Pre-Chapter notes: Aaaaand, we're back! We had a really good time on our trip. Got to see a couple of friends from across the country. Now we're back though, and coming out with another chapter in time for Halloween!
On that note, a warning going in: this chapter contains a good bit of graphic violence so please be mindful of that. Don't want to spoil anything, so we'll just leave it at that.
Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter and Happy Halloween, everyone!
Chapter 17: Revival and Revelations
The taste of chocolate still fresh on their tongues, the two children continued on their way. Weaving through the labyrinth of gem encrusted walls and pools of crystalline water, they eventually found their way back to the main path. After some consideration they decided to brave the direct route, favoring expediency over subtlety, at least for now.
As they walked, the silence was filled with the wishes of dozens of monsters, spoken by the Echo Flowers. On the surface, they seemed hopeful and yet the more he listened, the more Frisk sensed something hidden deeper within. There was no variety, no differing goals or aspirations. Thousands of voices but only a single, consistent desire: Freedom. As beautiful as this place was, it was sometimes easy to forget that it was, in fact, a prison. This truth had become clearer to him with each passing day.
Only one cluster of echoes was absent the desperation of the rest: that voiced by Lily and her lost friend. Could it really have been Flowey, who she'd shared so precious a moment with? The pieces certainly fit, and yet a few seemed to be missing. How could such words, spoken with so much innocence and optimism, have come from the mouth of someone like Flowey, a person who had displayed so little of both?
It was then the boy's train of thought lead him to what had happened after. Nothing about the subsequent conversation between Lily and the nihilistic flower had been pleasant… but one thing in particular bothered him. He'd chosen not to mention it at right then - Lily had had enough on her mind - but it continued to frustrate him like an itch that lay just out of reach. Maybe now was the time.
"Hey, Lily?" He spoke.
The girl jumped slightly at the broken silence - impressive, given she was already off the ground. "Sorry… what?"
Frisk studied her for a moment. While she seemed to be feeling a little better, it was clear the ordeal had been taxing. Still, curiosity urged him to continue and he complied.
"About… what happened earlier," he began cautiously. "Sorry for bringing it up again but… something's bothering me."
Lily, now fully attentive, turned to her friend and frowned. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean for you to get dragged into that."
"No, it's not that." The boy shook his head. "I know it might not be something you want to think about but… did anything Flowey said sound strange to you?"
"Maybe a little…? But… well, he was so upset." Lily replied dourly. "I feel terrible."
"No, I mean…" Frisk quickly backpedaled, hoping to steer the conversation away from that dark place. "Your name. He said… he told us that he'd said your name a few times, right? I didn't hear it though, did you?"
"My name…?" Lily's forlorn expression was replaced by puzzlement as Frisk's words dawned on her. "I don't… think so? I don't remember it though. Would I have even recognized it if I did hear it?"
"Lily… he didn't say a name at all." Frisk clarified. "Not his, not yours, not mine… none. He didn't say it."
"That doesn't make sense though." Lily protested. "Why would he lie about something like that, after… after getting so angry."
"I don't…" Frisk paused at the idea that popped into his head. It was preposterous, and yet… "I don't think he was lying."
"W-what do you mean?" She gave him a look like he was suddenly standing on his head.
For all Frisk knew, he might as well have been. He couldn't believe what he was about to say. It was absurd… impossible, but at the same time he would have said that about a lot of the things he'd experienced over the last few weeks. He couldn't explain how or why, but Flowey hadn't seemed dishonest. While Frisk wouldn't put it past him to rub salt in the wound, that didn't seem to be the case here. Outlandish as it was, that left only one explanation.
"In his mind, he honestly believes he said your name," Frisk began slowly. "and I believe him. But for some reason neither one of us heard it. To us, he didn't say it at all."
Lily's head swam at the contradiction. He said it, but he didn't? That made even less sense than him lying about it to make her feel worse. Nevermind that there was no way such a lie would hold water.
But…
"There's no way…" she protested, though even she could hear the uncertainty in it. "We must have just not heard him."
"Neither of us?" Frisk countered. "I think something like your name would probably stick out wouldn't it? Think about it… after Sans' workshop and everything else that's happened, this wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened to us."
"It's pretty close…" Lily murmured, and Frisk couldn't really disagree with that. "But even if you're right, what does that even mean?"
"I don't know…" Frisk replied simply.
"Ugh… my head." the confused girl sighed, massaging her temples. "I already couldn't remember my name, now I can't even hear it when someone says it?"
"I'm sorry," Frisk apologized. "Maybe Sans would know something about this? We can ask him next time we see him."
"Yeah," Lily said. "but… let's get out of here first okay? I think I've had my fill of this place."
Frisk nodded, squeezing Lily's hand reassuringly. "Of course."
Giving him a thankful smile, the spectral girl pulled her friend along the glowing, mossy path. The echo flowers grew sparser the further they traveled, until only small clusters remained of the veritable forest that was the Wishing Room. In time, their path lead them to what appeared, as far as Lily could see, to be a giant underground lake. A number of boats both large and small were pulled onto the glittering grey sand beach. The only available light came from the glowing moss creeping along the walls and shore as well as a few of the distant star like crystals on the high ceiling.
"Hey Frisk. There's a huge lake here. I don't see any path across it." Lily explained, turning her gaze to the blind boy next to her. "There's a few boats with oars though. I think we'll have to take one if we want to get to the other side."
"Maybe we can find someone to take us over?" The boy suggested.
Lily pondered that for a moment, scanning the beach for any sign of a monster that might pass for a shipwright, but the beach seemed barren apart from the two of them. There wasn't even anything that resembled a dock as far as she could tell.
"I don't think there is anyone." She concluded. "But someone must be using all of these boats. You think the monsters just take them when they need to?"
Oh boy…
Frisk shuddered slightly. Remembered his dip in the Ruins and the close call at the falls not long ago, where he slipped on the path. Water didn't seem to be agreeing with him recently.
"Maybe? I guess it wouldn't hurt if we just… borrowed one?" Frisk replied, his worry slipping through slightly. He knew they didn't have many options, but still…
"Don't worry Frisky. I promise I won't let you fall into the water, okay?" Lily squeezed his hand a little.
Frisk nodded, still a little uncertain as she guided him towards one of the smaller boats. With a little direction from Lily, the small child managed to get both himself in the boat and the boat in the water without capsizing. So far so good. Lily settled her own weightless form into the vessel across from him. The encouraging sight of his friend helped cool his nervousness a little.
'Lily's with me this time. And she knows what to watch for. Everything will be fine.'
Lily, in her eagerness, quickly grabbed for one of the oars… only for her hands to slip right through it.
"Oh…right…oops…" she said sheepishly.
Frisk, having guessed what happened from the motion and her words, chuckled softly. "It's alright. You just tell me where to go okay?"
Placing his stick across his lap, he fumbled for the oars a little before finding them. He felt nervous, having never rowed a boat before. Still, after some experimentation and feedback from Lily (who was operating more off common sense than any real knowledge herself), he managed to find a somewhat passable rhythm before pushing the canoe further into the water.
A gasp lifted from Lily's lips as she stared at the ripples spreading from the drifting vessel. "Oh my… It's beautiful… Frisk! The water glows! "
"Wait, glowing water? How…?"
Sure enough. The moment they'd cast off, the water surrounding the boat was set alight with a strange blue luminescence. It brightened and faded in time with the rippling water, undulating like an aurora. Lily quickly leaned over the side of the boat to get a closer look. Had she been solid, her eagerness might have turned them over but the canoe stayed afloat.
"It looks like there's little moving things in it… The ripples from the boat on the water is making them glow…"
"Hm.. little things in water that look like they're moving…" He thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Plankton! They must be creatures called plankton. I read about those. A lot of fish and other animals eat them and there's a few types can give off a really bright glow. They're probably what's lighting up the water." He grinned as he paddled onward, the tiny creatures' glow following their boat like the tail of a comet.
"They're so pretty. I can't believe how bri-…" She paused, leaning so far over the boat Frisk thought she might go overboard. "What…was that? "
Within the dark depths, a large shadow grew close to the surface before slipping back into the depths. A number of the glowing plankton pulsed beneath the surface like a plume of smoke in its wake. Squinting her eyes, Lily managed to make out several more shadows of varying sizes and shapes slipping in and out of view, never coming close enough for her to actually identify them.
"What is it?" Frisk asked hesitantly, pausing his rowing.
"I think… there's monsters down there, in the water. Big monsters… bigger than even mom…" Lily spoke slowly, not taking her eyes off its glowing surface.
Frisk shrunk a little at that. "Maybe we shou-"
Lily took a quick glance at her friend. "Stay right here… I want to make sure they're not getting too close…" And with those words she slipped over the side of the boat and into the darkness below.
Frisk let out a small cry of alarm.
"Lily!" He called, scrambling to the side, causing the boat to rock precariously while its wooden frame creaked in protest. Glancing over the edge, he relaxed slightly when he noticed her spectral form floating just below, safe and sound as she scanned the area beneath them.
"Jeez, Frisk. She's incorporeal… of course she wouldn't drown…" He mumbled to himself, startling slightly when the girl suddenly popped back out of the water and into the boat.
"I couldn't see a darn thing under there. But it didn't seem like they're close enough to bother us…" She reassured him.
Looking across the lake once more she quickly resumed her duty as guide. Frisk smiled softly, shaking his head at his own worriment before taking hold of the oars and following the directions she gave him.
"A little left… Oh wait, go back right. A rock is poking out… Okay, now back left… There. That should do it. Just a couple more minutes and we'll reach the end…"
Just as she said they soon reached another shore, again cluttered with vessels of varying size. The boat lurched onto the embankment and the two children disembarked onto the dark sand. Lily guided Frisk in pulling the boat further onto the shore so it wouldn't drift off into the lake before leaving it behind to continue their journey.
"Wow, it's really dark…" Lily mused, squinting in the darkness that seemed deeper than the rest of Waterfall. "Careful. We might be moving along water again soon but it looks like there's at least a path this time."
Thus the children continued on, braving the gloom that stretched before them. The trail proved more arduous than either of them had anticipated. The narrow boardwalk twisted and weaved amidst the rocks and plant matter cresting the surface of the mire. Their progress was slowed further by the low lit gloom, which cast shadows in each and every direction, confusing Lily's eyes and their movements. It was a puzzle of an entirely different nature, and neither she nor Frisk could know if its design was a cultural choice or merely the result of necessity.
Squeezing Lily's hand, Frisk kept his ears and nose focused for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing of the sort reached his senses, and yet he could not shake the niggling sensation upon his neck. He stopped in place, his arm growing taut and catching Lily as she continued ahead. The girl turned to him.
"What's wrong?" She asked quietly. "Did you notice something?"
"No, but…" Frisk began, unsure of how to explain. "I don't like this… it feels wrong." Lily nodded.
"Neither do I." She agreed. "Let's hurry and get out of… L-look out!"
From the corner of her eye she spotted it, a flash of aquamarine light from behind the nearby columns of stone. In a reaction born of instinct she shoved Frisk backwards, using the momentum to propel herself in the opposite direction. Not an instant later the wooden planks splintered, struck by the source of that light - a phantasmal spear, rippling with powerful magic.
Frisk immediately called upon his SOUL and beheld the mass of energy before him an instant before it dissipated into the air and faded from his sight. Beyond it, he saw Lily, her own eyes glued to a far more immediate threat.
There, concealed within the forest of stone stood a figure, its body encased entirely in dark plate armor. A helmet baring a horrifying fanged visage covered the being's face, obscuring the shape of the monster who wore it. The right socket of the helm almost seemed to glow with the eerie yellow hue of the eye beneath, while the left held nothing but darkness. A shock of red fluttering behind the figure like an open flame was the only other color it bore.
"It's her…" Lily stammered. The girl had never before seen Undyne and Papyrus was not exactly specific in his descriptions of her, but it was clear enough. This was the one who was hunting them.
The dark knight's gaze slowly shifted to Frisk who was still sprawled upon the ground, disoriented. She said not a word as she lifted her hand above her head. The crackle of magic echoed through the cavern as three more spears baring the same light as the first materialized above her. Frisk barely had time to gasp before the deadly missiles spun upon their axes and hurtled towards him.
Lily's response was instant: barreling through the air, she forced all her weight into the boy's small form. The breath Frisk had been holding was quickly forced from his lungs as both he and Lily tumbled from the planks and into the brackish shallows beneath. The spears soared over the empty space where the boy once sat, their mission thwarted by the quick thinking of his unseen companion.
"Hurry, get up! We have to run!" Lily cried, pulling the drenched boy to his feet.
Frisk needed no further convincing. His right hand found the edge of the boardwalk and he scrambled back up. Lily's hand found his wrist a moment later and at once they were off while the clunk of metal grieves upon hard stone followed swiftly behind. Following his friend's lead, Frisk glanced back toward the menacing figure that was Undyne, her form a white shadow against the darkness of his sight. It flickered in and out of focus as she gave chase, obscured by the towering columns which did little to hinder her pursuit.
Another flash of light saw three more spears form above the armored assassin. Even to Frisk's largely colorless sight, their alabaster tips seemed to gleam threateningly - ominously - as they took aim. Undyne commanded and the magic obeyed, slicing through the moist air toward her target. Once again they caught nothing as Lily pulled Frisk around the winding planks out of their reach. Frisk breathed out a sigh at the narrow miss and resumed his focus on Lily as she lead him on.
The sound of splintering wood beneath his boots was enough to dash that momentary sense of relief. The weak planks gave out, robbing him of balance and sending him heavily into the ground. Two flung spears soared over his fallen form.
The third wouldn't miss.
Lily's pale face grew white as snow as she felt Frisk's hand slip from hers. She stopped in place and turned in air only to watch as one of the glowing javelins ran him through, its point burying deeply into his back. Horrified, she reached desperately for the boy but it was to no avail. Her cry of anguish was silenced before it even left her lips as two more spears pieced the soft flesh of her friend, pinning him to the boardwalk in a grim crucifixion.
Confusion ran thick as fog through Frisk's mind. The last thing he felt was the dull impact of his body hitting the planks, then a flash of extreme pain. Now, he felt nothing. Not the soaked fabric of his clothes, not the rough wood against his cheek… not even the cool, damp air around him. The only exception was the faint warmth of the vermilion light that hovered over his prone form. He tried to move, to pull himself up but his body wouldn't respond.
When it finally did, it was not by his own power. His limbs turned over, falling limply to his sides as he was moved onto his back. It took a few moments for him to recognize the image of Lily hovering over him.
"Frisk…?" She gasped. Her voice sounded far away… "Can you hear me…? Frisk? C- come on… get up, we have to go."
Were those… tears? Why did she sound so sad?
"Frisk?" Lily's hands rested gently against the boy's arm. ""It'll be okay. You just have to eat something… then you'll be fine. Right?"
The spirit knelt beside her fallen friend. The magical spears had dissipated allowing her to move him onto his back, but the damage was done. Crimson pooled beneath him from the wounds left behind, and his whole body was limp. In her mind's eye she could see the numbers ticking lower, his HoPe slowly diminishing with each second.
"Don't go… You can't leave me, not you too…!" She whispered weakly. "Please, don't go… I can't-"
She stopped as the sound of metal scraping against wood drew her attention from Frisk. While she'd been watching over her injured friend, Undyne had managed to make her way across the marsh and onto the boardwalk. The armored reaper picked herself up and turned slowly toward the child, or more specifically, to the red SOUL that floated above him. She stepped towards it.
"Leave him alone!" Lily shouted, darting in front of the glowing heart as if to shield it from the approaching monster.
Her voice fell upon deaf ears as Undyne continued to advance.
"I said stop!" The girl cried, unafraid of the looming threat. "You can't take him, I won't let you!"
Again, nothing. No words from the ironclad monster as she came within arm's reach of Lily and the SOUL of Frisk which floated behind her. A hand, sheathed in metal reached outward intent to pluck that fragile glow from its owner. Lily retreated from it until a warmth at her back warned her against going further.
To move or to stay? Either choice would lead to the same end. The child spirit shut her eyes cursing her powerlessness as metal digits began to pass slowly through her intangible form.
"GO AWAY!" She shrieked the command with all the voice she had left. It echoed throughout the marsh, otherworldly and distorted by the cavernous interior.
The hand stopped short.
"What…?" A single hushed word sounded beneath the helmet. The glinting eye within its confines glanced about, as if distracted by something.
Was it possible that she…?
K..kkkrrrk…
The ominous sound drew the attention of both Undyne and Lily. It came from the SOUL that hovered over the fallen boy. Its red glow flickered, brightening and darkening randomly as cracks of white light spider-webbed along its surface. The fractures grew larger with each moment, splitting wider like a sheet of ice under far too much strain.
"No no no no!"
Lily sprang forward, both hands reaching for the cracking heart-shaped icon, the proof of her friend's life. Before her eyes the display of his dwindling HP ticked lower.
The heart shuddered
HP: 1/20
Her palms came together around the SOUL, caging it between her fingers.
HP: 0/20
An effort of futility. But an instant before it was contained entirely, the crimson light burst into a thousand fragments, shattered along with the life of the one who wielded it. Lily's eyes widened as the fragments forced themselves through the gaps in her fingers and drifted upward, disappearing one by one into the cold air.
Her wordless scream echoed unheard.
Clink…
Clink…
A sound chimed through the empty space. It was faint, almost imperceptible, like a collision of the smallest of ice crystals. It may have gone unnoticed had even a whisper existed to drown it out. Instead, that faint ring, might as well have been a howling blizzard for the silence that surrounded it.
The vast expanse of blackness was pock marked with small slivers of crimson light. Countless glittering rubies drifted through infinity granting color to a place where such should not exist. Each moved differently, some fast some slow, straight ahead, or in a spiral, but one thing was the same for them all: their destination. The thousands of red dwarves converged upon a single space within the empty realm. One by one, they joined together like pieces of a puzzle, socketing themselves into place until eventually they began to resemble a shape. In time, the last of these found its place within the concurrence.
A heart-shaped figure pulsed with their shared light, and within it, a consciousness awakened.
"...h- huh?"
Another shape began to form behind the glowing heart: the silhouette of a small, frail boy with bangs of brown hair and eyes which never opened.
"What… happened?"
All he could remember was being unable to move, looking up in a stupor as Lily placed herself between him and the foreboding tower that was Undyne. Now he was somewhere completely different and both the dark knight and his friend were nowhere to be seen. The pain and numbness were gone, but so was something else… something that should have been there but wasn't. It was difficult to grasp exactly what that was, but eventually he came to a conclusion:
He felt… physically distant. While he was aware of himself mentally, and while his SOUL bobbed calmly before his eyes, he could not feel his body. It was wholly different to the dull numbness from before… almost like he was made entirely of liquid or air; cohesive, but not contained.
Could he move like this? He decided try, willing what he could sense of himself to take a step forward. Nothing changed about his surroundings - there was nothing to change- but he still recognized some kind of shift of position. So he kept going, on and on, through the scopeless plane.
As he traveled, he slowly began to process the surreality of the situation. This odd, pseudo-physical state he found himself in was only the beginning. What intrigued him more was how he felt about it all. He was… calm. He was alone, the silence was practically suffocating, and he had no idea where he was. And yet, none of that bothered him.
At length, there was a break in the never-changing realm. A pinprick of white far in the distance beckoned to him. He made for it, and as he drew closer noticed something else was there too, or rather, someone. A tall, lanky figure wearing spherical armor and a bright orange scarf stood within a patch of white snow, his face baring not skin, but bone.
"Papyrus?" Frisk mused, moving closer to the familiar skeleton.
Papyrus' gloved hand scratched his chin and his brow ridge furrowed as he studied the puzzle book he held. Frisk's initial confusion at seeing the exuberant superhero was amplified ten fold the moment he processed exactly what he was seeing. It was indeed Papyrus, but he was in color: the red-orange scarf, gloves and boots, silver armor with gold trimming, blue briefs, and black tights covering his milk white bones - it was all there.
The skeleton turned up from his book, seeming to notice Frisk and his skull shifted like clay into a friendly smile. Frisk quickened his pace to meet him.
"Papyrus, where are we? What's going on?" The child asked. "How… how come I can see you?"
Papyrus looked down to him and his jawbone shifted, opened and closed as if he was speaking but his normally voluminous speech patterns were completely silent to Frisk. The boy was about to question him further when a flash of yellow drew his attention away from the skeleton.
Instinctively, his eyes followed and eventually settled upon the image of Kidd, darting past them. The lizard-like monster tripped and fell onto the black emptiness before quickly jumping back to his feet and shooting off again. Frisk's eyes followed him as he went until still another peculiar sight drew him away. Just to the right of where the energetic monster had run bloomed a small patch of golden flowers - another change to the changeless much like the snow upon which Papyrus stood. Sitting in the middle, tending to the tiny garden with a pair of well-kept shears was another familiar figure… the most familiar of all to Frisk.
"Lily!"
He moved to approach her but stopped short as another figure stepped into his line of sight. It was a tall monster in a flowing purple robe, white fur, and caprine features. Toriel knelt down next to the girl, and placed a plateful of pie into her lap. Lily looked to her and smiled as the gentle caretaker rubbed her hair.
"Wait… that doesn't make sense. Mom couldn't even seeLily back in the Ruins."
Lily's face turned from Toriel's and her brown eyes met Frisk's. A grin spread across her rosy cheeks and she lifted a hand to wave to him. Frisk approached with a bit of uncertainty. She followed him, the smile never leaving her lips as he sat down next to her. The boy willed himself to reach out to touch her and his nebulous form responded. His hand passed through her body just as hers did any time she touched something other than him and the image of his friend flickered for a moment before settling once again.
"They aren't real…" He said, trying to wrap his mind around what it all meant. The memory of their run in with Undyne played within his mind up until the moment his SOUL shattered. "That's right… I died, didn't I? But… my SOUL is here. Is it fake too? No… it isn't. So… what what's going on then? I feel like I'm supposed to do something… but what?"
A small hand placed upon his shoulder drew Frisk's gaze to the simulacrum of Lily who sat at his side. She lowered her chin in a wordless nod before extending a finger outward, pointing into the distance. Frisk followed its path, gazing outward into the emptiness that seemed eternal. He focused, straining to utilize whatever manner sorcery allowed him to use his eyes as intended. Eventually the effort paid off, and he caught a glimpse of something in the distance. He turned his attention back to the girl. She simply nodded again before folding her hands in her lap.
Taking this as a sign, the boy stood. Leaving the flower patch behind, he stepped again into the blackness, the figure in the distance guiding him like a lighthouse on the edge of an endless sea. It seemed so far away… miles. A mere speck on the dark horizon.
Then suddenly he was there and the beckoning figure stood before him.
It was an obelisk; rectangular in shape but ascending in a gradual curve toward the back. A number of groves ran parallel to one another along its silvery surface and, emblazoned at its center where they converged was the faintly glowing image of a four pointed star.
"What is this?" Frisk mused, willing himself to touch it. The texture was unlike anything he'd ever known. "It looks like… my SAVE point?"
The obelisk sprang to life the moment the formless child made contact with it. The star at its center grew brighter, and light flooded like tiny streams into the grooves, causing them to take on a golden glow which pulsed in time with his SOUL. Frisk took a step back, fearful for only a moment as a translucent image sprang from its surface. Shown was a still depiction of an isolated bench and a lone luminescent flower that sat at its side. After his initial shock, Frisk quickly recognized it as the room where they'd rested and discovered the abandoned quiche.
"Its where I saved last… hold on. What's that?" He watched as a number of words, numbers and symbols imposed themselves over the image. He read them.
Waterfall - Abandoned Cove
Frisk (LV 1) - HP: 20/20 - SS: 84%.
Lily: (LV ?) - HP: 16/16 - SS: ?
"Huh…?" He contemplated the information. "LV is Level Of Violence, and HP is HoPe. So, what does SS mean?"
As his fingers (Aura? Essence? He couldn't tell) passed over the words, the strange monument reacted once again. The light it emitted grew even brighter, spilling from the grooves and into the emptiness that surrounded him. The light pooled beneath the obelisk like water from a fountain, spreading outward until the entire area was awash in a white-gold glow.
Frisk turned quickly from the blinding radiance. When at last he dared to look, he found himself staring at the simulacrums of Lily, Toriel, Papyrus, and Kidd, each of them wearing an encouraging smile. The image of Lily stepped forward.
"You're the best, Frisk!" She said, her words no longer stifled by this strange realm. "Stay determined, okay?"
That was all he heard as he was enveloped in the light, and his consciousness faded out once again.
When at last Frisk felt his senses return to him, the second thing he noticed was the renewed awareness of his body, including the return of the blind darkness he'd grown accustomed to.
The first was the sound of screaming but inches away from his ear.
It took the boy but a few seconds to set his sightless gaze on the one responsible for it: the source being Lily.
In her deplorable state, the only thing she knew was that her best friend was dead. She could still hear that ear splitting noise as it echoed through her mind, while the fragile heart shattered like glass between her fingers.
As the scream slowly died on her lips, she curled herself into ball of anguish. In her mind she wanted to hate this place for bringing them to this point… to hate Undyne for how ruthlessly she'd murdered her friend. But mostly… mostly she hated herself for being unable to protect him. Her mind roiled with all the ways she could have prevented it from happening: diving into Frisk's SOUL, and taking some of the damage onto herself, force some food into him, even taking the spear with her own body. Something. Anything…
The soft sound of rustling clothes caught her attention in the now quiet cave, ringing loudly in her grief-stricken ears despite the faintness of it. Lily's head jerked up as she looked about wildly, ready to defend Frisk's body to the best of her ability or else to drag him away until she could somehow get a hold of Papyrus or Sans. The sight that greeted her frantic search was not that of the planks on the water however, nor was it the armored form of Undyne.
It was Frisk.
Whole. Unhurt. And very much alive, slowly moving his hands away from his ears.
Lily could do nothing but stare in disbelief for a few moments at the sight before her. Her gaze panned around the room, as her mind desperately tried to make sense of what her eyes were seeing. Bench. Echo Flower. Bridge Seeds. Frisk.
At last, she remembered how her body worked.
Thoughts still reeling, she launched herself at her friend, causing the blind boy to tumble to the ground. He responded quickly despite this, throwing his arms around his spectral companion. Lily felt the warmth of his arms, the softness of his shirt, the soft beating within his chest…
Alive.
"Frisk! FRISK! You're okay! Oh my God, you're okay!" She shouted, burying her head into his wrinkled, stripped shirt. "I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't protect you! I'm sorry I didn't do mo-"
Disoriented by his own experience, Frisk responded the only way he could think of: by hugging her tightly, quickly cutting off Lily's rant. "I… I'm here Lily. I came back… I'm okay…"
The ghostly girl pulled back slightly, bringing Frisk into a sitting position in the same motion. She looked into his squinted eyes, still hardly believing her own. "B- but Frisk… I… I saw you die… I saw your SOUL shatter…. How…? How are you…?"
Frisk said nothing. He didn't know how to explain it. Instead, he raised a hand to point at the gold star sitting but a foot away from them, sparkling innocently while casting them in its soft golden glow.
Lily glanced to the piece of magic and the star seemed to glow brighter as if acknowledging the boy's silent answer as truth. "So the star… saved you?" She asked softly. Frisk nodded. "J- just like mom…" The last part came out as a whisper.
"Yeah." The boy said, placing his hand in hers and hoping its warmth would serve as further proof. "I don't really understand how… but I'm back now. Whatever magic that is, I… I guess it works on me too."
As she felt the heat radiating from it, Lily could only accept the impossible for what it was. And yet, her joy and relief at seeing him safe was tempered by something far more sobering.
"I'm terribly sorry, Frisk…" She said, lowering her eyes to the ground. "I broke our promise… I wasn't able to protect you."
Frisk simply shook his head and pulled her into another hug. The sudden action caused the girl to gasp slightly in surprise.
"Undyne snuck up on us." He said decisively. "There wasn't anything either of us could have done… It would be stupid of me to hold it against you when we couldn't know what would happen. Even if we could, I still wouldn't do that." He paused for a moment, allowing that to sink in. "I'm here now… that's what matters, right?"
Lily sighed heavily, before turning her attention back to the boy and pressing her forehead against his in a gentle headbutt. "Then… promise me something else. Promise you wont die again? When I thought you were gone forever, I… " Her voice cracked towards the end as she hugged Frisk, rubbing their foreheads together.
Frisk winced slightly at the question, as well as her pleading expression. He wanted to make that promise. To ensure her that everything would be alright, and that they both would remain safe and unharmed from now on. Before all of this, he very well may have done just that. But now… now he knew that things were rarely that simple.
"Lily… I can't promise that…" He quickly shushed her as she began to protest, pulling away slightly "I can try my best, but, you know… with Undyne chasing us and who knows how many others, we never know what could happen…"
"But…" Lily began, but then shook her head. "No, I… You're right. I guess… after what happened with Flowey and my memories I… I just don't want to lose anything else, least of all you."
"I know. I don't either. Maybe I can't promise that... but I can promise something else." The girl gave him a questioning look. An understanding smile spread across his lips as he reached for something at his side. "Now we know we have something else on our side, right? I can't promise I won't die… but I can promise I'll come back. After all, now we know that if it happens again… it won't stick."
As he finished, he brandished the stick in his left hand. The small leaf tickled her cheek.
Lily stared at him, appalled for a moment before bursting into a strained laugh and shaking her head.
"Oh my God, and I thought I had the morbid sense of humor…" She said when she finally brought herself under control before turning a slight smile toward her friend. "Thanks, Frisk… that means a lot."
The blind boy's grin widened a little. Morbid though it was, it seemed his joke worked to make her feel a little better.
With danger and despair averted for the time being, the two children took a moment to just relax in each others' presence and assure themselves that the other was indeed safe and well. After some time, some water, and maybe another bite of pie, the two of them set about putting everything back together to continue on. They were about to make for the bridge seeds when Lily stopped for a moment.
"Umm… since we know Undyne is ahead of us on this path now maybe we should try another?" She asked of Frisk, who was busy returning their supplies to the satchel.
"That sounds like a good idea. Let me ju- shoot!" He cried out, as the canteen slipped from his hand and began to roll away.
Lily sprang up quickly and followed it as it tumbled toward a patch of cave grass growing against the wall behind the bench. She opened her mouth to direct Frisk to its location only to close it again as the vessel slipped behind the moss and disappeared.
"Huh?"
Raising an eyebrow she lowered herself to the ground to follow, pushing her way easily through the tall blades. There, was revealed a hole in the wall with the canteen resting another foot inside. Her gaze shifted curiously from the container and deeper into the tunnel. It was dark in there without any glowing stones, mushrooms or echo flowers to light the way and there was no exit that she could see. She jerked back slightly, feeling somewhat unnerved.
"Did you find it?" Frisk asked watching her over the backboard of the bench.
"Y..yeah. There's some kind of tunnel behind this grass and it rolled in there."
"A tunnel? That's pretty convenient. Maybe we should try going that way." Frisk suggested, giving her a thumbs up as he walked closer.
Turning back to the wall Lily chewed her lower lip slightly. It bothered her that she couldn't see the end… this 'claustrophobia' as Frisk called it was starting to get frustrating. Still, with everything that happened it might be a lot safer for the boy in question. And with a hole that small, Undyne would definitely not be able to follow them through it. Weighing the options in her mind she nodded in reluctant agreement.
"Alright. I'll.. I'll go first, that way if there's anything at the other end of the dark, cramped tunnel I can warn you." She mentally slapped herself. That sounded a lot more uncertain than she meant it.
Giving Frisk a reassuring smile, she turned back to the wall. Giving herself small shake to prepare herself, she ducked down and crawled into the tunnel.
'Let's hope this path is safer… for both of us…'
Frisk felt about the darkness where his friend had just slipped in, eventually getting a general idea of how wide the cave was before crouching down. Finding the canteen was simple enough and he placed it properly back in the satchel as he prepared to follow his friend into the gloom. Just as he began to cross the threshold however, his notice was seized by a faint pressure within his chest. It faded quickly, but he nonetheless noticed that his free hand had moved unconsciously to his heart.
Memories of his death at the hands of Undyne flashed through his mind.
'It still hurts…'
The realization troubled him but he forced himself to shelve it for now and slipped into the tunnel after Lily.
A delicious scent permeated the air about the snow-capped sentry station/food stall, accompanied by the sizzle and pop of grilling meat. A bony hand flipped the well cooked hot dog from the small grill and onto the awaiting bun. Slathering a generous helping of ketchup to complete the dish, Sans presented it to his eager customer.
"there ya go, bud. don't tell those furry guys in snowdin. otherwise..." He winked. "they might just come here and buy me out."
"Lovely dog. So good!" The little fire monster chirped.
The Vulkin took the hot dog with a grateful smile before placing it into the molten liquid at the top of its head which slowly began to consume it whole.
"well then. looks like you got a bad case of in-digestion there, buddy."
Sans chuckled, taking the gold coins left in exchange and put them away in the pocket of his shorts as the happy monster departed the station to enjoy its treat. To anyone, it might have seemed that Sans was simply being his usual, lazy self. His uncanny ability to be everywhere at once was well known amongst the Underground, despite the fact that he never seemed to do anything worthwhile with it. And yet, his easy going nature was precisely why he was so easy to remember.
This time, that was exactly what he wanted. They would be his alibi.
"last customer of the day. welp. guess its time i got going." He said to himself, cracking his knuckles and stepping away from the stand.
Several miles passed before his foot touched the ground again. When it did, it was not on the rough stone or metal conveyors of Hotland proper, but cool, clean tile. He took half a second to reorient himself, confirming that he had in fact landed in the proper location.
'wires, check. machinery, check. weird anime shit, check.' Sans listed off the points in his head. 'yep. this is it.'
He turned to the large monitor to his left, currently showing a feed of the tunnel leading toward the Wishing Room in Waterfall. A squat, yellow-scaled monster in a white lab-coat was sat in front of it, eyes glued to the screen as if waiting for something. Seemed she hadn't noticed him yet.
A moment later the screen blurred as the camera panned to the left and focused on a figure that Sans recognized: Frisk, stick poised ahead with his other arm grasping the air ahead of him. The skeleton knew well what that meant.
'kay, i've heard of the blind leading the blind, but the invisible leading the blind? i don't think i'll ever get used to that.'
The boy's arm slackened a bit as he stopped to touch an echo flower and listen to the voice left behind. The monitor resounded with the distorted conversation between a mother and her young child. All the while, the lizard in the lab coat stared, watching the scene play out.
"Ohmigod, t-that's so adorable!" She gushed at a restrained giggle from the humans as they listened to short conversation between a mother and her child.
"hey alph. anything good on?" Sans said, giving a short wave of his phalanges before stuffing his hands in his pockets.
A high pitched squeak came from the monster as she tried to cover the screen with her hands as if hiding something incriminating. Her crested head whipped back, eyes falling upon the skeleton from behind the thick glasses she wore.
"S-Sans?!" Alphys stammered, and her hands fell away from the screen. "W- when did you get here?"
"just now." Sans said matter-of-factly. "so?"
"It's um… surveillance! Yeah." The scientist seemed to struggle for the words. "I've… I've been keeping an eye on the humans, like you asked."
Sans might have used a different term with her reactions to the supposed 'surveillance' but chose not to. Instead he asked, "how's that going?"
"W-well…" Alphys began, turning her swivel chair about to watch the screen again. The two had moved on from the first Flower and were now listening to another. "It's… really interesting actually. Watching their adventures, their meetings and partings, the friends they make. They deal with so much and yet they keep going even when it gets hard. I- it's inspiring really… almost like an anime. Um, I mean, j-just the other day they went on patrol with your brother, and it looked like they had so much fun. But the best part was when they sat under the tree to rest. Their conversation was so sweet, I couldn't stop squee-ing! B-but I felt really bad for Lily, you know? I can't imagine what it would be like to forget everyone I care about. A-and Frisk too! Yeah… losing his eyes so young… it's no wonder he's afraid of fire."
Alphys voice slowly became more and more excitable as she detailed the children's exploits as if recapping her favorite show. Sans knew what the Royal Scientist was like when she entered 'anime mode' and knew they'd never get anywhere if he let her keep going. Normally, that would be fine by him - anything to avoid tarnishing his perfect record of laziness - but this was a little too important.
"ahem…" the skeleton interrupted, breaking the lizard monster from her excited rambling. "that's great, and all but i think I'll wait for the movie."
"O-oh! S... sorry." Alphys clapped her hands over her mouth, blushing furiously as she realized what she was doing.
"so… the info?" Sans offered. "you said you found something."
"Ah! T-that's right. A few things actually. Just let me…"
With reluctance, Alphys managed to tear her eyes away from the screen and made her way over to the cluttered desk nearby. The thing was nearly buried beneath a mountain of papers, figurines, sticky notes and stacks upon stacks of empty ramen bowls. The lizard scientist's tail ended up striking a pile of documents as she maneuvered around the mess, which quickly scattered about the area. A complex graph and messy scrawl of mechanical notes landed at Sans' feet alongside a convoluted theory regarding the hanging plot threads of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie.
At last, she settled in and the screen flickered to life. "H-have a look at this."
Alphys swept away the tower of empty noodle bowls to give Sans better access to the monitor. Upon it were two screens. The left displayed a diagram of human and monster SOUL anatomy as well as a wealth of information regarding both, the right bore an image of Frisk and a mess of disorganized notes. At the bottom of the screen was a detailed graph showing her findings. Sans immediately noticed the readings and raised a brow ridge. Many of the statistics read numbers far higher than anything he'd seen before.
"...the hell?" He said, checking the numbers again just to be sure.
"The DT levels alone are off the charts. I knew a Red affinity would probably have a lot, b-b-but this goes beyond anything I could have expected. I- it pretty much overwhelms all the other elements. But that's not all. Look here. This SOUL… Err, th- the amount of energy it contains in general is at least double, m-maybe even triple that of the others." Alphys explained. "It shouldn't be possible. I've studied the Human SOULs in our possession and each one has, well… they've all stuck to a pattern. Y-yeah, they're powerful, but they've always been consistent. This one though… A- at first I thought my equipment was broken, but everything is in order. These… these are the real readings."
Even as Alphys spoke it was clear she was struggling to accept the discovery. Sans looked long and hard at the graph, deep in thought. He turned his eye sockets back to the surveillance monitor as the SOULmates traveled further into the Wishing Room. He knew Frisk was special but to have a SOUL almost three times as strong as a normal human was unprecedented. Was he even a normal human? He did have a ghost riding around with him…
He sighed and turned back to the screen, his mind now filled with more questions than when he came in. It wouldn't be the last of them either, as the white prick of his eye fell upon something he hadn't noticed the first time.
"wait…" Sans spoke, when his eye caught sight of something else. The symbols and equations would mean nothing to a layman, but the skeleton recognized them. "that what I think it is?"
"S- so you did notice it." Alphys observed. "I wasn't sure if it was a false reading or not, considering everything else."
"magic." Sans said. "natural magic? you're tellin' me the kiddo's a sorcerer too?"
"S-seems to be." Alphys stammered. "It might explain why his SOUL is so powerful."
"makes sense… the kid's certainly got some kinda weird mojo goin' on in there." Sans said thoughtfully. "certainly enough to blind my chromatis for a bit."
Alphys shuddered. She'd seen the whole thing over her monitor. "Imposing" wasn't really a good word to describe Sans most days, but he could be downright scary when he wanted to be.
"Oh yeah, t-that. That was a little, err… never mind." The scientist stopped herself before she said something she might regret. "Still, to create so much magical feedback… e- enough to disable your eye even for a little while. It's incredible."
"but a human shouldn't be able to use that much. not without training anyway…" Sans thought for a moment.
"Um, what if… let me see." Without finishing her thought, Alphys turned back to her computer and began to input something.
Another page popped into existence on screen and the reptilian scientist's fingers flashed across the keyboard, adding a few more notes to a document concerning the two humans. While she wasn't the most organized, compared to the labyrinth that was Sans' own archive, it was practically a straight path. Knowing it was a bad idea to disturb the nervous scientist while she worked, Sans turned his attention back to the monitor to check on the children… or would have, if the screen wasn't displaying a rather picturesque but clearly human-less view of the Wishing Room. They must have moved out of range of surveillance.
Sans watched for about fifteen minutes with no other sign of activity, outside of the occasional monster passing in front of the camera. Eventually, the blue skeleton's eye sockets began to fall and he was about to nod off when a sigh from Alphys drew his attention back to her. Sans shook his skull to chase off the drowsiness before turning to her.
"so?" He asked.
"W-well, I was thinking…" Alphys began, folding her hands in front of her. "What if the source of that magic pulse wasn't Frisk? M-maybe it could have been Lily?"
"huh." Sans thought about that. "it was just after that she started speaking through him. the soul still needs to have the 'spark' though, or it wouldn't matter. it's a bit easier to swallow than the kid just suddenly being able to blast me with a solar flare, though."
"All she'd need is a s-source of power capable of manifesting the arcane… and from what we've seen of Frisk's SOUL…"
"it's one big battery." Sans finished.
"I-it's basically the perfect conduit." Alphys agreed. "It would be easy to channel a large amount of magic through a SOUL like that, even for a human."
"but she doesn't even know who she is. how would she remember to use magic but not anything else?" the blue skeleton challenged. "think she's lying?"
The Royal Scientist shook her head. "S-She's not. I mean, you know… I don't think she is."
"you sound pretty sure about that."
"I've spent a long time r-researching magic and SOULS." Alphys insisted. "Humans use magic a lot differently than we do. For them, it's, um, more forceful…? little more than raw power. It takes a lot for them to create a controlled system."
Sans knew the concept better than he'd like to admit. "that's how the barrier was made."
"Right. It's a lot different than how magic j-just 'responds' to monsterkind."
"we knock on the door, they kick it in." Sans simplified before his expression shifted. "wait… you don't mean…?"
"Exactly. The p-pulse of magic that hit your eye… the readings don't fit what we've come to expect from a human sorcerer." Alphys said. "I-it looks more like something from one of us!"
Sans' impassive mask cracked for but a moment at the scientist's revelation.
"that would mean…"
Alphys went on to explain the details of her findings, pulling up a model of the Barrier, and a recording of the event near the river for the sake of illustration.
Sans wasn't hearing any of it, though. His mind was elsewhere. Not only a human that could use magic… but one that could use magic like monsters do. It was something that defied possibility. And yet, it would explain why she was suddenly able to do so despite not remembering anything. If she could somehow use magic like one of their kind, she wouldn't need memories to tap into at least the basics. Which made him wonder just how much she could have done if she remembered it all. It took every bit of will he had to keep his bones from rattling - he was lucky to be alive right now.
"T-the only conclusion I can see is that she must have been taught by a monster." Alphys finished.
"how in the world would she have managed that?" Sans questioned. "we ain't exactly the best of neighbors, even without the shiny, kingdom-sized, impenetrable wall around us. but… hmm."
"W-what is it?"
"well… just somethin' I remembered from the other day." Sans explained. "didn't think much of it at the time but… she mentioned something. said she could understand the froggits in the ruins when they were there. those guys ain't exactly easy to translate."
"R-really? That is strange… it took me years to learn the basics of their language and even then I haven't mastered it." Alphys said, tapping a claw on her chin. "It's a shame I don't have any cameras set up there… I would have loved to record their interactions. Y-you think it might have something else to do with Frisk's SOUL?"
Sans shook his head. "wouldn't work. if it was like that, the kid would be able to pick it up too, and he didn't act like he did. nah, she would've had to have learned it somewhere."
"That shouldn't be possible…" Alphys mused. "I mean, we've only had c-contact with a few humans since the sealing, and the only one of THOSE that might have had the ability to use magic and have some knowledge of monster lexicons was-"
The scientist stopped short, clapping her hands over her mouth again. It was clear sign. Sans turned an inquisitive glance to the squat lizard.
"was…?" he prompted.
"N-nothing…" Alphys said meekly. It was clear she'd already said more than she meant to. The gears in her mind were already spinning, however. 'Is that it? I've heard she was a Red too. It's the only thing that makes sense, but… that was more than a thousand years ago. Is it even possible?'
Sans could tell she was thinking intently about something. Her expression alone would speak volumes even if she wasn't glancing at the monitor every few seconds.
"come on, alph. what's goin' on?"
"I-I… I just had an idea, a-a-about the humans." She relented. "About Lily, actually. I might… ahh, I might have an idea who she is."
Sans straightened up instantly at the confession. Now that was something interesting. If he knew who she was it might go a long way towards figuring this all out.
"who?"
"I…" Alphys hesitated for a second, and for a moment it seemed like she'd forgotten how to speak. "Ican'ttellyou…!"
The words, when they finally came out were almost spoken too quickly to understand, but Sans caught them nonetheless. He hid his frustration behind a mask of indifference.
"why not?" He asked simply.
"I just… I-I can't." Alphys said. "I-I'm probably wrong anyway. I shouldn't have e-even said that much."
"did you say since the sealing?" The blue skeleton pressed. "you mean someone who came here after they locked us in? come on, alph… you gotta tell me who."
"E-even for you, Sans t-the answer is 'no'." She said, surprisingly resolute. "It isn't… my place to-"
###
"wait…" Sans spoke, when his eye caught sight of something else. The symbols and equations would mean nothing to a layman, but the skeleton recognized them. "that what I think it is?"
"S- so you did notice it." Alphys observed. "I wasn't sure if it was a false reading or not, considering everything else."
"magic." Sans said. "natural magic? you're tellin' me the kiddo's-"
Sans stopped mid-sentence. 'hold on… didn't we just go over this?'
"A-a magic user, yeah." Alphys stammered. "Sorcerer, wizard, magician… w-whatever you want to call it. He h-has the affinity for it."
"makes sense… the kid's certainly got some kinda weird mojo goin' on in there." Sans said thoughtfully. "certainly enough to blind my chromatis for a bit."
"Oh yeah, t-that. That was a little… never mind." The scientist stopped herself before she said something she might regret. "Still, to create so much m-magical feedback… e-enough to disable your eye even for a little while. I-it's incredible."
"but a human shouldn't be able to use that much. Not without training anyway…" Sans thought for a moment.
"Um, what if… let me see." Without finishing her thought, Alphys turned back to her computer and began to input something.
'we did, didn't we?' Sans mused. 'somethin' about the ghost-kid came up, right? but alphys wouldn't spill. why would i know that? Unless…'
As Alphys tapped away at her keyboard, Sans' eyesockets began to wander the room, trying to wrap his mind around the strong sense of déjà vu he felt. He knew it well at this point, or a part of him did, but that didn't make it any less disorienting. His eyes fell upon the ramen bowls littering the floor: there were a few more of them than he recalled. The mechanical notes and odd anime headcanon that he vaguely recalled falling at his feet were replaced with a complicated blueprint of a strangely human-looking robot, and an unopened letter from Shyren.
At last Sans turned his attention to the monitor. He'd expected to see the Wishing Room again, but the on screen image displayed something different. Half-obscured by the tall grass that surrounded it, the camera focused on a small tunnel hidden in the blades. From its mouth, Frisk emerged, right hand grasping the air before him. He turned about a few times, no doubt guided by an unseen Lily, before ducking into the grass and out of sight.
Sans knew the area: it was a place he'd often go fishing for water-sausages. More than that though, it was at least a good half hour or more from the Wishing Room via normal routes, and that was without considering the lake. There was no way they could have traveled that far, that fast from where they were.
Which meant… a load happened at some point.
'she must've got 'em.' Sans concluded. 'maybe i can use this, though… i got a pretty good idea what me and alphys were talking about. maybe i can get a little more out of her…'
"say, alph." Sans said, turning back to the lizard. "i had a bit of a thought."
"Huh?" Alphys replied absently, without taking her eyes from the glowing monitor.
"what if not all of it was the kid? if he was adept, wouldn't we have seen a lot more before now? maybe some of the magic we're seeing is coming from his ghoul friend instead. whaddaya think?"
Alphys slowed for a second as she thought about that. "I-interesting idea. Um, It's possible, I suppose…? So long as the SOUL has the aptitude for channeling anyway."
"then, if the consciousness of someone who could use magic ended up in a different body with a different SOUL, that'd still work?" Sans offered, steering the conversation where he wanted it.
"In… theory? It's never happened before." Alphys said thoughtfully, intrigued by the notion. "But as long as the c-conditions are right… I don't see any reason it w-wouldn't work."
"so a SOUL with an an affinity for magic, and someone with the know-how to use it." Sans summarized. "supposing frisk's the former and lily's the latter… how's that work? She shouldn't even be able to do it without her memory. Unless… she was using magic like we do."
Alphys gasped, and her fingers froze like she'd been struck with a sudden thought. "L-like we do…? Y-you came to that conclusion just like that. Did… did you read my notes or something?"
"nah." Sans said nonchalantly. "just seemed the only thing that made sense is all. I mean what makes more sense? a human kid somehow stumbles on how to use magic like us, with all the holes and missing pieces a theory like that would have… or just that one of us taught 'em? Besides, she mentioned knowing the language of those Froggits in the Ruins too. ribbits and croaks ain't exactly easy to translate just on context, ya know?"
"B-but we've only had contact with a handful of humans since the sealing!" Alphys cried. It was clear Sans had caught her off guard. "And of those the only one that might fit with that theory was the one Asgore-"
Alphys stopped short, and clamped her mouth tight. Even still, Sans clearly heard the king's name before she caught her blunder and shut up. That alone was a key piece of information in figuring this out. Still, it wasn't enough. It would take more than fragmented, potentially inaccurate déjà vu and a bit of name dropping to solve this mystery.
"you okay?" asked Sans. He knew that a small bit of courtesy went a long way.
"S-sorry. I… I need time to think about all of this." The scientist stammered.
"sounds like you figured somethin' out." The skeleton observed. "wanna let me in on it?"
"I… c-can't." Alphys voice was barely above a whisper. "Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?"
"c'mon, it's really important. and i don't say that often." Sans pressed. "if ya figured something out, i need to know."
"N-not this… even I shouldn't know this." Alphys placed her hands on the sides of her head as if fighting off a migraine. "I never should have touched those things…"
"Alphys…" The skeleton said sternly, eyesockets darkening until they were nearly black.
The reptilian scientist shrank a little and for a moment Sans thought that would be enough to make her cave. In the end though, she forced herself to meet his gaze. Even with the sweating Sans found himself impressed by her resoluteness.
"J-just let it go, Sans… seriously, its better if you do." she said quietly. "Besides, I'm n-not the only one with secrets."
Sans' pointed gaze softened a bit. "what secrets?" he asked inquisitively.
"I… I know I didn't become the Royal Scientist because I'm the most fitting person for it." She explained. "I only got the position because you turned it down. Why would you do that? It's not because you aren't interested… you wouldn't be here if you weren't interested."
"well, you know me." Sans feigned ignorance. "i ain't much for the whole 'work' thing."
Alphys shook her head. "Y-you say that, but I don't b-buy it. My predecessor… um, I know he w-was grooming you to be his successor… and you're a l-lot more q-qualified than I am. T-then he just disappears, and you stop caring? You really think I'm n-not going to find that a little suspicious?"
"you do not wanna go there, alph… trust me." Sans threatened, but Alphys wasn't deterred.
"I-isn't it funny that no one seems to remember him…? At all?" She pressed further. "I wonder why that is."
"alright… alright. ya made your point, geez…" Sans sighed. Alphys seemed to calm down when she realized he'd relented.
"S-sorry. But, um… I need time to figure all this out." Alphys explained. "I'll let you know I-if I find out anything else. B-but… there's some things I just can't talk about right now."
"you're still willin' to help out?" Sans asked. If what she learned was as sensitive as it looked, he figured she'd want to throw in the towel at this point.
"I-I've gotten in this deep…" Alphys sounded reluctant but Sans knew when she put her mind to it, she could be counted on to see things through. It was enough for him.
"m'kay." Sans said, suddenly back to his jolly, lazybones self. "guess all i can do is get back to break time for now, huh?"
"T-thanks, Sans. Really." Alphys said, the last bit of her tension finally releasing itself in a sigh. "S-sorry to bring that up, but…"
Sans sighed. He hadn't quite gotten what he wanted but it was a start. What's more, she was still willing to help him out so he didn't want to push it more than he already had. Besides… it was a small price to pay to avoid having to remember… that.
"don't worry about it. just keep me updated," He therefore said, before giving a nonchalant wave of his metacarpals. "see ya."
The moment he'd said those last two words, Sans vanished from sight before the lizard monster's eyes. She knew by now not to go looking for him. Still, Alphys couldn't help but wonder exactly why Sans seemed so interested in the two humans to begin with. Sure they were nothing if not a mystery to be unraveled, but Sans was never the type to get too invested.
"I d-didn't think to ask him what he knew." Alphys realized. "That might have h-helped a little. Oh well."
Sighing, she took a moment to check the cameras before turning back to her computer. Rooting around the mess of her desk, she eventually fished out the item she'd been looking for: an old DVD case with a faded picture of a colorful animated protagonist posing cutely. She popped it open and inserted the disk into her computer. A catchy theme tune began to play throughout the lab, while translated subtitles accompanied the flashy images of wild-haired characters.
Anime always helped her relax.
Authors' Notes: This chapter was interesting to say the least. We've been planning for a while to explore how death works in our version of the Undertale universe, but there wasn't much opportunity to do so until now. Hopefully the death scene wasn't too harsh, but it needed to be done. Understanding how death works in this story is important… and it would be hard to get the gravity of it across without actually showing it.
As we explored in a previous chapter, turning back time through SAVES and Resets does not negate actions or experiences entirely and the same holds true for deaths. It's even worse those with such high degrees of memory retention like Frisk or Lily.
Even though Sans didn't get everything he wanted, their conversation did tip Alphys off on a few things. The puzzle's starting to come together, little by little but there's still a lot more to uncover. Also, it would have been nice to use a four-pointed star character or something to mark the transition where the Load happens in this scene. Shame that fanfiction sights don't like alternate fonts…
Speaking of that scene. In Chapter 14 Lily mentioned understanding the Froggits' language… something notable but that Sans didn't react to even though he should have picked up on it. It was a detail that slipped by our notice amidst everything else so… oops. His mentioning it here is our way of fixing that oversight. Thank you to Kitlith of for bringing it to our attention.
One last thing: SS… you will be seeing this percentage a few times going forward. What it means and what it relates to will remain a mystery for now though.
Anyways… another crazy chapter this time huh? These kids are going through a lot, and there's more to come. It'll get worse before it gets better, but one can't hide in ignorance forever. Still, whatever hardships may come, they'll keep moving forward. That's how Determination goes, isn't it?
Like always, we love hearing what our readers think so don't hesitate to let us know in a comment or review. See you all in the next chapter, and have a Happy Halloween (or just a very nice day if you don't celebrate it.) :)
Addendum (This will likely be moved to Chapter 18 once it's uploaded for the sake of visibility):
The current year is 1437X, and chapter 1 has been edited to reflect this. The original 21YZ listing was at first a random date, then something that we tried to factor in as an actual chronological system ShiningwingX wanted to put together. Buuut, no matter how much it was simplified it still ended up requiring a few conversions and fairly complex math to figure out the damned thing, so that didn't work! Instead, the 'X' is actually an era notation, similar to the B.C./A.D. or B.C.E./C.E. notations used in our world. We figured this was the best and simplest way to integrate the '201X' date from the game into an actual thing rather than just a placeholder date. As we're getting into a timeframe, and have started getting questions about the date, we hope this will make it easier put things in order.