Chapter One- Into The Darkness

Hey all! After my long love affair with Undertale that culminated in me writing my longest ever and first completed longfic, Hopes, Dreams, And DETERMINATION, I ended up playing Deltarune and loved it just as much, especially Susie's character, how she seems tough and a bully at first, but there's a scared, insecure girl underneath. I kept thinking about how she'd get along with my HDAD Frisk, and ended up coming up with this highly self indulgent Undertale/Deltarune crossover.

In this, Chara and Asriel, while not really mentioned in this first book, are both alive and at university, as with no barrier, Chara was never driven to suicide to save monsterkind. However, Frisk is still in her old, neglectful home with her six year old sister, Tina.

But Frisk's fate was always meant to be with the monsters, and when fate led her to be transferred to the school in Hometown/Undertown, her life collided not with Sans, Papyrus, and Chara(yet), but with the Deltarune cast, and for her and Susie, a new world is calling. A Dark World.

...

"C'mon, Tina! Time for breakfast!" Frisk called as she poured her sister the last of the cereal, what little bit they had. She opened the milk, but grimaced as a sour smell came from it. No way she could give this to Tina, it would make her sick. Maybe she herself would drink it later, if she got desperate enough(which she probably would) but she didn't feel like having stomach pains while spending hours at school.

"Coming!" her little six year old sister called as she darted downstairs, her long brown hair having been braided into pigtails by Frisk this morning, wearing her usual smile and her favorite pink dress coupled with her soft pink sweater. Frisk frowned as she noticed the sleeves on it were starting to become a little frayed and that moths had eaten a couple holes in it. She had taught herself to sew through books and online tutorials from the school and library computers, had had to as she knew for a fact that neither of her parents would take care of it, but the more worn out something was, the harder it was to fix. And Tina seemed to grow more each day. She would need new clothes soon. Heck, they both would, but for Frisk, her sister was priority.

Tina hurried to the table, where Frisk slid her bowl of cereal in front of her. "Sorry, the milk went bad." she told her apologetically.

"That's fine, Frisk. I like dry cereal too." Tina told her with a smile, then looked worried when she saw Frisk didn't have a bowl. "Where's yours?"

"I ate my breakfast before you came downstairs." Frisk lied, not wanting Tina to worry. Their food supplies were getting low, and until Frisk earned some more money, or was able to steal something from the cafeteria or somewhere, or their parents came back with something other than drugs, they needed to ration, and Frisk had decided to just skip breakfast. She wasn't very hungry anyway, or at least that's what she would tell herself. Tina looked into her eyes, not seeming convinced. Frisk sighed inwardly. Her little sister was far too smart sometimes. "It's okay, Tina. Just eat your cereal. You don't want to be late for school."

Tina nodded, but only ate half of it. She then pushed the rest at Frisk. "Here."

"That's okay, sis. You finish it." Frisk told her.

Tina crossed her arms stubbornly. "I'm full. I don't want any more. You eat it."

"I'm not hungry. That's all yours." Just then, Frisk's traitorous stomach grumbled, showing she was hungry after all.

"Yes, you are hungry. Your tummy's growling. Eat it!" Tina ordered, giving Frisk an adorable pout.

Frisk finally conceded, ruffling her sister's hair with a small laugh. She knew Tina well enough to know she wouldn't give in. "All right, all right." She quickly ate the rest of the cereal, her stomach rumbling appreciatively at her finally listening to its orders, then rinsed the bowl off in the sink before putting it away. "Grab your backpack so we can head off." she told Tina, who quickly ran to do so. Frisk grabbed her own backpack, then headed off to drop her sister off at Ebott Elementary.

...

Tina chattered the whole way to school, excited about the art project they were going to do today and hoping she would do well on the spelling test. Frisk reassured her that she would, reminding her that they had gone over all her vocabulary words last night and that she had gotten all of them right.

"Are we going to help Mr. Asgore with his flowers after school?" Tina then asked excitedly. They had met Asgore Dreemurr, a kindly goat monster, a few days after she had been enrolled in Hometown School while Frisk had taken Tina on an adventure to explore the town. He had been hurrying to get a large order of flowers into his shop, and Tina, being a kindhearted little girl, had run over to help him. Frisk had too, mostly to make sure he wasn't a creep who would hurt Tina at first, but he had been grateful and given them a few bucks she wasn't even sure he could afford as well as cold bottles of water and packaged cookies. Ever since then, the girls had come over every few days to help him. Tina adored Asgore, and Frisk herself had warmed up to him. He was so dad-like, the kind of father she had always wished they had, rather than the cold man who didn't care for either of them. And even if Asgore couldn't pay much, he always fed them something, and it was something both girls desperately needed.

Frisk nodded with a smile. "Yes, we'll go see him today."

"Yay!" Tina said happily, bouncing a bit as they approached her school.

Frisk walked her to the doors, then gave her a hug. "Have a good day at school, sis."

"I will! You too!" Tina said happily, eagerly returning the hug. Frisk smiled and ruffled her hair, watching her as proudly as any parent as the little girl trotted through the doors.

Frisk then checked the clock above the school and gasped. She was going to be late and her new high school, which she had started only a few weeks ago, was several blocks from here.

As she ran, she remembered the day she had been transferred to the Hometown school district. She had been called into the principal's office, which was never a good sign, and had sat quietly, expecting a suspension, or even the expulsion she felt was coming. Due to having to take care of Tina and take odd jobs to feed them and pay the bills when her parents were out partying or doing drugs, she had barely had time to study, let alone be a good student. She had poor grades, often skipped class to work or fell asleep at her desk when she didn't, stole food from the cafeteria and snacks and occasionally supplies from her classmates, and ended up in fights with the other students, who saw her ragged clothes and noticed her strange behavior, and saw her as an easy target. She never started fights, but she had learned to finish them, and the teachers always seemed to come in when she had stopped trying to evade and was forced to fight back, and she had been the one who had gotten in trouble. She knew one day they were going to just expel her.

But it hadn't happened. Instead the principal had handed her some papers and said, "We know you're not adjusting well to this school. Hometown is accepting new Human students, and we feel it's best we transfer you over there. It's a much smaller school, perhaps they'll be able to handle your... issues. Get your parents to sign the papers and you'll start next Monday. It's either this or an expulsion, Frisk. Don't press your luck."

Frisk had thought about just dropping out, but the part of her that still dreamed, that still somehow saw a future for herself, that wanted to fit in somewhere and hoped monsters could accept her where humans couldn't, wouldn't let her. So that night, she annoyed her mother until her mother signed the transfer papers just to make her go away, and then she was an official student of Hometown High.

And she was shocked by the fact that it actually HAD been better.

While a lot of her classmates still did think she was weird, they never bullied her, and some, like Monster Kid and an incredibly kindhearted deer monster named Noelle, were kind to her and sat with her at lunch. She didn't know exactly how to relate to them; hadn't seen the movies they liked and didn't know about the video games they enjoyed. And she knew she was awkward around them. But still they were nice, and it was far better than being smacked around like in her old school. Even the only student everyone claimed was a bully pretty much just ignored her.

Her teacher, Alphys, was really nice, though incredibly shy. Even when she was late, even when she fell asleep at the start of class, even when she was confused by something and needed it explained twice, Alphys was always patient with her. She never yelled once, never gave her detention, just reminded her of whatever her assignment was or patiently explained whatever it was she was confused by. Frisk wasn't sure whether she did it out of her incredibly kind nature or she was just too scared of her students, but it didn't matter. Alphys was kinder to her than most other teachers had been.

It made Frisk not want to let her down.

So she pushed herself, pushed her legs harder to run, hoping she'd make it in time.

Hoping this wouldn't be the time Alphys lost her endless patience and expelled her like she probably deserved.

Hoping she wouldn't have to give up her second chance at a decent future.

...

Despite her best efforts, she was almost fifteen minutes late. She burst through the classroom door, panting heavily. "I'm so sorry I'm late!"

"O-Oh, Frisk...! We almost thought you weren't coming today! Don't worry about it, just try to come in on time tomorrow." Alphys told her with a nervous smile. "We're doing group projects this month... Uhh... so, walk around and find a partner, okay?"

Frisk nodded with a smile, glad she wasn't angry. Seeing Monster Kid close by, she walked up to them hopefully.

Unfortunately, they shook their head. "Yo, Frisk, show up earlier next time! I ended up having to partner with Snowy, haha! He keeps turning to me and saying "Howdy, partner!" like a cowboy." They frowned in annoyance. "Yo, Frisk, you're lucky. I'd rather be partnerless than this, haha..."

"Part'ner! I hardly know 'er!" Snowdrake joked, and MK groaned. Frisk shook her head sympathetically.

She had no luck with the next three. Jockington and Catti were best friends and had partnered up together, and Temmie had partnered up with her egg. Frisk wasn't sure that was actually a partner, but she wasn't going to tell Temmie that. She still remembered when Temmie was excitedly talking about what her egg might look like when it hatched, and Susie had muttered, "It's a hard-boiled egg. It's not going to hatch." Temmie had cried for hours and everyone had been mad at Susie, though of course were too scared to tell her.

"Ah, Frisk. Late again, I see." Berdly greeted her when she walked in that direction. Even though she didn't say anything, he still acted like he had asked her. "Hmm? You need a partner? Sorry, I'm already partners with the second smartest student. Though... wait! Frisk, now that I think about it... Your unique skillset might help a LOT on this assignment!" Before Frisk's spirits had the chance to rise though, he laughed. "Pfft, NOT! I actually want to get an "A!"

This hurt Frisk more than she wanted to admit, but she just walked away.

"Hey, Frisk! You okay? You look kind of worried about something. Did you lose your pencil again?" Noelle's friendly voice called out, making her turn back. The deer monster set down the book she had been reading, then smiled at her and pulled out two pencils. "Here, you want the candy cane one or the one with the lights on it?"

"I'm kind of just having bad luck finding a partner." Frisk admitted.

Noelle frowned a bit. "Berdly already asked me." She then smiled. "But I could ask Ms. Alphys if we could make a group of three!"

"I don't think Berdly would like that much." Frisk whispered.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'd be fine with it." Noelle reassured her, before calling out shyly, "Miss Alphys! Umm, is it okay if we have a group of three?"

"Hey! What? No! I do NOT approve this! ABORT!" Berdly yelled.

Noelle turned to him. "What? B-But Frisk doesn't have a..."

"Noelle, what were you saying?" Alphys asked, looking up from her phone, which she had been watching the whole time.

"She was just saying we're FINE being alone!" Berdly yelled.

Noelle was shaking with anxiety now and Frisk felt terrible for inadvertently putting her in this situation. "A-Actually, I just wanted to know if..." Her voice was barely audible though.

"Noelle, can you PLEASE SPEAK UP?" Alphys asked. Frisk felt even more awful. She wanted to both hide and apologize to Noelle a million times without things becoming even more awkward.

And then the door slammed open, revealing Susie, the so called class bully, and the room went completely silent. She was a violet colored dragon monster with long dark hair that often hid her eyes, and was taller and more muscular than anyone else. Even her just standing casually there in the doorway in her big jacket and torn jeans gave her an air of intimidation without her having to say a single word. Frisk privately wished she knew how to do that.

In the eyes of the other students, Susie was more a boogeyman than an actual student. Even only having been in Hometown a few weeks, Frisk had heard stories about her, how she was a delinquent who beat up anyone who looked at her funny and bit people's faces off(though she highly doubted that part). Frisk herself wasn't so sure; while Susie shared her class and even sat right behind her, the girl had mostly ignored her and their one interaction had been Susie elbowing past her and almost knocking her over to get to the free lunch line first.

It hadn't exactly been a friendly meeting, but Frisk felt bad for her in a way. She knew what it felt like to be hated, to be thought of a delinquent who was good for nothing and would amount to about the same. And yet, beyond smiling at Susie and saying hi when they passed in the hallways, she had never approached the dragon girl.

She had no idea what she would even say and doubted the other girl wanted to talk to her anyway.

And even ALPHYS seemed scared of her. "H... Hi, Susie." the teacher whispered nervously.

Susie simply slowly walked in though. "...Am I late?"

Alphys shook her head violently. "Ohh, n-no! You're fine! W-We were just, uh... ch-choosing partners for the next group project, and..." She turned quickly to Frisk, who was just standing there alone. "Umm, Susie, you're with Frisk!"

Susie didn't seem to care either way. "...great." she said dully. Frisk tried to give her a smile, though she was pretty sure it came out looking either nervous or demented. Either way, Susie didn't smile back as they made their way to their desks, just gave her an odd look.

"N-Now that everyone's here, I'll write the assignment!" Alphys said nervously. She went to the chalkboard, then paused. "Uh... H-has anyone seen the chalk? This is the third time it's gone missing and... Y-you all know I can't start class without some!" Everyone just sat there awkwardly looking at each other, and Alphys glared slightly, even if her glare was about as intimidating as a hissing kitten. "H-how about this? If no one speaks up... E-everyone gets in trouble!"

Frisk wondered if this was when she was going to get blamed. At her old school, that normally was what happened, though to be fair sometimes it WAS her, so it was pretty understandable. Though even she wouldn't steal chalk, so she just sat there quietly, waiting for Alphys to explode.

But Alphys, of course, didn't. "A... Anyone? P...Please?"

"Hey, there might be a box in the supply closet..." Noelle said quietly. "Miss Alphys, why don't Susie and I..."

"G-good idea, Noelle!" Alphys said, sweating nervously. "Susie, s-since you came in last... Why don't you go get it for me...?"

Susie shrugged. "...Whatever." She got up and left the classroom, slamming the door on her way out.

Alphys turned to Frisk. "And F...Frisk... Can you go with her and make sure she... Um, actually gets it? And um, stays out of trouble...?"

Frisk nodded quietly, her heart aching. She knew it now. She wasn't the scapegoat student here.

Susie was.

Alphys smiled. "Thanks, Frisk! See you later!"

There was mutters around the class, though Noelle smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Frisk! I always thought Susie can't be so bad, you know? I'm sure everything will turn out fine!"

"I know it will." Frisk whispered back.

"Don't die." Catti muttered from behind her, still texting away on her phone, as Jockington called out that if he had arms, he'd take off his cool hat in remembrance of her.

Monster Kid turned to her as she walked past him. "I'm sorry, Frisk! I should have waited! If I had been your partner, you wouldn't have to be HERS! She's going to tear you to pieces, then kick the butts of those pieces!"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Frisk said reassuringly.

"Yeah, you'll probably survive Susie. But you're going to fail when she doesn't do ANY of your project!" Snowdrake added. "You know what they say, if you SUZ, you lose!" He sighed. "That wasn't very funny, huh?"

Monster Kid didn't seem reassured at all. "Frisk, just keep running and don't look back!"

"Guys, I appreciate it, but I WILL be fine. Susie's never hurt me before." Frisk sighed, hoping Susie hadn't heard any of this, then walked out the door, closing it much more quietly than the other girl had.

Only to see her standing down the hallway, munching on the pilfered chalk. Frisk froze in surprise. Guess Susie had been the chalk thief after all, though she didn't know monsters COULD eat chalk. Or how she had taken it without anyone seeing.

She wished she knew how to do that.

And then Susie turned around, and it was her turn to freeze as she spotted Frisk. Frisk's blood turned cold. She probably hadn't been supposed to see that...

"...Frisk." Susie said with deceptive casualness. "...Didn't see you there. Hey."

Frisk shrugged. "Yeah, Alphys sent me to help you get the extra chalk from the supply closet."

"You didn't see anything just now, did you?"

"See what?" Frisk asked innocently, keeping her tone light.

Susie eyed her suspiciously. "Hmm..." She walked closer, and Frisk instinctively moved back a step, her mind flashing back to when she had been cornered by bullies at her old school. She forced herself to stop though, not wanting to be backed into a corner just in case she needed to run. Another step brought Susie to her side, and the dragon girl put her hand on her shoulder, making Frisk flinch.

"You think just because you act so sweet and innocent means that I can't tell EXACTLY what you're thinking?" Susie growled. "It's OVER! I caught Susie eating ALL the chalk! This was her LAST chance! Now she'll FINALLY be expelled!"

Even though Frisk was terrified, her heart also ached once again for Susie as she looked into the violet bully's eyes. She knew what it felt like, to have all the teachers and the students waiting for her to be expelled, thinking she was no good.

Susie glared at her, acting angry, but Frisk saw the truth in her eyes. She saw the same fear that she had seen reflected in her own. She couldn't make her words come out though, had no idea how to tell Susie this without making her angrier, so she tried to say everything she wanted to with her eyes, giving the taller girl a pleading look.

But it failed. Susie just let out a laugh that sounded both angry and sad. "Haha... Come on, Frisk. Don't act shocked. You know it's true. Everyone's waiting for it. Everyone wants it. So congrats, New Girl. You've been here only a few weeks, and you got me. I'm done for. But lemme say just one little thing. Seems like a waste to get expelled just for having a snack. So Frisk, if I KNOW you're gonna pull the trigger..."

Before she could say anything else, Frisk found her voice. "No! I'm not! I don't give a fuck if you took the chalk, Susie. It's just chalk! And I don't want you to get expelled! I don't hate you! I barely even KNOW you!"

"Shut up, Frisk! I know what you're thinking! You're only saying that because you know I can snap you like a twig." Susie growled, tightening her grip further on Frisk's bony shoulders, her intense stare looking Frisk up and down. "Heh, especially considering you're shaped like one and have the HP to match. You couldn't win a fight against me, and you know it. You're just as scared of me as anyone else."

"Well, I don't exactly feel safe being backed into a corner by anybody." Frisk said dryly, hiding her fear. "But I'm telling the truth, Susie. I don't want you expelled." She looked up at Susie, trying desperately to make her understand and she knew the only way to do that was the truth. "I...I was almost expelled at my old school. I...I don't want that for you. I don't want that for anyone." She felt Susie stiffen in either shock, surprise, or anger, but couldn't bear to look at her now and just looked at the ground sadly, clenching her fists as the hurt washed over her. "I'm on my last chance too. So now you know. Now you know something about me that could ruin my life too if you told anyone." Now she wanted to cry, knowing just how easily she could be hurt with this, and wondering why she even bothered to tell this to anyone, let alone someone who had basically threatened to beat the crap out of her. "Can we just get the stupid chalk now?" she whispered, trying not to show any further weakness.

She felt Susie's grip soften and looked up at the bully to notice for just a brief second her eyes had too before Susie let her go and turned away. "...Whatever. Let's get this over with and mosey on back to class, and then YOU can do our project."

Frisk sighed, pretending not to care. "Fine. Just don't expect an A from me. I suck at science." she half joked, trying to lighten things.

"Long as I don't have to do anything, I don't care." Susie shrugged. Frisk thought she heard her mutter, "Not like I'm any good at it either." but Susie didn't say anything further besides, "Let's go, freak." She walked quickly down the hallway, and Frisk hurried to keep up.

"Hey, you walk pretty fast." Susie said casually. She smirked. "Guess you got a lot of experience running away, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it." Frisk muttered under her breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

"Whatever. C'mon, freak."

They made their way to the supply closet after a few moments. "Well, here it is. Too bad... We were just starting to have fun." Susie said with an evil grin. Frisk decided not to say anything, and Susie opened the door.

The closet was pitch black inside, and something about that was nerve racking. Frisk wasn't normally afraid of the dark, but there was something different about THIS dark.

Especially since it seemed to emanate from the closet and darken the once bright hallway.

And Frisk wasn't the only one unnerved. Susie turned to her. "Hey, Frisk, is it me, or... Is it REALLY dark in there?"

"It's not just you." Frisk said, looking around at the darkened hallway.

"Well, what's the holdup? Are you going to go in or what?" Susie asked.

"You coming in with me?" Frisk asked evenly, not wanting Susie to know something about this closet scared her.

Susie groaned. "Fine! If you're gonna be a WIMP, then I'll..." She stared once again at the closet, her body tense, and Frisk knew Susie, like her, didn't want Frisk to know she was scared either. "We'll both go in at the same time!"

"Deal." Frisk agreed. Something about the closet made her feel like she really didn't want to be alone in there, and even though Susie was scary, she felt safer going in there with her than going in by herself.

You're being a dumbass, Frisk. You're an idiot to be scared, let alone scared of the dark. she berated herself as she stepped inside with Susie.

The closet was pitch black, with papers covering the floor. She could barely see anything in front of her but them and Susie.

"See? Why are you so scared? There's nothing in here but old papers." Susie taunted slightly, though Frisk could tell she was hiding that she had been equally afraid. "Let's try to find a lightswitch."

Frisk walked forward carefully. The only sound was her and Susie's feet crunching on the papers, until they got off them and walked across the black floor. Frisk searched for a light switch, but couldn't feel or find anything. Not even a wall.

And Susie hadn't had any more luck. "That's weird. I can't find a switch. Guess it's further in..."

They continued on, Frisk following Susie for what felt like endless darkness. Shouldn't they have reached a switch by now? Or at least a wall? Or bumped into something in the dark?

Where were the school supplies? Where were the walls? How big was this stupid pitch black closet?

Susie spoke again, her voice casual, but with a hint of shakiness. "...Uhh... kind of big for a closet, huh...? You'd think we'd have reached the end by now..."

Frisk nodded nervously as they continued on. Susie paused again after a moment, and her once calm expression was now openly unnerved. "Hey, Frisk. I think this closet's, uh... broken." Well, that was one way to say 'an endless void of nothing that seems to come out of a horror story.'

Susie continued walking, grinning in a way that was clearly trying to hide that she was disturbed. "There aren't any walls."

"Umm, Susie? Maybe...Maybe we should just head back?" Frisk asked softly.

Susie thankfully didn't tease her, but seized on this. "Yeah, we've worked hard enough. If Alphys wants chalk so bad, she can get it herself. Let's split."

They hurried back through the closet towards the doors, reaching the papers again.

And then, like in the very horror stories Frisk had been thinking of, the door slammed shut. Frisk had been half expecting this, considering the way their trip was going, but she still let out a yelp, then embarrassed herself by grabbing onto Susie. Surprisingly, she felt Susie grab onto her too for a moment before the lizard monster then pushed her off and rushed to the door. "What the...! Hey, this isn't funny! LET US OUT!" she yelled. "LET US..."

And then the papers under them began shaking, like there was an earthquake. Frisk tried to keep her balance as Susie backed up, nearly bumping into her. "The floor, it's...!"

And then the papers started to fall into blackness. Frisk and Susie desperately backed up, but there was no place to go. The floor, if what they had been standing on even was floor, collapsed under them. Frisk heard Susie screaming, or maybe she herself was, and tried to grab onto her, onto anything.

But there was nothing to stop her fall.

And then the world went black.

...

I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please review and let me know what you think!