The sounds of the rushing water slowly came back to the humans ears as she and her ghostly apparition friend came through the cavern path, coming towards the next mouth of the cave. A chill ran up Frisk's spine as she felt the cold of Snowdin's air coming back into the area. Upon reaching the mouth of the cave, Frisk would see a ladder leading down towards the main path and a large river running past the area. Swallowing a bit, Frisk would grip onto the ladder as she slid down the rungs before touching the ground, dismounting it and looking around.
Off to her left she'd see that the cave-in had been mostly excavated out, most of the K-9 unit still digging out the remaining rubble. Frisk would sigh; there's nothing she could do at this point since she already came this far. Taking a deep breath, she'd take a turn to the right and continue onwards down the path into the cavern, the sparking gems on the sides of the cave walls giving off a faint cyan glow. Traveling further, she'd soon find... Sans, at another sentry station, browsing something on his phone. The lazy skeleton would take notice of the human.
"'ey kiddo." Sans said. "nice to see ya made it through the forest okay. place didn't give ya too many problems?"
"No, it was fine..." Frisk asked, confused. "Don't... you have a sentry station in Snowdin?"
"i got multiple." Sans said. "more stations mean more legally-required breaks. which is good since i love doin' absolutely nothin'."
"Uh-huh..." Frisk said. "Hey... I got a question."
"shoot."
"Do... you know anything about that elite Guard in Cogwood?" Frisk asked.
"who, red?" Sans asked, shrugging. "eh, ya got me there. she just kinda joined the guard one day 'cause it was the only family she had left. that's about the extent i know of her." He'd then look over to Frisk. "undyne probably knows more about her situation than i do."
"A-ah, okay..." Frisk said. "M-maybe I should ask her th-"
"baaaaad idea, kiddo." Sans said. "undyne's the head of the guard, and her opinion on humans ain't exactly... positive. might be better to just avoid her for the time being."
"A-ah..." Frisk said, sweating a bit. "O-okay."
"relax, kiddo, you'll be fine." Sans said. "anything else you wanted to chat about?"
"No?" Frisk said.
Sans merely just nodded. "c'ya around then." He said, before going back to his phone as Frisk and Chara started walking off deeper into the cavern.
"Something about him just doesn't rub me the right way..." Chara said. "I feel like he's hiding something from us."
"Hm?" Frisk asked, confused. Out of the corner of her eye she could've sworn she saw Sans look over at her the moment Chara started speaking.
"Something about him just has this air of insincerity." Chara said. "Trust me, I've interacted with a lot of monsters during my life down here, I can tell when someone's lying."
A wave of unease washed over Frisk as she continued onwards, soon coming across a small waterfall with boulders falling down with the current, a small scaffolding area down below over the edge. Frisk swallowed, looking over the current as she saw the rocks flow by. Taking a deep breath, Frisk would rush across the shallow stream just as the boulders passed by, barely missing her as she dove to the other side of the waterfall gap.
"...don't know why you're panicking about that." Chara said, floating down next to her. "There's literally a safety net scaffolding down there to catch you."
"I-I was scared, okay?!" Frisk snapped, causing Chara to back off.
"Chill, jeez..." Chara responded as Frisk got up.
"S-sorry..." Frisk said. "Those kinds of things just... make me uneasy..."
"Alright, alright..." Chara said. "Let's... let's just keep moving."
Frisk nodded as the two continued along the darkened corridors of the underground waterway, soon coming to a clearing with tall grass, a cliffside right nearby on the left side. As the two started through the grass, Frisk froze at the sound of clanking metal footsteps.
She wasn't alone.
Quickly reacting, the human dove down into the tall grass in order to conceal herself as the metal footsteps grew closer from the cliff above. Sweat started to run down her face a bit as she laid there, remaining silent...
Soon enough two other sets of footsteps could be heard, but definitely lighter in imprint compared to the first set. Frisk swallowed hard as she heard a new voice speaking.
"About time you two showed up." The voice said, slightly muffled from the helmet. "Now, Papyrus, you said you had spotted a human?"
Frisk's heart sank straight to her stomach.
"W-WELL, YES UNDYNE..." Papyrus stated. "HOWEVER, THERE CAME SOME... DIFFICULTIES WHEN IT CAME TO CAPTURE."
"What now?" The first voice said.
"SIMPLY PUT..." Papyrus said. "THIS HUMAN IS CRAFTIER THAN I HAD ANTICIPATED. THEY FLEW THROUGH MY PUZZLES WITH THE UPMOST GRACE LIKE A BALERINA ON A STAGE PLAY! IT WAS ALMOST MAJESTIC IF I AM BEING HONEST! BUT IT LEADS ME TO CONCERN AS POSSIBLY THE REST OF THE GUARD MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT EITHER!"
The first voice just angrily sighed. "Did you at least get a bead of where it was going once it left Snowdin?"
"AH, THAT." Papyrus said. "IT SEEMED THEY HEADED OFF TOWARDS COGWOOD ITSELF, AS THE ROUTE HERE EARLIER WAS BLOCKED OFF BY THAT CAVE-IN THAT HAPPENED."
"Then it went off that direction..." The first voice said. "Red, status report?"
"No visuals, m'lady." Red spoke. "If they came that way none of the guards ever came into contact with them, myself included."
"Absolutely no visuals whatsoever?" The first voice asked.
"No, captain." Red spoke.
"Not even footprints?"
"Again, no, captain." Red answered.
A moment of silence... then a long, loud sigh.
"Unbelievable..." The first voice said. "It's like I have to do all the work around here."
"If they came through Cogwood, I would have known that they did." Red spoke. "Not once did any of the sensors go off about a human presence."
"PERHAPS THEY DOUBLED BACK AND THEN WENT THROUGH THE WATER TO THROW US OFF?" Papyrus said.
Frisk was swallowing internally. Both Papyrus and Red were playing a very dangerous game by lying about where the human really was, and she didn't want to know what would happen if that first figure caught on...
"Gah, it won't matter at this point." The figure said. "Return to your points and keep your eyes out for them in case they decide to return."
"What of you, captain?" Red asked.
"I'll take matters into my own hands." The voice said, followed by the sound of something energy-based forming. "One way or another, we're getting that Soul."
"...understood, captain." Red spoke.
"...I WILL ASSIST YOU HOWEVER I CAN, UNDYNE." Papyrus said.
"Good. Now return to your posts." The fist voice said, followed by the sounds of Red's and Papyrus' retreating footsteps. Frisk swallowed, starting to inch forward-
-WHAM-
The sudden slamming of a energy-constructed spear embedding into the ground just an inch away from her face freaked her out, holding her breath for what felt like an eternity as she heard the metal footsteps again, coming closer to the edge of the cliff. Frisk could feel tears in her eyes and she gripped the ground tightly, almost feeling like her body was going to shake itself apart from her mounting fear...
...
...the footsteps slowly retreated, until they fell silent against the sounds of rushing water.
Swallowing hard, Frisk quickly scampered out of the tall grass, soon finding herself being tripped up as the another figure tripped over her, landing in a heap.
"Yooooooooo!"
OF course.
"Did you see her?!" Monster Kid said, almost scurrying in place as Frisk laid there, unmoving. "She's gonna fight a human! Oh this is gonna be so exciting! I don't wanna miss this!" And with that, the monster kid ran off, but not before faceplanting at least one more time before he disappeared from Frisk's view.
Chara then rematerialized. "You okay?"
"No..." Frisk moaned, shuddering.
Chara would get down, lightly rubbing Frisk's shoulders. "Take it easy champ... it's going to be okay... okay?"
Frisk would slowly get up, but she'd still be scared. "Wh-what if it c-comes back?"
"Frisk." Chara said, firmly setting her ghostly hands on the human's shoulders. "You need more faith in yourself. We're not gonna get through this if you keep panicking like this."
"But-"
"No buts." Chara bluntly said, starting to grip Frisk's shoulders. "I'm not letting you die on my watch. Understand?"
"..."
"Frisk..." Chara said, seeming to sound a bit heartbroken. "Trust me..."
"...alright." Frisk said, looking the spirit dead in the eye. "I trust you."
Chara smiled, hugging Frisk. "Then let's get going."
Frisk nodded, turning back to the path ahead as she came across another Save Point.
Frisk LV1 EXLV5 32:10
Waterfall - Hallway
File Saved.
With a backup in place, Frisk would advance onwards to soon see a small alcove with four closed flowers, and a small but deep waterway in front of her.
"Ah, these things." Chara said, floating over to the closed flowers. "Bridge Seeds."
"What... do they do?" Frisk asked, picking one up.
"It's another type of puzzle." Chara stated. "When four seed align across the water's surface, they bloom into a bridge for someone like you to cross."
"Ah..." Frisk said, walking to the water's edge and setting it down. The flower bud would drift to the other side of the water, where it would stick in place. Getting the idea of how to handle it, she'd pick up the rest and file them single-file after the other ones, the four connecting and blooming into a bridge that connected the two sides of the gap. Frisk took a step forward, surprised to see that the flowery platforms held her weight, before continuing to the other side and reaching solid ground. Taking a minute to check her surroundings, she'd see another set of Bridge Seeds along with a path towards a door to the northern west part of the room, across another stream leading downwards that couldn't be crossed easily. A few glowing mushrooms would lay around the clearing of the room.
Frisk would take a breath, looking around the area before noticing a sign near the bottom left of the room, surrounded by water. Curiosity getting the better of her, she went and grabbed the Bridge Seeds and laid them out into the water, the path blooming before her and leading to the sign. As soon as she got to the sign she found it's contents:
"CONGRATULATIONS! You failed the puzzle!"
Frisk shot a look back at Chara, who was currently trying to hold back her laughter from the revelation as the human sighed in frustration, returning to the main room.
"So... how do I get the flowers back?" Frisk asked, before Chara indicated to the plant-like bell on the wall.
"Blossom Bells." Chara said. "The chimes they give off make more Bridge Seeds grow."
Frisk raised an eyebrow before walking over and hitting the bell. A soft, chiming echo would reverberate through the room as four more seeds grew up from the ground. Frisk decides not to question it as she walks over and picks up one of the flowers... before noticing something odd at the bottom right area of the room with the large body of water. Curiosity once again striking her interest, she sets up the Bridge Seeds so that they bloom near the bottom right of the room across the water. Frisk then walks over the flowered bridge... to find a lone bench, a tall blue flower next to it.
"...huh..." Frisk said, looking around. "This place seems... odd."
"I definitely don't remember this little hideaway from my time living down here..." Chara said as Frisk stepped forward, before her nose caught the whiff of something.
Smelled like... eggs?
Frisk, following her nose, checked underneath the bench...
...to which sat a lone quiche, completely by itself.
"A... quiche?" Chara said, turning upside down as she watched Frisk pull it out from under the bench. "That's a bit random, isn't it?"
Frisk would pick it up. "It's still warm..."
"Frisk, no." Chara said. "There's been times where I've questioned what you're eating from where, but 'bench quiche' is where I draw the line."
"But it's still warm, it couldn't have been here long-"
"It was under a bench!" Chara argued. "Why would you eat something that was underneath a BENCH?!"
"Because my HP isn't back to full."
Chara was about to interject, but then decided to *Check Frisk's stats to see what she meant.
Frisk
LV 1
EXLV5
HP 12/35
ATK 23 (30)_EXP: 0
DEF 17 (17)_NEXT: 10
MAG 22_ EXP. PNT: 1550
SPD 18_NEXT EXLV: 2450
WEAPON: Rigid Stick
ARMOR: Nothing
GOLD: 175
...oh.
"You never healed after we had that encounter with Red?" Chara asked.
Frisk shook her head. "We were already home free from Cogwood by that point, there was no need."
"What about the pie mom made?" Chara said.
"I wanna hold on to that..." Frisk said. "Gut feeling tells me I'm going to need it."
Chara sighed and shrugged as Frisk ate the abandoned quiche.
12/35 - 35/35
"You good now?" Chara asked.
Frisk nodded, heading back for the main room. Ringing the bell one final time, she'd then solve the proper puzzle before crossing the river on the blossoms towards the other door-
-RING- -RING-
Frisk seemed confused, soon checking the caller idea.
It was Papyrus.
Frisk would answer. "Hello?"
"AH, HUMAN, THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE OKAY!" Papyrus said over the phone. "I WAS BEGINNING TO GET WORRIED SICK AFTER MY MEETING WITH UNDYNE, AND I COULDN'T STAND NOT KNOWING IF YOU WEREN'T SAFE!"
"I-It's okay Papyrus..." Frisk said. "I'm alright."
"OH THANK HEAVENS..." Papyrus said. "PLEASE, YOU MUST BE CAREFUL TRAVERSING THROUGH THAT AREA! UN-"
"Undyne's patrol will have her circling that area like a hawk." Red's voice cut in over the phone, catching Frisk off guard.
"Red?!"
"You made a promise to me, and I'm keeping a promise I made to myself." Red answered. "I'm not letting my only human friend die on me."
Frisk took a deep breath. "Alright." She said.
"WE WILL DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO TRY AND DIVERT HER ROUTE TO TRY AND AVOID YOU, BUT WE CAN'T MAKE ANY PROMISES!"
"We don't know what Undyne is planning." Red said. "Please, just stay safe."
"Any help is much appreciated." Frisk said. "Thank you both."
-click-
With the phone hung up, Frisk took a deep breath, preparing for fight-or-flight as she entered into the next room. Upon the other side there were more of the glowing blue flowers and a telescope, the ceiling of the room glittered with crystals and larger glowing stones, almost resembling the night sky.
"Wooaahh..." Frisk said, glancing around the room. "So pretty..."
"And a dead end..." Chara said, floating over and looking at the small hallway leading away from the main room. "There's no way forward over here."
"Then... what do we do?" Frisk said, soon noticing the telescope. "Maybe... something involving this?"
Chara shrugged. "Knock yourself out." She said, floating back and letting Frisk look through the scope.
Looking through the telescope, Frisk would be seeing the small bits of sparking crystals in the ceiling as if she was stargazing... but she'd notice there were some weird black markings covering parts of the viewport.
"...huh?" Frisk asked, looking confused.
"What's up?" Chara asked.
"Something's obstructing the lens..." Frisk said, moving the scope to the brighter spots on the ceiling...
CHECK NORTHERN WALL
Frisk seemed confused. Why was that scribbled across the lens of the thing? Thinking for a second, she'd look down the hall to see the end of it as a dead end.
An idea comes to her mind.
Walking up to the wall, she'd glide her hand across the wall until she felt something that felt like a divot in it. Frisk would push down on it, the wall shaking before a passage opening up before the two.
"...huh. Nice thinking." Chara said as the two continued onwards into the caves. The next room was filled with the sounds of rushing water as Frisk soon found herself on a dock, a massive mural covering the lone rock wall along the boarded path. Frisk curious, approached the wall as she looked over the small bits of ancient writing... it was hard to interpret but the language was familiar; she had lightly touched on it back in school before she fell.
"The War of Humans and Monsters."
"Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong; it would take the Soul of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human Soul. But humans have one weakness; ironically, it is the strength of their Soul. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death. If a monster defeats a human, they can take its Soul. A monster with a human Soul... a horrible beast with unfathomable power."
The massive mural depicted a large terrifying creature, size overarching many smaller sketches of what was supposedly representing humans or monsters. The notable detail about this drawing was the upside down heart shape inside the first heart shape located right on it's chest.
Frisk swallowed, but noticed Chara fell silent. She looked over to see her friend's eyes obscured by her hair... but there were noticeable tear lines down her face.
Frisk elected not to press about the issue.
Moving away from the mural, Frisk would ride a small raft across the inky black water to the other boardwalk on the other side, a rocky cliff with stone pillars overlooking it. As she stepped off and started looking around, a noticeable hanging dread seemed to fill the air. Chara could feel it as well, something just felt... wrong.
"This isn't right..." Chara said to herself, eyes darting around the area. "Frisk, I don't think we're alone here..."
Frisk swallowed, taking another step forward...
An energy spear slammed straight into the boardwalk, splinters from the boards flying into the air as Frisk froze in place from the sudden flight of the spear. Swallowing hard, her eyes darted to the cliffside where the spear flew from...
Among the darkness of the area stood a armored figure, large in stature and aggression, the shiny glint of the armor reflecting light from an unknown source as a large red plume came from the helmet. In the glint of it's helmet a single yellow eye could be seen from the left side, glaring daggers at Frisk.
Frisk's body took hold of that fight-or-flight response as she booked it down the docks, the armored figure soon summoning more energy spears as they whizzed by her and splintered the wooden path ahead of her. Frisk's panic was spiking hard as she felt the air of the magically-charged spears barely miss her by inches several times, splintering into the boardwalk boards on the ground. The path started winding as she scampered along the path, the spears whizzing by and barely missing her as they splashed into the murky black water or the boardwalk.
But sooner or later, Frisk's dodging luck ran out.
One of the thrown spears tore by her arm, shredding the fabric on her sleeve and the skin of her arm, leaving a splash of crimson across the wooden pathway.
35/35 - 15/35
The human cried out in pain as she gripped her wounded arm to try and stop the bleeding as she pressed onwards, running like hell as more spears whizzed by. Splinters flew like mad as Frisk left a bloodied trail of her escape towards the end of the docks. The spears grew more frenzied as Frisk kept running with her bleeding arm...
Taking a gamble, she dove head-first into the tall grass, skidding along is as she tried to keep her voice down while she hid. Tears streaming down her face, she curled herself into a ball and waited, scared for her own life of the approaching armored figure...
Chara swallowed hard, soon getting near Frisk and throwing up a defensive barrier using her own DT of her being to protect Frisk. She wasn't about to let her die. Not now.
The echoes of the metal footsteps ring through the area as the giant figure drew closer to Frisk's location. The human's panic began to rise as the armored figure raised a hand...
...and shot into the grass, gripping something with force before pulling it up.
...it was Monster Kid.
The figure sighed in exasperation before dropping Monster Kid back into the grass and stomping off, clearly aggravated that she didn't get the chance to capture the human.
Frisk swallowed hard as Chara dropped the shield.
"That... was WAY too close for comfort..." Chara said, floating down next to the human, checking her arm wound. "Oh yikes... that spear got you worse than I expected..."
"H-how bad is it...?" Frisk whimpered.
"Any more to the left and it would've really ripped your arm off." Chara said. "Ugh... damnit, the one time where I wish we had more healing food..."
"I-I'm not gonna lose it, am I?" Frisk asked.
Chara shook her head. "You don't have any sort of medical supplies on you, do you?"
Frisk would think for a second, the sweat still dripping down her face before she remembered.
"B-bottom compartment, there should b-be some bandaging..." Frisk sputtered. "Owowowowowow..."
Chara would fish out the small roll of bandaging from the bottom compartment of Frisk's backpack as she went to work wrapping Frisk's slashed arm, soon the lower forearm being covered completely in bandaging as Frisk slowly got to her feet. The blood already was soaking through her bandaging as she stepped out of the grass... before the yellow lizard kid faceplanted out of the grass too.
"YOOOOOOO!" The kid said, seeing Frisk. "Did you see that?! Undyne just... TOUCHED MY FACE!"
Frisk seemed dumbstruck.
"I am never washing this side of my face again!" The kid said, before taking off deeper into Waterfall. Frisk swallowed and started walking onwards, soon reaching another small crystal-lined room with a nearby Save Point.
Frisk LV1 EXLV5 32:10
Waterfall - Crystal
File Saved.
Upon saving, Frisk and Chara proceed onwards... before Chara notices something is off again. She doesn't remember this hallway being this long before...
"H-huh?" Frisk said, looking ahead down the hall.
"What's up?" Chara asked.
"What... is that?" Frisk asked, pointing ahead to where Chara looked.
Situated about halfway down the rocky corridor was an unnaturally out of place door, jutting into the side of it's rocky surface. The door was definitely wooden... but it was completely grey, almost sterile in comparison to the more natural surroundings of it.
"A... door?" Frisk asked, slowly starting to approach it. Something definitely felt off about it as the human and her ghostly companion approached the structure. The closer she grew to the grey door, her stomach seemed to sink as she could feel the surface of it's wooden frame, almost ice-cold to the touch.
Frisk swallowed, beads of sweat starting to run down her face as her hand slid to the metal doorknob. Upon gripping it she felt the stinging cold of the metal hit her skin, almost as if it was being frozen in place, as she felt a presence on the other side of the door.
Something... deeply, deeply wrong.
Frisk swallowed hard, feeling her hand trembling as she slowly turned the knob to the door. Every fiber of her mind was screaming at her to run, to stop touching that door, to get away from here as fast as possible... but her body refused to listen, slowly turning the knob more and more...
-click-
The latch came undone as the door slightly jutted, Frisk's internal fear beginning to spike as she slowly opened the door to...
...nothing. Literally nothing. A black abyss stared back at both the human and the spirit, confusing Chara and freezing Frisk in fear.
"What..." was all that came out of Chara's mouth before an inky black tentacle shot from the open part of the door, gripping tightly around Frisk's neck. The human gasped in shock as her hands dropped from the door and to the tentacle around her neck, struggling to try and pry it from her airway as she flailed her legs, trying to kick to squirm out. Chara reacted in shock and try to lunge for Frisk...
...but then she was sharply pulled inside, the door slamming shut with Frisk now trapped inside that room.
Chara panicked; she didn't know what was going on, but there was no way Frisk was going to be okay in there! Quickly grabbing the doorknob she tried to jostle the door open, but the door held fast, not even budging an inch as Chara threw her spectral mass against it, trying to break it open. The less and less it budged, the more and more Chara's fears grew that she wouldn't get Frisk back alive. Taking matters into her own hands, she delved into the inside of the door...
Darkness.
Empty.
Nothing more than a cold, empty world sat before Chara's eyes as she soon found herself on the other side of the door. The nonexistent wind would be howling across the single grey walkway, overlooking an endless inkly black abyss of empty nothingness. Chara swallowed hard, looking around the place.
"Frisk!" Chara called out, trying to find her human friend. "Frisk! Where are you?!" She cried out.
"Ch-Chara?!" Frisk cried, the female voice echoing across the void. "Chara!"
"FRISK!" Chara cried, flying ahead on the grey path as she soon found the human sprawled on her back, her hands trembling as she stared ahead. "Are you alright?"
Frisk's breath would be shaky as she stared ahead. "Wh-where is this? Where are we?" She sputtered.
"I don't know..." Chara said, gripping Frisk's hand. "But we'll get you out of here, I swear, just follow me-"
The path was gone.
The way back was completely gone.
Chara's heart dropped and Frisk shook. What was going on?!
"📬︎📬︎📬︎"
Frisk froze up. "Wh-what was that?" She asked, unnerved.
"📬︎📬︎📬︎✋︎ ︎❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎💧︎❄︎✋︎ ︎ ︎📬︎ ✞︎ ︎ ︎✡︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ✋︎ ︎❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎💧︎❄︎✋︎ ︎ ︎📬︎"
Both Frisk and Chara would look over at the source of the sounds coming from the void to see a figure facing away from them. It's appearance was slimy, as if it was constantly in a state of melting or falling apart if it wasn't given any sort of support. The body was a jet inky black, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding void if it wasn't for the floor's grey tone distinguishing it. It's head was completely white, standing out against the dark background, looking akin to melting wax of a candle.
Frisk's heart was nearly pounding out of her chest from the figure in front of her. Her footsteps seemed to tremble as she stepped backwards. If she could just get to that door-
"✌︎ ︎👎︎ ︎ ︎💧︎❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ 👎︎ ︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎ ❄︎ ︎✋︎ ︎😐︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎✋︎ ︎ ︎✍︎"
Frisk's heart stopped for a moment as the figure turned and stared her down, the melting black voids of sockets just almost piercing through her... as if they were staring straight into her Soul. And that creepy open grin...
She swallowed hard, her frame trembling as the creature slunk forward.
"👎︎ ︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎ 😐︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎✌︎❄︎ ✋︎❄︎ ︎💧︎ ︎✋︎😐︎ ︎✍︎"
"❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❄︎ ︎✠︎✋︎💧︎❄︎✍︎"
"❄︎ ︎ 💧︎ ︎ ︎ ❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎👎︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎👎︎ 💣︎✌︎😐︎ ︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❄︎ ︎ ︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎✠︎✋︎💧︎❄︎ ︎ ︎👍︎ ︎✍︎"
"❄︎ ︎ ︎✌︎❄︎👍︎ ︎ ✌︎💧︎ ︎❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎💧︎ ❄︎✌︎😐︎ ︎ 👍︎ ︎ ︎👎︎✋︎❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ✌︎👍︎ ︎✋︎ ︎✞︎ ︎💣︎ ︎ ︎❄︎💧︎✍︎"
"📬︎📬︎📬︎"
"📬︎📬︎📬︎ ︎ ︎ 👍︎ ︎ ︎ ︎💧︎ ︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎👎︎ ︎ ︎❄︎📬︎"
" ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎👎︎📬︎"
"✡︎ ︎ ︎ ︎✌︎✞︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ 👍︎ ︎ ︎👍︎ ︎ ︎❄︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎💧︎💧︎"
"📬︎📬︎📬︎❄︎ ︎ ︎✡︎ ︎✋︎ ︎ ︎ ✌︎ ︎ ︎ ︎✌︎✡︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ❄︎ ︎✋︎💧︎📬︎"
"✌︎ ︎👎︎ ✡︎ ︎ ︎📬︎📬︎📬︎"
At that moment, two small white pinprick pupils appeared in the melting figure's eyes, Frisk freezing in place from her spiking fear.
"📬︎📬︎📬︎✌︎ ︎ ︎ ❄︎ ︎✌︎❄︎ ❄︎✋︎👍︎😐︎ ︎❄︎📬︎"
An almost inhuman screeching noise of static and moans rose from the area as the figure made a lunge for the human. Snapping out of her fear-frozen stupor, Frisk screamed and bolted for the door, the darkened black tentacles shooting out from the body of the figure and stabbing into the ground and attempting to impale the poor girl. The human shrieks as soon she throws herself at the door, trying to ram it open with her shoulder, but her slim stature gives issue to making it budge.
Tears start to flow from her eyes as her spiritual friend throws herself at the door as well, trying to get it open as the melting figure drew in closer... and closer...
Frisk's panic spiked hard as she threw herself as hard as she could at the door... and the door broke off it's hinges, the door disintegrating underneath her as she hit the ground hard, panting in a mess as she curled in a ball, shaking.
"Frisk..." Chara said, rubbing the girl's shoulder. "It'll be okay... calm down..."
Frisk swallowed, uncovering her face as she looked around. Chara could see now the extent of the damage of Frisk's trauma given from the encounter with that... thing. The fear stricken in her eyes, shaking from the cold, dark feeling she had surging through her body from the recent experience.
The human shuddered, trying to get to her feet as the Soul spirit helped her up, Frisk shakily walking towards the other end of the hallway. Swallowing a bit, she'd turn and look behind her at the corridor.
The door was gone.
"jeez, kiddo, you look like you just got dragged behind the riverperson's boat for a half o' mile." Sans said as Frisk rounded the end of the rocky hallways, coming up next to the small intersection towards the glowing waters. "what in the world happened to you?"
Frisk froze up for a second, then tried brushing it off. "I-it was just spears."
Smooth Frisk, smooth.
Sans raised a metaphorical eyebrow. "sheesh, undyne found ya already?" He said, pulling out his phone. "better get a move-on then; once she sets her sights on a target she ain't never gonna let ya get away."
Frisk sweatdropped. "That... doesn't sound promising..." She said.
"eh, i wouldn't worry about it too much." Sans replied, scrolling through something. "you'll do fiiiiine."
Frisk sighs. "Is there at least a way I can take to move on?" She asked.
"best advice i can give is follow the echo flowers." Sans said. "can't miss 'em, they're the blue ones."
"A-alright..." Frisk said, taking her first few steps and heading south into the bioluminescent swamp... before stopping.
"Hey..." Frisk asked.
"hm? what's up kiddo?" Sans responded.
"There's... not normally a grey door in that hallway back there, is there?" The human asked.
Sans fell silent as the white of his pupils left his eyesockets, his iconic grin vanishing. For a moment Frisk starts to think she just asked the wrong question.
"A-are you okay?" Frisk asked the skeleton.
The question snaps Sans out of his trance as he looked at the human, normal expression back on his face. "eh, i'm fine kiddo." He responded. "just had a thought about somethin', nothin' to worry about."
"A-alright... see you around I guess..." Frisk said, starting to walk again.
"see ya 'round kiddo." Sans said, looking back at his phone.
Chara momentarily rematerialized by Frisk as she whispered to her. "Next time we meet with him, we gotta talk about that. He's definitely hiding something from us..."
The sounds of the barely flowing water and drops of moisture from the ceiling gave off an eerily calm feeling to the surroundings, the lands dark as a stark contrast to the cyan-glowing water. Small glowing particles would seem to rise off the surface of the liquid, tiny glowing mushrooms and those long blue flowers adorned across the area, with the occasional fireflies sparking every once and again.
Frisk felt uneasy as she walked through the marshlands; while the sights were beautiful, she felt like she couldn't rest at all from the ever looming danger chasing her...
"So? Don't you have any wishes to make?"
"Uwaaah!" Frisk screamed, jumping back from the sudden sound as she looked over at the source of the sound... being a tall blue flower.
"Wow. So graceful." Chara sarcastically said, rematerializing. "Getting scared of the local flora now are we?"
"Sh-shut up!" Frisk stammered, getting to her feet. "I thought that was Undyne trying to scare me for a second!"
"I thought that was Undyne trying to scare me for a second!"
Chara tried to hold back her laughter as Frisk just stared dumbfounded at the flower itself, now echoing what she had just said. "Wh-what's so funny?"
"Wh-what's so funny?" The echo flower responded.
Chara couldn't hold it back longer; she burst into a fit of laughter as she reeled back in her floating position, nearly tears in her eyes. Frisk just merely deadpanned at her before continuing onwards into Waterfall, Chara following behind while laughing the whole way, hearing the conversation of the echo flowers...
"... hmmm, just one, but... It's kind of stupid."
"Don't say that! Come on, I promise I won't laugh..."
It wasn't long before the two found themselves in a darker room, filled with water as the sounds of it flowing around them echoed through the place. The human grew uneasy as she progressed down the pathway to the right, tense as she didn't know what to expect...
Slowly out of the corner of her vision she'd see a small tentacle rising up out of the water, causing her to freeze up from the motion. She swallowed hard as something... something... was moving under the water. She'd take smaller steps, hoping that she could reach the other side of the room before-
"H-hellooo...?"
Frisk squeaked, falling to her back and scampering away backwards until she felt the edge of the path, the water barely lapping into her hands. A large hulking yellow blobulous creature seemed to be rising out of the water, several other tentacles following suit. The human seemed to have her Soul starting to tremble in fear as she stared into the unknown.
"Ohmygush, are you alright?" The large figure spoke, seemingly petting the human with one of it's large tentacles. "You look as though you've seen a ghost..."
Frisk sputtered but it seemed she'd have trouble getting the words out of her mouth...
"Oh you don't need to be scared of me pal!" The figure said, helping the human up. "I'm Onion-san!"
Frisk seemed to go from fearful to... dumbfounded. "On... Onion-san?"
"Yup!" The gigantic squid-like entity said as Frisk began walking to the room's exit again. "I've been living here in this pool in Waterfall all my life! ...though things have been growing concerning as of recently..."
"Huh?" Frisk asked.
"The waters have been growing shallower lately, it's been getting harder to submerge down just to sleep..." Onion-san said, it's head half submerged into the water. "All my friends had to move to that aquarium in the capitol city, but I couldn't go because it was full..."
"Oh, I'm so sorry..."
"B-but don't worry! I-I'm sure they haven't forgotten about me! I'm sure they're just finding a way to get me there! I'm sure of it!"
Frisk merely nodded, continuing walking as she reached the end of the room.
"O-oh, you're leaving?" Onion-san asked.
"Sorry..." Frisk said. "Kinda in a rush."
"Th-that's okay!" Onion-san said. "I-I'll still be here! Uhm... bye!"
And with that Onion-san disappeared back into the waters.
"...huh." Chara said as she rematerialized. "And here I was half expecting you to become a product of Japanese animation-"
"Chara what the hell!" Frisk yelled.
"Oh lighten up will ya?" Chara said.
"Ugggh..." Frisk moaned, stomping out of the room as Chara followed behind her. Onion-san resurfaced momentarily as they watched Frisk leave.
"...who was she talking to?"
The dripping water would echo across the small room as the two made their way through, seeing the path spit off to the north and the east. Electing to move north first, the two would come across a dead end room with a piano against the left wall and a ruined door ahead of them. Frisk would approach the piano and begin to investigate it.
"Hmmmm..." Frisk though to herself, pressing the keys of the piano. "It feels like there's some sort of mechanism connecting this piano to that door..."
"You think there's some sort of correlation?" Chara asked.
"There might be some sort of scale or tune we need to play to unlock it..." Frisk said. "You have any idea?"
Chara shook her head. "Nothing's coming to mind."
"...alright, we'll keep this thing in mind and come back later." Frisk said, walking back to the hub area before moving on down the other hallway. The walls grew darker as the two came across a statue sitting underneath a skylight, water dripping down from the ceiling and splashing on the stone statue's figure.
"...I remember this place..." Chara said. "This is where my brother and I used to play in the rain when we were younger..."
"So... this place holds a special point in your heart?" Frisk asked.
Chara merely nodded. "It's... one of the few cherished memories I have of my family down here..." She'd then appear to be confused as she looked around the statue. "That's... odd."
"What's wrong?" Frisk asked.
"There's usually an umbrella sitting within the statue's arms..." Chara said.
Frisk would glance down the hallway and see a bucket filled with umbrellas, right before the rainy downpour of the next section of the caverns... and a thought came to her mind.
"Wait right here." Frisk said, running over to the bucket and looking for an adequately-sized umbrella, before pulling out a red one. "Perfect!" She said, running back to the statue.
"What are you doing?" Chara asked.
And then Frisk inserted the plumed out umbrella into the hands of the statue.
A familiar melody began to play through the room from the faint clicking of a music box...
Frisk would notice Chara beginning to tear up a bit.
"Th-this melody..." Chara choked out. "I-I remember this melody..."
"Huh?" Frisk asked.
"This was the song Asriel composed for me for my twelfth birthday..." Chara said. "I-It was his way of showing how much he loved me... I... I..."
At that point Chara had collapsed to her knees, starting to openly cry into her hands from the melody playing. Frisk would kneel down and comfort the sorrowful ghost child. Chara would grab onto the human and sob openly into her shoulder.
"Shhhh... shhhh..." Frisk whispered, lightly rubbing circles into the back of the spirit.
Chara's trembling would slow down. "H-heh..." She choked out. "Sorry you have to see me in such a mess like this..."
"Hey, there's no shame in crying..." Frisk said. "It's not healthy to bottle up your emotions like that..."
Chara would sigh. "I needed that..." She said, still hugging Frisk. "Th-thanks Frisk..."
"Hey, we're in this together." The human responded. "You have my back, I have yours."
Chara nodded, still hugging... and then a thought came to her mind. "The piano."
"The piano?" Frisk asked.
"Maybe that melody is the solution!" Chara said, getting up and floating back towards the room. "C'mon!"
"O-okay!" Frisk said, scrambling to her feet as she ran back to the piano room.
"Alright, play that melody into the piano keys." Chara said.
Frisk nodded, sitting down at the piano and taking a deep breath as she played the melody into the keys of the piano...
-CLICK-
Soon enough a low rumbling was heard as the door slowly opened up into another room.
Chara's eyes widened. "It worked!" She said. "Let's see what's hiding back here!"
"Alright..." Frisk said, walking into the next room. The walls were chiseled with ancient depictions of a creature like from the Waterfall murals, depicting a scene from many many years in the past. At the back of the room was a large pillar, resting upon it was a spherical object emblazened in a crimson color.
"Wooooooah..." Frisk said, looking around. "This place looks so... old..."
"Maybe it's a lost section of the Ruins that got buried long ago?" Chara said, soon noticing the pillar with the object. "Ooooh, and what could this be?"
"Huh?" Frisk said, walking up to the pillar. "What is this indeed?" She asked.
"It might be something important..." Chara said. "Open up your bag, let's take this thing with us."
"A-alright." Frisk said, taking her backpack off and setting it on the ground. "Hopefully this thing will fit into my b-"
-ARP-
Frisk and Chara both froze up.
"Diiid you just bark?" Frisk asked.
"I'm not a dog." Chara said.
"Then where-" Frisk said, opening up the bag.
And a small white dog head popped out of the open hole.
-BARPF-
Both Frisk and Chara would stare in both disbelief and confusion as the dog pawed out of the bag and flopped onto the floor. Frisk would scramble to look inside her bag.
"Oh my god this thing left so much shed fur in here!" Frisk yelled. "I'm thankful I put the food in its own containers or else everything would've been ruined!"
"Isn't that the same dog that was causing Papyrus issues back in Snowdin?" Chara asked, soon seeing it run up to the pillar. "Hey hey hey, what are you-"
The dog would leap up to the pillar and grab the artifact in its mouth, soon sprawling out on the floor and gnawing on the ball itself.
"Hey, give that back!" Frisk said, lunging at the dog as it scampered away with the ball... and through the wall.
"...what the hell even is that thing?" Chara asked herself. "Ugh... well whatever it is, it's run off with that thing."
"...that's not gonna come back to bite us, is it?" Frisk said.
"eeeeh, I wouldn't worry too much about it." Chara said. "Let's just keep going down that other path, this one's a dead end."
Frisk shrugged as she started walking back to where she got that umbrella and grabbed another one, popping it open as she proceeded into the soaking wet raining caves.
"Man, it's... really coming down hard, isn't it?" Frisk asked.
"Yep." Chara responded. "That's usually like it around this part of Waterfall. It's... a really good meditative spot if I'm being honest. Makes things feel much calmer."
"Huh..." Frisk said, still thinking a bit before her thoughts were interrupted by another voice.
"YO!" The voice said, causing Frisk to jump in shock. Looking over quickly, she'd see... that it was the same monster kid she's been encountering across Snowdin and Waterfall this entire time. "There you are! I thought you got lost back there after we split up from when Undyne grabbed my face!"
"Uuuuh, I got held up." Frisk said. "Wh-what are you doing here?"
"Was looking for Undyne, duh!" The monster kid replied. "C'mon! Let's go look!"
"O-okay..." Frisk hesitated as she started walking through the rainy tunnel, MK right behind her.
"Man, you wouldn't believe how cool Undyne is!" The kid started. "There's not been a single bad guy that's been able to stand up to her and won! She beats the snot outta all of 'em! If I were a human I'd be kept scared awake that she was comin' to beat the stuffing outta me!"
"Eheh, yeah..." Frisk said, trying her best to hide her fear.
"I don't know why school hasn't allowed her to come for visits, they let in the king of the underground but not her!" The kid said.
"?" Frisk seemed confused. "What do you mean?"
"Okay so, this one time we had to do this school project thing where we had to take care of this flower we were given. Something about 'learning responsibility' or something." The kid started. "The king - we had to call him 'Mr. Dreemurr' - volunteered to donate some of his own flowers he's grown. He ended up coming into the school and teaching us about that responsibility stuff and all that."
"Ah..." Frisk answered.
"That got me thinking..." The monster kid said. "How COOL would it be if Undyne came to the school?! She could beat up ALL the teachers!"
Frisk sweatdropped. "That-"
She elected not to continue her sentence. The walk was silent for a bit before the kid spoke again.
"Umm, actually, she wouldn't beat up the teachers. She's too cool to hurt an innocent person!" They said.
'Doesn't explain why she's targeting me then when I've done nothing wrong...' Frisk thought to herself as she moved through the path. Soon enough he cramped caves opened up into a large sprawling space with sparking stones in the ceiling as if it was the night sky.
"Woah..." Frisk said. "This place is... wow..."
"I know right?" The monster kid said. "That's not even the coolest part!"
"Huh?"
"Look up!"
"What are you- OH MY GOD!" Frisk said, nearly falling back upon seeing the massive upside down structure hanging from the ceiling, almost a gigantic city and castle included! "What in the world is that?!"
"That's the reflection of New Home!" The kid responded. "Waterfall itself is actually the foundation of New Home's location!"
"Wait... so we've been underneath it this entire time?" Frisk asked.
"Yeah! Pretty cool huh?" The kid responded. "C'mon, we're almost to the exit!"
"H-hey, wait up!" Frisk said, running after the kid. Soon enough the two came to a cliff upwards and another bin for umbrellas. Frisk promptly returned the umbrella to the bin before looking up at the ledge. "How am I...?"
"Lemme give ya a boost!" The kid said, kneeling down in front of the rock wall. "Hop up on my head, there should be enough room to get ya up there!"
"A-are you sure?" Frisk asked, approaching the monster.
"Trust me dude!" The kid responded.
Frisk hesitated for a moment as she climbed up onto the monster's shoulders, struggling to keep balance as she soon gripped onto the upper ledge. "B-but what about you?"
"Hey, don't worry about me! I'll find another way around!" The monster said. "I'll see you up ahead!"
And with that, he turned and took off back down the path they came... but not without a faceplant for good measure.
'The power to take their Souls... This is the power that the humans feared. A power with no counters, no weaknesses. Indeed, a human cannot take a monster's Soul. Upon a monster's death, its Soul turns to dust along with them, and an overwhelmingly terrible power would be needed to take the Soul of a living monster. There is but one exception to this; the Soul of a species of the most powerful monsters of our kind... a 'Boss Monster'. The magical energy flowing through a Boss Monster's Soul is enough for it to persist after its death... if but only for a few moments. It is possible for a human to absorb this Soul... but this has never happened.'
"And now, it never will." Chara finished speaking as the two came to the last of the wall runes of the area, Frisk shuddering from the thought of such a terrifying power. "'s a scary thing to think about, ain't it?" Chara asked.
"I-it is..." Frisk answered, shuddering a bit as the two came to the wooden scaffolding. "I... don't understand though... why put it up in writing on the walls?"
"...I was told it was for hope." Chara spoke, floating alongside the human. "Hopes that future generations of monsters wouldn't make the same mistakes as their ancestors and repeat history all over again."
"So rather than putting it into a book..."
"We put it into the environment to make our mark on time." Chara finished.
"Huh..." Frisk breathed. "I... never really thought about it that way..."
"Well... now you do." Chara spoke, looking ahead. "...looks like we're almost out of this neck of the woods."
"Thank goodness..." Frisk breathed, taking a step forward-
-KRASHK-
Frisk froze in terror as the energy spear slammed up through the dock, splintering the plank in front of her. In fear, she peered into the now freshly made hole...
The armored figure was back again.
Frisk wasted no time as she scampered across the boardwalk, the spears slashing up from below as the armored figure gave chase. Frisk's heartrate started to skyrocket from her fear, the panic setting into her movements as she ran, desperate to try and get away from her pursuer.
And then a fork in the walkway came up.
"To the left!" Chara called out, Frisk following the instructions without warning as she bolted just as the spears shot up and shredded the right path to pieces.
"Ch-Chara?!" Frisk said.
"I'll focus on the path direction, just keep running!" The spirit responded, keeping pace with the human as more spears shot up from below, narrowly missing Frisk several times.
"RIGHT! RIGHT!" Chara called out, Frisk nearly losing her footing as she rounded the corner as another set of energy spears shot up and shredded the path to the left.
Frisk nearly felt her heart jump out of her throat from the fear and adrenaline she was barely running off of as she faltered with her steps...
And then her foot hit the front of one of the boards wrong.
"FRISK!" Chara cried as the cinnamon-haired human went over the edge of the boardwalk. Frisk clenched her eyes and waited for the inevitable splut...
...that never came.
Frisk's eyes shot open in a cold sweat as she looked at her surroundings... to find she was back on the bridge!
"Wha..." Frisk breathed, before glancing around, catching a familiar sight of a skeleton on an adjacent ledge winking before walking behind a stalagmite and disappearing.
"Frisk, MOVE!" Chara yelled, snapping Frisk out of her trance and continuing her run as more energy spears shot out from the ground, splintering the walkways behind her.
"Th-there's the exit!" Frisk cried, pointing ahead at the land the bridge was scaffolding was connected to. "W-we're gonna make i-"
Her hopes were almost instantly dashed as a massive amount of spears shot up in front of her, completely destroying the scaffolding path to the otherside. Frisk skid to a halt and then started to run the other way...
Oh, right... the armored figure.
Frisk froze in her tracks as she saw the looming presence of the armored figure coming towards her slowly. Frisk, in fear, started to back up...
She felt her back foot reach the edge of the platform, the few splinters dislodge and fall down below. She froze, looking back at the armored figure, swallowing hard.
"What's wrong? Nowhere left to run?" The figure's voice through it's muffled helmet spoke. "You know, you've caused me a lot of trouble this entire time... why not do the right thing and surrender your Soul already? I'm only giving you this one chance... otherwise, we'll be doing things my way."
Frisk swallowed hard, eyes glancing like mad as the figure closed in on her, her breath quickening, beads of sweat started to roll down her face as she almost felt like her Soul was going to burst...
"Please..." Frisk started to cry. "I don't want to die..."
"You don't have a choice." The armored figure said, energy spear forming in its hands as it approached Frisk...
Frisk's breathing grew more and more rapid as the figure approached, her foot scooting back slightly as more shards of wood fell from the plank she was standing on. She swallowed hard...
And then shrieked in shock as several spiky vines shot up from below and shredded the bridge between the human and the armored figure. The human felt the platform shifting from the uneven weight on her end as she felt it tilting from the lack of supporting pillars below her. Throwing caution to the wind, she'd make a dash for the still-stable bridge; even with the armored figure on it she'd rather take that at this point...
...she didn't even get halfway before the platform collapsed underneath her weight. Frisk screamed in terror as she fell into the inky black abyss...
CHAPTER 5 FIN