She seemed shocked down to her core, every part of her body shaking. It was understandable though; she probably thought I was dead. I swear I even saw a little water in her eyes, making me feel terrible. Instead of just standing there silently while Papyrus looked at both of us, I decided to fill the silence. I did a small wave, trying my best to smile. "Hey, Frisk." I said with a smile; I really missed saying that name. "Long time no see."

Chara walked over next to me and squinted at Frisk. "Huh," she said as she rubbed her chin. "She really got attached to you." I looked over at her, about to say something, but the moment I blinked I felt a strong force hit me in the chest. I looked over and realized that Frisk was hugging me. Normally, she wrapped her arms around my back, but this time she went straight to holding my neck, almost too short to do it. Chara circled around us as Frisk held me… very tight. "It's almost worrying how much she cares for you."

I felt my cheeks get red, which was to be expected, but I wasn't prepared for how I felt. It was a good mixture of anxiety and pure bliss, almost like someone had come and punched me in the gut, then kissed me. My stomach almost cramped from how much anxiety was behind it. "I t-thought you were dead," Frisk said under her uneasy breath. A little bit of guilt stung me in my head as I wrapped my arms around her; I just did it the same way I always did. I had made her worry so much, so the least I could do is hold her for a bit.

"Yeah," I said. I closed my eyes, finally at peace. I felt like I'd pass out at any second, not being able to tell if it was because of the feeling or the fact that I was genuinely exhausted. "I did too." Then there was just silence. Well, that is if you don't count the light sobbings from Frisk. It may have sounded messed up, but the hug felt really good. I felt bad for Frisk, but feeling her hold me would've put a smile on my face if I let it; of course, I didn't. On top of that, my cheeks were probably brighter than a red giant. Guilt was still sunken in my stomach from everything, but Frisk's hug kinda threw it away from me. It was kinda like how I felt when me and Comet stared out at the sunset; blissful. Just like what happened with Comet, it didn't last long. This time though, it wasn't replaced with anything bad.

We were still hugging when another pair of arms wrapped around me, far stronger than Frisk. She looked a little surprised as I was slowly picked up off the ground. Once I was at least 4 feet high, it felt like a bear had begun to squeeze me. "THIS IS SO SWEET!" Papyrus shouted in my ear, his voice filled with what you'd assume was an overexaggerated sadness. I looked back at the skeleton; somehow, he was crying. Well, crying was underselling it. It was more like waterfalls were coming out of his eyes, or eyesockets, I guess. "I JUST HAD TO HUG YOU TOO!" His voice sounded louder over the phone, but it still made my ears ring.

Papyrus's tears continued to pour out at record speeds. There was so much that my clothes were starting to feel wet. I reached back and pat the skeleton's shoulder. "Umm… there there Papyrus?" I really missed his silly antics, but right then probably wasn't the best time. Still, I smiled a little, albeit mostly from awkwardness.

Eventually, the skeleton put me down, wiping his eyes once I finally touched the floor. "I'M SORRY," he said with a sniffle as he looked away from me. His eyes shut, rubbing his face in the process. "I MUST NOT LET YOU SEE ME IN SUCH A VULNERABLE STATE."

I dusted my clothes off. "Eh, it's fine." My head went up to the skeleton. "I've seen way worse reactions."

His eyes shot open, facing me once more. "REALLY?" I nodded. He wiped off the invisible sweat from his forehead. "THANK GOODNESS! IT'D BE A SHAME IF YOU WERE CONVINCED YOUR MENTOR WAS SOME SORT OF CRYBABY, WHEN, IN FACT, HE IS A GREAT, BRAVE, SOON TO BE ROYAL GUARDSMAN!" He stayed silent for a moment before shaking his head. "WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT? YOU'D NEVER THINK SOMEONE AS GREAT AS MYSELF WOULD BE A CRYBABY. I AM FOOLISH FOR EVEN CONVINCING MYSELF THAT!"

I couldn't help but smile at the skeleton. "Sure, Papyrus." Papyrus let out what I can only assume to be a sigh of relief as I turned to Frisk. She wiped her eyes, still wet from our hug, a smile on her face as well; it'd be hard to find someone who didn't find Papyrus smile-worthy. Well, that was actually a lie. I had a dead girl standing next to me who was doing exactly that. I shook my head, trying to focus back on reality. Frisk had approached me, her smile even wider than before. I relaxed my posture as I thought of something to say. "So, how was Waterfall? I would've loved to join you but, you know, I was stuck in the abyss and all that."

She shrugged. "Same as always. Undyne was a bit slower while chasing me, but that's about it." Silence entered for a moment before she jumped. "Oh!" She pointed behind her with her thumb. "And I didn't have to fight that dummy in the dumpster." I looked behind her only to see a scratched up dummy sitting next to a pile of trash. I raised my eyebrow, about to ask about it… "It's possessed by a ghost." but she got her words out first.

"Oh." I should've expected something like that.

"What about you? Run into anything interesting down there?"

I didn't say anything for a second before scratching my neck. "Well, there was this area that had these huge towers sticking out of some sort of blue liquid. The grass was balck and there were these blue flowers that started talking to me-"

While I was still in the process of talking, Chara stepped between us. "Tell her about my locket," she said with her arms crossed.

I gave a stare for interrupting my conversation before looking back to Frisk. I jingled around the locket with my hand. "And I also found this thing. Pretty cool piece of jewelry, huh?" I made the conscious decision to avoid telling her about Chara; maybe another time.

Chara clearly didn't like that. "Oh, fuck you! You know that's what I wanted you to tell her!"

I glanced over at her as she paced around. She's still recovering from the shock of me not being dead. Telling her about you might just push her a little too far. Frisk squinted at the locket. "Huh. Wasn't expecting to see that so early." She stared at it for a few more moments before shrugging. "Oh well. Just one of the many things that are different."

Chara sighed as she stopped in front of me, eyes closed. "I guess you're right." Her finger suddenly went in my face, her red orbs piercing my soul. "But you better tell her soon."

Her attitude had gotten a lot more vulgar, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't getting to me. I stared at her for a moment. You're a real moody bitch sometimes, you know that?

She stuck her middle finger out as she walked away. "Fuck you."

I smirked as I focused back on reality; guess I hit a nerve. My mind searched for something to say as a progressively louder quiet filled the room. I cringed as I thought of my question. "So…" I said as I looked to the side, scratching my neck. "How did-" I made finger quotes. "'-my death' affect you?" It was just a must-ask question. My brain didn't really care though considering I felt guilty for it.

Her eyes widened a bit. "Oh, uh… well…" She gained a smile, but her eyes didn't replicate the action, instead being replaced by sorrow as they faced away from me. "If I'm being honest, it messed me up. Like, really bad." A sigh escaped her mouth. "It was on my mind the entire time, and even when I was about to die, I still could only think fg it.." She let out a quiet chuckle, her eyes closing. "I sometimes just sat down and… started crying. I guess it was a delayed reaction." And that really hit me in the gut; felt like I was about to fall on my knees from it. If I had just been a little faster, dodged a few more spears, I could have saved her so much sorrow. But I didn't. I failed her with the snap of a finger and made her life that much harder. That was just who I was, I guess. A fail- "But," Frisk's voice cut through my thoughts. She walked even closer to me, maybe only half an arm's length apart, reached down and did something that kinda shocked me. She grabbed my hand. "You're here now, alive and well." A genuine smile went across her face as she intertwined her fingers around mine. "And I couldn't be more happy."

Boy oh boy did that shift my thoughts. My mind was scrambling for something to say as my cheeks began to feel as if they were on fire. If I was an anime character, I'd be passed out on the floor from how much blood would be pouring through my nose. Hell, even in reality, I felt like I'd pass out just from the shock of it. I eventually found something to say, now I just needed to pronounce it. "W-w-w-well I-I'm g-g-glad to hear t-that." And, of course, I even failed at doing that. I noticed Frisk's cheeks had gained some redness, but it was probably nothing compared to mine. I raised up my hand, having no choice but to do the same to Frisk's; she had a really tight grip on it. "W-why are you h-holding my hand?" I asked, slightly more calm. And when I say slightly, I mean slightly.

She shrugged, her cheeks getting a little redder. "Don't know really. Guess I kinda just felt the need to do it." She paused for a moment before a small frown appeared on her face. "Why do you ask? Does it make you uncomfortable?"

That is certainly not the response I wanted. While I did feel slightly uncomfortable, I much rather preferred her to continue holding it. I tried to process something to say. "W-w-well-"

She chuckled lightly, gaining a smile in the process. "It's okay Jack!" Her grip began progressively loosening. "You shouldn't feel scared to tell me you don't like something."

I quickly tightened my hold around her hand as fast as I could. "No!" Don't let go!" I nearly shouted. Silence filled the room the moment I finished. Frisk sat completely motionless, blinking a few times at me. I coughed a few times into my arm. "I-I mean, uh… I actually really like it," I was finally able to let out. "It just surprised me, is all." That was one way to say it. Throughout our entire friendship, Comet had never held my hand. I mean, it made sense, it would've felt really weird. For some reason though, I didn't mind with Frisk. It sure as hell felt strange, but I kinda liked it.

She looked away from me, her cheeks getting even redder. "Oh, ok." I slowly brought our hands down. "I guess we'll keep doing it then.

Chara stared at the two of us from a distance, disgust across her entire face. Papyrus, on the other hand, looked like he was about to melt from how strong of an "awww" face he had. She rubbed her eyes. "What the fuck am I staring at?" She walked over to us as Frisk stared at the ground, periodically looking up at me. She gave her a good long look in the eyes. "Did you hypnotize her? I've never seen her act like this."

I glanced over at her. If you think this isn't a surprise to me too, you are very wrong.

She came over to me and started to inspect my body. "I don't know." Surprisingly, a smirk went across her face; that was the last thing I expected. "You seem to be enjoying… whatever this is."

I felt as stiff as a lamp post as I stood there. I mean, what was I supposed to do? My hand holding had been limited to my Mom, and I doubted that was a good reference. Shut up. I said as my cheeks got a little hotter.

After a few more moments of us standing there semi-awkwardly, a voice entered my ears. "AS MUCH AS I'D HATE TO END THIS…" Papyrus's voice suddenly came from my left, making me jump back. Normally, it wasn't a big deal, but because I was holding Frisk's hand, she came with me. Somehow, most likely because of the surprise, Frisk began falling to the floor, bringing me with her. We both landed on our asses a few feet from each other, our hands still intertwined.

Frisk stared at me with wide eyes and I slowly did the same. A few seconds passed of us staring before we both quickly burst out into laughter. She pushed on my shoulder lightly with her free hand. "You're scared so easily!" she said mid-laugh as she stood up.

She helped pull me off the floor as I dusted myself off. "I know, I know." I scratched my neck, noticing her hands hovering next to mine; I guess she let go. But, that didn't last long because the moment I was done adjusting, she went right back to holding it. I stared at it for a few moments before meeting her gaze. "It's not everyday that I hold someone's hand though, you know?" A small frown went across her face as I quickly realized how what I said sounded. "It's not like I don't like it! It's just that… I gotta get used to it."

Thankfully, that seemed to fix any damage I had caused as she giggled, her cheeks returning to being red. "Yeah," She said, her smile returning. She was silent for a few more seconds before looking up at the huge skeleton in front of us. His "awww" face had returned. "Anyway, what were you saying Papyrus?"

Papyrus held the face for another moment, then shook his head. "Right!" He shouted as he came back to reality. "I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT MY FRIEND WITH… MURDEROUS INTENTIONS... LIVES-" He pointed at a house I hadn't noticed before. It kinda resembled a piranha. The two eye looking things seemed to be windows, the door being a mouth, and its outside was painted in such a way that it resembled scales. "-RIGHT THERE, AND I FEEL THAT, IF SHE WERE TO SEE YOU…" He cringed slightly. "IT WOULD NOT END WELL."

I looked over at the house as my eyes widened with realization. "Ooh!" I said as I put the pieces together. "That's why she was over here!"

Frisk turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "She?" There was a moment of silence before her eyes also widened. "You saw Undyne?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah," I said like it was no big deal. "It was a little nerve wracking, but I'm all good."

She continued to stare at me with the same expression. "How the hell are you alive?"

"Well..." I proceeded to do everything I had done when hiding from Undyne, including zipping up my jacket and throwing the hood on. "I covered all of my skin and didn't look at her. Somehow it worked and she just thought I was a random monster." I shivered as I thought about what could have happened. "It was really close though."

Frisk looked almost disgusted as I finished my sentence; applaud might have been a better description though. "So, wait. You're telling me that if I just wore some random jacket and covered my skin, I would've never been chased by Undyne?" I nodded. She looked down at her chest and pulled at her blue and purple shirt; the jacket she wore to Snowdin was nowhere in sight, so she probably ditched it unlike me. "I should really start wearing less memorable colors then."

Papyrus's jaw was close to falling off, its hinges loose, but hadn't quite yet. "So Undyne Didn't Attack You?"

I rolled my shoulders. "Well, she didn't, but I'm pretty sure she would have if she knew who I was."

Papyrus rubbed his chin, pushing his jaw back in place as he did. "HMMM… I DIDN'T THINK UNDYNE WOULD BE FOOLED SO EASILY..." There was a moment of silence as he considered his next words. His finger suddenly shot into the air, once again making me jump; it was far less than before though and thankfully didn't cause anyone to fall down. "OKAY HUMANS, I HAVE DEVELOPED A MASTERFUL PLAN!" The still out index finger pointed at me. "JACK! YOU WILL CONTINUE TO DO WHAT YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW, HIDING YOUR HANDS IF AND WHEN WE RUN INTO UNDYNE!" He turned to Frisk. "FRISK! YOU WILL SIMPLY DO THE SAME!" Then his finger went to his chest. "AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS-" He slowly put his hands on his hips as his scarf flew in the wind which, keep in mind, didn't exist until he did so. "WILL, IF UNDYNE STUMBLES UPON US, SIMPLY SAY I AM ESCORTING BOTH OF YOU TO SAFE PERIMETERS, AS A TRUE ROYAL GUARDSMAN WOULD DO!"

Frisk scratched the back of her head. "That's actually a really good plan Papyrus-" She poked her head out around him so he could see it. "But I lost my jacket."

He looked down at her, then faced the room with piles of trash. "WELL, THE DUMP IS RIGHT THERE. I DOUBT YOU WON'T FIND SOMETHING IN THERE IF MY LAZYBONES BROTHER WAS ABLE TO!"

Chara looked a little taken aback. "That's where Sans got his jacket?" She looked to the floor. "Huh. I always thought he just… I don't know. Appeared with it, I guess?"

I, on the other hand, probably looked more disgusted than anything. They get their clothing from piles of trash? I shivered in horror as I thought about all the clothes I had thrown out. People never get rid of their clothes for a good reason.

Frisk smiled as she turned to the dump. "You're filled with good ideas today, Papyrus." She gestured to him to follow before walking forward, dragging me along with her tight grip. "Let's get looking then!"

And that we did, searching through stacks of trash like it was piles of gold coins. Thankfully, it seemed to be things that were mostly solid; manhandling squishy, expired food certainly was not on my bucket list. Me and her occasionally let go of each other to dig through a few piles of trash, but we always ended up going right back to holding hands. I honestly never thought I'd hold hands with someone any time soon, let alone only a few days after I had met them. If it was anyone else, I'd most likely protest, but since it was Frisk… I guess it just felt right. Still, even with that in mind, I felt pretty uncomfortable. My gut was aching and my cheeks kept on getting hotter with no signs of slowing down. If I'm completely honest, I almost let go because of how my stomach was feeling. But then, there was the part of me that enjoyed everything and could deal with all of it as long as I stayed next to her. And that part ended up winning, so we kept holding hands. We did eventually find her that jacket. It was nothing too out of the ordinary; just a plain purple one with some cuts in the fabric here or there. One problem though. It didn't fit her at all.

I almost laughed as Frisk swayed her arms around. The sleeves were almost twice her arm length and the rest of it was comparable to a kid wearing their parent's clothes. Still, she zipped it up. She did a little pose, sticking her hip out, as me and Papyrus watched. "How do I look?

I tilted my head as I inspected her body. "Like you put on Toriel's robe." She giggled slightly before pulling up her sleeves. I faced Papyrus. He was the one who ended up telling us to stop looking. "Are you sure that's the best one we can find?"

"WHY, BUT OF COURSE JACK!" He rubbed his chin, staring at Frisk while she tried to put the hood on; whenever she did, it went over her entire face instead of just the head. "IT WOULD EVEN BE BETTER IF YOU HAD A JACKET AS BIG AS THAT."

I raised my eyebrow, mostly from surprise. "Why's that?"

Papyrus put a hand on my shoulder and gestured out at her, pulling me closer to him as he did. "LOOK AT HER, JACK! IT'S PERFECT!"Frisk blindly stumbled around as he said that, the hood still very much covering her face. Eventually, she ended up tripping on a piece of trash. "IF I DIDN'T KNOW THAT WAS FRISK, I WOULD HAVE NO IDEA SHE WAS A HUMAN!"

Frisk looked up at the skeleton as she brushed away her hood. "Wait, really?"

He jolted up. "REALLY!" He went over to Frisk and showed off her arms and face. "ALL OF YOUR SKIN IS COMPLETELY COVERED."

I walked over to her as well, surprised to see that he was right; not even her hands were visible. "Huh. You're right."

Chara got off the wall she had been leaning on. "That's the biggest surprise here!" she let out in a joking tone.

He did his little pose, confidence flowing over his face. "JUST ANOTHER ACT OF GENIUS FROM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" He said with a little "Nyeh" near the end. He suddenly spun around and began walking, no, stomping out of the dump, gesturing for us to follow. "NOW COME ALONG HUMANS! WE WON'T GET OUT OF WATERFALL FROM JUST LOLLYGAGGING ABOUT."

I looked over at Frisk and she did a shrug in response. "He's got a point." She reached over and grabbed my hand, most of her sleeve covered it, then began following in his footsteps. I didn't have much of a choice but to follow after her.

Chara looked at me as we walked out. It was strange too. She was completely motionless, like a statue, only her eyes following me. Even stranger, her eyes weren't red; they were black. And that's when it hit me. That wasn't Chara. No, the real Chara was still right behind me. The thing gave me a little smirk as I took my first step out of the dump. "See you soon…" Its body began to flicker, slowly revealing what I had called the demon. "Jack." Then, with the blink of an eye, it was gone. Chara's expression told me she had not seen it. I guess what it said was true. I was it's "blessing" alone.

A/N:

Hello there! Good job reading this far. Sorry for the late upload; things happened that weren't so good. Anyway, you probably noticed that Papyrus was speaking in all caps. Well, that's because my opinions on how to write his dialogue have changed. I've kinda realized that all caps are just part of his character. This will probably also come with Sans speaking in all lower cases. Now, onto some big news. The comic has been scrapped; I, unfortunately, couldn't keep it up. But… it's death led to another project. I'm making this fic into a game, and I've been working on it for a while now. I didn't want to give any info before I had gotten some ways down in development, and that I have. I currently have almost the entirety of the Ruins done, and am in the process of working on Snowdin; I've actually learned how to code from all of this. The only issue I've had is coming up with music, and I've decided to borrow from remixes that allow it on certain tracks. There will be a total of four themes added. One for hate, one for Jack, one for Gaster, and one for Frisk. The rest will be a modification of the original tracks from the game. There will be three routes, just like the real game, but it's highly recommended to go through pacifist first (it doesn't require a neutral route to be completed before) because a lot of things won't make sense. One of the new features is a party system, but it's not like Deltarune. I like the Undertale system far better. It's hard to explain in words, but you'll see it once it's complete. This is probably the biggest project I've worked on, and I'm only a one-man team. This will take quite some time. But, I think I'll be able to do it because I'm already miles ahead of where I was in the comic. The demo will be released after Snowdin is done.

Okay, that all. So, thanks for reading, and if the next update takes a while, it's because of the game. See ya!