Zinnia, a flower that means the thought of absent friends.
Everything hurts. Pain throbbed through your entire body. You didn't move, you couldn't even think about moving. You laid on the cool pavement for who knows how long, trying to wait out the waves of pain. This hurt a million times worse than when the machine first warped you to that swapped reality. It felt like your blood was boiling and your bones had turned to putty.
You finally are able to open your eyes when the pain subsides. When you do, you realize you don't recognize where you are.
Breathing in, you sit up. You pause there, taking that moment to check yourself over. Though you were in severe pain, you didn't seem to be physically wounded. Which worried you more. You place a hand on your chest as if you could feel out the condition of your soul. Just thinking about it made a ghost of the pain from earlier seep into your bones. Whatever had happened, between the almost reload and getting Gaster's fragment, it'd nearly ripped your soul in two.
Getting to your feet is difficult. Your body doesn't want to listen to you. You don't want to listen to you, if it means having to move and function. All you wanted to do was lay down and sleep.
The way your head pounded, you're sure the last thing you needed to do was sleep.
Then again, with the way you ached, you're sure you needed rest.
But you're not sure you had time to rest.
You're in Waterfall, again. A different side, one you're not familiar with and don't think you've ever specifically visited before. It's empty of monsters, at least, giving you more time to settle and go over what had just happened.
Since you were in a different part of the Underground you assume you had grabbed the soul fragment. Had it… gone back to Gaster? You didn't have it on you, so you assume so. You didn't know what you expected when you found it but… You don't think it's what you expected. It'd talked to you. You think? Everything about it was fuzzy. But you definitely remember it whispering… whispering something sad. You remember feeling it's feelings. Another phenomenon you chock up to happening because of your green soul.
But...Is that how Gaster felt? Feels?
You wonder how long Gaster has been watching the monster community live on without him. How long he suffered in silence as his family kept living without ever knowing who they'd lost. You know he said he went off grid around the time Asriel was born but you had no concept of monster life spans and how any of that lined up with the normal years you knew.
You imagine yourself in his incorporeal shoes.
You imagine standing next to Frisk and Toriel and neither of them seeing you, remembering you. You imagine disappearing and morning your loss but them never knowing that their sister, their daughter, was gone.
You imagine returning after finding all the pieces of Gaster's soul and finding out they can't see you. That everything you're doing now means nothing.
You imagine disappearing.
Sucking in a breath you dig your nails into your palms, forcefully reeling your spiraling mind back into place. This wasn't the time to lose yourself.
Sure, you hurt. Physically and emotionally. Sure, you felt like crying, as it seemed that the idea of losing everything you had was finally setting in. But it wasn't the time for that. You could cry and freak out later, if none of this worked out. Right now, you needed to be brave and to take this all head on.
You could do this.
You set out for Alphys's lab once more. Right now it was your only real lead. You don't think the souls would repeatedly appear in the same places. If they did you'd find out pretty quick and change tactics. For now the lab was still the closest place that you could think of that had any connection to Gaster.
As you're walking through the unnervingly quiet Waterfall, you start to notice something out of the corner of your eye.
Sometimes a rock would disappear when you passed it and, when you looked, would reappear. Maybe you really did have a concussion that was worsening as you traveled. However when you witnessed a small stream you were walking over glitch out of reality you knew it wasn't just your head messing with you.
Once you noticed it, the "glitching", it started happening more often.
First it was the rocks at your feet, then it was the stream, then you noticed features of Waterfall glitch in and out of existence, making the new area even harder to navigate. Paths that had multiple turns in it would lead you to a dead end and when you turned to head back, you were right back at the beginning, as if you never walked through it.
The glitches were colorful. Bursts of color that evaporated objects. It hurt to look at but once your eyes caught them you couldn't look away. No matter how many you saw they didn't seem to quite… compute. It was like clouds. You saw them, you knew they existed, but clouds looked like paintings in the sky and these glitches look like rays of light that you just hadn't noticed. But you knew it wasn't just the trick of the light.
You don't know how long you spend trying to find your way out of the maze of Waterfall. When you finally get to an area you recognize, you almost wish you hadn't.
You're at an all too familiar telescope sitting against the stony wet wall to your left. It's set up so it can view the twinkling star like stones scattered across the ceiling. It's a familiar scene that, normally, you'd expect to see your favorite skeleton at. You hesitate to step further into the room.
You hear a footfall behind you and whip around, already preparing to run if this was Undyne or the other Alphys.
"Don't ya know how to greet a new friend?" You flinch back at the unexpectedly tall skeleton now standing before you, hand outstretched. "Ya knew ta turn before I even said anythin'. Funny." He laughs, but there is nothing joyful about the noise and he doesn't look pleased at all. He pulls his yellowed hand away when he sees you don't reach for it. Instead he pulls the cigarette from his mouth to blow the smoke out in your direction.
The skeleton is tall and looks like he's probably a version of Papyrus. In fact, he looks more like the Papyrus you had just met, rather than the one you personally knew. This one had his right socket covered by a bandage styled eyepatch while the other eye stared at you with a small eyelight. His bones were yellowed and, from sniffing the cigarette smoke, you wondered if the nicotine was the cause. He wore a large bulky and oversized purple hoodie. This Papyrus was definitely bulkier than the two before him. That, plus his hunched over form made him much more intimidating. Something you weren't sure you liked seeing.
His stare made you uneasy. You didn't feel safe.
"Sorry." You mumble, snapping your eyes back up to his, not wanting to come off rude by staring. "You startled me."
"I get that a lot." He puffs more smoke into your face. You wave it away without trying to be too rude, even though you had the feeling he was being an ass on purpose. "Name's Papyrus. Papyrus the skeleton." You nod and then give your own name.
"I didn't see anyone while walking. What's up with that?" Papyrus takes a long drag and looks around with his one eye. You know it's for show and you can feel his snarkiness rolling off him in waves.
"Huh, no one around?" He eyes you up and down. "Dun' know. Maybe has to do with another small human. Maybe it doesn't." He shrugs. "Hey kid, I got a favor to ask." You frown and cross your arms. Another "small human", huh?
"Depends on what you're asking…" He rolls his head to side, as if he was thinking, and then hunches down further as if he'd be able to match your height.
"Ya got any change on ya? A workin' monsters gotta eat, ya know." You raise a brow.
"What? Are you asking me for money?" You then make a show of pulling the lining out of your pockets. "Well I'm broke." You then paused. "What do you mean by working?"
"Workin' my job. One of 'em." He chews at the end of the cigarette between his sharp teeth. "Watchin' for humans." His eye light shrinks. "Huntin' humans." He then snorts. "Well, my crazy brother does most of the huntin'. If ya ask me, all that chasin' and yellin' is too much work for how lil' we're gettin' paid."
You decide not to mention that telling the human he just met that he hunts humans probably wasn't the smartest. Especially if he wanted you to be his new "friend", though you're sure he wasn't too serious about that. Not by the way he kept watching you.
"You get paid?" For some reason that sticks out to you. You never thought about Papyrus, your Papyrus, getting paid for running around Snowdin setting up puzzles and traps. It always seemed like some kind of hobby.
"No." He smirks when your brows knit.
Papyrus shuffles to the rock wall and leans back against it. You watch him lazily smoke for a moment before you realize he'd completely dismissed you. It rubbed you the wrong way and you made a move to keep talking to him, if not just to annoy him, but thought better of yourself. This skeleton was just trying to get on your nerves and the best thing for you to do was not let him. When his eye flickers up and notices your resolve he throws a thumb over to the telescope.
"Since I'm not gettin' paid I've been thinkin' bout goin' into the telescope business. For most monsters it's free, but since I don't know ya, it's 50000g." He lifts a brow bone at your look and pats the telescope again as if that'll sell it. You blow air through your nose and then turn on your heel, taking off.
Out of everything going on right now, you didn't have the patience for a skeleton trying to swindle you.
As you're walking you hear the shuffling of feet behind you. You pause and then turn around. Papyrus is behind you, yawning. His one good eye slides down to you.
"Are you following me?" You ask, narrowing your eyes. Papyrus snorts, pocketing his hands, giving you a lazy shrug.
"Dunno. Can't I walk in this direction?" You glare at him and then turn to keep going. You hear him trudging along behind you.
Trying to ignore the skeleton tailing you, you focus on the path ahead. Since stumbling upon Papyrus, the glitching from earlier had seemed to stop. Which you were thankful for, but also weary of. It was from one problem to the next. You don't know when you'll ever get a breather if every new reality was going to be more stressful than the last.
You continue through Waterfall quietly and without any more issues. At some point, while you had to wade through a pool of glowing blue water, you noticed Papyrus had stopped following you. You don't remember hearing him leave, but knowing his piercing eye was no longer on your back eased your nerves. At the same time, not knowing where the yellowed skeleton was, worried you. You still couldn't shake the intimidation you felt, but decided to ignore it since he wasn't around you.
You're almost into Hotland when you finally encounter someone else.
It's not that she notices you. No, her eyes are ahead of her, staring off the edge of the rock into the fog of the lava and water meeting.
It's Undyne. An Undyne that wrung her hands together, red hair up in a tight professional bun on the top of her head. From this side of her you could see only her profile and, you immediately noticed she wore no eyepatch and you could see the eyelashes of the eye that had never been visible to you. That, and she wore a wiry frame of glasses. She was dressed as a scientist, an old scientist with those long lab coats with black straps and latex boots and gloves.
She seemed to be lost in thought.
You hesitate at first, but you want to hurry up with your fetch quest so you clear your throat. Undyne lurches at the noise and spins around. Her eyes are frantic when she meets yours. When she sees you, really sees you, her surprised eyes seem to narrow in confusion.
"Hello." You say, you give a small wave. You give Undyne your name too with a, hopefully, disarming smile. She seemed startled by your appearance. Which was a reaction you were getting used to, since you kept appearing in places you weren't supposed to be.
"Hello…" She said, quietly. You weren't used to hearing Undyne's voice quiet. She turned more towards you. When she had to tilt her head down to look at you, her red bangs swung out to cover her eyes and she nervously tucked it back behind her finned ears. "Are you… A human?" She asked. It was a question that sounded weird. It didn't sound like she was asking if you were a human, but more so why were you a human here, in front of her. If she was anything like the Alphys you knew, you're sure she was used to keeping detailed notes of the whereabouts of any humans that'd fallen. Not knowing of one having fallen at all and having gotten so far, as far as she knew, was probably more surprising than anything. You're sure telling her how you had really gotten there would've been more surprising.
"I'm as lost as I am human." You jest. Her surprise seemed to have diminished and her lips purse. Her face settles into a comfortable frown, a sour look that looks like it was the most common look she held.
"You're in Hotland." She informs slowly. She begins closing the distance between the two of you. Peering over her glasses she studies you over and you nervously rub at your arm. "Have you had a hard venture?"
"Um… Yes?" You're not quite sure how to answer that. Her lips twitch and she gestures to her side, off down the dusty path further into Hotland.
"I'm sure you'd like a break, then. Come with me to my lab." She doesn't really give you a choice as she turns and starts off. Undyne takes long quick strides and you hurry after her. You can't match her pace, that'd be impossible, but you are able to follow at a close distance.
"A lab? Are you a scientist?" Undyne eyes you over her shoulder as she walks.
"I am the royal scientist of Queen Toriel." She states. You hear the pride in her voice and notice the rise of the apple of her cheeks from where you walked behind her. Her answer makes you pause though. Queen Toriel? It seemed this reality was swapped, much like how it had been in the last reality. But Papyrus was definitely different from the last one. You wonder what made the two swapped realities different. Other than this Papyrus being somewhat of a brat, you wouldn't be able to make a conclusion until you met more residents.
After feeling the animosity you felt off of this Papyrus, you weren't sure if you wanted to meet the other residents.
Maybe you shouldn't be so willing to follow Undyne into her lab.
Just as a bad feeling starts to knot your stomach, the two of you are standing before Undyne's lab. It looks much like the lab you were used to from your reality. Undyne fans herself as she punches in a code to the lab door. When it opens she sighs in relief. A cold, wet air leaves the lab, enveloping the both of you. She steps inside, her boots clicking on the tiled floor. She only takes a couple steps in before she turns and looks down at you.
"Come in." She insists. It's more of a demand. When Undyne see's your hesitation she forcefully softens her face and beckons you inside.
Against your better judgement, you enter.
The lab is humid. Stepping inside, out of the hot stale air of Hotland, you don't feel refreshed. Maybe for a second, when the damp air felt cold on your sweaty skill. Now it just blanketed you like a wet hug and you felt uncomfortable in your clothing. Undyne looked happier, but her frown was still knitted tightly as she led you in.
Unlike the first couple times you entered this lab for the first time, the lights were on. The screen that you were used to being on and following you was turned off.
"Have a seat." She gestures to the rolling chair at her desk and you look between her and it before you take a seat. She then nods and holds up a finger as she then walks off. When she goes up a set of stairs, you hear the sound of liquid being poured a second later.
There was another thing noticeably off about the lab. It felt… Darker. More cluttered. Which was saying something because Alphys was always so scattered brained and had her papers everywhere. This lab was messy too, but not with papers. It took a moment of observing but eventually you caught the glint of metal.
There was a saw blade hidden in the middle of a stack of paper. Once you noticed one, you started to see them everywhere. They were tucked behind computers, in folders, and against desks. There were other forms of blades, but the long toothed saws are what stood out most to you
You flinch when Undyne comes back, heels clicking as she walks. Between her palms is a green mug, steam floating up from the top. She hands it to you, her steely eyes not meeting yours.
"Thank you." You blow at the top of the cup, trying to cool it down before you sipped.
"Who have you dusted?" You flinch, head snapping up. Undyne stared at you with a monotonous expression. She didn't look angry or upset by her question. It was like she was asking if it was snowing in Snowdin. You openly gaped.
"I, what?" You grip your mug tightly. "I haven't dusted anyone." Undyne raises her brows skeptically.
"Then you won't mind me double checking." She then struts past you to the large, wall sized monitor and switches it on. You swivel in the chair, watching her. You hadn't expected her to be so straightforward. Then again, if she was like the Undyne you knew, then actually that should've been expected.
The TV shows multiple shots from multiple cameras. You quietly roll closer, recognizing many of the places shown. There was the front of the ruins, a couple cameras outside of the town of Snowdin, multiple throughout Waterfall and numerous between Hotland and the barrier. One thing you did notice were how many were focused on the outside of Undyne's house. Or well, not this Undyne, but this Alphys's house. The Dino themed home, settled in Waterfall, looked monstrous and angry, multiple Dummy carcasses scattered across the front "lawn" , stuffing on the ground like splatters of guts and multiple chipped weapons embedded in the rock.
There were a few too many cameras positioned around the house. You glanced at Undyne.
When she feels your stare and she stiffens and hits a few more keys.
Suddenly the wall of cameras flicker, and instead of the area of the Underground, familiar, yet unfamiliar, faces meet you.
There seemed to be a camera focused on every boss monster you knew. Each one was vaguely familiar, but at the same time so utterly different than from how you knew them. Which, you think is to be expected at this point, but it still felt jarring looking at someone that was supposed to be Sans, and seeing them bounce with energy like Papyrus.
The camera showed Sans looking like the swapped one you had met last, but… Manic. His smile wasn't so friendly and seemed like a warning promise, stretched too far and too wide. He had a few scratches and carves in his skeleton but he wore them as if they were medals. Sans was talking to this universe's Alphys, the two of them appearing on both of their specified cameras. They appeared to have just finished… Sparing?
You had to take a moment to stare at Alphys. She was absolutely ripped. She was so much thicker and girthier than the small science nerd you knew so well. This Alphys looked like… Well she looked like a monster. She had scars slathered over her muscular body, and a deadly confident smirk that played on her lips as she and Sans wiped dust off of their hands.
Oh.
There was dust.
"It seems that you're telling the truth." Undyne snipped. "At least about the important monsters." Her blank face then started to twist as she smiled something sickly. She seemed to have noticed the way you were staring at Alphys.
Did she see the dust on Sans and Alphys's hands? Did she care?
Was that normal?
You grip the mug tighter and take a sip. The tea tasted something sweet and herbal.
"They must've just let you walk on by." Undyne crosses her arms, looking you over. "They can handle a human child, but they don't have the heart to kill a human adult?" She laughed. It startled you by how Undyne that laugh was, even if this Undyne was like nothing you knew.
"I don't want to hurt anyone." You say. You try to stand but your knees shake in protest. You frown at that. Were you that scared? You didn't feel that scared.
Undyne laughs at you again.
"What're you going to do, brat?" Her mangled smile twists more and you realize that she'd been trying to hide it all this time with her blank look. "If they can't manage a single weak human, then I'll do it myself."
As soon as the words leave her lips your vision blurs. You throw yourself to your feet, stumbling as the ground tilts under you.
"What's happening to me?" You fall and catch yourself on the rolling chair. It shoots out from under you and you hit the ground hard. Undyne laughs again but it sounds distant, as if someone was cupping your ears.
"You're really dumb." She laughs over you, crossing her arms behind her back. "Who drinks something that a stranger gives them?" She bends to pick up your dropped mug, running a gloved finger through the brown liquid that'd spilled. You vision tunnels as she moves and your mind goes fuzzy. You realize you're on the verge of passing out.
"Undyne," You mumble, trying to stay awake. She smiles down at you, a smile too wide. She crouches down and grabs your head. You smell the liquid on her glove.
It smells like buttercups.
"Don't worry brat, I'll take good care of you."
You lose consciousness, her ugly laughing echoing in your head.