Elsewhere
Death was becoming too familiar a concept to the girl, for comfort.
Some part of her imagined, after that most recent one, that she would awake again in the room. Fearful, in those moments of awareness, as to what new torment was intended for her? And, more importantly, how was she meant to escape it?
When her eyes pried themselves open again, she let out a sound of surprise. Nearly falling from a step half-taken. Alarm was still coursing through her as she took in her surroundings.
She was not in the bed, as anticipated. Rather, she was in the town, somewhere near the center of it. A presence at her side, drawing her attention. Her friend, giving her a curious look.
"You look, a little pale. You okay?" Chara asked, raising a brow.
"I-I was...just, I-" Aliza stammered, confused.
Was she just imagining everything that had happened? Even now, only pieces of it were lingering within corners of her mind. Hadn't they been at the inn?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand being placed on her forehead. Eyes falling on the other girl. A blush forming, from the touch. She took in her counterparts features, however briefly.
Did she always look like...well, the girl found it odd, but her mind was comparing her friend to sort of rainbow bird. Something she'd learned about through a book she found in the trash. They were some of the prettiest things she could recall.
"You're...burning up." Chara noted quietly, before asking. "Is...that cuz of...what I offered?"
"Offered?" Aliza genuinely felt lost at that statement, and glanced about.
She noticed the Item Ship behind them. 'Mad Savings' as it was called. And it suddenly clicked. She knew where they were now, remembered it.
They had just left, after getting paid for selling a phone, and doing some minor task. They were halfway towards the inn, they were planning to stay at, that night. She began to wonder, why her friend looked so embarrassed, before remembering two important things.
One, Chara had attempted to sell her music box, just so Aliza wouldn't have to sleep outside anymore. That thought was something even now, she found...strange. Strange in the sense she was filled with that abnormal fluttery feeling. The second thing, only compounded that sensation, when she realized they were presently holding hands.
Somehow throughout this brief encounter, that aspect had gone unnoticed by her. Her face grew redder, her eyes left wide. She silently cursed this phantom, this unwelcome little spirit afflicting her in the moment.
"I-" Chara had begun to say.
"O-oh, uhm..." Aliza felt silly now, having lost herself in her thoughts twice. "It's just...I uhm, sorry, I got distracted, is all."
Chara asked, somewhat hesitantly. "By uh...what?"
"It's..." Aliza didn't want to admit the real reason. "it's just, it's...you know, how...hey, I have this uhm, joke...I wanted...to tell you."
"Okay?" Chara laughed curiously. "I mean, if you wanna wait, we should be getting to-"
"No!" Aliza said in quick desperation, catching her friend off guard. "I-I mean, not yet. So, it's uhm, a knock knock joke."
For a moment there was silence between them. Had she just screwed it up? Why was she trying to tell it now? Why did she feel so embarrassed? These questions plagued the girl.
Chara nodded. "Do, I start, or-"
"Oh, right, so, I have t-to, okay-" Aliza tried to compose herself. "it's uhm...knock knock."
"Who's there?" Chara asked back.
Aliza felt that warm, fuzzy feeling. "it's..." She hesitated. "who, er-" she botched it.
"Who, who?" Chara replied, appearing confused.
Hearing it back sunk Alizas heart some. This was not the joke she had intended to tell. It was embarrassing, admittedly, as she had meant to say...well, something else. However, she didn't know how to back down at this point, and couldn't exactly course correct to the proper 'joke.'
"Uhm, didn't know...you were...an owl?" Aliza half-asked.
Her friend chuckled, and rolled her eyes. "Dork."
Interference detected.
"Heh...yeah." Aliza replied, her purple necklace giving a faint shine. "Hey...Chara, maybe we don't have to-"
"It's not real." Chara said, the light of the necklace glowing steadily.
"Huh?" She asked.
The purple-eyed girl looked at her. Her friend was still smiling, only, there was something off about the smile. About the look in her eyes. Charas hand seemed to tighten its grasp some.
"Aliza-" Chara began, before whispering. "can't you see it?"
The words returned that fell chill to Alizas bones, sparked her soul to ignite. To manifest before her, as she swallowed the dread. The girl beginning to notice the grey of her own fingers. Had they...always been like that?
It was then that she noticed something, out of the corner of her eyes. There was, something in one of the alleyways. An entity she vaguely recalled from her dream. A strange flower, watching them.
It made her heart drop. This...was this still the same nightmare? Had she not woken up? Was this...not...a nightmare, after-all? The glow of her necklace fading, unnoticed.
Interference resolved.
Aliza spoke. "Chara we sho-" She turned back, only to find the other girl gone. "Chara?"
She tried to step, only to lurch forward. Nearly falling, looking down only to find her feet seeming to sink. The road appeared to gurgle, and bubble. Like something liquid.
She let out a sound of panic, and began trying to pull her legs from it. This was a vain attempt, and in response, it started to drag her down a little bit faster. She tried to look around, but found nobody. Even the flower was gone.
"H-help!" She called out in growing terror, it was past her knees. "S-someone p-please, I-" It was rising.
Aliza tried to steel her resolve, as it reached her hips. Reaching out, she dug her fingers into the dirt. And tried to pull herself away. In a mixed sense of fear and bravery. Clawing at it, to the point the skin began to get scratch, and cut on her fingers. Still finding herself being dragged back.
And then, to her surprise, a sudden force wrapped around her. Sharp barbs of something digging into her skin like thorns. This grasping thing raising her, rather painfully from the inky puddle. Her expression twisted with winces of pain, and desperate defiance. Even attempting to bite at one, before realizing what it was doing.
With a sudden pull, she was yanked from it. Dragged out, and brought to solid ground, with a thud. It was painful, but les so, when the vines retracted, and withdrew. Fearing some new menace, she scrambled, trying to draw her knife. Only to see, who it was that was facing her.
"You idiot." The Flower spoke. "Did you seriously fall for something so simple?"
"I-I, it's you!" Aliza remarked.
"Yeah, it is. Now, get back to the lobby, before you get killed." He instructed, in an exasperated tone. "Again."
Aliza was briefly confused by the request to return to a lobby. There wasn't a lobby out here. She wondered to herself, wasn't a lobby only found in a building?
And then it clicked. The flower vanishing into the ground, in that precise moment. Her focus fell on the hotel building. That lobby.
A sound, like a tree branch snapping behind her, caused her to jump. The girl immediately beginning a mad dash towards her destination. She wasn't keen to be attacked in the open, or to figure out what that was, when it was clearly so close.
When she was a distance away, she glanced back. There, near the gate that led out of the city, was a stranger. One wearing some sort of hoodie, with dark eyes observing her movements. Another creature come to take her life, no doubt.
Though, while everything was presently rather scary for her. For a reason she couldn't identify yet, this being inspired more. Something more primal, within her being. It would kill her. If she got near it, she would die. She could not win, she had to run.
With this motivation, and a barely resisted urge to cry, she burst through the doors of the inn. Slamming them shut behind her immediately after. Her entire body shaking, nearly convulsing for a second. When nothing came to break down the doors after her, she turned.
Aliza put her back to the door, and began sliding down it. Her hands quickly grasping at the end of her scarf. Running her fingers across it, squeezing it. Holding it, while trying to calm down.
"Oh good, you made it-" The Flower greeted, only to observe her present state. "Eh...take some time. You're uh...safe here, and stuff. So."
Hey orange eyes fell on the flower, trying to focus. He had once more returned to the desk. Seeming to rise from it, in a fashion that defied reasoning. The lobby still very much within his grasp. Vines growing, burrowing through the floors, and walls, and ceiling. As though the material was little more than dirt, or water displaced.
The child lost her composure. And pulled the scarf to cover her face briefly. Cowering, while hugging her knees. Burying her head against it. Letting herself fall apart, and express her fear unseen.
She didn't like to show it to others, even if she was generally bad about that. But she'd been quite bad about hiding her emotions recently. It used to be so easy. But now, it was aching, every time she did.
Aliza shook, enough that the handles of the door began to rattle. The Flowey, observing this, pondered something. There were places within this 'non-world' where some things had slipped through the cracks. And after realizing it would take a moment, he vanished through the desk to go find something.
For Flowey, it was really only a matter of time, until this child was a doomed as the rest.
Even though, it was technically possible to leave, only one being had ever done so successfully. And, even 'T-Frisk' as she was known, was trapped. Not because she couldn't leave, in theory. But because she couldn't leave, in practice. Though, that was its own thing, that he didn't have time to devote his thoughts to.
Swimming through the void was a questionably simple, and yet impossibly difficult process. But Flowey was a determined figure, in his own right. So, eventually, he got the hang of it. More or less.
The flower sprouted up, through the cracks of some strange place. It was some place within the dark. Where blue flowers bloomed, and mountains of trash were visible. It was a disconcerting location, with a seemingly endless rain.
This location seemed to be where the 'discarded' options went. The things the man used, but didn't keep. And like the various locations he had been, he, and the 'in transit' types had been drawn there when it got a new occupant.
One he had treated rather poorly when they met. One he'd failed to help, due to misunderstanding and rage. One he'd let down.
There, beneath a single blue tree in an endless field, was a child. A girl, with dark brown hair, somewhere between Alizas black hair, and Charas brown. Her skin, at this point, was a chalky grey. Eyes glossy, and devoid of much, beyond the faintest bit of red.
There was a black jacket, clinging to her person. With fluffy white within the hood. It looked an awful lot like the one Chara had taken to wearing. Though, Flowey didn't think that was incidental.
She was always so clingy with her friends. So desperate to keep them around. Even when it was someone she'd only known for a day or two, she'd kill for them if they were 'her kind of people.'
This, was the Frisk he had met. The one manipulated and played, as much as he was. A meat-puppet for T-Frisk, and the Man.
Flowey felt...no small amount of guilt for her present state. If he hadn't responded the way he did to the sight of her, perhaps she'd have survived the void. The child presently sitting, alongside a few random articles of clothes, gathered from some of the things that had been sent to torture her.
At least, back when there was something left to torture. Back before the Man who spoke in hands had lost interest. His focus fell on another jacket, or coat rather. A yellow raincoat. It wasn't much, but he wagered it would at least survive the 'greying' effect that the void had on things that weren't made there.
The flower burrowed through the dirt, and then pulled himself out, near the vacant child. It wasn't the first time he'd come over. Once, he even tried to speak, or get her attention. But nothing ever came of it.
She just say there under the tree, beside an echo flower. Listening, as it repeating things, on loop. With all her memories gone, it sadly, was the only thing left.
Charas voice asking. ""We have to be close, right?"
Frisks voice responding. "Yeah. Are you okay?"
Just that. Eternally looping. A fate worse than death.
He reached out to grab the raincoat. Only to notice something out of the corner of his eyes. She'd moved. He glanced, and found, for the first time in what felt like a thousand years, she had turned. Her eyes unblinking, dead things locked on him.
Flowey wasn't capable of feeling much. But this...this caused an eerie sensation to flood him. Was that...fear?
"We have to be close, right?" Charas voice said from the flower.
"Yeah. Are you okay?" Frisks voice followed suit.
Flowey didn't move. Just watched her, watching him. It wasn't like she remembered him, right? Was there anything left to remember anything?
The Echoes continued. "We have to be close, right?" Charas voice, then Frisks. "Yeah. Are you okay?"
He adjusted a vine, and grabbed the edge of the Raincoat. Glancing to it briefly, turning his focus back. Her posture had shifted some. A leg moving slightly nearer to him. Her body ever so slightly facing him. He froze again.
She wasn't inactive, it seemed. Floweys eyes began to burn, but she didn't blink. They were moving though, for the first time in...so very long, they were moving. Scanning him over, with slight, barely noticeable flicks.
The echoing voices continued, but he only caught bits. "Close, right?" Charas voice, and then...
Frisks. "Yeah." She spoke, quietly. "Are you okay?"
The voice was spoken so very quietly. Like someone who was speaking for the first time. Or, simply hadn't in a long time.
Flowey mustered his will. "Frisk." He felt around, the pain was growing. "I'm sorry." He spoke quietly. "I...I wish I hadn't...that I'd...I'm gonna help someone. They're a friend of Charas." That earned a twitch from the girl. "I'll...I don't know how to help you."
"Are you okay?" The girl asked, quietly.
The flower blinked. A sudden motion drawing something near him. He leaned back, avoiding a swing of a knife, plastic, but sharp. Grasping the raincoat, he plunged back into the earth. Hearing a terrible cry follow him, accompanied by sobbing, and mad laughter.
It all got quiet, very quickly. But it would haunt him. It would haunt him for as long as he lived.
Aliza was still in a state, when she felt something draped over her person. Jolting up, looking around. She noticed the flower beside her.
He'd placed a raincoat of some variety around her shoulders. It was a yellow thing. The kind she sometimes saw people wearing in the city. Her confusion, and sniffles directed at him. Noticing the expression he wore.
It was filled with guilt, and conflict. She wondered if she had caused that. Feeling bad in turn, while, also being a touch perplexed.
"What is this?" Aliza asked him.
"A coat." He replied, muttering. "It'll...keep you a little bit warmer."
She brushed at the tears in her eyes, and managed a small smile. Observing the coat for a moment more, before pulling it on. Letting the scarf fall back around her neck. She let out a held breath, and composed herself some.
"Where...where are we?" Aliza inquired.
"That's a complicated question." He replied, asking. "Do you remember my name?" She shook her head. "Flowey. I'm Flowey."
"Flowey...t-the Flower?" She found the name amusing, and chuckled softly.
"Yeahup. I thought it was fun." Flowey shrugged, vanishing, and reappearing on the countertop again, with some of the vines near him. "And you're Aliza. The little human that made friends with Chara." He recalled. "Okay...where do I start with all this?" She waited quietly. "You're in a sort of...'prison' we'll call it. Made by a very bad man."
She searched her memory. There was, something. That first thing, she thought was a bad dream. She had gone for a walk, and saw someone. Someone who grabbed her, and dragged her off. A strange man. She didn't understand why though.
"Why?" She asked, nervously. "W-what did...I do?"
"I have no idea." Flowey shrugged. "Chances are, you stopped being useful to his plans."
"His...plans?" Aliza didn't understand.
"He's a bad man, trying to do bad things. He was manipulating stuff, including you." Flowey remarked, rather coldly. "Like he did to me, and...others. Most everyone here, probably."
"There are...others?" She inquired, finally standing.
"Yeah. They're all a little...nuts." Flowey sighed. "Can't blame em. This place is designed to torture you, kill you, and strip you of what you are. Who you are." He glanced at empty space. "It's...really good at it too."
This was a lot for her to take in. She still wasn't entirely convinced it was real. But, whether it was or wasn't, it didn't matter. She wasn't waking up, so the best she could do, is try to endure it. To survive this nightmare.
Processing it in that fashion, made it a bit more bearable. The girl briefly rubbing her eyes. Some impulse within her, trying to resist what she was seeing. Struggling with the maelstrom that was, these concepts.
It inspired a question. "And...and you aren't?"
"What, nuts?" Flowey asked. "Eh, not exactly. I do my best to avoid dying. Keep myself...as much of myself, as I can." He explained. "The vines growing here, let me keep this space stable." He then scoffed. "At least, for as long as we're still here."
"Is it..I don't...you're not always...here?" She asked.
"It moves to the location of the person, most recently added. So to speak. Plays out some morbid scenarios there. That kinda thing." He explained, if only barely. "Most people move to the next, when it...well, moves."
Aliza processed the word. "Most?"
"The important thing to remember, is that if someone new shows up." He ignored her question. "We'll all wind up being sent, to where they got abducted. Got it?"
This got a nod from the girl. She was rather desperately not okay with the situation, or the things she was learning. It inspired so many new questions, and uncertainties. Concerns, and dreads. But it also inspired a more significant question.
"How do we get out?" She asked.
"You don't. You just try and survive as long as you can." Flowey told her, sighing. "It's nearly impossible to leave."
For a moment, this was crushing, but she latched onto a word. "Nearly?"
"Don't bother. You're not getting out kid." He replied, sternly. "Just take a seat, relax. Get comfortable."
"N-no, you said, nearly-" Aliza got up, and stepped over. "so...t-there is a way, right?"
"Aliza-" He began.
"Please, I-I have to get back." She pleaded. "Charas all alone a-and if that man is o-out there, she's-"
Flowey groaned loudly, and tiredly. It felt like nobody who wound up in this place ever listened to him. Some of them were just copies of beings sent before, so he'd come to expect they'd provide similar answers. Getting killed off in other worlds, just to get replaced by new bodies abducted from different ones.
But Aliza was a new entity in this place. And one he'd hoped would have enough sense, to just do as he said. But, he wagered he should have known better. He was surrounded by suicidal idiots.
A low laugh reached their attention. A figure sitting on the staircase. The non-human girl, smiling at them. The sight of her, flooded the illest chill, down Alizas spine.
The Non-Human spoke. "She's gonna try, you know. I don't know why you're wasting your breath, Flowey."
Flowey growled. "Because it's stupid. It won't work. Even you can't beat him!"
"There's not a reason to beat him." The Non-Human replied. "I don't have a vessel to go back to." She glanced to Aliza. "It's why he's cowering in here, ya know?"
Aliza felt like she was being demanded to answer, somehow. "I...why, what?"
Flowey glared. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
The Non-Human smirked. "Nope. I'm actually debating killing her again a few more times." The orange-eyed girl dug around in her pocket, and produced the knife. "Oh, c'mon, you don't think that'd matter, right?"
Aliza growled. "Y-you stay away from me." She stepped back, nearly falling over a vine. "O-or I'll-"
Flowey rolled his eyes. "Would you both just shut up." He requested. "As long as she's here, you aren't doing anything." He thumped the Non-Human with a vine. "Got it?"
His expression was briefly quite scary looking. The Non-Human, however, seemed unimpressed. Unimpressed, but amused.
The grey-girl snickered. "Whatever you say, Azzy." She got up. "You two have fun. I'll catch up with you later." She wave a little wave. "Bye Aliza. I can't wait to play with you again, sometime."
With that, the creature wandered back up the staircase. Heading off, to who knew where. Aliza found herself by the desk at this point. Leaning against it. Hands shaking still. Somehow, that being scared her more than everything else there. At least, what she knew about.
When she was sure the threat wasn't returning, she was left to process its comments. No vessel to return to? What did that mean? Her attention fell on the Flower. He looked visibly upset. And slightly shaken.
"What...what did she mean, by...no vessel?" Aliza inquired.
"It's nothing." Flowey remarked, adding. "I'm not answering anymore questions, so...let's just not."
"Okay?" She hesitated, her mind turning to the other half. "So..uhm...there's someone blocking the way...is it-" She recalled the stranger by the gate. "is it that hooded man?"
The flower faced her. "I just said no more questions."
"B-but, if...there's a way out, t-then, shouldn't we-" She began.
"I'm...not-" His expression grew furious. "answering any more questions." He hissed. "If you wanna go get killed by that smiley trashbag, be my guest, you wouldn't be the first." He made himself flinch, before adding. "Eventually, you'll either get the point, or you'll lose yourself. I...I don't care which."
Aliza winced at the tone. She didn't like to upset people. Especially not those who had helped her, as he had. The girl remaining briefly quiet. Contemplating. Was this guard really so scary? Then again, if it was the warden to these beings, it had to be.
After a few minutes of silence, and thinking, she made a decision. She was terrified, filled with fear. And yet, she couldn't just sit and do nothing. Chara had this belief, that she only brought pain, and hurt to those around her. If she didn't return, that belief would grow, and make her suffer more.
But worst than that, that man was still out there. And if it had taken her to a place this awful, she dreaded what he had in store for her friend. She had to be brave, she couldn't let that happen.
Her necklace jangled a bit as she rose, the ends of her scarf hanging. Some of the color having faded from it, without her knowing. Ever so slightly dull, and grey in parts now.
"Fine." She muttered, starting back to the door. "I...I won't ask for your help...then."
"So, you're really gonna go try?" Flowey rolled his eyes. "You idiot."
It hurt a little bit to be insulted, but her resolve wouldn't waiver. She couldn't dispute the terror gripping her. But she wouldn't back down from this. Couldn't back down from this.
She headed over and opened the door. Briefly glancing back, to find the flower facing away from her. Frowning, she wandered back out into the town, which was as quiet as before.
Aliza made a note to watch where she stepped. To be extra careful about what she did. And set her sights on the stranger in front of the gate. Her only obstacle to escape.
It didn't take her long to get there. Even while avoiding parts of the road that seemed slightly off. Her progress wasn't going to be impeded.
Her arrival prompted the strange being to glance at her. She was surprised to find that it appeared to be a skeleton, with a dark jacket, and a plain set of clothes beneath. There was a burn hole through his chest, that seemed to go through one of the ribs. Providing a view of the space behind him, however slightly.
Aliza stopped, and took a breath. She had to be brave. She couldn't back down now. Though, she was still hesitant to fight. Part of her hoping that maybe, if she explained, she could leave. That this stranger would understand. Hopefully.
"I...I want to leave." Aliza spoke simply, no response. "I was..." She swallowed some fear. "I was told that...if I get past you...I can go back."
"yup." The skeleton replied, wearing a little grin.
"I don't...wanna fight you." She admitted. "But...I can't just...abandon my friend. She's-" The child hesitated. "I-I can't. So...please let me go."
There was a pause between them for a moment. Within that collection of seconds, she imagined her proposal was being considered. Before realizing the guardian of this gate, simply wasn't paying attention. His focus on one of the greyed out banners of the town. She took a step, and his focus fell on her again.
"buddy." He spoke. "if you take another step...you really aren't gonna like what happens next."
Aliza could feel the screaming of her senses. Indicating she was in danger. Danger she couldn't presently fathom. Her eyes scanning him over. Looking for a weapon. Looking for the source of this dread. But he looked as unassuming, if threatening, as ever.
She once more sensed that words were pointless. She stepped forward. The world flashing black and white. More than it already was.
The skeleton spoke. "it's a terrible day today. the void is screaming. minds are flaying." He shrugged. "on days like this. kids like you." his eyes went completely dark. "are trapped in hell."
There was a sudden feeling, as her soul flashed blue. Sending her flying back, much to her surprise. Slamming against one of the houses. Before she could respond, bones shot out from the wall. Rupturing through her body, tearing through her skin and form. The pain was immediate, as was the result.
Her bloodied body left impaled there, bleeding steadily. Until the moment it faded, minutes later. Dragged away by the void, to be resurrected, again.