A/N: It's been a month ;-; I am so sorry but I am still here aaaaa

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A MELTDOWN OF NUCLEAR MAGNITUDE

Romano summons his nicecream, collecting himself as the kids rejoin him. He frowns as a thought occurs to him.

"Do they usually give you guys this much trouble?"

"No! We don't smell human!" Peter replies cheerfully.

"I usually stay off the paths so I don't really run into them." Edwynn says, seeming to consider Romano's question for a moment.

"They usually just tell me I shouldn't be so far from home. To be more careful." Koda rolls his eyes as he responds. "Like I can't take care of myself or something."

"Huh…" Romano gets back up, feeling his health start to seep back into his SOUL as he stands, leading the way forward once again.

Around the bend they encounter some boulders in the path ahead, a large X stationed between them. It seemed to be mirrored further down, forming a sideways H along the road. Romano decides to walk around the puzzle, testing the waters before he actually tried anything.

"Do you still want us to not help you?" Peter asks as Romano takes note of the presence of a switch.

"Yes." Romano replies as he walks around, confirming an X on the inside of the opposite end of the puzzle as well.

"Yes you want help or yes DON'T want us to help you?" Koda asks for clarification as he lands on top of the middle boulder, watching Romano curiously from his perch.

"Yes, DON'T HELP ME." Romano growls, finding a sign and squinting at it as he reads.

[*Turn every X into an O]

[*Then press the switch]

"… Simple enough. Romano mutters, walking up to the left side X and observing it. I seemed like it wasn't quite painted nor was it made of snow. It was too… Perfect for that. He considers a moment how he was meant to change it.

"Do you want a clue, Mr. Romano?" Peter asks from where he sat on the ground a short ways from the puzzle.

"Shush, kid. You're breaking my concentration." Romano sighs, deciding to try stepping on the X. It immediately becomes an O and he smiles, turning and smirking at Peter and Edwynn. "See? I got this fine!"

As Romano walks around the puzzle he catches sight of Alfred across some spikes in their path, facing the other way and seeming distracted. Romano completes the puzzle and steps on the switch, hearing a click and looking over just in time to see Al whirl around in shock.

"WHAAAAT?! DUDE HOW'D YOU AVOID MY TRAP?! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY… Is there any left for me?"

Romano stops, mouth dropping open as he tries to figure out what the fuck Al was talking about. He feels a nudge against his calf and looks down to see Peter whispering at him not so subtly.

"He means the spaghetti."

Romano facepalms. When he looks back to Al he still sees that enthusiastic grin on his face, looking ridiculously hopeful and oblivious… Kind of like Vene could when he was begging for something. He sighs.

"Its still there-"

"WOWIE! YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOMECOOKED PASTA JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?!"

"WAIT THAT'S N-N-NOT WHAT I-"

"FRET NOT HUMAN! I, HERO THAT I AM, WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE FOOD YOU COULD EVER WANT!"

"Oh my fucking god…" Romano hisses under his breath as Al plows on, practically souring into the clouds on his own ego as he crosses his arms heroically.

"WHAT I MAKE NEXT WILL BE EEEVEN BETTER… I'LL MAKE US HAMBURGERS! HAHAHAHA!" Al cackles, turning and taking off now that he had finished his spiel.

"… One of these days I'm kicking that kid's ass and getting the last word I swear to god."

"That's not nice to do." Peter whines, the kids rejoining him as they all move forward. "You're not very heroic are you?"

"I'm not heroic?! What, cuz I don't have my head up my ass with my own ego? Please. That guy's just buying his own con is all. I'm MUCH smarter than that."

"That kind of sounds like-"

"I THOUGHT YOU RAN OFF!" Romano yelps, catching sight of Al again as they break the treeline.

"I did! And then I got tired! Not too tired to catch you though!"

"… Like now?"

"In a puuuzzle… Later." Al kicks a rock, smiling carelessly as he speaks.

"… Isn't it usually your brothers job to stand around and talk to us?" Edwynn asks somewhat bluntly.

"Whaaaaaaaat?! I'm nothing like him! He's so weird… He like, started a sock collection recently? Now THAT'S just sad. Honestly I sometimes wonder what he'd do without a cool guy like me taking care of him, haha."

"… Uh huh, sure." Romano grumbles, rolling his eyes. "Anyways I'm going on ahead."

"Okay! Good luck human! But not so much you can beat me!"

"Oh my god..." Romano stalks past the skeleton, hoping he hadn't lost too many brain cells during the exchange.

"Hey guys. You're so funny just leaving me behind." Romano stops in his tracks, looking back and seeing Jerry, slowly shambling towards them again. This time its Al who screeches in instinctive repulsion.

"RETREAAAAAT!"

The group takes off, screeching to a halt in front of the next puzzle.

"OH WAIT! HUMAAAN!" Al yells as he grabs hold of Romano's shoulder, stopping him as he goes to survey the puzzle. The action eans him a snarl as Romano slaps his hand away.

"DEAR GOD WHAT NOW?"

"Whaaaaaaat? I just wanted to warn you that since you took a really long time to arrive that I decided to improve my puzzle… By arranging the snow and boulders to looks like my face! Also spikes are keeping us from moving forward soooo…"

"… And?"

"… Unfortunately… Everything kinda froze to the ground… And now the solution is like totally different… And as usual my laaaazy brother isn't anywhere around to figure out what that solution is!"

Romano screams into his hands, hearing Al still prattle on somewhere beyond them.

"But worry NOT, HUMAN! AL THE HERO IS HERE TO SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM SO THAT YOU MAY PROCEED AND ME AND THE KIDS CAN GO HOME!"

"The kids and I." Edwynn corrects Al with disgust in his voice.

"I said what I said."

"NO!" Romano snaps at Al, throwing his hands into the air.

"NO?!" Al gasps with shock.

"YOU'VE SOLVED THINGS ENOUGH! I DON'T WANT ANY HELP, ESPECIALLY FROM YOU RIGHT NOW! I BULLSHITED MY WAY THIS FAR AND I CAN KEEP ON GOING!"

"WOW," Al reels back and for a moment, Romano thinks he's going to go off. "I DIDN'T KNOW HUMANS WERE SO… FILLED WITH DETERMINATION! AND KNOWING YOU'RE SO AMPED TO SOLVE MY PUZZLES…" Al sniffles, wiping underneath his glasses. "VERY WELL HUMAN! I'LL LEAVE THIS TO YOU…. But… If you get stu-"

"I won't."

Romano ignores the sign, already well aware of the rules as he stalks around the puzzle. It was infinitely more complicated and significantly goofier looking than the last puzzle. The reminder of Al's face as he works out various ways he could traverse what was almost a maze makes things more difficult. Not to mention Jerry was ever on the horizon, ready to fuck things up even more with his gross ass aura. In short, everything was pissing him off.

"If I start there… No I'll end up in the middle before I can press the switch… But if I come at it from this side…. No I'll have to go over the top ones again… If… If…" Romano runs his hands through his hair, growling through gritted teeth. Everything since the RUINS had been nonsense on top of stupidity. The dogs, the kids, fucking Jerry, not to mention discounted and half rotted American reject Al; Romano felt himself snap as he snarls and kicks a rock over the puzzle and off a cliff. "YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK THIS!"

"Oh no…" Koda whimpers, slinking behind Al for safety.

"I'VE BEEN DOING PUZZLES ALL DAY, BEEN FALLING DOWN HOLE AFTER HOLE AFTER HOLE-"

"Oh god, poor human…" Peter murmurs, shrinking into Al's side as he watches on.

"I'M TIRED, I'VE SLAMMED FACE FIRST INTO ICE AND IT HURT LIKE HELL AND I'M SO FUCKING HUNGRY BECAUSE OF COURSE I FELL INTO THIS STUPID ASS CAVERN BEFORE I EEEVVVEERRRR HAD LUNCH-"

"And he still waited to share pasta with me?!" Al chokes up, once again wiping his tears with his blanket cape.

"I'M DOING THIS SHIT THE EASY WAY!" Romano charges the maze, going in from the side and completing most of it, but ending up caught in the upper right corner. Al moves to help, starting to shout.

"DON'T WORRY HUMAN I CAN-"

"DON'T! DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING DO A THING!"

"BUT YOU'RE- WAIT!" Al reels as he realizes Romano was now clambering over a boulder to get out.

"DON'T YOU DO ANYTHING! I'VE HAD A LONG DAY AND I DON'T NEED ANY HELP! DON'T RESET IT, DON'T SOLVE IT FOR ME, I'M FINISHING THIS AND NONE OF YOU CAN FUCKING STOP ME! TO HELL WITH THIS AND, AND FUCK EVERYTHING!" Romano ends his tirade, leaping off the boulder and straight into a large pile of snow, immediately getting swallowed whole by it. He snarls, fighting his way out and over to the switch to end the puzzle, cursing all the while. He finally stops when he hears the click of spikes falling out of the way in the distance. After a moment, he collapses next to the switch, hearing the others join him and feels a gentle hand patting him on the back.

"I'm… Gunnna go…" Jerry murmured in the back. Romano sobs.

"Even he… I can't…"

"There, there human." Al starts, rubbing Romano's back soothingly. "You solved the puzzle… Even if you cheated at the end… But it's okay! I understand… You've had a really hard time of it haven't you?" Al murmurs comfortingly as the kids watch on from a safe distance away.

"I fucking have… It's been worst… I was supposed to have a nice day with a friend… And… And now…" Romano sobs, wrapping his arms around his head in defeat.

"That's oookaaay! It'll get better! You're almost to town I promise! I forgive you for cheating, and, hey! Like I said I'll make anything you want when we get there!" Something about Al's voice and mannerisms calmed him down. His voice was significantly less grating once he stopped shouting everything he said and the gentle way he was handling things now was managing to settle Romano's shot nerves a bit.

"… Uuuugh…. Fiiiine… As long as I can get home…. I'll… be fine…" Romano collects himself, wiping his face and dusting off his clothes.

"Do you feel better now Romano?" Koda asks tentatively, daring to rejoin said human now that he'd stopped yelling.

"Do you need a nap?" Peter asks him sympathetically, kneeling next to the others while Edwynn quietly keeps a bit of distance.

"No… I'm fine… Let's just… Keep moving." As he stands he catches Als expression, seeing he'd suddenly turned withdrawn. "… You okay?"

"Uuuuuuh yeah yeah! Anywaaaays…" Al's usual smile lights his face again as he places his hands on his hips. "Congrats on solving the puzzle without any help! Knowing you got this far even though you're having a bad day… Means a lot! You must care about puzzles like I do, haha!"

Romano didn't have the energy left to stop Al this time, simply taking his words quietly while he tries not to let his rage build again.

"I'm sure you'll love the next puzzles! They'll probably be too easy for you even!"

Romano groans at the mention of even more puzzles and gets a pat on the head, having to hold himself back from snatching Al's hand and breaking it.

"So, don't even worry about anything, hahaha! BYEEEEEEE!" Al takes off again, leaving Romano alone with the kids.

"… Are you going to go off again?" Edwynn asks, watching the others distantly.

"… No. I'm gunna keep going… I-if you kids-"

"WE'RE STILL COMING!" Peter and Koda shout, both seeming frantic to reassure him. Romano huffs, relaxing a bit before glancing in unison with the two kids at Edwynn.

"…. Ugh, fine. I want to head home anyways…"

"Yay!" Shout Peter and Koda.

"Whatever suits you…" Mutters Romano as he leads the way past the puzzle, only to quickly stop short as he suddenly catches sight of Matt on the other side of the downed spikes.

"… He wasn't…" Romano mutters before shaking his head. (I'm going crazy down here…)

"What?" Peter tilts his head innocently.

"… Nothing." Romano plows ahead. "Hey, Matt."

"Well that was quite a show." Matt says it lightly enough but Romano feels his cheeks warm, unable to come up with an answer. Matt seems to pick up on this as he continues. "Solved that one real quick… But then, you've been pretty quick with everything you do, huh?"

Romano simply shrugs.

"… I suppose I have to give you points for doing literally everything so far without help. Even my own tips and compliments come kind of… Late… Huh…" Matt glances off, back to that same point on the horizon. Romano looks out, hoping to spot whatever Matt was seeing but only sees the same expanse of trees and rocks he'd been seeing all along. Matt sighs, bringing Romano's attention back to him. "It's pretty great for me though, eh? Get to do absolutely nothing…" Romano huffs and rolls his eyes.

"Glad to be of service."

"Mmmhmmm…." Matt leans back, looking at the ceiling far above, lost somewhere in the darkness…. "Anyways you should get going. Gotten this far. No point in stopping now."

Romano nods, swallowing nervously and slipping his hands into his pocket.

"See you soon."

"See ya."

Romano doesn't bother with the kids and their chatter, too wrapped up in his own confused thoughts and feelings as he enters the next area.

A/N: The holidays hit and then so did car problems ;-; I got stuff moved but overall things have been very difficult.

I think things are looking up though! My car has a new battery and with the holidays done I can start getting things done again!

I'm gonna try to get back on schedule! I'm excited to work on Waterfall again! It's less planned out than Snowdin was...

But that's okay! It just leaves me open to do new things :D Anyways I hope all of you have had a good holidays...

And here's to a great new year!