Chapter 11: Beginnings and Endings, Part One
It seems like most of the disclaimers on this story are this dog
Thinking about this...
Doesn't make much sense at all.
==oo00**00oo==
After the aide left the anteroom, Frisk took a deep breath to settle the few nerves that were frazzled. At this point, there was likely little the bureaucracy could throw at this process that hadn't already been handled or been prepared for, so there was little reason to worry at this late a stage. That didn't keep Frisk's foot from tapping repeatedly against the wood floors in an anxious cadence. Papyrus, it seemed, wasn't faring any better. He was currently standing in the center of the room, looking down with a frown of concentration while fidgeting with his scarf. The two of them looked up at each other, both opening their mouths to say something, and, finding nothing to say, merely grinned at each other. After a moment, Papyrus sighed, and walked over to Frisk.
"FRISK, I... I KNOW HERE HAS BEEN A LOT GOING ON RECENTLY, AND I HAVEN'T HAD THE TIME TO SPEAK WITH YOU, MY THIRD BEST FRIEND BESIDES MY BROTHER AND UNDYNE, AND I KNOW THIS MAY NOT BE THE BEST TIME TO SPEAK OF PERSONAL MATTERS, BUT... I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU. I ADMIT... I MAY NOT BE THE MOST SUBTLE OF SKELETONS AT TIMES, BUT YOU STILL GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE SUCH A GREAT DIFFERENCE."
Frisk merely smiled at the skeleton. "You know, I really didn't do much. You had already proven to everyone just how much you wanted to help long before I even came to the Underground, you just needed a proper forum in which to use that desire to make it happen. If anything, I should thank you, all of you. You have given me a real home, a real family, things I hadn't had in a long time."
Papyrus smiled, and, clearly trying to lighten the mood, struck a dramatic pose. "WELL FEAR NOT, HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS INTENDS TO ENSURE YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE GREAT GIFT OF HIS PRESENCE! YOU'LL BE SO DISTRACTED BY MY GREATNESS, THAT YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO CONCERN YOURSELF WITH SUCH PROBLEMS AGAIN! NYEH HEH HEH!" He managed to hold the pose for about three seconds, before both of them broke out in quiet laughter, the stressful mood broken.
They spoke about trivial things for a few more minutes before a knock sounded at the anteroom door, and a well dressed woman entered swiftly, closing the door behind her. Looking over at the two ambassadors, she raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it seems you two are certainly a bit more relaxed than I had anticipated. If I recall, the first time you were in this room awaiting for a meeting you" she said, looking at Frisk, "were nearly frightened out of your wits, and you", referring to Papyrus, "had broken a priceless vase." At their chagrined expressions, she merely shook her head and laughed. "You two have certainly cleaned up since then." Papyrus stood just a bit straighter at that, brushing an imaginary piece of lint off of his former armor.
Both of the other occupants of the room snickered, glad for the levity, if only for the brief distraction. The moment passed quickly, however, and Frisk, straightening up their uniform, turned the conversation. "It is good to see you again, Miss White. Thank you again for helping to coordinate everyone for this meeting. Are things expected to proceed as we all planned?"
"I told you before, Frisk, outside of the formalities, you should call me Jean." the woman replied with a grin before continuing. "and yes, we are expecting nearly everything to go as planned. All the necessary members have been informed, and everyone who was expected to arrive at this meeting has already been accounted for. They're expected to start right on time, as a matter of fact, which of this group is somewhat uncommon." She giggled a bit, and Frisk snickered. "In all, you shouldn't have any issues beyond what we've already planned for." For a moment she paused then added "though, these are politicians we are talking about. Remember the information from the dossiers, and be prepared to have to argue a case or two, otherwise you should be just fine."
Frisk nodded. "I think we are about as prepared as we can be for this. If she is unavailable this evening, please extend my thanks again to Her Majesty, without her help I am unsure if we would have been able to accomplish even this much." Jean just smiled at Frisk.
"I think you'd be selling yourself short for thinking that, dear. You really are a marvelous person." her smile turned just a bit mischievous. "In fact, if you're interested, my sister's son is probably about your age, and could probably use a good influence in his life..."
Frisk's blush was a bit more pronounced than they would want to admit, considering the circumstances, a fact that Jean picked up on almost immediately, as her expression went from teasing to excitedly interested. "Ooh, I know that look! That's the look of someone who just recently had a change in their relationship status. Oh, I want to hear all about your new friend, whoever they are-" she paused, her hand up to her ear, as her expression changed. "It looks like it will have to wait though. The cabinet members are about to start. She walked over to a small box on one of the side tables and flipped a switch, and through a speaker Frisk could hear cluttered mutterings. "This should keep you up to speed on what you need to know" Jean said with a wink. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go ahead and watch things from inside. We'll let you know when it's time to prepare for your entrance, but for now, just listen in. Oh, and don't think the fate of your friends means I forgot, you and I will have to have a chat later." And with a quick shared smile, Jean walked through the doorway and out.
Frisk sighed and turned to the little monitor and stared intently at the little box. Taking a seat next to the side table, Frisk began to really get nervous. In just a few moments, the most important moment of their life, indeed the lives of many of the monsters who were counting on them, would begin. Eyes shut tightly, Frisk tried to breathe steadily, but forcing calm was never really their strong suit, however. Fortunately, a steady hand gently set on their shoulder halted a potential panic before it could start. Looking up, Frisk found Papyrus standing there, his regularly grinning face smiling even wider down at his nervous friend, who couldn't help but smile back. Regaining their determination, Frisk then nodded, and both of them turned their attention to the small black box, to the ramblings of politics, and the moving of worlds.
==oo00**00oo==
Throne room... nothing.
Snowdin... nothing.
Waterfall... nothing.
The Core... Nothing!
Sans fell onto one knee as he suddenly appeared in Hotland, breathing heavily. His body clearly felt the stress of so many shortcuts in such a short period of time; it had been a long time since he actually took to exerting himself so much. Catching his breath, he stood up again, and walked along the edge of the cliff face, walking towards the lab door. Glancing to the side at the again empty space that was the save point outside Gas-Alphys' lab, he walked up to the door, only to find it locked. At first, he turned to walk around to the back entrance, but stopped before he had gone a few feet, suddenly remembering something he had left. Walking over to a rock by the corner of the building, he reached down and grabbed a keycard.
"Heh, never thought I'd end up using this again myself." flipping over the blank side of the keycard, he took a glance at the photo, a much younger looking Papyrus staring back at him. "But it can't really be helped right now. Sorry, bro." walking back to the door, he slid the keycard through, and the door quickly opened. Hurrying through the hallways and down into the lab, he headed for the section of the lab that dealt with DT Extraction. If the flower meant what he said from those notes, he would have had the scanners running, and any notes would be there. It felt... odd, walking through the hallways of the lab after so many years away. Sans was rarely nostalgic in the more recent years, but he could almost feel the physical presence of the memories here, the time he spent with Papyrus and... wandering through these hallways, working on projects for the king. It was nice then, and he felt like he could make a difference. He stopped for a moment, skeletal hand leaning gently against one of the doors. For a moment, he just stood there, lost in half-buried memories of the long since past, before he shook his head to clear it. There were more important things going on now than memories.
Increasing his pace, Sans shuffled into the DT scanning room, flipped on the light switch and walked over to the notebook. His smile twitching a bit at the note on the open page, he flipped the notebook back a bit, looked for where the handwriting started changing, and began quickly flipping through the pages. What he found was, unfortunately, somewhat beyond him. Oh, he gathered the implications just fine, but his skills in reading lab notes and measurements we rather rusty. Setting the notebook down, he looked up at the machines, searching for another possible cause for the readings. Why would the SAVE points fail if the DT was able to dissipate beyond the barrier? And what would happen now if...
Sans shook his head. He could sit here thinking about what-ifs, but it wasn't the time. He needed to go through all this, but there was no way he could go through it as quickly as he would need to. He needed help, and he knew just where help would be at that moment. Standing back from the desk, he turned in place and landed just on the inside of the barrier remains, a few steps later and he was outside, turning behind a tree, he jumped again, landing right in the middle of Undyne's living room. Quickly shuffling to the side to dodge a spear from Undyne, he stepped towards the couch and reached out.
"sorryUndynehaftaborrowyourgirlfriendtalktoyoulater" and with that, he lifted up Alphys from the couch and jumped away, Undyne's annoyed call of "SANS!" loud enough to echo through the subspace.
==oo00**00oo==
"Which of course, brings us now to the final item in the agenda." Frisk looked up at Papyrus. Their time had come. The voice on the phone continued. "I apologize for the rather intense secrecy to this particular item on our docket, however given its sensitive nature, I believe you will understand. Within these envelopes is a particularly sensitive piece of information, one that I trust you understand needs to be handled carefully." Some rustling of papers, then the muttering grew.
"I don't quite understand, Lord Evans. Is this some sort of joke?"
"Yes, these photos are... interesting, to say the least, but this can't be possible, can it?"
"I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that these photographs are genuine and authentic. What you are seeing is a new group of beings, recently discovered after centuries of being trapped underground." the mutterings grew louder and more intense. Papyrus began to mutter himself, a little concern, but Frisk sent him a calming smile, this so far was expected.
"This must be some sort of joke, and frankly I am not amused. This document appears to be... some sort of treaty? I hardly think this form of trickery is worth all of our valuable time..." The arguing from the box was quickly forgotten as an aide came through the side entrance to summon them to the door. It was nearly time for their grand entrance. It only took them a moment to head through an old servants entrance and found Jean waiting for them just outside the entrance. Leaning down towards Frisk she placed a comforting hand on their shoulder, and whispered "you'll be fine, just watch Mister Rice, he seems a bit surlier than normal this evening."
They waited for a moment, and then, Jean nodded to the two ambassadors. "It's showtime" she said, and reached out, swinging open the servants door, and the three of them walked into the room. Stepping quickly to the side, Jean allowed Frisk and Papyrus to step out to face the room. Frisk had to fight the sudden urge to fidget, to glance down, to look at Paps, really anything that would mean forgetting that there were nearly two dozen very very powerful people in that room, every one of which was staring at them.
"Announcing, Frisk Dreemurr, ambassador from the Underground Coalition to the British Crown, and Papyrus, second in command of the Underground Delta Guard and assistant to ambassador Dreemurr." both of the newcomers to the room gave respectful bows, then stepped forward. Frisk took a deep breath, steeled their determination, and prepared to prove to everyone at home precisely why their trust was well founded.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I want to personally thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to be here, and to apologize for the secrecy that must be forced upon you by our appearance. Our only hope to come from this treaty is that we as members of the Underground are able to properly integrate into surface society with as little trouble for both sides as possible."
SIlence held the floor for a moment after Frisk spoke, only to be followed by utter chaos in it's wake. Frisk sighed silently, and swore that they saw Jean crack a very brief smile out of the corner of their eye. It was clearly going to be a long evening.
==oo00**00oo==
It wasn't until he had landed outside the ruins and was tugging Alphys through to the throne room that there was a reaction.
"W-w-wait! Sans! Whats going on?"
Sans didn't answer, just continued to pull the scientist along. Alphys started to protest again, but before she could get out more than a word or two, Sans had again taken them to the lab, where he promptly collapsed to his knees, nearly bringing Alphys along with him.
"Sans! What the heck is going on? Why would you just-" Alphys cut herself off as she turned and saw the sweat dripping from his head. "Ohmigosh! Sans, y-you have to be more careful, you're g-gonna hurt yourself!" Sans shook his head, panting, and still unable to catch his breath. He really needed to build up some stamina for the future... and wasn't that a unique thought for him. Vaguely, he noticed Alphys try to help him up, but he waved her off. Still unable to speak clearly quite yet, he pointed her in the direction of the desk with the notebook. Alphys was clearly torn. "Sans, you can't just drag people away l-like that. And you s-should really watch yourself, I know how much transiting takes out of y-you, and there isn't a-anything...that... could be." Her eyes drifted towards the monitors, flashing through the data cycles, and the cameras, all pointed at the save points, or in these cases, to empty air. For a moment, it seemed like Alphys would shrink away almost entirely, when suddenly, something clicked, and she gained an expression Sans could only say he had seen on her face a handful of times, and that's including times in many, many other timelines.
"Data. I need data."
The two of them spent the next two hours pouring through all of the records for the last year, making connections, analyzing data point after data point. He had to hand it to the flower, that kid certainly knew how to keep a lab running, even when the staff was down to one. Nearly every piece of information was properly documented and timestamped. The two of them could work back the data to nearly the day, and everything seemed to point to the same answers.
"So, what do we know?" Alphys paced back and forth while Sans leaned against the work table. "First, we know that the total mass of DT seems to be nearly the same."
"Do we know for sure? It appears that the concentrations are the same here, but we know that it does go through the barrier. Have any of the monsters on the surface exhibited any symptoms like the old test subjects? Or like.." He stopped, he couldn't really finish that sentence.
"No, I had thought about that almost immediately after leaving the underground, since we didn't really know the actual source of determination, I wanted to make sure that being on the surface wouldn't cause the Amalgamates to break down. It seems like, though there is DT on the surface, it's not generated at the rate that occurs on the surface. It's also apparent that Monsters don't naturally lose any more DT than they naturally generate."
"So that rules out scary theory number one, at least the flower-"
"Asriel"
"-Asriel should be happy to know that at least. All the notes he took seemed to point in that direction as his conclusion."
"He didn't know about the research we did on the surface. It's frustrating to not know the actual source of DT, if we knew that we might be able to answer so many more questions."
"I wouldn't worry about that, doc. You'll have plenty of time to figure that out later. For now, disappearing blinky lights."
Alphys had the decency to at least look a little embarrassed. "Of course... Though there is one other possibility. I know you don't like to think about it, but..."
"I had thought about that too. Brought up his notes, and gave them a once over while you were digging through the computers." He handed over a single sheet of paper to Alphys. "This is what you may be thinking of."
Looking over the paper. Alphys frowned. "No... no this won't do it. Cross-dimensional fractioning would have affected far more than these, based on these numbers... would have torn the underground apart completely... no, this would have to be localized... only one dimension could be affected in the local space." She suddenly looked up... "so that means... a single dimension falling back into sync due to the release of the barrier."
Sans looked back at Alphys, eye sockets empty and smile unusually grim. "And we know of only one specific way that one dimension could have been out of sync with the rest... and we know how to test it."
==oo00**00oo==
Well, I hadn't planned on cliffhanging this one, but given how long it took just to get this first half of these scenes right, I think it's best if you folks suffer as I am.
Happy anniversary Undertale! May you continue to delight, confuse, and infuriate us. Many happy regards.
Happy... something you know whatever, Harry Potter! You know, just so you don't feel lonely or rejected.
Thanks again to everyone who reads, reviews, faves, et cetera! I love the fact that this story can bring some people enjoyment, in addition to being a blast to write!
Next week: How do you tell someone that they need to try to end the world, even if it's just a little bit?
