GOING OUT FOR A BIT CHAPTER 19
Frisk shook down into her bones. Couldn't stop. She slumped forward with her face in her hands, a cold pit in her stomach. She could have sobbed; collapsed into the snow or fainted away herself. A numbness caught in her chest. She took a moment to force herself to take a few deep, steadying breaths.
.
She straightened up, blowing out a sigh and running her hands through her hair. She couldn't fall apart, she told herself, despite the tears warming the corners of her eyes. Her family needed her for this.
.
On the wind, a melody brushed her ears, one that she couldn't mistake for anything else. Quickly, she perked up and whipped around, eyes skimming the snow.
"Sans?" she asked, wide-eyed. No, that didn't make sense. She sighed and rubbed her head. Couldn't lose it now. "Okay. Okay okay. Get it together. Jeez." She took another deep breath. "Okay, okay, stop crying, stop freaking out. Oh my god." She wiped her eyes and then sat down heavily on the steps. "He's fine. He's gonna be fine. It's gonna be okay." She rubbed her eyes with her knuckles again.
.
She thought she heard snow crunching. She jerked her head up and peered down the road. Asriel was booking it towards her down the main street. He skidded to a halt and flopped down beside her, rubbing his hands over his face.
"I missed him, huh?" he said. "Sorry. It takes me a bit to get through one of the rips."
"That's okay," she said.
"Did he say anything?" he asked.
"Not much," she said. "He said his head felt kinda heavy, I guess? And he didn't want us to, um, worry too much."
"Typical." He rubbed his hands over his head and puffed heavily. "So… what now?" He cut his eyes at her. "Got a plan yet?"
.
Frisk folded her arms and gritted her teeth. She tapped her foot in the snow. "I… I guess I wanna check on him first and then maybe check the outside of time stuff? See if there's anything more I can do there. I dunno."
"Anything your dad came up with give you any clues?" he asked.
"Just that I don't think Sans is sick sick, know what I mean?" She tapped her fingertips together and bit her lip thoughtfully. "What do you think we should do?"
"I think you need to eat something before we do anything else," he said.
"Oh! N-No, I'm okay, I'm not hungry," she said quickly.
Asriel folded his arms and stared her down dryly. "I don't care. I'm gonna make you a sandwich and you're gonna freakin' eat it."
Frisk smiled awkwardly. She rubbed the back of her head. "Aw. Jeez. You're worried, huh? Sorry. Okay." She grinned. "But only if you eat something too, okay?"
"Deal," he said.
.
Their mother greeted them with a hug when they came inside. "He's here," she said gently. "I've tucked him in upstairs. Is there anything else I need to do?"
"Not yet, just keep him comfy," Frisk said.
"I should not take him back to the lab?" she asked worriedly.
"I think Gaster probably already saw any info that would actually help. Uh. Not that we're actually sure what that is," Asriel said.
"If you could take him back soon, that would be good, but I'd kinda like to check some stuff out first," she said.
"And eat," he insisted.
"Okay. Sandwiches. Then we… I dunno. We talk it out," Frisk said. "There's gotta be something in there, right?"
"Gotta be," he agreed. "Okay. You go chill out, I'll cook."
.
As her brother headed into the kitchen, Frisk took the moment to sneak in on Sans. He was cozied up in the spare bed in their room. He looked a lot better without his face smashed open. She sat on the side and grabbed his limp hand in hers. It bore a strange weight in it. She smiled sideways.
"You're such a mess," she said softly.
.
She leaned over to look him in the face and held his head in both hands. Her fingers lit gently and she focussed in on his energy. It felt so stiff. She let out a small, contemplative sound and drew back, folding her arms. It was a little different than before. She closed her eyes and tried to puzzle through it. If it was different now than it had been before she turned things back, that meant the problem absolutely had to be out in the abstraction of time that was through the rips. Something connected to him was moving forward out there and messing him up for whatever reason.
.
She knew the dreams had been getting worse for months. This was probably the culmination of that, somehow. Something she'd done out there… She'd messed it up. She'd stopped the visions while he was awake, true, but this was far worse. It couldn't be a coincidence, right? She tried not to let the guilt freeze her. He wouldn't be mad, even if she was furious with herself.
.
She leaned forward, resting her cheek on her hand, and stared at him intently. She turned on the SOULSCN again and clunked her phone against his chest, stealing another snapshot of his soul. When she looked at it, however, the number of his health rating seemed wrong. It was just barely above one. That was a far cry from two and a half.
.
She pouted. The second she turned her eyes back on her brother, something looked a little off. She sat up and scooted closer. There was a pitch black tear dribbling down the left side of his face. The kid shot up and grabbed him gently.
"Bro? Bro, are you okay? Are you awake in there?" she demanded.
No reply. She gently touched the liquid on his face. It only left a trail on his bones for a second, and on her finger, it vanished quickly. Her eyes went wide. She ran her thumb along what one could loosely call his eyelid, where bone met bone to shut his eye. She came away with more of the dark something on her skin before it was gone. Hurriedly, she forced his eye open and, wincing, reached her fingers into his eye socket. Just inside, she was met with ice water. She yanked back and saw that same black sludge evaporate into the air.
"What the heck…?" She couldn't stop her voice from coming out loud and shrill.
.
Unnerved; trembling a little, Frisk dipped her fingers into her brother's eye socket again. The cold was so intense that her stomach turned. She reached in farther and got her whole hand in. It just got colder. She'd had to reach into Sans's head before, to get out a stray object or two, but she could eventually find the back of his skull. Now, it seemed like there was no such thing.
"Whaaaat?" she said. "Oh man, Sans, what're you doin'?" She pulled her hand up and it was coated in a black so deep it bewildered her eyes before it vanished.
.
Maybe this was the problem they hadn't seen. Maybe his head hurt because it was filled with this freezing sludge. Frisk cast around the room hurriedly for something— maybe a cup or a wayward spoon— to bail out his head.
"Hey!" she called. "Can someone get me like, a…?" Maybe she could just sit him up and pour him out, she thought. "Maybe like a bucket or a box or something?"
.
She heard Papyrus make a noise of affirmation somewhere downstairs. He joined her with an empty garbage can in his hands. Asriel followed him, carrying some plates of sandwich precariously.
"I got you this, I hope it's alright," Papyrus said.
"Perfect," she said. She pointed to the floor beside the bed and he put it there. "Okay. Now…" She tried to get her arm under Sans, but he was a lot heavier than she expected. She grunted. "Jeez, there's something really wrong, he weighs a ton."
"That's weird, he shouldn't…" Papyrus grabbed his shoulders and started to pry him up. "Wowie! My gosh, yes, you're very right. Um."
She pointed towards the trash.
"You're not actually putting him in there, are you?" Asriel joked.
"N-No! No." She laughed. "No, just, um, lean his head over it. Careful."
.
As soon as Papyrus tipped him, black goo shot like a torrent out of his eye and poured soundlessly into the into the can.
"SHIT!" Asriel yelped.
Papyrus gawked. Even Frisk couldn't contain her shock. She leaned over and watched as the waterfall of tar poured from her brother and vanished after sloshing for only an instant at the bottom of the can.
"What the hell is that?!" Asriel said. "And why is it so quiet? Holy shit that is weird."
"I uhhhhhhh." Papyrus just stared. "Oh. Wow. It's, uh… It's still going. I don't think his skull actually holds this much goo. Um. What is…? Oh! I know what this is." Papyrus shot Frisk a worried look. "This… is bad, right?"
"I mean… I think so. But ummm." She watched the black liquid pour with absolutely no sign of abating. She couldn't help a giggle. She rubbed her head. "Gosh. Okay. That's… Oh. No, this is bad to say, but this is getting kinda funny. Um. Okay. I think it is probably actually bad that it's in there but I think it's good that we know, now."
"Okay. But." Papyrus frowned. "Would it come out faster if I shake him?"
"Pffff! I doubt that'll help, dude," Asriel said.
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Frisk folded her arms. She tilted her head to the side. "He… He said… that it felt like there was a lot of pressure in his head. So maybe it's this."
"So, what? Is the timeline place, like, leaking straight into him?" Asriel said.
The kid's eyes went wide. "I… You know, I think that might be exactly what's happening." She put a hand against her soul. "M-Maybe that's… what happened to me, too. I kept puking out that same stuff."
"Oh, now that you mention it, dad, too," Papyrus said.
"Az, any out of you?" she asked.
"Um…" He stared at her blankly for a few seconds. "Actually… I think some came out my nose. When I sneezed. I thought it was weird but I didn't realize…"
.
"Okay. Okay! So. Actually. This is good," Frisk said, her eyes lighting up. "This means it's…" She started to laugh. She gently put a hand on Sans's shoulder and began to tip him back towards the pillows. "Guess it's just gonna keep going, huh?"
"Looks like it," Papyrus said, worry snagging his voice. He gently laid Sans back and any of the sludge that had spilled onto him or the blankets disappeared. "Honestly, this is one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Seriously, even when he is in a coma, Sans makes a ridiculous mess. At least I don't have to mop it up, though." He tucked him in and patted his head gently. He used his thumb to close his brother's eye. "Ooh, hey, Frisk? Good job getting to him quite quickly, by the way, now he won't have a cracked face!"
"Yeah, bet he'd appreciate that," Asriel said. "So now what?"
"Now, I gotta go out there and… I dunno, drain his poor head?" Frisk suggested.
"Drain it to where? If the whole out there is just that stuff, where does it go?" he wondered.
"I have no clue, but I gotta try, right?" she said.
"We gotta try," he said, raising his brows.
"Oh! You're going, too? Can you do that? Can I come?" Papyrus asked.
"You should stay with Sans, just in case you can't and it does something bad to you, too," Frisk said. "But, Az—"
"Nope. Nah. Not hearin' it," he said, shaking his head. "I'm going with you."
"Perfect," she assured him.
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Papyrus let out a loud cooing sound and he yanked them both into his long arms and pulled them close for a hug. "Nyeh! You better be careful out there!"
"It'll be fine, Frisk was born for this," Asriel said with a wink. "But she gotta eat that sandwich."
"Okay okay I'm gonna," she said.
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"Kids?" Toriel slipped into the room and looked at them, her brow furrowed. "I… couldn't help but overhear. What are you doing?"
"Um. We were gonna try to help Sans out," Asriel said.
"By… going out into… where Frisk was the other day?" Toriel frowned deeply. "You cannot."
"Have to," Frisk said.
"It's too dangerous," she said.
"No one else can do it," the kid said.
"I cannot allow you to—"
"You can't stop me." Frisk flinched at her own words. "Sorry."
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Toriel stared down at her with wide eyes. Asriel grimaced, trying his best to hold in a loud laugh. He grasped her shoulder and looked up at their mother, raising his brows.
"I-I realized where I had to look because of you," Frisk said. Her voice had a warble to it, but her posture was sturdy and confident. "Outside of our time. I'm sure that's where we have to go to fix Sans."
"Frisk." Toriel folded her arms. "I forbid it." A twitch of a smile crossed her lips. "Until you've eaten a proper breakfast."
"Wh…? What? Really?" Frisk asked, wide-eyed.
"You're saying yes?!" Papyrus asked excitedly.
"Saying no would just leave us back exactly where we were, would it not?" she asked. "Frisk. Asriel. Papyrus. You are my children. So is Sans. It's unthinkable to have one of you hurt for the other. So, you had better be very careful. Promise me?"
Asriel shrugged and Frisk nudged him with her elbow. He laughed, eyes lighting up. "We promise."
"Thank you so much!" Frisk whirled and grabbed Papyrus's hands. "You too, okay?"
"What?! But I'm not…" He sighed and laughed. "Nyeeeh, you're right, I can't be a hypocrite now, right?!"
"Right!" Frisk said.
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As the kid and the skeleton gathered up the sandwiches and brought them downstairs, Toriel grabbed Asriel and stopped him.
"What's up?" he asked.
"You… must go. Is that right?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, not letting her go alone," he said.
"But, you are a monster," she said worriedly. "The nature of these time powers is expressed through determination."
"Oh. Yeah." He cupped his hand over his soul spot and let the red glow through his fingers. He smirked. "Souls are weird, aren't they? Remember when it was pink?"
"Of course." She smiled fondly. "Inspiration. It suits you."
"Determination suits me more, now, I think," he said. "Mom, to be honest, I'm not sure what I am, really? This much, especially for my size, should be turning me to pudding. But it doesn't. It's mine. It's comfortable. So I'm pretty sure I'll be okay. And if I'm not, Frisk will fix me, too. It's not a big deal."
Toriel sighed, but she tilted her head and smiled at him. "Oh, sweetheart. Be careful. And take care of each other."
"Yeah, of course," he said.
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Downstairs, Papyrus had the food out on plates and he beckoned Toriel and Asriel to come sit with them. Frisk was staring at her phone screen as she, very slowly, munched on the corner of her sandwich.
"Paps?" she asked. "I forgot to check. Do you know when Sans fainted exactly?"
"I believe it was around ten o'clock," he said. "Maybe… Fourteen minutes after?"
Frisk nodded. She checked the time now— it was just a little later than that. He was probably right. She curled up in her corner of the sofa and called her dad as Papyrus huddled in close with her. The phone didn't answer. She tilted her head and called Alphys instead.
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"F-Frisk?" she squeaked. "Are you okay?! What's going on?"
"We're okay. Seems like Sans is having some weird time leak thing happening to him," she said.
"Wh… What?!" she squeaked. "…Oh. Oh, maybe that'd explain those n-numbers not…? Oh! You want to talk to your dad, right? H-He's right here."
"Yeah, thanks," she said. "Hey. Alphys? Thank you so much. For, like, everything ever."
"O-Oh!" The lizard's voice went shrill. She laughed shyly. "Y-You're welcome. Of course. Here he is. Don't worry too much, okay? W-We'll all figure this out."
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The phone passed into clattering, boney hands. "Frisk? Thank goodness, I was starting to worry," Gaster said.
"Oh! Sorry! Everything's going okay, except, you know, the obvious thing," she said. "So. Um. Sans's head is filled with black goo."
"…What?" he said blankly.
"Yeah, I know, right?" she said. "It's time goo I think. Your blood, um… a-analogy? Maybe like, kinda more literal?"
"There was nothing inside his skull before," he said, his voice cracking. "So despite time moving in reverse, his illness still progresses… Sounds like your hypothesis may be a good one, kiddo."
"Um, something else," she said cautiously. "I'm, um, pretty worried about this part? His HP didn't go back up from turning time back. It's lower, even."
"What's the number?"
"It was, like… one point nine five nine nine eight, and then it just keeps going," she said.
"Ah." Gaster sighed quietly. "Alright. He'll be alright. We'll just need to keep a very close eye on him. Don't worry."
"Okay," Frisk said sheepishly. "Um. Can you check something for me? In the numbers of the time tears and stuff?"
"Hm. Let's take a look, shall we?" He was clicking on something. "…This? You were…? Was this because you shut one to cure his visions?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Sweetheart, I don't think…" He chuckled softly. "Ah. Forgive me. It's here looking me in the face. What were you thinking?"
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Frisk's cheeks flushed and she couldn't help a small, proud smile. "Um! Well. Could you tell me if there's any recent time things opening? Even if it's not bigger than normal."
"Ah… Hmmm…" Gaster clicked around some more before dead air was all that settled on the end of the line.
"Dad?" Frisk asked. "You okay?"
"Ten thirteen forty-seven," he said softly. "This doesn't make sense."
"What?" she asked.
"…This burst was smaller last time I saw it, but it's grown. Quite a bit," he said.
"And that was just a few minutes ago, right?" she insisted.
"It is. Why? You don't think—?"
"That's exactly what I think," Frisk said.
"…Ah. I see. I see! It was similar to the ones on either side of it before, wasn't it?"
"Yeah!" she said.
He clicked around more. "Oh. God. It was right here," he said.
"Yeah?!" Frisk asked excitedly.
"This is a snapshot," he said. "It was just… the number it was opened with. It's been growing exponentially."
"Expo…? That's a lot, right?" she asked.
"Quite a lot," he agreed. "It… only started to slow a moment ago. If this is it, no wonder."
"So I just need to find it?!" Frisk asked excitedly.
"I… I think so," he said. "I mean… Stands to reason that if there was one that was disrupting all of your vision, maybe this newer one happened in a way that more directly effected him? I can't be sure. Of all my years of research, I've still only scratched the surface of what may be possible. Just… Be careful, alright?"
"Thanks a million," she said brightly. "Can you send me screenshots?"
"Absolutely. It'll come from Alphys's number," he said. "Be careful."
"Thank you! See you later, love you!"
.
As she hung up, Papyrus hugged her tight, resting his chin on her head and puffing out a long, high-pitched sigh.
"Do you think you can explain that again? Think I missed it," Asriel joked.
"Basically, I think… Sans is connected into the whole time thing, right? And something out there, it opened with a really big burst of, I dunno, time energy or something, and it effected him pretty bad. But it's out there; outside of our time and stuff, right? So it's still moving on its own and making him worse, even though we went back in time," she said. "Does that… make sense?"
"Oh. Okay. Yeah," Asriel said.
"We were focussed on his bones being messed up," she said. "On his magic; his soul and stuff. But it wasn't that, it was… this dang time stuff again. So… So!" She put on a brave face. "Hopefully we can help stop whatever's going crazy."
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"Do you think you're going to be gone for very long?" Papyrus asked.
"Probably not for you guys," Frisk said. "Time moves weird in there."
"But it could be long for you?" he insisted worriedly.
"It just usually doesn't match up, is all," she said. "I'm sure it won't be that long."
"Eh, either way, it'll be fine," Asriel said dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about it."
.
"Kids? Can I have your phones, please?" Toriel called.
They looked at each other, puzzled. Asriel took his sister's and headed for the kitchen. There was a huge loaf of bread laid out on the counter in slices, some cans of sea tea, and a lot of jars of jellies and peanut butter.
"Mom?" Asriel asked.
"Ah! Well, I just thought…" She turned and smiled at him somewhat bashfully. "You two should have some food with you. If you don't know how long you'll be."
"Mom…" He smiled and gave her a hug. "You're the best."
She held him, and then took the phones and put them up on the counter. "Just a few minutes."
.
Frisk took the time to change her clothes. Some time ago, they'd merged her favourite blue and pink striped shirt and the sweatshirt Undyne had given her into a lightweight, zip-up hoodie with the Delta Rune in white on the back and little horn-points on the hood. She gladly grabbed that to wear over top of her t-shirt that bore the same mark she and Sans had when they'd shared souls. She folded up her scarf and stashed it in an inner pocket of her jacket, and also took a small notepad and her red pen. She grabbed a cipher for the old skeleton script that Sans had made for her a while back, though it had been crumpled in Papyrus's desk.
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"Whatcha doin'?" Asriel asked from the doorway.
"Just. Um. Grabbing some stuff," she said. "I dunno what we might need out there."
"I know what you need!" Papyrus slunk in through the doorway with a bashful smile. "Now, I know you're not into weapons of any kind whatsoever, buuuuut it also has a screwdriver and a little flashlight and a can opener built right in!" He reached into the front of his shirt and pulled out his little utility knife and held it out to her. "I'd really like for you to borrow it."
"Paps… Thanks," she said. She slipped it in with her scarf.
"Think a screwdriver'll help close the rips?" Asriel joked as he headed for the closest himself.
"You never know!" the skeleton insisted. "Asriel, do you need a scarf?!"
"Think I'll be okay," he said with a laugh. He grabbed a blurple hoodie and put it on over his plain white t-shirt. "Okay. Um. Ready?"
"Think so?" Frisk said.
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Papyrus gathered the kids into a hug and pouted. "I wish I could come with you."
"Me too," Frisk said.
"I'm going to miss you," he said.
"Don't worry, we won't be long," Asriel said with a wink. "You won't even notice we're gone."
xXxXx
After a hug from Toriel, a text to tell the others about their plans, and one final snuggle from Papyrus, Frisk and Asriel braced themselves at the starlight in the attic. The kid held tight to her brother's paw and she took a deep breath.
"When I went in with dad the first time, he got pulled away from me," she said quietly. "So, hold on tight, okay?"
"No problem," Asriel assured her. "Let's go?"
"Y-Yeah." She braced herself and reached out to touch the light.
.
The entire expanse that opened up before them was a pitch black night sky, spattered with stars. Asriel gulped hard and clung to Frisk's arm with both hands.
"Holy shit," he said.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Y-Yeah." He breathed out a deep sigh. "Whew. Never thought I'd be back here." He shot her a bashful look. "It's where we fought, right? Or… a lot like it?"
"Yeah, kinda," she agreed. "I think that might've been your own pocket dimension or something?"
"Ugh, this is a mess," he said. He cautiously pulled back and floated effortlessly on his own and then let out a breath of relief. "Okay. So. How do we find this thing?"
"Um, I'm not totally sure," she admitted. "The last one I just sorta… sensed it? And I brought myself there just by thinking about wanting to."
"Soooo you wanna try that again?" he asked. "Or is there something else we can do that's more… certain?"
"I wish I knew," she said sheepishly. "Okay, um, hold on to—"
.
A note of music pulled her attention. It played strong in the back of her mind.
"Do you hear that?" she asked.
"What?" he said.
She hummed along for a moment before realizing very quickly what it was. "Papyrus?"
"Where?!" Asriel asked.
She grabbed him as tight as she could, closed her eyes, and focussed hard on the sound. She willed them to move towards it. Asriel yelped with surprised and grabbed onto her fully, clinging to her shoulders.
"Holy shit," he barked.
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When Frisk looked again, they had moved, and there was a disembodied skeleton arm hanging starkly white against the blackness of the void.
"Oh jeez!" Frisk yelped. "Is that—?! How?!"
"Don't ask me, dude," Asriel said shrilly. "He didn't try to come in, did he?!"
Frisk gulped heavily. Her fingers shaking, she reached for the arm. It was holding a piece of paper. Cautiously, she took it and almost instantly the hand perked up and waved excitedly. Asriel recoiled. Frisk hurriedly turned her eyes on the message.
.
"HELLO FRISK AND ASRIEL IF YOU FIND THIS! I HOPE SO! SORRY IT TOOK ME A FEW MINUTES TO THINK OF THIS BUT I FIGURED OUT THAT SANS'S HEAD DOESN'T HAVE AN END ON THE INSIDE FOR SOME REASON SO I THOUGHT MAYBE I COULD FIND YOU AND LET YOU KNOW MAYBE WHERE THE LEAK IS! HOPE THIS WORKS!" There were some hearts drawn on the note too.
"Oh! Oh thank god." Frisk laughed at herself and she passed the note to Asriel. She grabbed the skeleton's hand and held it tight. "You big goofy genius."
He clung back in reply, a glitter of amber flaring between his bones.
"Oooh, that's kinda cool," Asriel said. "Hah, guess he just shoved his whole arm in, huh?"
"Maybe we can close this point, then?" Frisk wondered.
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She pulled out her pen and began to write a message below his on the back of the note. For some reason, though her fingers formed the usual alphabet, what came out on the page was the old skeleton script. She frowned at it skeptically, but decided to put it aside for now. Papyrus could read it anyway.
"Hi Paps thanks for the note!" she was pretty sure she wrote. "Its a big help! Can you give me a minute to look at the hole?" She slipped the paper into his fingers and tapped the top of his hand.
.
Papyrus's arm slid back into nothingness, leaving black where it had been. Frisk was a little surprised. She'd been expecting maybe one of the time tears in that star shape, or maybe a large, rounded rupture like she'd seen in one of Gaster's old memories. Instead, what she saw was the silvery outline of an imperfect, smooth, circular shape.
"What the heck?" she asked. She cautiously touched it and felt a familiar coolness around it.
"What is that?" Asriel scooted in to look. "Oh. Weird."
.
Time pulsed gently around the spot, and there was the faint tug of something, like the current of a stream. Asriel looked up at Frisk, who seemed thoroughly puzzled.
"So you don't know what it is, either?" he asked.
"I haven't seen one like this, but the shape is… kinda familiar?" She folded her arms. "I… um. Oh. Wait a second. You don't think…?" She shook her head.
"What?" Asriel insisted.
She traced the edge of the hole. "It's… uh… Maybe this'll sound crazy? But, um, I think it's kinda the same shape as Sans's eye sockets?" She shot Asriel a questioning look.
His eyes went wide. "Have you ever heard of a third eye?"
"Third eye? No," Frisk said.
"It's kinda a common phrase about, like, psychic stuff? Or a sixth sense, I guess?" he said. "Like, a special awareness. And Sans kinda has that, doesn't he?"
"Oh dang." Frisk rubbed her head. "So… So maybe this isn't the point to close off, then. He needs this. It doesn't look like any other hole thing I've ever seen, y'know?"
"Yeah, uh… Yeah. I wouldn't touch that," he said. "So now what?" He jolted and recoiled as the disembodied hand of their brother slipped back into the darkness with a cheery wave. He laughed at himself. "Jeez."
.
Frisk grabbed Papyrus's hand gently in both of hers, and he offered her the paper again, his message continued below hers.
"DID YOU FIND WHAT YOU NEEDED? WAS IT HELPFUL? ALSO I'M VERY VERY GLAD YOU TWO ARE OK! DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?"
Frisk wrote on the back of this one. "We think this part here is normal and the problem is somewhere else. We're gonna have to keep looking but there's sorta a current or something so I think I know where to start! Thanks for everything big bro! Anything else?" She returned it to him.
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He retreated again and came back quickly with a new message. "NOTHING ELSE! EXCEPT! I LOVE YOU AND GOOD LUCK!"
Frisk smiled fondly and tucked the paper away to keep. She tore a page out of her notepad. "Love you too. See you soon!" She turned to Asriel. "Want to say anything to him before we go?"
"I'm sure you got it covered," he said.
She drew a few hearts on the page and then slipped it into her brother's hand. Before he could withdraw, she glowed gentle red through her fingers and pressed it into him until their energies flared orange. Her eyes welled up and she smiled to herself. She let him go and, the note clenched in his fist, he stuck his thumb up. She laughed. The long bony arm disappeared into the blackness.
.
"Come on," she said, turning back to Asriel and wiping a hand over her eyes. "Let's get going before I start to sob like a dumb baby."
He scoffed and then pulled her into a hug. "You're doin' good."
"You're holding up pretty okay for not really having been in here before," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, well…" He shrugged and looked around. "Probably would hate it if I were on my own, but together I think we're good."
"I really love you, Az, you know that?" she mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah. I love you, too," he said. "Relax, we're okay."
.
Pulling away, Frisk extended her hand into the space before the almost invisible hole. Somehow, the nothingness didn't feel like nothing. It was flowing. Breeze still wasn't right. She'd thought of a current before, and that was still as close of a word as she could get to what she felt.
"So, for some reason," she said, "something's using Sans's head as an out for, like… extra energy or something. It's confusing."
"Can you follow it?" Asriel asked.
Frisk drifted along, tracing the feeling with her fingers. She nodded. It was too bad it was invisible, though. Her brow furrowed. Maybe it didn't have to be. If what her father had said was true, then…
.
She allowed her fingertips to glow with red sparks and, though the magic was tentative, it sparkled along the edge of a line. A glittering, red thread unspooled itself through the blackness.
"Whoa jeez, how'd you do that?" Asriel asked.
"I, um… I dunno, dad said this whole thing was mine, so I thought it might be okay to change a little bit of colour," she said sheepishly. She followed the line until it disappeared with sheer distance. She could see it drifting ever so slightly. "…It's moving?"
"Could it have been closer when it opened, maybe that's why…?" Asriel wondered, tapping his chin. "Ah, shit, what does it matter, we gotta close it, right?"
"At least gotta make it stop doing this," she said. "So, um…?" She held out her hand. "Guess we follow it backwards, right?"
"Right."
.
She held tight to his hand and floated along effortlessly, but the red line seemed to go on forever.
"Think we can speed this up?" he wondered.
"I kinda gotta sense where to go," she said apologetically.
He looked pensive for a moment, but then flashed her a grin. "Hey, so. I got a red soul too, right? Seems like I can navigate alright, so…?" He tightened his grip on her hand and then sped forward as if he were flying.
.
Frisk squeaked with surprise as stars blurred in her eyes. Asriel grinned his fangs, his ears whipping back, and he held her tight.
"Aaah, why didn't I think of this?!" she demanded.
"You're still actin' like you're just a weak little kid!" he said. "Remember, if it's yours, then do what you want!"
She looked up at him, wide-eyed. She thought, what if I wanted to go faster? The world around them pulsed and they shot forward like a bullet. The rushing was too much— Frisk closed her eyes, but her brother laughed.
.
They stopped almost abruptly as they had started. Frisk tentatively opened her eyes. Space still stretched out endlessly all around them but there was an area of strangeness right before them. The black was slightly less deep, just hardly enough to catch their attention. The red line ran through it, but didn't continue behind. When Frisk cautiously reached out her hand with a flare of magic, edges like cracked ice sparkled with red.
"That's it," Asriel said excitedly. "Gotta be, right?"
"Y-Yeah," Frisk said.
.
She leaned in closer, squinting into the blackness. She could just barely make out shapes beyond where the red line disappeared, like a too-dark greyscale photograph behind foggy glass. She gulped.
"That's another place there," she said hoarsely.
"What? Seriously?" Asriel asked. "They can just show up like that?"
"Well, I mean, you saw the edges, right? It looks all busted in," she said. "…Maybe this is like what the CORE did? Just blasted through stuff."
"That's what your dad was doing, right? Fixing where the CORE was just blowing holes in stuff?"
"Sorta," she said with a nod. She reached up and let her hand glow against the fractured edges of space. She heard the buzz of music in the back of her head, and she suddenly felt like she was trying to lift a mountain, and an uncomfortable roiling shot through her gut. She grimaced and backed off, taking a deep, shaking breath.
.
"Well?" Asriel asked. "That didn't look good."
She shook her head. "I… I think maybe…? Could the flow be too strong?"
"Too strong for you?" he asked, wide-eyed.
"I… I dunno, I just… felt sick trying to close it like that," she said. "Maybe it's the wrong way? Maybe it's bad for that place over there for it to close like that? I… I wouldn't want to mess them up to save us, that… that wouldn't be fair, right?"
"So what do you think we should do then?" he asked.
"Well, um…" She peeked into the darkness again. Something about the place looked a little familiar to her. "Maybe… I mean. If this is a blowout from another world, then maybe we gotta… go over there to fix it?"
"What?!" Asriel grimaced. "Jeez. Okay." He grabbed her shoulders. "It's gonna be fine."
"Yeah," she agreed. "Y-Yeah. I mean. I did it before. A-And I made it back and everything and it was fine so—"
"It'll be just fine," he said again.
"Okay." She nodded quickly. "We should go?"
"Yeah. You first." He nodded his head at the other place. "Might take me a minute. I got lag."
"Right," she said. "Okay. See you over there." She reached out and, as she did, a white star glittered at her fingertips. Her vision flashed over red and her ears filled with so much music she couldn't pull out one melody on its own.
.
Frisk blinked heavily, finding herself on her knees in a room that was dark and grey, lit only by the white starlight behind her. It wasn't quite enough. She got to her feet and held up her phone, the cool light of the screen settling over some cabinets, desks, monitors lined up near the walls, and a large, cushy desk chair. Around the starlike tear itself was a weird empty, metal gate that framed it like a doorway.
.
Frisk felt a cold, heavy beat in her heart. Another universe. She'd never imagined being this utterly far from home before.
.
She didn't know how long to wait for Asriel, so she gave the room a cursory look. She would have sworn it was the lab in Hotland. Maybe it was?
.
She snuck around, peeking at desks. There wasn't much in terms of personal effects. There was a blank, open notepad on one, but nothing to write with. A bit behind that, there was a wooden rack filled with over a dozen tubes of shining red, though it didn't cast a glow. There was an ashtray with just the pretzel ends of pocky sticks in it beside one of the computers.
.
She grabbed the chair and wheeled it over to the computer. She figured stuff beside it meant it was probably used most recently. She scrambled up and settled herself. Her heart was thumping. The keyboard looked a little different— it was augmented with some characters from the old skeleton script. Probably still in the underground, then, unless this place was way different from home. She wiggled the mouse and the screen lit up bright with the desktop background of a photograph of a postcard of a simple, grassy plain with a blue sky and the sun overhead.
.
She felt a little awkward about it, but she skimmed through the file directory. It was actually set up in a pretty similar way to what she'd just been looking at in the lab workspace back home. It had a sharing system almost identical to the one she knew Sans had made. Her heart stuttered. Did that mean he was here?
.
There was a folder in there labeled FF(PRIVATE!). Frisk had a sneaking suspicion. She opened it and the melodramatic titles on the documents immediately answered her. She cracked a smile and closed it. Definitely an Alphys here. That was a relief. And, hopefully, this place wouldn't be too different from home. In that case, actually, maybe this world's Sans could help them.
.
Her heart stuttered. That would be surreal. He wouldn't know her. He wouldn't be the same guy, even. She had to be sure not to start crying on him. That would be weird. Maybe she should have thought this through better. She rested her cheek on her fist and huffed. More info would help, right? Date and time, even?
.
Easy enough to bring up on the computer. Early afternoon, but the year was totally off. If it had been her world, she wouldn't even be born yet. That was weird.
"Ah jeez what did I do?" She peeked back at the white light and drummed her fingers on the table. Couldn't be their world, right? Hopefully she wasn't just messing with the past. Either way, it was before the CORE had burst. So what was that hole?
.
She went back into the file directory to snoop around. There was a recent text document that caught her eye because the name was highlighted in red, and also because it was called NOTES - DO NOT READ. When she clicked it, she was treated to a list of someone's personal logs, dated like journal entries. That felt sort of familiar. The most recent one was from two days ago.
.
Still working nights. This would be much easier with more competent help, but the boy will not return no matter what I say. It is very frustrating that he refuses to understand what I am trying to do. Alphys can only do so much, and I do not trust her with this yet. The determination is stronger than she can handle, obviously. The ebb and flow are seemingly normal, though the recent anomaly, as much as I detest to record it, still rattles me. I opened a way to follow it, but it slipped through my grasp. I will try again tomorrow. More determination is required.
.
"Spooky," Frisk muttered to herself.
This seemed to be something resembling what she was looking for. There was that word, anomaly. She'd only heard it when Sans described the time kids that way. She assumed this had to be from this world's Gaster. Had he detected her somehow? Or another one? And he'd opened a way after whatever he'd followed? How? Did the Gaster of this world simply brute-force his way into the void of time? She gulped and tapped the mouse nervously. Could someone from another world track her magic or something? Was that the cause of all this? She had no idea how to stop it if that was the case, aside from maybe asking politely.
.
A tingle in the back of Frisk's mind made her hair stand on end. She slid from the chair just as the door to the room opened. There was a skeleton there, the frown on his brow highlighted by the phone he was glowering at in his hand.
"Damn it, why won't you…?" he grumbled, resting his fingertips lightly a light switch on the wall. He sounded like Gaster, but was missing the accent. He sighed and looked up, the light making his glasses gleam. He stopped in his tracks and went rigid.
.
Frisk froze. He stared at her, his jaw falling open. He dropped his phone from shaking fingers. She put a hand up cautiously.
"…Gaster?" she asked tentatively.
Maybe that wasn't the right thing to do, because utter panic flashed over the man's face. He recoiled and threw a hand up, and Frisk saw the glitter of magic. Even so, she wasn't expecting the swiftness of the bones that formed in the air and shot at her, nor the cold clenching of blue on her soul flinging her back, pinning her to the wall simultaneously. She grunted as the back of her head clunked against it.
.
The skeleton had his hand out, holding the bones in place. She was sure she felt one pierce her shoulder. She was afraid to take her eyes from him, but she cautioned a look. It wasn't bleeding, though a pointed femur pinned through it into the wall. It was distinctly cold and uncomfortable. She wasn't really very fond of the feeling.
"How did you get in here, human?!" he demanded. He sounded frightened. He tried quickly to regain himself. "No. Don't bother. There is no point."
"Okay, uh…" She recoiled as much as she could as he came in close. "C-Can we just wait a second? Maybe, um, talk about this?"
"There is nothing to discuss." His eyes flashed and he levelled a sharpened bone straight at her throat, the needle tip pricking her skin. "You are a human, therefore you must go to the King." He tried to keep his voice steady, but there was a tremor at the end of his words. "I don't know how you got here, or how you know my name, but I will not l—"
.
He never got to finish as a stark white monster, about six feet tall with blazing green eyes and long, pointed horns that had started to curl, slammed into him, sending him skidding across the room. The bones fizzled away and Frisk dropped to the floor, putting a hand to her shoulder. It had to have been Asriel, despite her slack-jawed surprise.
.
Snarling, he crushed an oncoming bone in his hand and then braced his feet solidly on the tiles. They cracked under his claws and, dragging his fingers through the air, and wall of flame followed them upwards between them and the skeleton. It flared his hoodie out like a cloak.
.
"You picked on the wrong kid." His voice had dropped and he snarled with large, shiny fangs. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
The skeleton heaved himself up onto his knees. His eyes shone, both bright, acrid green. His jaw dropped. "P-P-Prince…? No, it… It can't…! Prince D-Dreemurr?!"
"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay outta our way." He snorted and flames overtook the room in a roar.
Frisk flinched and shielded her eyes, but before she could regain herself, she was grabbed tightly and dragged out of the room.
.
She stumbled into the hallway, blinking in the light. Asriel yanked a cabinet off the wall and shoved it against the door, blocking most of it.
"Ah! Jeez, is he gonna be okay?!" Frisk yelped.
"He was gonna kill you, y'know," Asriel said. He grabbed a heavy, potted plant and put that on top of the cabinet. He cut his eyes at her. "Yeah. Fire was just to blind him for a minute. Won't hurt him."
The kid blew out a sigh of relief, only to be gripped by the monster again and whisked away.
.
When they skidded out into a large, open room with a small hallway at the other end, it was clear that they were in the lab the same as they knew, at least to a point. Asriel rushed them to the elevator and told it to shoot them upwards with a smash of the buttons.
.
The doors closed and the floor rumbled. Frisk let out a long sigh and collapsed, rubbing her head. Asriel slid down to sit with her and she hugged onto him tightly. He wrapped her in his arms snugly, pulling her onto his lap. She melted.
"Be more careful." He huffed quietly. "Uh… You okay? Kinda looked like one of those bones was going through you?"
"Yeah. Um…" She cautiously checked her shoulder, which was quite sore. Her jacket wasn't even torn. She peeked down the front of her shirt. Her skin did look a bit darker. "Feels bruised I guess."
"Hah! Hit you with the wrong frequency. Good," he said. "Because, uh… Actually, we might be sorta far from help, here."
"Y-Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I'll be more careful," she said. She blew out a deep sigh. "You weren't in there for long, were you?"
"Nah, not really," he said. "Feels like just a second on my end. Long time out here?"
"Few minutes." She sat back and grabbed his fluffy cheeks gently. "You supposed to be this big?"
"Think some of my, uh, extra timeline years kinda caught up with me on the way out." He grinned slyly. "S'not the worst. Hopefully it reverses when we get home, though. Not real eager to explain it."
Frisk nodded. "Thanks for the help," she said quietly, running her fingers through her bangs. "Oof. That was so weird seeing… him."
"Totally not Uncle G," he said, nodding. "Oh, uh… Sorry. That… can't be easy."
"Y-Yeah. I, um… I guess." She folded her arms. "I looked at his notes. I think he was definitely looking into the time and space stuff. He might have seen me? He used the anomaly word. I'm not sure."
"Might've been helpful," he grumbled. "Too bad he's a jerk."
"H-He might not be. I kinda think I just scared the heck outta him," Frisk said.
.
The elevator began to slow and Asriel got up. He held out a paw to stop Frisk when the doors opened, and he peeked out quickly. Once he was satisfied, they slipped out.
.
It was just the lab. Not identical to the one they knew, but still clearly the same place. Frisk had to take a moment to catch her breath. Her hands were shaking badly.
"Can't stay here," Asriel said. "Which way?" He looked at Frisk, his brow furrowed. "You alright?"
"N-No, not really," she said weakly, eyes wide. "It's… It's nuts, right?! I mean. Crap! I… I brought us to another world. We're… I mean. My dad who's totally not my dad just super tried to kill me and if we m-meet Sans and Paps they totally won't be our brothers and what if Sans tries to—?!"
"Hey. Hey. Relax." Asriel knelt down and held her shoulders.
"I d-don't know if I can take that," she said.
"You won't have to. Hey. It's gonna be fine. We're together. Right?"
"R-Right," she said.
"And this place, it's not totally crazy, right? Looks kinda normal. We're not on the moon or something weird," he said.
"Right." She took a deep breath and nodded. "Right. You're right. And we're together. Thanks. We can do this."
"Sure we can." He grinned his big fangs at her. "So. Got any ideas?"
"I, um… I'm not sure. Maybe Sans or Alphys can help us," she suggested.
"Here." He handed her a cellphone. "Give it a try, maybe he's in there."
Frisk frowned at the device. "Where'd you get this?"
"It was that Gaster's. He dropped it," he said.
"Oh." She turned on the home screen and then swiped through his contacts— not many, but Sans was there. She pressed on his number and put the phone to her ear.
.
The phone rang for a while. Frisk was starting to get nervous. She began to edge towards the door at the other end of the building. Finally, someone picked up.
"No, I'm not comin' back, stop askin'," said Sans. Then, he hung up.
Frisk pouted and frowned. She looked up at Asriel. "Think he doesn't like this guy very much."
"That's annoying," he said. "Go see him anyway? Or is that, uh, too hard?"
"If Gaster won't even hear us out, he might be our best shot," Frisk said. She put a hand over her soul spot. "I… I'm sure I can convince Sans that we're friends."
"Okay. Hopefully everything's in the same place," Asriel said. He stretched his arms up and cracked his knuckles. "Stay close. We don't know the last time a human went through this place, so there's no telling who might recognize what you are."
"Right, um…" She pulled up her hood and the little points on it stuck up like tiny horns. "Well. I guess if anyone asks I'm uh… a dog or something."