Two Worlds, Two Souls

Chapter 58: Playing in Tune

Frisk's Point of View:

Dressed in my full clothing of the cloak, gloves and boots, Undyne and Papyrus led me to the woman's house in Waterfall. I had come near here once or twice in the past, but never had I gone inside or been there without my sister. While she continued to rest under the watch eyes of Sans and Alphys, Undyne thought it would be a good idea to have me over at her place, where no monster could or would sneak up on her.

Granted, no one would if they wanted to avoid being surplexed into the ground.

Undyne had thought that another way for us to get to know each other was to be away from the negative energy of the lab where my sister still lay unconscious after nearly a week and a half of resting and recovery. I was thankful for it, but also worried. Only when I'd managed to get it out of Alphys that she'd call if something was wrong with my sister in the time we were gone, I agreed to leave her alone.

I knew my sister would be okay, and I knew that I would be safe… but I just couldn't push back the feeling that my sister would wake at any moment soon. That I could step away and she'd wake up without me. It would freak her out, I knew that for a fact and didn't want that to happen. Sans agreed with my fears. He planned to stay close for the entire day that I was going to be gone and did his best to tell me to enjoy it.

I was one of the rare people that Undyne invited over to her house. I should have been honored.

Papyrus didn't see it as much more the visiting a friend, but it actually was a well-known fact that Undyne didn't have many people over. The only exceptions that I was aware of was Papyrus, Alphys, and the king. Perhaps one of the guard members every now and then, but other than that, no one.

"Alright!" Undyne nearly kicked in the door of the fish shaped house and led us into a more delicate looking space. I was surprised at the seafoam green colored walls and the open concept living area merged with a kitchen and dining room all in one. Her kitchen was actually a pretty good size, and I could even see some pots and stuff she must have left out on the day she found Angel and myself.

I could see that she had left out some food to eat from when she got back from her patrol that was entirely ruined from being out for a few weeks. I took one whiff and wished I hadn't.

"Ah damn it! Should of known that this would happen. Here, let me clean it up." Undyne hurried to busy herself with removing the object of rot while I looked more around her space.

It was a really cute little house, though still adored with weapons and training objects such as weights and what not. I even saw a few photos scattered around the living room that seemed to be of Undyne's family. I could see a large male that was much darker in scale color then Undyne was, but there was also a very beautiful woman that seemed to look almost just like Undyne in the pictures. Both of them hold bright golden eyes to match the one of a young Undyne who stood before them in all their pictures.

They must have been her parents.

It was hard to imagine a life without someone's parents, though Angel and I learned early on in life. I saw how Undyne had a good number of photos of her and her father, but not as many with her mother. The pictures showed her achievements, the glow of pride in her father's eyes. Yet the most recent ones showed her with some of her friends in the guard or with the gentle looking king.

I knew her father wasn't around. I'd found that out from Angel just after Christmas when she had heard it from the others in Snowdin. Her father died from chemicals dumped into the underground's water supply that infected so many. Much of the population had been lost to that, especially adults of the working force and the elderly that lived in the capitol, Hotland and Waterfall. Snowdin was the only town affected the least by it, and only a small handful of people survived that devastation.

One of the ones not so lucky had been Undyne's father.

But never had I really heard much about her mother.

I stared into the lovely face of the woman who gave birth to Undyne. She still held the sharp teeth that seeped out of the edges of her lips. The rich blue scales that covered her body. Scarlet hair that cascaded in waves and curls over her shoulder. There was no way she wasn't Undyne's mother.

"What'cha looking at, Punk?"

Undyne came over to inspect my investigation of her home and noticed how I had magically been drawn to her photos of family and friends. The happier look on her face quickly changed to that of more of a solemn.

"Course you managed to sniff out my family pictures."

"Sorry… I couldn't help it. You all looked so happy… it reminded me of my parents."

"Yeah?" Undyne lightly pressed on while she sat on the worn couch next to me, her own gaze looking over the pictures together.

"I lost my parents back when I was eight. I didn't think back then it was even possible to lose someone close to you, let alone your own parents. So, I kinda know what you went through, even if only a little."

"I believe ya, Squirt." Undyen reached over and ruffled my messy hair. "My Ma… she wasn't very strong, physically anyway. Ya know? She could hardly move around small things in the house. She was always the planner, the thinker of the family. Pa was the muscles. It didn't take much to hold her down. She got sick a lot and had to be careful with everything. She was hospitalized with me and if she wanted to live, she couldn't have any other babies after me."

That made me feel very sad, especially since having a sibling was something really that I treasured in the most recent years. "I'm sorry."

"Eh, don't worry about it. I was too much for my parents to handle anyway." The thought brought a chuckle to my friend's face. "Pa was always running around, training me and teaching me to be strong while Ma sat beside us and watched. She enjoyed seeing us play, she used to say it made her feel free. All she had to do was holler and we'd do whatever she wanted. We did everything we could to help her in those darker times as she got older. But what Ma couldn't stand was that I was learning so many rough skills, skills that only my Pa could teach me. She tried to teach me to cook, but I only got enough of that down to survive whatever I make. I mostly eat out or off of potlucks."

"Did your mom get to teach you anything else?"

"Hell yeah!" Undyne stood and pulled me from the couch, pointed to something I hadn't noticed before in her living space. "She taught me how to play that baby right there."

And there stood a beautiful white grand piano.

I couldn't help the gasp from escaping me as I broke free of Undyne's hold to see the beautiful piece of musical equipment before me. I loved music. I listened to the radio a lot around the skeletons' house to make up for a lot of it, and Angel used to sing for me all the time before we fell into the underground. I loved music, it was hard to be without it sometimes, but we had to pick and choose our battles when on the run.

Back when our parents were alive, I was signed up for classes as soon as I turned four. My parents saw me playing with their piano that my father played with my grandmother sometimes. I took to it so well and loved the piano. I spent two years playing daily before my parents made me a deal to get me more instruments as long as I practiced every day. If I stopped practicing, no new instruments. I loved playing and the first next instrument they gave me was a flute, wanting me to branch out into something of the woodwind family next.

I kept my promise and for my seventh birthday, they had gotten me a violin. Three instruments I practiced consistently. It was something I was really passionate about. I never liked to be without music, either hearing it or playing it.

And then, tragedy struck.

When our parents died, my way of coping was to play those sad songs rather than happy ones. My sister and grandmother let me do as I needed to in order to get it out of my system. Then our second tragedy hit no more than a month later and that left us in the hands of our uncle…

Oh, didn't he try to ruin us…

My instruments were taken from me. I could no longer play. If I lashed out or was angry, he'd break them in front of me. I found out the hard way when he took my beloved violin and smashed it against the kitchen counter, shattering it into tiny splinter sized pieces. The glee in his eyes as he did so was the most haunting factor of it all.

My sister had been so brave, even back then. Against the wishes or knowledge of my uncle, she stole back my flute. She had to tuck it away somewhere that no one would know where it was. There wasn't much she could do about the piano, but she tried. When our uncle found out, I knew that our piano would suffer for her defiance of him, and it did.

When after a particular nasty screaming session from the first floor of our home occurred, I could hear the keys and cords crumbling, succumbing to whatever force my uncle used against it. I never saw the after image of the piano after that, Angel made sure of it.

But I knew it was gone when the space it had occupied was empty the following morning. Scuff marks were all I saw against the floorboards to remind me that it once had been there.

Breaking out of my darker memories, I let my fingers run over the edges of the keys. Feeling the smoothness under them and hitting a single one. The sharp sound cut through the air and caused all eyes to focus on me, though Papyrus kept his distance and stayed where he was at the dining table, I could only assume to allow Undyne and I more time to become closer friends. Undyne seemed eager to explain or talk as I stood there.

"Do ya know how to play, Frisk?"

"It's been a while… my parents signed me up for lessons when I was four. I played for nearly four years before… we lost them and my uncle destroyed all of my instruments, save for my flute that Angel managed to hide away."

That perked her interest. Though I saw the small hint of irritation in her brown when she heard that my instruments had been smashed. "What'd ya play?"

"Piano and violin mostly, but I enjoyed my flute too. I wanted to learn more instruments, but… everything happened and Angel and I had to run." A sigh escaped me, though there were some happy memories mixed in with those dark four years. "There sometimes were pianos in certain places we traveled to. My sister would help me locate places that didn't ask too many questions so I could try to keep up on my skills. I remember one time; she found some local musician who let me play his violin for about an hour. It made me so happy to be able to play again, even if only for a little while…"

"Well, do ya wanna play?"

I felt my eyes bulge at her comment. "R-really?"

Instead of saying anything, Undyne gestured toward the instrument before me. Blinking at the piece before me, I stood there for a moment in surprise before taking a seat at the keys. Constant practice and muscle memory played a large part as my fingers naturally took to the keys they wanted to play.

The movement of my fingers seemed to fly much smoother then I was anticipating. Mrs. White, the woman who allowed us to stay with her, room and board taken care of for so much a month, allowed me on certain days of the week to play with her piano, since no one was using it. So, I'd had some practice within the last year. It made me feel a bit better as first small nursery rhythms came to me before other practice songs I'd memorized came into the air.

Then came more traditional songs, and complex ones that I had practiced for hours on end until I'd had them down to play at a moment's notice. To play and show Angel the skills I'd acquired. To make her proud. To show her I could do something. All I wanted to do was help her…

Maybe getting back into music was the way to do it?

"Wowie!" It was the first set of words I'd heard from Papyrus since we'd come here. "You play that exceptionally well, Little Frisk!"

"I'll say." The two of them walked over and joined me, Undyne using part of the bench with my much smaller body and Papyrus grabbing a chair from the dining room. "You know more then I figured you would, Punk."

"Yeah… me too…"

Without even meaning to, I began to play at the piece that Undyne had left out on the piano to play. It seemed like a more calming melody, one that reminded me of the flow of water in Waterfall and calming effect it seemed to have as you walked through that section of the underground. So peaceful, so quiet, so beautiful…

This song she had represented it well.

Both other parties were silent as I continued to play, not wanting to disturb me as I was playing such incredible music that fitted into the air.

The music… it had felt so soulful…

Its composer I'd seen was by the name of Natasha von Undying. A name I'd never seen before in my life. Though that was to be expected with being in the underground with people who haven't seen the surface world in over a hundred years…

Racing up to move the page to play the next part, I was startled by the fact that I'd reached the ending. It had come too soon for my liking and I sat there as the notes died in the instrument, echoing into the air. The song had ended.

"Natasha von Undying… this piece is amazing…

That made Undyne look on with such a different look then I'd seen her show before, something that made her very proud… but longing.

"She would have loved to hear that."

"Would have?" I blinked at her for a moment, confused.

Papyrus reached over to pat my shoulder. "Little Frisk, that is the name of Undyne's mother. Undyne's full name is Undyne von Undying, Captain of the Royal Guard."

"Oh!" Whipping back around to face Undyne, I tried to offer an apology. "Undyne, I-"

"You don't gotta say anything, Punk. It's cool." Undyne quickly waved it off before I saw her finger the pages on the piano. "I haven't heard that song played so well since before she died. I ain't great, but I ain't a beginner at playing the piano. Ma jut had that elegance about her that she was able to play anything and it sounded amazing."

She paused then for a moment and I was absolutely stunned when her eye watered. Though Papyrus had commented before that he'd never see her cry, I doubt that she would that day. But listening to her mother's piece again, by a human who played it for her, I could only imagine the

thoughts swimming in her head. Possibilities that humans didn't hate them anymore, the fact that my sister and I had tried so hard was truly because we cared, and not just for the sake of continuing to live.

Undyne quickly blinked them away, rubbing them also with her arm didn't hurt to hide the unshed tears. She grinned back at me, quickly pushing aside those other emotions. "Are all humans as cool as you?"

"I think my sister is better. I'm not that cool." I struggled to hold back the red hue in my cheeks from the praise, but it was hard. Was this what it felt like for my sister when I teased her? It was hard to hold back the emotions! "She can bake and cook just about anything! And her magical control is insane! Her chains can coat rooms easily and she can disarm her opponent with little fuss or trouble! She did it a lot to me when I was being a brat and used to hang me like a rag doll while she continued to work."

That brought a challenging grin to the woman's lips. "Well, I can't wait for her to wake up so I can see just how cool she is."

It was so relieving to see Undyne so receptive to us now as the weeks had passed on from when she first saw us as humans and to now. She saw me… I hoped she saw me as a friend.

I grinned back, just as eager. "Yeah! Me too!"

Angel's Point of View:

Where…?

Everything was so hazy…

I couldn't see anything besides darkness. I felt numb, stuff, and so achy. No… it wasn't an ache… but rather-

Why did it burn?

The burning… I could feel it on my right side. Oh, did it hurt. It echoed up my arm.

The pain… this wasn't Heaven… death wasn't that cruel…

I was alive…

Witch's Note:

Oh my god! The feels! The feels! People! THE FEELS!

I've always loved this chapter for multiple different reasons. The first is just literally how soft we actually get to see Undyne for once. A rare occurrence due to her upbringing and personality. But we actually get to see a bit of Undyne's back history and what her life was like once upon a time! Her mother wrote music! She was the one who taught Undyne to play and how we managed to get our amazing Frisk in even deeper into the fish lady's soul!

And Angel's alive! You guys ready to have her back? Because things aren't over yet! She's still gotta heal up and a lot more junk! I'm so excited for the up coming chapters for you all to see!

Let's move onto our reviewers!:

Thechaosmaster: I'm happy that you enjoyed Chaos! I always try to provide lovely content for our lovely readers! And don't you just love it when Sans of all people makes a promise? It shows you just how much he's grown as a character. And as for Mettaton, yes, I'm not quite surprised, but I had to keep her as a girl for reasons for the second book. No telling!

RoseCentury: I totally agree with you Rose! It was insane that it took her so long to figure it out!

Mystic Girl: Hey!

(I raised an eye brow) Don't "hey" me! What's you're excuse?!

Mystic Girl: Just so your aware, I was only sick for a week and still had my period! I took the test with you and it was negative! But then I took another one later on and it was positive! So didn't know what to think! It was only when I got to seven months that I got bigger.

Me: Fine, fine. But anyway Rose, super eager to hear what you found out! But no rush if you haven't yet! Good things come to those that wait!

Not A Shady Guy: Shady! We were wondering about that! Its so good to see you! And yes, its one of the things I love when writing Sans' character, the way he hates being productive, that he hates making promises since no one keeps them. But I love how he's turned out since Angel proved him wrong! And isn't Undyne and Frisk just the most amazing friends? I adore the way they interact! So I'm curious what you have to say about this chapter with more past revealed and how they communicated! Or that little sneak peak of Angel at the end!

Mystic Boy: Why hello there! I've seen that you've left us a plethora of reviews! Oh and don't you worry, I got them. What happens with the website my dear reader is that a guest reviewer who does not have an account actually won't be posted to the site itself for at least two or three days since the initial posting. But I did get emails for each and every one of the six reviews that you sent me. If you have an account, then that's when they post almost instantly.

Though I must admit that you have an interesting name there…

Mystic Girl: Why hello there my brother and new comrade! I'm glad we're on the same side against Robert! I agree, the bear must die!

Me: Don't let him do anything too crazy there, Mystic Girl. You remember the last time you waged war around me while trying to write?

Mystic Girl: (Sighing very dramtically) Yes Halloween. (Under her breath) The bear must die!

Phew! Another chapter done and then we got more of a mess next time! I'm so excited to see what you guys have to say for this chapter, and as I'm sure you're guessing, Angel's coming back! I can't wait for next week!

Love you all!

Halloween Witch