of his shorts. Yellow socks lined his very red high top sneakers with skulls on the inside of them. A yellow chain of some sort stuck out of the collar of his red shirt along with a golden flower tucked in the nape of his neck.
From the other side of the trail, a much taller skeleton stormed out of the snow and trees. Black armor covered his chest and spiked out at his shoulders and stopped just at where his rib cage ended, revealing the spinal cord that connected his ribs to his ilium. A scarlet red scarf covering part of it around his neck and dropped down like a battle damaged cape. His thick black pants were held together by a scarlet belt wielding a golden skull belt buckle. Spiked scarlet latex gloves covered his claw-like hands. Red, golden-buckle boots covered his feet. Unlike his shorter counterpart, his jaws could move independently so he could open his mouth when he spoke, whilst Sans face appeared to be stuck in a permanent like grin, though he could still open his mouth to some extent. The taller skeletons' eye sockets were also far smaller compared to Sans's and didn't glow. He also held an aura of power around him that neither of the twins nor Flowey had the will to trifle with.
"CEASE THIS SENSELESS VIOLENCE AT ONCE, SANS!" Papyrus' voice boomed loudly, reverberating through the trees and snowy forest. Sans let out a sad sigh, his hand dropping to his side, as Otaku's SOUL returned to its normal coloration, and the sharp bones, below the flat ones that had caught him started to disappear, followed by the one that he was laying flat on, barely conscious.
"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT KILLING THINGS?!" Papyrus asked, in his typical no-nonsense attitude. "KILLING IS AN ART FORM! IT MUST BE DONE WITH A PRECISE AND DELICATE HAND, WITH FINESSE! ALL OF WHICH, NONE OF YOUR ATTACKS HAVE!"
"aw boss, you know that's very ineffective." Sans said, sweat dripping from his skull as he turned his back to the two human children and faced the taller.
"NONSENSE! YOU MUST STRATEGIZE CAREFULLY TO PUT THEM AT A DISADVANTAGE! THAT'S WHEN YOU STRIKE! BUT NOT JUST ANY STRIKING WILL DO, SANS! YOU MUST STRIKE WITH STYLE AND WITH DIGNITY!" Papyrus scolded, raising a finger high in the air as he explained, "SENSELESSNESS IS A VERY BAD THING, YOU KNOW? IT COULD EVEN GET YOU KILLED!"
Sans eye sockets went dark as he lowered his skull, staring at the ground. "yes boss…" He said, sounding defeated.
"AND BESIDES, YOU WERE ABOUT TO KILL A HUMAN! WHY, YOU DIDN'T EVEN GLANCE AT THAT USELESS FLOWER THE OTHER ONE HAS!" Papyrus shouted, now waving a boney arm towards Flowey who was hidden inside the hood of Akumus hoodie.
Flowey went rigid, as he realized Papyrus was talking about him. His eyes widening in alarm. "Eek!" Flowey shrieked, hiding further inside of her hood.
"SANS! YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL, THAT I WANT TO BE THE ONE TO KILL A HUMAN! SINCE YOU, YOU BONEHEAD, HELPED THE LAST ONE ESCAPE FROM MY GRASP 7 YEARS AGO! I MUST CAPTURE A HUMANS' SOUL AND TAKE IT TO KING ASGORE! I MUST BE THE ONE TO CLAIM MY PRIZE! AND YOU WILL NOT STAND IN MY WAY THIS TIME, DO YOU HEAR ME SANS?!" Papyrus shouted, jabbing a clawed boney finger harshly into Sans ribs, the smaller one letting out a soft wince as he nodded.
"GOOD! I SHALL ASSIST THE KING WITH HIS ERADICATION OF THE HUMANS AND WE WILL WIN THE WAR THIS TIME! I GUARANTEE IT!"
"hmmm…" Sans seemed to think a moment, turning his attention back to the half-unconscious boy laying on the snow. Aku seemed to sense the magic seeping once again, noticing how Sans' left socket had flared up once more in red fire, she reached through the gates towards her brother as Sans raised a hand and very slowly a Gaster Blaster began to form. "ye boss, i know allllll 'bout that…" Sans grinned viciously, his teeth and gold tooth glowing brilliantly from the laser beam that was starting to charge up from the new attack.
"but, y'know killin' this one human right now would be-"
"SANS! DIDN'T I LITERALLY JUST SAY THAT KILLING SHOULD BE TREATED AS AN ART PROCESS!?" Papyrus scolded, stomping his red boot into the ground repeatedly, making him look as if he were having a petty temper tantrum.
"i-er, i s'ppose…" Sans said, his left eye light shrinking into a pin prick, eye sockets widening as the Gaster Blaster vanished into the air.
"THEN ALLOW ME TO DO THIS MY WAY!" Papyrus demanded, still stomping his foot into the snow. Akumu and Flowey briefly wondered how that didn't hurt his heel, considering the older skeleton was wearing at least 8 inch tall heels.
After a moment, Papyrus seemed to regain his composure returning his attention right back to the twins and Sans again, "NOW, IF YOU'LL ALL PLEASE EXCUSE ME, I MUST ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES AND TRAPS! THIS DASTARDLY SNOW SURELY MUST HAVE BURIED THEM ALL AGAIN, AND I MUST ENSURE THEY'RE ALL PREPARED READY, FOR WHEN THE HUMANS APPROACH THEM! AND YOU, SANS WILL BE HELPING ME ASSIST YOU LAZYBONES!"
"heh. a'righ' boss. sure." Sans agreed, shutting his eyes, giving his brother a quick nod.
"EXCELLENT! AND YOU BETTER NOT FALL ASLEEP ON ME AGAIN LIKE LAST TIME!" Papyrus scolded, arms now folded over his chest.
"aw boss, y'know i can't resist a-rest." Sans winked his right socket, as he told his pun. Aku couldn't help but groan at the bad joke as Paps aura seemed to skyrocket at that.
"SSSSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAAANSSSSSSS! NO PUNS! YOU KNOW THE RULES!" Papyrus said, reaching forward as he grabbed his shorter brother by the ribs under both the shorter one's arms and tucked him right underneath his own left arm, carrying Sans like he was a baggage of sorts. "HUMAN! I SHALL BE OFF! YOU WILL NOT PASS THROUGH HERE ALIVE! I WILL STOP YOU! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL TAKE YOUR SOUL! AND YOUR SOUL WILL BE SENT TO THE CAPITAL AND HAND DELIVERED TO KING ASGORE HIMSELF! SO, YOU BETTER BE ABOVE THE MOST WITTIEST IF YOU PLAN TO STILL LIVE! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Papyrus laughed as he made his way forward, with Sans in tow who was laughing himself, at his own bad pun. And with that, the skeleton turned and raced out of view and disappeared into the frigid fog.
Aku and Flowey watched him go in stunned silence, for a moment forgetting all about Otaku who still lay in the snow completely limp and at a trembling 1HP. After a moment, Sans seemed to have freed himself from his brother's hold and had returned to the twins and Flowey standing, just barely within the view of the girl and flower as he spoke in a low voice.
"See ya around." Sans promised, his eye sockets purely black and face dark. Sending shivers up Akumu's spine as once more, he disappeared.
It was then, she remembered her brother as she squeezed in between the gates opening, and knelt down next to her twin brother. "O-Ota!" Aku cried out, gently lifting her brother's bruised and bloody face.
"The Monster candy! Remember he still has two left!" Flowey reminded her, CHECKing the small boy and seeing his weak, trembling 1HP.
Aku nodded, reaching into her brother's pocket, pulling one of the small candies out and fed it to the boy. To which for a moment, Frisk possessed the boy's body, to force him to eat, The candy once more healing his HP up by 10 as Otaku woke, jolting Frisk out as he gasped, wincing a bit in pain and shivering slightly from lying in the snow.
"Nnnn…!" He grimaced, starting to wake up.
"O-Ota! Oh thank the stars, you're okay!" Aku gasped, hugging him tightly.
"S..Sis?" Ota asked weakly. "What happened?"
"Basically...we finally met Sans. And, his boss? And they're both jerks. Just like every other monster in this fucking place." Aku explained simply. "And I also foresee traps, puzzles, but mostly traps in our near future."
"Oh...fun." Ota said, semi sarcastically as he began to stand up.
Flowey sighed. "Well… we can make this work, at least you didn't die again. Thanks to Papyrus for showing up, we just have to keep a level head, that's all. Hopefully, his traps haven't changed all that much since last me and Frisk did them, 7 years ago. Now, let's continue forward. Come on. We'll freeze if we stay here."
The twins nodded as Otaku brushed off the snow on his pants and coat. Akumu made sure that Flowey was almost completely hidden inside her hood and wouldn't freeze to death and just Flowey's head popped out from under her hood, appearing to the side of her head.
After taking a deep breath, the twins trotted out of the small area, easily passing a mediocre sentry station riddled with condiments and hot dogs. Aku perked up upon seeing not only another sparkle of a SAVE star, but also a chest right besides it.
*(Being able to overcome such scary obstacles fills you with determination.)
AKUMU/OTAKU LV4/LV2 18:12
Snowdin-Forest
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