You hope waking up in golden flower beds after falling from perilous heights won't become a habit of yours. Especially if it involves being in pain every time.
It took you a moment to regain full consciousness, taking you even longer to remember you could move. Sitting up, you're met with a waterfall that crashes, surprisingly, gently into the pool you sat in the middle of. The golden flowers were growing under you, somehow. Looking closer they seemed to have created their own float by tightly weaving their roots together and growing in odd layers. It was as sturdy and unmoving as the wooden planks you stepped onto. You didn't want to have to get in the water just yet since it probably came from the direction of Snowdin, and you weren't ready to deal with hypothermia on top of all the rest of your worries.
Were you… forgetting something?
You glance around the area. There's nothing around except for the floating bits of garbage and heaps of trash-
Where was Frisk?
You had almost forgotten you had finally found, and grabbed, the kid just before the fall. If you had them in your arms… why weren't they with you?
You feel panic begin to rise in you as you jump off of the dry wood to splash down into the thigh high water. You begin searching in the water, soaking your arms and chest as you try to scoop up anything out of your sight. The kid hadn't drowned, had they!?
"_!" The scratchy voice, that honestly sounded like sweet music to your ears, piped up from behind. Your heart swelled as you whipped around and grabbed the wet, but warm, bundle up in your arms.
"Frisk!" You all but scream, hugging them as if they're the only thing holding you together. Which was pretty true at the moment. "I-I thought-"
"Its-..." They winced. "Okay," They make out, hugging you tightly around your shoulders. They sound so strong, using their vocal strings that had grown rusty from the sparse use, but you could feel them shaking on the brink of tears.
"I'm sorry-" You blurt, pulling away but keeping their dripping form in your arms. "I shouldn't have yelled at you or-or pressured you like I did," They shake their head. Now you really can see the tears forming at the corner of their eyes.
"It's my fault. You were right. You deserve to know because you're my sister, but also because I dragged you into this. I want to tell you. I need to tell you. I'm just...scared…" You nod, curling an arm under their legs to hold them up so you could sooth them with running your free hand through their hair.
"It's okay. You don't have to tell me right now. In fact, you should wait until you're ready, when we get home again." They nodded slowly, sucking in a deep, shaky breath to help them hold back tears. Then, with a blinding smile, they shifted and pulled something from over their shoulders.
It was your bag, it must've fallen off of you during the fall, and a... baseball bat?
"Thanks kid but… what's this?" They help you slip on the backpack without having to set them down, and then they present the chipped, wooden bat like they were holding a trophy. They looked so proud.
"You left yours back at the Ruins, remember? I found this in a trash pile over there," They waved their hand somewhere off to their side, in the direction of a lot of dripping debris. "I know you really liked that bat and…" They paused, looking down. Immediately you see it as a sign of guilt.
"Hey, hey hey," You say, dipping a hand under their chin to being their eyes up to meet yours. "It's not your fault I decided to throw the thing down as a statement," Their lips twitch up. "Plus, it was pretty old anyway. I was thinking about getting a new one and…" You trailed off as you cradled the kid closer to you in one arm, using the other to take the bat they held and give it an experimental swing.
"You don't have to use it," They hurriedly sign when they see you eyeing the chipped bat critically. "Just saw it and thought you might want it. It was thrown away for a reason so-" Your face splits into a grin, surprising Frisk.
"Not use it? This is awesome! I don't know how anyone could throw this thing away…" You give it one more hearty swing before sliding it in the same place on your bag where your original bat used to occupy. You imagine the spot is happy being filled again.
"Hey," Frisk signs just after you turn and begin to shift through the deep water, careful with your footing as you make your way between the piles of rubbish. There was only one way for you to head, behind you being a dead end and on either side moist cave walls and colorful broken down plastic and metal.
"Yeah?"
"Up ahead is…" Their hands pause, you notice that they're shaking, along with the rest of their body, and you curse that there was nothing to dry them with. You would sacrifice your shirt, but it was just a sopping wet. "There's someone who's going to attack you."
"Who? Another one of your friends?" Frisk's hands don't move again, and they just frown. You raise a brow, confused at their confusion. Why would the kid question if the monster was their friend or not? Was it… something to do with what the kid wouldn't tell you? Probably. You made sure not to ask about it this time.
"Nn!" The kid wiggles in your arms, pointing out to a damaged cooler you almost walked right by. They try to drop from your grip, but you hold tight. The water was deep, coming up to your thighs, and you ponder if Frisk swam through here the first time. Anyway, you didn't want the kid anymore wet that they were. Your eyes were still searching for a towel or blanket to dry them with as you step up to the floating cooler and open it.
Inside you find two packets of astronaut food.
"Oh my gosh! I remember these!" You say, holding the packets close so you can try and read the small font. "Whenever we went out, I used to force dad to-" You stop, catching your words too late. Frisk tilts their head, but you shake it off, the once happy feeling immediately leaving and letting a cold one sink in.
You put the packets in your bag and continue forward.
Quickly, you see an exit. You guess it's an exit by it being the only way out of the waterfall pool. It ramped right out, looking dry and a little warm. The pitch back opening brought relief to your drenched form- something which, in any other context, wouldn't.
"Oh look, a dummy," Commenting offhandedly, you gesture to you plush dummy that you walk by, just a couple feet from the exit. "Maybe it knows the dummy Toriel has-"
The sudden, threatening music that engulfs you clogs the rest of your words in your throat. You hear the water splash behind you, and when you spin and look, the dummy is gone.
"Hahahaha..." You whip back around to come face to face- face to.. Cloth? Face to possessed ghost eyed dummy? Either way, the floating dummy before you was no longer the dormant one you had just commented on. "It's just like you to run away!" It's ghostly eyes, which had appeared on it around the same time it because florescent orange, narrowed done onto you and Frisk.
"It… is?" You ask weakly.
"...Yes!" He, you suppose it's a he by the male voice, yells back. "I am a ghost that lives inside a dummy. My cousin used to live inside a dummy, too. Until… You two came along!" You pull Frisk closer, disliking how the mouthless dummy was shouting. "When you both talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat… but the things you said…! Horrible. Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE! It spooked them right out of their dummy!"
"Wait… so you really do know the dummy at Toriel's?" Frisk pinches your arm, trying to get you back onto the dangerous situation at hand. You were still trying to process the idea of dummy cousins, though.
"Humans!" You blink, pointing a finger you you and the kid. "I'll scare your souls out of your bodies!" Quickly, without much thought, you push Frisk into a pile of garbage before hurrying back to the open area that the dummy confronted you in. He looks bewildered at your action, but it was too late for him to go back now. You think you here Frisk call for you, but the all too familiar feeling of your soul being ripped out from its home inside of you makes you shiver, and the world around you seems to black out and go void. Sadly, you had gotten somewhat used to it, but the emptiness and anxiety that it gave in return still shook you.
The mad dummy blocks Frisk's and your way.
"Hey," You decide to talk, before you unsheathe your new-old bat.
…
He doesn't seem much for conversation. This annoys both of you.
"Pitiful. Pitiful! PITIFUL!" You scoff, but your glare doesn't last as your attention is dragged to the much smaller dummies that seems to pop up around you. You squeal as balls of… something come shooting towards you. Luckily, they're somewhat easy to dodge.
Then, with a stroke of genius, you slip your baseball bat and take a swing at one of the scribbles, which you've decided to call them.
"Owww, you DUMMIES! Watch where you're aiming your magic attacks! Don't let her hit them!" You blink, and then give the mad dummy a look. Magic?
He notices your eyes on him. He looks like he's begun to sweat.
"Hey! You! Forget I said anything about magic!" You snort, which seems to make him start going more red than orange. "I'll defeat you and take your soul! And then that smaller human's!"
You narrow your eyes and send a couple more scribbles his way.
Like you'd let this dummy anywhere near Frisk that easily.
"I'll use your soul to cross the barrier! A-And I'll stand in the window of a fancy store! Then everything I want will be mine!"
"I thought you were fighting me because of your cousin?"
"H-Huh? Yeah, I guess that'll avenge them… What was their name again?"
"Seriously?"
"Whatever. Whatever! WHATEVER!"
Mid side-step you momentarily forgot that you're still in deep water, and stumble over your feet. A scribble plows into your exposed side and you crumble down into the pool. You gasp-
Cold water rushes into your lungs.
You scramble to your feet, quickly. You were still fighting, your soul still exposed to the mad dummy, but the violent coughing overtaking you, trying to get the water out of your system, couldn't let you concentrate. Three more scribbles slam into you, almost making your knees buckle. You successfully dodged a couple, and even attempt a swing at one, but it's no use. Another hits the back of your head and your vision, for a terrifying second, goes black. You flail, and somehow hit scribbles into the mad dummy. This, luckily, gives you time to feed air into your lungs and to regain your senses.
"Hey guys!" The dummies that had been disappearing under the water and then popping up in different places to attack all shot up, looking to the dummy that had called them. "Dummies. Dummies! DUMMIES! Remember how I said NOT to let her hit those at me? Well… FAILURES!" All eyes of the many smaller dummies bug out of their heads. "YOU'RE FIRED! YOU'RE ALL BEING REPLACED!" They sink into the water, and for a split second, you feel relief of the battle finishing wash over you.
It's immediately denied as the sound of mechanical gears whirring to life echo around the room.
"Now you'll see my true power: relying on people that aren't garbage! Dummy Bots! Magic missiles!" Five dummy's, that shine as their metal reflect the water under then, slowly raise up in a neat row. You purse your lips and watch as their chest opens, firing out, from what the mad dummy said, missiles.
They follow you when you leap out of the way, trying to dodge. You do another tight turn, but they all follow- actually, they don't. After doing one circle around them, a red light, that had been beaming brightly and making the water and cave walls glow a sickening red, turn off and they fly off in whatever direction they were flying originally.
"Dummy bots! Try again!" More spring up around you, and fire quicker than the ones before, but you're able to slip around them, circle them, and have them somewhat aim at the mad dummy.
You had gotten used to the cold water constricting your legs, and it had become a little bit easier for you to dash around.
"Dummy bots! You're awful?"
"Or maybe i'm just too good!" You shout, beaming as you side step more missiles and twirl around them. As more dummy bots popped up and fired, you continued leaping around, spinning around them, a smile growing on your face. It felt like you were dancing, and with the upbeat music sounding from the Dummy, you had more bounce to your step.
"Dummy bots! Final attack!" At this, it seems close chaos breaks loose. The regular dummies come flying at you out of nowhere, missiles are still seeking you out, and once those regular dummies hit you, it became a slippery slope as it caused to to fall into others.
However, you make it out okay. As the scene settles, you take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh as you set you hands on your knees.
"N-no way…" The mad dummy mumbles to himself, staring at you amongst the mess of dummies, stuffed and made of metal alike. "These guys are even worse than the other guys..! Who cares. Who cares! WHO CARES! I DON'T NEED FRIENDS!" You look up just in time to notice he had conjured a magical, floating, knife.. "I'VE GOT KNIVES!"
Everything you had faced so far was, on some level, magical. From Flies, to fireballs, to magic missiles, when it hit you it hurt, but disappeared. You were pretty much positive a knife wasn't going to be like that.
He threw it, and you blink as the aim was so bad you didn't even have to move out of the way.
"I'm...Out of knives." You sigh in relief. "BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER!" His dummy head had turned completely red as he begins flailing around in the air. "YOU CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! YOU'LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME…." He suddenly freezes. "Forever. Forever! FOREVER!" You frown as he begins shaking again. He's flying everywhere at this point, stuffing from him raining down like snow.
That's when you notice something else began to come down.
The mad dummy is hit with the big drips, and he flinches at every one.
"Wh...What the heck is this!? Acid rain!?" He takes a long look at you, and then tilts his head away pompously. "Oh, forget it! I'm outta here!" He then sinks slowly under the water, his music finally muffled, and then entirely gone.
"...Sorry…" The soft voice grabs you, and before you now floats a ghost-
But, haven't you seen this ghost somewhere before?
"I interrupted you, didn't i? As soon as I came over, your friend immediately left…" His airy voice wavered, like on the brink of tears. "Oh no...You guys looked like you were having fun… Oh no… I just wanted to say hi… Oh no…." He starts to fade.
Your soul gently returns to your body and you feel whole again.
Seeing and hearing the sights and sounds of the waterfall pool brings relief to you. Specially, the lack of music.
"Well...I'm going to head home now…" The ghost says softly, watching the way you slipped your bat into your bag with a roll of your wrist. "Oh...Umm….feel free to "come with" if you want, but no pressure. I understand if you're busy. It's fine… No worries… Just thought i'd offer…"
"Nabstablook!" You suddenly blurt, the name coming to you at the last possible second. The mid disappearing ghost came back into existence.
"Y-yes…?"
"Oh! Uh...It...It's nice seeing you again!" The ghost freezes up, looking surprised beyond words. You're sure of a ghost could blush, he'd be a tomato at the point.
"Oh….Th-thank you…." Quickly, he floats away.
You turn to where you had hidden Frisk, your body beginning to pant as it tried to pull air into your small lungs. The exhaustion from the battle was suddenly on you.
"Are you okay?" Frisk signs, looking over you from the trash pile you had thrown them behind before the battle.
"Fine, fine, fine." You say between heavy breaths. It doesn't convince them, but it does for you- a little. Something about saying "fine" over and over bought fake hope in the words. You had to be fine for Frisk, so you would be. It was simple.
"So, you choose kid. Go hang with Blooky or continue on?" Though you preferred to check up on the tearful ghost you, again, like the majority of the time, put the decision with the kid. It was their odd resetting ability that got you here with them, and you didn't want to step in and ruin too much.
"Ghost!" They sign, with no way to say Napstablook. Before you can wade over to Frisk, they've jumped into the cold water. You scoop them up with a huff. Once again they were a dripping mess.
"You're just asking to get sick, bud." They snicker, balling up in your arms. Though they don't sign it, you know that they're freezing and trying to find warmth against you. However, you were not a good heat source as you were still covered in freshly sprayed water yourself. You cradle the child as you walk farther up, coming to a golden star sparkling before you, and Nabstablook hovering just beyond.
"Hey...My house is up here...in case you want to see… or in case… you don't…" The ghost takes the middle pathway while you move your eyes back down to the save star.
After the fight, you feel a calming tranquility. The promise of visiting Nabstablook fills you with kindness.