Ginger looked up, expecting to see the robot atop the castle tower. And there he was.
"COULD IT BE...?"
But the sight of him was not something she'd been anticipating. She blinked, then blinked again, just to be sure her eyes weren't deceiving her, because it almost looked like Mettaton was wearing...
"...MY ONE TRUE LOVE?"
He fully revealed himself from behind the wall beside the head of the stairs.
Yep. She was seeing this right.
Mettaton was wearing a dress.
He descended the stairs with a surprising amount of grace, considering the single wheel that was keeping him up, and Ginger just watched, utterly, speechlessly dumbfounded by the scene she was beholding.
"IS IT REALLY YOU? THE NOBLE HUNTRESS FROM ABOVE? THE ONE FOR WHOM THE OTHERS CROON? MY ONE AND TRUE, UNDYING LOVE?"
'Noble huntress'? The human noted the dark cloak she wore, seeing that, perhaps, it did make her look a bit like a rogue forest dweller of sorts.
If not for the situation, she might have been flattered. Nonetheless, she wasn't about to let him step up to her level so easily.
"Me?" she retorted, turning away from him. "In your dreams."
"THEN THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE!" he answered her, without skipping a beat. "BUT ALAS...YOU AND ME...WE CANNOT BE."
"Not that I'm complaining, but why is that so?"
Just when she thought things couldn't possibly get any more strange...
Mettaton started singing.
And there was the accompaniment of music coming from somewhere offstage; a sure indicator that this, too, was all being filmed for the whole Underground to see.
Dear. GLAUX.
"Oh, my love,
Please run away;
Monster King
Forbids your stay.
Humans must
Live far apart,
Even if
It breaks my heart.
They'll put you
In the dungeon.
It'll suck,
And then you'll die a lot.
Really sad,
You're gonna die;
Cry, cry, cry,
So sad it's happening..."
He placed a gloved hand on her head, wiping an imaginary tear from his rectangular panel of a face.
"SO SAD...SO SAD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO THE DUNGEON."
"Says who?" she inquired mockingly.
"WHY, MY LOVE...SAYS ME, OF COURSE! TOODLES!"
Before she had the chance to react, the robot whipped out a red button, and the floor beneath her opened to let her fall through in a split second!
"HEY!"
She barely had time to call out. The floor below was more than a good twenty feet down, but she braced for the impact, and received no more injury than a slightly skinned knee. Ginger stood up straight, brushing the dust that'd scattered from her landing off of her teal cape, then straightening it out. She wasn't sure what Mettaton's next trick would be, but with whatever time she had, she decided now was as good a time as ever to don her Temmie Armor. She slipped off her sneakers, stashed them away and pulled out her metal boots.
Just when she had them on her feet, Mettaton reappeared.
"OH, NO!" he exclaimed. "WHATEVER SHALL I DO!? MY LOVE HAS BEEN CAST AWAY INTO THE DUNGEON! A DUNGEON WITH A PUZZLE SO DASTARDLY, MY PARAMOUR WILL SURELY PERISH!"
He motioned toward the path ahead, and the human beheld a sight she didn't think she'd ever see again.
"O, HEAVENS HAVE MERCY! THE HORRIBLE COLORED TILE MAZE! OF WHICH EACH TILE HAS ITS OWN SADISTIC FUNCTION! FOR EXAMPLE, RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE, PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY AND LEMON-SCENTED, AND THE BLUE WATER TILES ARE ARMED WITH...HEY... WAIT JUST A MOMENT. DIDN'T YOU DO A SIMILARLY CONSTRUCTED PUZZLE ABOUT A HUNDRED ROOMS AGO?"
"What?"
"BACK IN SNOWDIN, LOVE! YOU WERE ON SURVEILLANCE, OF COURSE, SO I DECIDED TO TAKE A FEW PEEPS AT THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS' RECORDED FEED."
"You SPIED on her!?"
"MMM, PERHAPS. BUT ANYWAYS, SINCE YOU'VE DONE ALL OF THIS BEFORE, I SUPPOSE I SHOULDN'T WASTE YOUR TIME REPEATING THEM. IF, FOR SOME REASON, YOUR BIG BRAIN CAN'T RECALL THE RULES, I'M CERTAIN THE DUMPY DR. DROMEOSAUR YOU'VE FOUND A FRIEND IN WOULD BE MORE THAN WILLING TO HELP...IF YOU KNOW WHO I MEAN, OF COURSE, HMM?"
She felt her fists clench, then pointed an angry finger at him.
"...Do you have any idea how-"
"BUT!" Mettaton interrupted. "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE TIME! IF YOU DON'T CLEAR THE PUZZLE IN 30 SECONDS..."
Ginger heard the sound of a fire start, and she looked to the wall across from the puzzle.
There was a row of flames spewing out of it.
"...YOU'LL BE INCINERATED BY THESE JETS OF FIRE! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHA...HA...HA...OH, MY POOR, SWEET LOVE! I'M SO FILLED WITH GRIEF, I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING! HA...GOOD LUCK OUT THERE, DARLING!"
The music fired up again, along with Mettaton's metallic, almost shrill singing voice, and Ginger muttered a string of curses to herself concerning him as she leapt across the backwards-moving conveyer belt that lead to the colored tiles.
"Oh, my love..."
What'd Papyrus say again? she tried to remember. Pink ones don't do anything, right? And the blue ones are water, so...Piranhas, right? Do they like lemons or oranges? And which ones made you smell like which? Good Glaux, I don't remember!
"Has fallen down..."
But she at least had to give it a shot. The human stepped onto the first tile; a pink one, so she could collect her thoughts a bit from there. There was an impassable red tile just ahead, and two green ones were on either side of her...What did those ones do again? She cautiously stepped on the one to her left; it didn't do anything but make a sharp dinging noise.
I guess these ones are safe?
"Now, in tears..."
Then was the orange one; the sweet scent of citrus rose up from the tile and shrouded her.
These are the orange ones...But which ones do the piranhas like? Lemons or oranges?
"We all will drown..."
She stepped on another green one, and then was faced with a yellow tile. She'd completely forgotten what those did, so she slowly rose her boot over it...And immediately felt the few static sparks emanating from it, threatening to zap her should she make contact, so she turned back onto the orange tile to try the purple one, and the slippery, tarter-smelling substance coating it caused her to slide right into the water tile across from it.
She looked down into the water her feet were submerged in; the small piranhas were steering clear of them.
So the purple tiles are the lemon ones? And I guess it's the lemon ones they don't like.
"Colored tiles..."
She stepped onto the pink one to her left, and then through the two other water tiles, seeing that she still smelled more sour than sweet, and back onto yet another pink tile. From there, she looked at what was laid out ahead, seeing that just beyond another green and another orange tile, there were two of the purple lemon tiles that would make her slip onto yet another orange one. At least they lead to another pink tile, so she decided to take her chances with the oranges and took that route.
"Make her a fool..."
Her risk paid off, it seemed; to the left of the pink tile, there was another lemon tile, which allowed Ginger to pass through the three water tiles lined up ahead safely. She proceeded to step out onto the pink tile to her right out of the water, then turned a corner to yet another pink tile across from an orange. She trusted those pink tiles; they let her collect her thoughts for a few moments.
"If only she..."
If only your godawful singing wasn't such a distraction, she just barely held back. Okay, uh...Another orange one.
She distrusted the orange tiles as much as she did the opposite to the pink ones. She stepped out onto a green tile, then yet another orange one; those stupid orange squares were making her paranoid, so she stepped out onto another pink one.
"Still knew the rules..."
Seeing as there were TWO pink tiles there for her to walk on, she moved to the one closer to the other end of the puzzle...And from there, she saw a way out of her squeeze.
"Ah-HA...!" the human exclaimed, taking the purple tile before her to another water tile, thankful that it'd been there to change her scent again. She trusted the purple tiles almost as much as she did the pink ones; perhaps she would have just as much, had they lacked the ability to make her slip forward on them. But they did keep the piranhas at bay, so that she was glad of.
"Well, that was..."
Green, orange, pink...Yes, pink, thank you, she continued to herself as she continued to overlook the field before her.
"Uh..."
Ginger paused. She'd just stepped through an orange tile, and the only way to keep going east was through water. There WAS a purple tile up to the north, but just past it was a yellow tile, and she knew what those ones did...But if Papyrus could survive the jolt, then who was to say she couldn't? She'd been through worse, hadn't she!?
The human braced herself, then ran at the purple tile and collided with the shockwave rising up from the yellow square. A course of sharp, painful static went through her legs, but as soon as she was able to cross over the purple tile again, it dissipated. She'd...actually anticipated worse than what she got.
"A sorry try..."
Purple, orange, purple, orange... she mouthed as she went along. There are a lot of both of those, aren't there?
A row of two slippery purple tiles lead her to water again, and from there, she was met with a string of green tiles, zig-zagging all the way to...
The opposite side.
"Now let's watch..."
Ginger peeked up at the clock; five seconds left. The human didn't waste any time. She ran across the snake-like string of green tiles like a maniac, in such a dazed rush that she collided with one of the invisible walls the red tiles cast, then fell to the ground from the impact. She struggled to stand back up; her legs had so much catching up to do with her mind that they kept threatening to trip over one another.
"Her fry..."
"I don't think so!"
In the two seconds left on the timer, she finally managed to sprint to the corner and shove herself off of the final green tile, planting her feet back onto the dirt. A victorious fanfare sounded off from somewhere, and when Ginger turned around to face the puzzle again, she saw all of the brightly colored tiles fade to grey.
"OH, WELL WELL WELL!" Mettaton exclaimed. It was odd, but he ACTUALLY seemed genuinely impressed by Ginger's thoroughness. "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MADE IT PAST THE COLORED TILE PUZZLE! NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I WILL DEACTIVATE THE FLAMES!"
And, with the press of a button, the fire jets ceased spewing out the orange flares.
"DEAR VIEWERS, GIVE IT UP FOR THE AMAZING HUNTRESS AND ALL HER MAGNIFICENCE, FROM HER MYSTERIOUS HOOD TO HER STURDY METAL BOOTS! SHE'S JUST AS CLEVER AS SHE IS CHARMING, ISN'T SHE?"
A recorded applause sounded off, and she turned her back to Mettaton and bowed with another flashy fling of her cloak, assuming there was a camera in that direction.
"IF IT WEREN'T FOR THAT WIT OF HERS, SHE'D CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN TURNED INTO A HUMAN BARBECUE! BUT SHE DEFIED ALL THE ODDS, AND GOT THE FLAMES TO TURN OFF! NO! MORE! FIRE!"
"Huzzah!" the human cheered. "The Huntress scores again!"
"HOWEVER...IT'S AS THE PHRASE GOES; 'OUT OF THE FIRE, AND INTO THE FRYING PAN.'"
"I've never heard that phrase in my life," Ginger teased. "Are you sure you're not just making things up?"
"OH, NO, NO! THIS IS ALL TOO REAL! EVEN IF YOU DID MANAGE TO BEAT THE HEAT, THERE'S NO WAY YOU COULD WITHSTAND MY HOT METAL BODY!"
A gasp from the recorded audience.
"Ex-CUSE me?" she drawled. "In case you hadn't noticed, I've been doing just that this whole time."
"OH, DARLING, I DON'T THINK YOU QUITE UNDERSTAND..DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT STEPPING ON A GREEN TILE DOES?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"...They didn't do anything when I stepped over them."
"THEN I GUESS I SHOULD REMIND YOU. WHEN YOU STEP ON A GREEN TILE, IT MAKES A SOUND, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER! DON'T YOU SEE? THE MONSTER YOU'LL BE FIGHTING...IS ME!"
With one swift motion, he discarded the dress he was wearing, then landed before her.
"THIS IS IT, DARLING!" he announced, readying the laser on his head. "SAY GOODBYE!"
"It won't be so easy," his opponent sneered, drawing her bow and arrows once more.
It was then that she heard her phone ringing.
"OOH, LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE'S CALLING! BETTER ANSWER IT, DEAR!"
The hooded figure pulled the device out and answered it.
"Hello!?" she nearly yelled.
"H-hey, it's me!" Alphys' voice sounded from the other end. "Th-this seems bad, but don't panic! There's still one last thing I installed on your phone! You see that big yellow button flashing on the middle of the screen!? I-I just readied it for use! and sent the update to your phone!"
She pulled the phone away and saw what she meant; the bright yellow button was flashing on and off just below the screen.
"Do I press it?"
"Y-yeah! Just...Don't be alarmed by what happens! It's supposed to do what it does!"
She activated the flashing button...
And almost immediately, she felt her SOUL shift again.
It revealed itself in all of its scarlet glory, and she watched as it turned upside-down like the SOUL of any monster, the tip pointing at the sadistic robot...And with one more bright flash, it turned from the standard flaming red-orange to a bright, obvious yellow, matching the color the phone button had flashed.
"Um...What's this supposed to do, Al'?"
"It's a SOUL mode! P-press the button on the phone, and see what it does!"
She nodded at her remark, then pressed the button. Something shot out of her SOUL and rammed right into Mettaton!
"OHHH! OHHHHHHHH!" he exclaimed halfheartedly. "YOU'VE DEFEATED ME! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE, YOU WERE STRONGER THAN I THOUGHT, ETC, ETC."
"...Heh..."
It didn't seem to do much, so she tried again. Another bullet shot into him, but it dissipated on impact just like any monster bullet, and he just stood there and took it.
To Ginger, it was an amusing sight, to say the least.
"WHATEVER," he finished. "THIS IS GROWING BORING NOW. UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS!"
With one more wave, he retracted his arms, then shot up like a rocket into the air and ascended out of the dungeon through a prepared trapdoor. Before he disappeared, he lowered himself a bit in order to face the human.
"OH, AND ONE MORE THING, HUMAN; YOU REMEMBER HOW I REFERRED THE ACCURSEDLY BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS BEFORE YOU BEGAN THE PUZZLE?"
"Yeah...Yeah! What do you have!? A death wish!?"
"I ONLY SAID IT...BECAUSE I KNEW IT WOULD MAKE YOU MAD! HAHA! YOU'VE BEEN DUPED AFTER ALL! WELL...TA-TA!"
Finally, he jetted himself up and out, and was gone.
Right when her SOUL flashed back to scarlet and returned to her body, she heard Alphys speak again.
"Wow. Uh, l-looks like you beat him, huh? I-it might not seem like much, but when he's bored...He, uh...doesn't last long before he gives up on things."
"Did you happen to be watching that performance live?" she asked curtly.
"W-well, yeah, I did! I've been watching from the very beginning to make sure I, uh...didn't butt in until I did, though, because I...well...I didn't want to be a-a distraction."
"So then you heard what he-"
"D-don't get too riled up over it. I-it's...um...a pet name. B-besides, he was just trying to mess with you, remember?"
"'Dumpy Dr. Dromeosaur'? A pet name?" she inquired skeptically.
"Like I said, don't get yourself worked up about it; no harm in poking a little fun, e-every now and then...Heh...Uh, so, I should probably also mention that we're not far from the CORE. I-it's just past MTT Resort...Uh...Yeah, M-mettaton has his own fancy hotel. It's actually just north of where you're at right now."
"It pains me to think of such a place," Ginger commented.
"It's actually pretty nice; lots of fancy rooms, two restaurants; it used to be a rundown apartment complex, but once Mettaton started reeling in the dough, he fixed it up a-all fancy, and stuff! And now people come from all over the Underground to stay there! E-even if it is extremely pricy...B-but, see? He's not so bad! Y-you two just d-don't get along the best, is all!"
"Ugh...I guess so, but that doesn't change any of my thoughts about that rusty rectangle. You practically breathed the life into him, didn't you? And what does he do for you in return? The guy humiliates you on public television just because he can. TWICE. The only reason I don't go all out against him is because 1: I understand he means a lot to you, and 2: He means a lot to the rest of the Underground, too. It's like with Undyne. Do I hate the fishwife? Yes. Would I be all buddy-buddy with her all of a sudden if she decided to open up, like, I don't know, a fighter's academy? No. But am I gonna dash everyone's hearts to pieces by killing her in cold blood? Don't think so. The most I'll do is give her a few more solid punches in the face...An maybe shove a huge bowl of ice cream in her face, since she can't stand the stuff. Ha!"
"Oh, boy...Y-you really don't like Undyne, do you?"
"Never have, never will. I hear you two are friends, though."
"Y-yeah...W-we are friends. G-good friends, actually. I-in fact, you know, y-you and her-"
"Share a lot of common ground? Yeah, I've heard that a few times around here. But you know what they say: likes repel, opposites attract. That's probably why you get along so much better with us individually, eh? We're both brawny, battle-hardened, daring and determined, while you...Well, you're a short 'n' cuddly nerd with enough brains to go around, is how I'd put it. And that's likely got twentyfold on 'Dumpy Dr. Dromeosaur,' don't it?"
"Sh-short and c-..." Alphys stammered. "C-come on, you're just flattering me at this point."
"I don't think it's flattering if it's genuine."
"W-well, then...um...Thank you. And, um...T-thanks again for letting me guide you. A-and one more for...e-everything else you did t-to help me. It's made me feel a lot better about myself, a-as a whole...I...I just f-feel so i-indebted to you. I-I don't deserve-"
"Alph'."
"...Yeah?"
"You don't owe me anything. You're my friend."
"A-are you sure? You're not just doing it out of...of p-pity?"
Ginger sighed; what would it take to convince her of just how loved she was?
"Replace 'pity' with 'care,' Alphy. See there? We all care about you."
There was a moment of silence.
"...Y-you guys..."
A wet-sounding sniffle came from the other end.
"Al..."
"They're happy tears this time," the raptor promised. "I-I'm just...touched, is all."
She sighed deeply before continuing.
"So, um...Anyway, I'm on my way. Just passed where all that crazy bomb-defusing stuff t-took place. Just keep at it a-and I should be caught up once you reach the end of the CORE. Th-then we'll see what happens from there."
"Man. You caught up quickly."
"W-well, I'm fairly familiar with the puzzles. P-plus, Mettaton doesn't have any tricks set up for me, probably, so I'm just moseying along. Heh...J-just a suggestion, you might as well grab a bite to eat or something while you're at the hotel. One of the two restaurants is just fast-food, so it's...uh...a-affordable."
"Sounds like a good idea. 'Kay, then. Talk later, Alphy."
"O-okay. Bye!"
With a click, she was gone. Ginger turned north out of the puzzle dungeon and scales a small flight of stairs.
And she was not prepared to see who was standing there at the top.
The two guards were standing there, right at the top of the stairs, waiting for her! The hare and the dragon!...And the Nice Cream guy, but he was of her least concern.
"Gotcha right where we want'cha," the dragon bellowed. His helmet had been removed, revealing a red-striped grey face as menacingly reptilian as any viper, except with more horns. "Ever since you nearly dusted my bro, we've been lookin' all over for you!"
"Um..." Ginger replied, noting the Nice Cream in his hand. "It looks more like you've been slacking off eating Nice Cream."
The hare gave his fellow guard a somewhat nervous glance. His helmet was gone, as well, and the long whiskers coming out of the grey-furred face were a might crinkled.
"Yo...Dude?" the rabbit said to his companion, seeming less eager to attack the human than him. "Thought you were gonna ask for her autograph."
"Autograph?" Ginger echoed.
"Uh, what? She almost literally killed you with those arrows!? Dude, it was a cover-up! I was just sayin' that so we could get her back for what she did to ya!"
"...Yeeeeaaahhh, BUT, why not, like, let bygones be bygones? Besides, what'd the rest of the Underground think?"
"...Pardon?"
"I've been thinkin', and, uh...Well, she's got a point. Dudette's known all over the place now, and, like, people think she's cool now. What'd happen if we just obliterated her like that? Yeah, sure, we'd get her SOUL, but, like...Can't we wait for someone other human?"
"Haha! Undyne's words, exactly!" the human announced, pointing at the hare's brilliance. "I mean...not a hundred percent exactly, but you get the point."
"UGH," the dragon groaned. "Fine. We'll let this one slide."
"Seriously, though. Like, d-dude. You'd kill for me?"
"Well, duh. Homies help homies. Otherwise, they ain't homies."
"...Wow...Uh...Yeah, y-you're right, uh..."
"What's up with you, man?" the dragon inquired, noticing his sudden state of unease. "You're all sweaty and stuff, all of a sudden."
"Nothin'! Nothin', nothin', nothin'. Uh...Well, Huntress, nice seein' ya," he bid her, walking the other direction with his dragon friend towards one of the elevators.
"Uh...What'd you call me?" she asked, a might confused.
"Ask him!"
He pointed at the Nice Cream guy before disappearing.
"...Well, that went better than I anticipated!" he remarked. "Hey, nice seeing you again, pal! I got great news! Business is great here! Everyone's eager to buy! And those two fellas just bought everything that was left! I'm completely sold out! Haha! Ha...Um, sorry to disappoint, if you came lookin' for service, buddy. In fact, now that I'm outta stock, I'm going to pack up for the day and head back to Snowdin to resupply. But you can bet your britches I'll be back here tomorrow! And I'll have an even greater supply then, now that I know how many people crave this stuff in these parts!"
"Tomorrow, eh? Sorry, fella, but...I don't think I'll be here tomorrow. I'm on my way back to the surface, and compared to everything else I've been through, I'm just a hop, skip and a flutter away from meeting the king himself."
He whistled at the thought.
"Big stuff comin' up, then, huh?"
"You could say that." she answered. "Um, I don't know if the guy was just trying to distract me, or whatnot, but do you know anything about...What'd he call me? 'Huntress?' I know Mettaton said something about that during the performance thing, so...I don't know, did he get it from the square?"
"Oh, boy...You have no idea! It's not just Mettaton; that's what everyone's been starting to call you!"
"Really?"
"Everyone's seen you on T.V. They're all talking about the mysterious archer in the dark teal cloak with the feather in her hood, who's sharp as a pencil and slick as a snake, who solves puzzles like they're nothin, who fought tooth and nail against Captain Undyne armed with the trusty bow she constructed from dump junk, and not only won, but had the MERCY to spare her. And not to mention all of the people she gave a hand to down here, from raising enough funds for a Temmie to go to college, to just being a generous paying customer for some guy selling Nice Cream in Waterfall. That Huntress...That's you, pal. Why, you've gotten so well-known so fast that some people are starting to see you as Mettaton's rising rival celebrity!"
"...Man." She almost breathed the word. "Never thought I'd see this happen."
"Believe it. Uh, since I can't offer you any Nice Cream, I'll recommend to you the MTT-Brand Burger Emporium; they might have somethin' cold, if that's what you're after!"
"I just had a friend of mine say something along those lines...Guess I better keep at it. Once I'm back with my folks on the surface, I'm gonna try to find a way to bust you guys out of this place...Granted I actually DO end up getting back with them...B-but even if I don't, I'll still do that second thing!"
"Well, we all look forward to that day. And it's closer than ever, now...Especially with that thought you have in mind."
"Keep hopin' and keep dreamin'. A thousand people wishing can't be wrong...Well, nice seeing you again. Happy trails."
"Good luck!"
She ascended the second flight of stairs, and there at the top stood the towering MTG Resort Hotel in all its glittery vlory. The violet walls rose at least ten stories high, and Mettaton's image was on either side of the golden login above the glass doorway. Ginger was a bit in awe at the sight of it, but what actually managed to capture her attention was the figure standing just to the left of the
There stood a familiar monster, wearing a blue hoodie and a toothy smile.
"Sans!" she recognized, approaching him with an extended arm.
"heya, kid," he greeted, meeting her halfway with his own bony hand. "you've been busy, huh?"
"You could say that. Good thing I'll be beyond Mettaton's reach in good time."
"yeah...so. heading off to the CORE here soon, eh? excited?"
"Honestly, I'm kinda tied up about it..."
"well, since you're almost there, why don't we catch up one more time? chitchat, chill out, you know calm your nerves some. there's a nice restaurant in this place we could do that; foods mega-expensive, though, so maybe we could get a table. thoughts?"
"Sounds like a plan."
"great. now, come over this way; i know a shortcut."
He lead her into the dark alleyway.
"'kay, go on 'n' close your eyes."
"Um..."
"just trust me on this."
"Alright..." she shrugged, complying to his direction as he lead her into the alley.
"eyes still shut?"
"Yeah, can I open them?"
"okay. go ahead."
The human opened her eyes...
And lo and behold, they were standing right before an empty table in one of the finest food joints either of them had ever seen.
"...How'd-"
"magic."
"...Well, in a place like this, I guess that makes sense."
Sans grinned as he pulled a chair out to plop himself into. Ginger sat across from him, sticking her cloak on the back of her seat.
"Oh, boy...This place has air conditioning. That's what I'm talkin' about."
"yeah...so. your journey's almost over, huh? must be pretty eager to get back home."
"More than anything. Uh, not that this place is any bad. I just...I just want to see everyone back on the surface again."
"hm...well, you know how i said i'd keep an eye out for you?"
"Yeah?"
"i've overheard a couple things. it could just be me, but i've been putting bits and snippets together, and it seems like you're not a hundred percent sure you'll actually be able to reunite with your folks up there."
"Well, you'd...You'd be right."
"what's the issue?"
"It's...My situation's kinda complicated," she explained. "I'll make one thing clear, though. My group doesn't live anywhere near this mountain; we're just here on business. And I've been gone for, like...How long's it been since I fell down here? Four days? Five? I've lost track."
"same."
"Well, that doesn't matter; we were supposed to leave to go back home the day after I fell. And it's been longer than that, I know at least. We've got a lot to do back where we live. They're not just gonna sit round and wait for one asset to come back...Heck, I doubt they think I'm even still alive at this point. And...yeah, they do care about my well-being, but...Our duties back home come first, not scouring the forest looking for one Tyt-...person. So they're probably gone already, let's face it."
"just say they haven't, for some reason. then would you be able to go back?"
"That...depends on what happens after I leave the mountain. Upon falling, I faced a few...unexpected circumstances. And even if the Pure Ones haven't left yet, I still might not be able to return to them."
"the pure ones...i remember that from the cooking show, you said something about that. what exactly do you guys do?"
She shook her head, leaning it against her hand as she looked down at the white tablecloth blankly.
"I can't fill you in," she answered him. "It's spronk. Classified."
"hmm...must be important, then."
"I'm still gonna try to make it out, though. Even if I have just the tiniest sliver of a chance to get back with them, then I'm not gonna stop now."
"i see where you're gettin' at...though, still. maybe sometimes, it's...just better to take what's given to you."
She looked up at him, more concentrated.
"i mean, down here, you've got food, friends, maybe even some fame on the rise, who knows? is what you have to do out there...you know...really worth it?"
"...Well...Yeah. I can't just abandon everyone on the surface. They need me up there."
"they ain't got nobody else for the job?"
"I doubt..."
She paused to reconsider what she was about to say, letting Sans' question run through her head a few times over.
"That's...Actually a good question."
He had a good point; she might've served the Pure Ones well, but she was still just one owl among over two thousand others. She wasn't the only peace-maker they could get their talons on. Not the only squadron leader, or the only slipgizzle. There were so many others that could fill her in. Maybe even ones she hadn't even met yet; ones that had yet to stumble across the palace in the Beaks.
But then there was the other side of the coin; she could still see what would happen if she at least TRIED to get back to them, right. Aborting her mission wouldn't only make everything she'd done so far a huge waste of her time, but it was also stingingly disloyal to the cause she strived to serve. Deserting the Pure Ones to live among monsters...It'd never been her desire, but doing it even out of sheer lack of options still made her fell like some filthy turnfeather.
"i know that look."
"Huh?" She snapped out of her thoughtful daze. "What look?"
"that's the look of someone who's thinkin' too hard. forget about what i said, kid. i'm still rootin' for ya."
"Well...Alright. I'll save it for later."
"cool beans."
Everything was silent for a minute between them. Ginger refrained from making eye contact with the skeleton, instead finding the tablecloth more interesting. It was better than making the situation any more awkward than it already was.
Sans, however, read her like a book, and she was a lively adventure novel that'd suddenly taken an unnaturally depressing turn. And he was going to set her back on track.
"hey."
She looked back up at him.
"lemme tell you a story, eh? lighten the mood a lil'."
A tiny indication of a smile appeared on her lips before she answered.
"...Sure."
"kay...so, i'm a sentry in snowdin forest, right?"
"Yeah."
"my main job is to sit at my post and watch for humans...which is boring. fortunately, deep in the forest, there lies the door to the ruins, from which you came? you know what it looks like; large, imposing...always locked. it's the perfect place to practice my knock-knock jokes."
She managed a small scoff of a laugh, her grin growing slightly bigger.
"so, this one day, i'm standing there, knockin' 'em out, like usual. you know the drill; i knock on the door and say 'knock-knock...and was i in for a shock."
"What happened?"
"never saw it comin'...from the other side of the door, i hear a woman's voice."
Her eyes widened a bit.
"'who is there?' she asks. so, naturally, i respond: 'dishes.' 'dishes who?' 'dishes a very bad joke.'"
Ginger snorted out her own snicker.
"and she just starts howlin' with laughter. like it's the best joke she's heard in a hundred years. so i keep 'em comin', and she keeps on laughin'...it was a blast. she's the best audience I've ever had. and then, after a dozen of 'em, SHE knocks on the door and says 'knock knock!' so i say 'who's there?' 'old lady!' 'old lady who?' 'oh! i did not know you could yodel!"
Now it was too much; the laugh she'd been suppressing escaped her in a hushed chortle.
"oh, you like that, eh?" he remarked. "well...needless to say, this woman was extremely good. we kept telling each other jokes for hours. heh...eventually, i had to head out, though; papyrus gets kinda cranky without his bedtime story. but she told me to come by again when i next got the chance."
"Did you?"
"you kiddin'? it's been a thing between us ever since june, tellin' each other bad jokes through the door. it rules."
"So, this woman. Have you actually, erm...seen her at all? Her face, I mean?"
"nope. there's a door in the way."
"Well, yes...But it can open from the inside."
"oh. well...you'd probably know, since that's where you came from...do you know her yourself?"
"Heck, yeah, I do," she replied. "I didn't think anyone outside here would know her!"
"huh...was she good to ya?"
"Absolutely. Her name's To-"
"ah, bupbupbupbupbupbup. no names," he interrupted her. "...want it to be surprise for when we finally meet face-to-face. gives it the shock value."
"Oh...Okay, then."
"'kay...so, one day, i noticed that she wasn't laughing as much as usual. so i asked her what was up, and she told me somethin'...kinda strange. she said: 'if a human ever comes through this door...could you please, please promise something? watch over them, and protect them, will you not?'"
Her eyes got wide again.
"now, i hate making promises. and this lady...like we already discussed, i don't even know her name. nonetheless...someone who sincerely likes bad jokes...has an integrity you can't say 'no' to."
"...So that's why you've been watching over me. Uh...Awkward question."
"'sup?"
"About T-...the lady in the Ruins. Do you, uh...have feelings for her? Just curious is all; might be able to set you two up, who knows?"
"nah," he answered. "romance? isn't my thing. besides, i'm too lazy for any relationship. i'd just drag her down...she can find better."
"Ah, I see..."
"...'ah, i see?' what about you teasin' undyne and my bro 'bout that kinda stuff? that ain't the law of equivalent exchange."
"Well, I...don't think it'd be a good idea to tease you after that promise you made to her."
"hmm...well, i guess you'd be right. man...do you know what would've happened if she hadn't said anything like that?"
"No; what?"
"heh," he laughed, closing his eyes. "buddy..."
He opened them again...
The white pupils floating around in his eye sockets had vanished, revealing two empty voids on each side of his face.
"...You'd be dead where you stand."
The jovial atmosphere was gone in an instant. That face he was making...She'd only seen it one other time; not long before she'd fought against Papyrus. He'd warned her, specifically, not to fight him. And she hadn't.
She didn't know what Sans was like on the battlefield, but something told her that he was a lot stronger than he made himself out to be.
And he was being absolutely serious about the matter.
She placed one hand over the other on the table, looking down at them again, letting out a slow and quiet, but deep breath.
"Well..." she finally said, her brow slightly furrowed with a mix of emotions...none of which were good. "...I never would've guessed."
"Kid?"
"What?"
"...lend an ear for a sec, huh?"
His eyes went back to normal in an instant.
"...i never would've got to know you if i'd blasted you into oblivion just outside the ruins. never would've known how much you were gonna mean to so many people. look at everyone down here. they love you. gerson, the temmies, alphys, that kid from snowdin...papyrus. him, especially. you might not realize it, but you've done a lot for him. if it weren't for you, his spaghetti would still be trash...and his friend count would still be stagnant. i guess i've got you to thank for a few things...besides, the past is in the past; i decided not to fry you, and look what i got out of it...a bit more happiness. so i guess i made the right choice, huh?"
Ginger nodded.
"i didn't really trust you all that much in the beginning, ging'," he admitted. "but i knew there was just...something about you that i could work with. i mean...hey. the lady in the ruins apparently isn't the ONLY one with a taste for corny humor."
"Hm..." she scoffed. "...No."
"so quit being such a numbskull and relish in some more of my skele-puns."
"...Heh...Heh heh...Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...!"
It wasn't long before both of them were laughing, and it wasn't until their sides started hurting that they realized that they had several eyes on them from different tables.
"Hey, you know? I really shouldn't be actin' all salty about it," Ginger told him. "Almost everyone's wanted to kill me at some point down here, right?"
"yeah, heh...so. pals?"
"Pals."
They met with another firm handshake across the table.
"ey, come on. let's get outta this stuck-up joint. these peeps are too refined for us."
"You don't have to tell me twice."
...
"Well, that was amusing," the human remarked when she opened her eyes, carrying her cloak on one arm. "Oh...We're back outside, eh?"
"hey. you can make an entrance in there this way...huntress."
"D'oh, stop it, you dork!" she chuckled.
"heh heh...heh...heh. welp, gotta head back to snowdin. anything else?"
"No, that's it. I, uh...I'll bust you guys out of here and we'll all see each other again when I do."
"lookin' forward to it...well, hasta la vista," Sans bid, extending his arm one more time. "take care of yourself kid...'cause we all care about you."
"Will do," she nodded, meeting him...
"...Oh, to hagsmire with this. Get over here!"
"wh-"
Before he could ask anything, the skeleton was pulled in and wrapped securely in an embrace.
"...heh."
He returned it, giving the Huntress a few good, firm pats on the back before they separated.
"...cool. thanks for that...well...later."
He headed back towards the alleyway.
"See you under the stars!"
"...bye, kid."
He disappeared around the corner. Ginger already knew that if she looked that way, he wouldn't be there. He had his...own way of doing things.
She flung her cloak back on, and was just about to head back inside when she saw something on the ground.
A piece of paper, it looked like. Maybe a flyer of some sort. She picked it up and read the glittery purple ink scrawled out on it.
"Hey!
Go up the creepy
alleyway on the
right for some
great deals!"
"What..."
She looked down said alleyway. There was graffiti on the wall and the ground that way.
And having not grown up around alleyways, she trusted it well enough, walking swiftly down it.
She turned a corner, and behind the hotel, there was a small table covered in a sparkly pink cloth. There was someone running it, but whoever it was didn't seem to be aware of her yet; the figure was messing with things on the ground behind the table, it sounded like, and their green, scaly, ridge-backed tail swayed back and forth in the air.
"Um...Hello?" she asked.
"Ooh! Customers!" the monster's starkly female voice sounded, her reptilian tail swishing a bit faster as she stood up straight and turned to face the human. Ginger quickly found herself face to face with...
An alligator.
With hair.
And the creature looked just as shocked as she was.
"Oh. My. God," she uttered, putting her hands over the tip of her snout. "...The Huntress."
A.N: Uh...
Sorry, Soriel shippers.
But Toby said it himself.
Boy...I'm running out of ideas on what to say in these author's notes, but I don't intend to stop; I've been doing it since chapter 1. So use the time you'd usually waste reading this and go do something productive...Or you could browse dank memes. Whatever floats your boat.
Finally got this done; I tried to have it done earlier, but all of my writing got deleted the other day because the internet went out in the middle of my work and I HAD TO WRITE IT ALL OVER AGAIN AHH.
Aight, Imma head out. See you guys next time! :D