:-"…A bump in the road..."-:
Shouting and sounds of fighting wake Frisk up.
At first they ignore it, assuming it's just Bernard getting his men to do daily exercises as always… but this time it seems different.
Before Frisk has the chance to come to any conclusions, however, they are violently ripped out from the carriage by a strange reptilian-esq appendage.
Once they get their bearings they realize that it isn't just reptilian, it has splotches of fish scales, streaks of reptile scales, and streaks of smooth jet-black skin.
Now completely awake, upside down, wet, and in shock, Frisk takes a moment to asses the situation.
Bernard is to their right… no left, they are upside down. Deborah is to the right… Wait, no… wait yes.
Bernard left, Deborah right. Kevin is directly ahead helping one of the other guards who looks badly injured.
A couple horses are… Frisk decides to look away from that particular scene of carnage; hopefully they died quickly.
The mass of what looks like a weird jelly fish made out of huge fish, giant snakes intertwined with giant eels, and various aquatic plant life continues thrashing about, grabbing things, and throwing them haphazardly.
After a blur of motion, the feeling of weightlessness, and then a few sudden hard impacts that knock the breath out of them, Frisk finds themself having been thrown several yards away from the carriages.
Marceline is with the rest of the guards, trying to help keep the strange creature at bay.
Frisk hesitates, but then they remember Chara in the SOCDev.
After managing to get their breath back, Frisk carefully and quickly makes their way back to the carriages.
But their plans are dashed aside as parts of the carriages, and a horse's leg, fly past them.
From their view, both carriages are are now broken beyond repair.
The group is stranded a third of the way to the Sanctum…
The guards, and Frisk's mother, begin to slowly back away from the creature as it begins to focus more on the two newly-dead, and eviscerated, horses. All of their horses are gone now. It looks like a few managed to run off, but… they don't have enough for everyone to get to the Sanctum, let alone back to Stag hill.
A faint red glow in part of the nearby wreckage catches Frisk's eye. They carefully go over to it and pull the SOCDev out of the shattered wooden corner of the carriage and put it on. They find their stick and other belongings as well.
Chara is quick to speak, "Frisk, RUN!"
Their mother says the same, "Frisk, run! Don't look back, just run! There's a ruined town nearby, don't stop till you reach it!"
Frisk ignores them both… They find that they are… oddly calm.
Ensuring no one notices, Frisk equips the MaPendant and tucks it under their shirt. They never thought they'd break their rule of "only one armour, one weapon, and one accessory…" Though, in hindsight, it was a silly rule meant to make the Underground more of a challenge; they're not in the Underground any more.
Clearing their mind and focusing on their breathing, Frisk slowly walks over to the still-rampaging mass of death.
The bodies of three guards, that are possibly dead, and six horses, which are definitely dead, lay motionless; this thing must have taken everyone by surprise.
It must've come from the river… so that means it's probably weak to electricity. Frisk hasn't practised that element yet. Maybe they can use their purple spears to force it back into the river?
No… Frisk thinks back to their last lesson with Sans…
They have to use that attack… the one Sans had them practice for days while stuck in a zone of paused time.
But they refuse… Instead, Frisk decides to use something they made all on their own.
They focus on their breath, then focus on their hands.
Now within range of the adults, Frisk has to evade them in order to get closer.
Marceline shouts at them and begs them to stay away, but Frisk ignores her and evades her grasp.
The creature grabs them as soon as they are within range, setting Frisk's gambit in motion.
Marceline yells in fear and tries to cut her way closer to Frisk.
Frisk firmly places their hands on the creature and releases all of their magic into it.
Pure, intent-free magic.
Being that they want to be a magical-anime-warrior-princess, Frisk decided to name it "Judgement" while training with Sans.
As Frisk's magic flows through the creature, it is changed and shaped by the creature's intent; but, because it still belongs to Frisk, it causes severe backlash within the creature.
The effect is akin to Sans' "karma" poison, but on steroids. The downside is that it requires Frisk to be touching the target, with their hands, which leaves them entirely vulnerable to attacks. This also makes it only useful against targets that are not expecting an attack.
Targets like Sans, who can take over another person's magic when it is close enough, are also harder to use it against since they can easily expel it.
As the magic rushes through the aberrant creature, a part of it is burnt to a crisp, a few parts are electrified, some parts explode with magic, a few dissolve, and the last remaining part… does nothing.
The core of the creature is seemingly untouched by the magic, and manages to get away. It scurries off into the river while making a frantic, high pitched, screeching sound.
Looking at the result fills Frisk with guilt, despite that it was the creature's own intent that harmed it… they can't help but feel bad.
The pendant kicks in and Frisk feels magic flow into their body. It feels invigorating, and distracts them for a moment.
They know it's silly to worry about hurting a creature that is killing their friends, and the innocent horses, but that's just who they are.
Frisk begins to turn around, but stops.
Marceline rushes up to Frisk to hug and chastise them for putting themself in danger, but Frisk isn't paying attention.
Frisk's focus is now on the very-not-whole bodies of the guards that fell trying to hold the creature off.
Some of them are missing arms, one is missing a leg, one… Frisk can't tell, there is just too much blood. None of them look like they're going to make it.
For a moment, Frisk feels like they should try to heal them… but they, somehow, already know that it won't work.
Bernard steps in the way of Frisk's view, "no need to look there, little warrior. Those men… they are going to be OK. Come on, we need to go to the nearby ruined town for refuge and parts."
Looking partly to the side, Bernard continues speaking, "Anthony, take Deborah and try to get as many of the horses back as you can. Be on guard for any more aberrations. Kevin tend to our wounded with the remaining guards, then get as much of the supplies as you can into the ruins… we are going to be here for a while."
Everyone departs and does as they are told, and Bernard picks Frisk up so he can make sure they do not see the dead guards strewn about the ground again.
With Marceline following behind, and Frisk in his arms, Bernard heads east away from the river.
After about ten minutes of walking they arrive at a relatively small desolate town. A long and thick path made of some strange cracked black stone extends from the east to what looks to be north north-west.
In fact, this path runs throughout the entire ruined town… it's bizarre to Frisk.
All the buildings look a little taller than Frisk is used to, and many of them are very far apart compared to the ones at Stag hill.
Bernard and Marceline continue into the ruined village until they reach a building with the Stag hill flag, which consists of the Addams family crest on a solid black background.
The building itself looks pretty strong, and it has some fancy shield on it that says "police." Frisk isn't sure what that's for. In addition to its sturdy design, additional fortification and barricades have been put up.
Upon entering the building, Frisk sees that there are a couple sealed boxes, an old map on the wall, a firepit, and various tools leaning against the walls. The floors are covered in dirt, and have some old tracks in them. This must be one of the buildings the scouts use when they survey the surrounding area.
One wall has a large and thick window in it that takes up most of the upper wall, and there is a room behind it; Frisk wonders why they designed it like that.
A grey metal door is in the back right corner of the room, on wall next to the large window, and is missing its handle; it has scratch marks and dents around where the handle was. It seems like one or more people were trying to get it to open.
Bernard sets Frisk down and says, "stay in here, Frisk. I'm going to help the others salvage as much of the supplies as possible."
Nodding, Frisk walks to the wall with the map on it and looks at it.
There are a lot of places marked on it, including two really large places. One of the large places is labelled "Candor city," and the other is labelled "Dreemurr peninsula."
A big red circle and an arrow that says "You are here" is pointing at a spot marked "Trag," and, based on how all the buildings look outside, it's probably a human place.
A lot of areas, like Candor city, are marked in blue, while others, like Dreemurr peninsula, are marked in Orange… Frisk decides to copy the map a little; at the least, they want to copy the marked areas.
Most of the map is faded, so, even though there are probably more places, they can't tell what all the places are named.
Looking back to the large circular area on the map, Frisk thinks about what they saw when their SOUL was taken from their body.
'That place I saw… it must be "Candor." Looks like a big human place, and… Dreemurr peninsula is obvious. I wonder… are these the places where humans and monsters originated? Why is that small island not on this map? Did they forget about it?'
Deborah enters loudly with a bunch of supplies, it startles Frisk and causes them to lose their train of thought.
Curious, Frisk asks, "want any help carrying stuff in?"
After tossing the supplies into an empty corner, Deborah waves her hand dismissively, "No Frisk, this stuff's all too heavy; thanks for offering though."
Deborah stretches a bit before continuing, "Besides, I'm ticked off at Anthony."
She continues in a mocking and falsely angry manner, "He says I'm 'too loud' to help get the horses back. Pfff, AS IF HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT! !I'M VERY QUIET! !"
As she leaves, she pats Frisk on the head and gives them a playful wink with a sly smile.
Frisk puffs up their cheeks and crosses their arms… they want to be helpful.
Chara seems to be more quiet than usual. Frisk expects them to have a billion things to say by now… maybe they're upset about Frisk not listening to them?
Frisk tries to get their attention, "Hey, are you upset with me 'Face Buttz?'"
No response.
Their shadow deepens.
"Well, it would seem things could have gone better. No?"
:-:
Frisk, wary of him, asks, "Why are you here?"
"A mutual friend called for me. It would seem that you cannot hear them."
"They say, 'that was awesome! Stupid, but awesome. Don't do it again. I think you fried the thingy.'"
"And, 'I'm gonna take a nap.'"
"Now that the messages have been delivered, I'm going to depart…"
"Don't use me as a messenger."
:-:
With him gone, and the revelation that the SOCDev is broken, Frisk decides to try using purple magic on the SOCDev to see what's messed up. They take it off, take Chara's SOUL container out, and get to work.
They do their best to use as little magic as possible, so that they don't use up all the magic in the pendant… however much that is.
A few minutes after starting, Frisk realises that the pendant hasn't given them any more magic… They decide to stop trying to fix the SOCDev. 'Well, I guess that answers that question. It'll recharge me once…'
Kevin enters with more supplies and notices Frisk with their device partially taken apart, and asks,
"Hey, whatcha doing Frisk? Are you sure you should be playing with it like that?"
Frisk shakes their head, "I'm not playing with it, I was trying to use magic to fix it, but I don't have much left; have to save what I have left, just in case."
Pondering the predicament, Kevin says, "well… there's something that we could actually really use your help with. See that door at the back of the room?"
Kevin points to the door near the large glass window, and Frisk nods, saying,
"Yea, I saw that… pretty mysterious."
Continuing, Kevin says, "well, some of the older folks have said that there are advanced weapons and armour behind that door, that this place used to be for law enforcement… like the guards in the village. If we could open that and get at those, we'd be a lot safer. There might even be some working vehicles and stuff to run them; Gas-o-lean I think it was called…. I never paid much attention to history class."
Frisk contemplates it for a moment… "well, how am I supposed to open it?"
Kevin walks over to the door and waves for Frisk to follow, "there are bolts that are being kept shut because of some technology; probably electric locks. If you can think of a way for us to get those bolts out of place, or cut them, we could get in and get the supplies. Not to mention, we would have a larger base of operations for the scouts."
Though he is just trying to keep Frisk distracted, Frisk is considering the risk versus potential pay off.
Frisk wonders, "wouldn't the supplies have been taken by the lawn force-mint during the great war? How do we know there's anything back there?"
Dismissively, Kevin waves his hand and says, "even if there are no weapons, there are other things back there that would help us. Wires, fabric cord, emergency supplies that may have been left. Anything would help; heck, just having the extra space would be wonderful."
Striking a dramatic contemplative pose, akin to Mettaton, Frisk thinks about it for a while.
Kevin pats their head and says, "while you think about it, I need to go and help get the rest of the supplies."
Bernard enters while Kevin is leaving and sees Frisk staring at the metal door, as if their eyes alone could open it. "Let me guess, Kevin filled your head with the possibility of 'awesome weapons?'"
The air quotes he used when he said "awesome weapons" were unneeded, but helped convey his doubt and sarcasm.
Embarrassed that Bernard caught on so easily, Kevin smiles slightly and rubs the back of his head as he leaves.
After placing the large load of supplies carefully in the corner, Bernard approaches Frisk.
Kneeling, with a hand on Frisk's shoulder, Bernard says, "you should rest. That trick you pulled must have taken a lot out of you. It is true that there may be things we can use behind this door, but it is also true that a lot of it is going to be old and possibly broken from age. We can't be sure if it is worth it. That's why we haven't forced the door open already. After all, a few pickaxes would take out this concrete wall pretty easily."
Frisk places their hand on the wall, "huh, so this type of stone is called concrete?"
Bernard chuckles lightly, "it is a little more than just stone. You will learn more when you get to the Sanctum. The village has mostly kept to teaching only what you need for survival, but the Sanctum has all the knowledge from the past… well, most of it at least."
Making up their mind about whether to open the door or not, Frisk weighs their options…
Bernard leaves to get more supplies.
After several minutes of contemplation, Frisk decides to use a trick Sans taught them back when they asked Alphys to make the SOCDev. They focus on their hands, gather a bit of Justice, and let it out in a pulse with the command words "pierce," "reveal," and "echo."
It comes back really fuzzy. The door must be too strong for them to see the parts inside of it… or some old magic is still active and disrupting their attempts.
Frisk decides that it's just too thick, so they try a stronger pulse. It comes back clearer, but they can't make sense of what they're seeing; the technology is unfamiliar.
Though they can't pick the lock mechanism, they can see very clearly how the bolts are being held in place… They decide that cutting the bolts would be easier, but they don't have enough magic to do that. Just seeing through metal is difficult with magic, but cutting metal is on another level.
They would try to break through the wall, but their pulse of magic didn't pierce it at all; it's probably protected by magic.
Marceline comes back with some supplies, and seems to be shaking lightly.
She drops the supplies and rushes over to Frisk, muttering in half-French half-English -"Frenlish" Frisk calls it-, she picks Frisk up and holds them closely.
Trying to maintain an even tone to hide her true feelings, Marceline whispers, "My child, my star, it would not be upsetting to me if you decide you do not want to try going the rest of the way to the Sanctum."
Frisk can tell that what she means is "I am terrified, please be terrified with me so we can go home!"
She is hoping that Frisk feels scared too, and they do… but they can't give up that easily; too many people depend on them.
Hugging their mom tightly, Frisk says, "I'm scared too, but we can't give up… we have to keep going."
Upset, but supportive and proud, Marceline replies, "as you wish, my brave little cherub…"
Marceline holds on to Frisk for a few more moments, before letting go and going outside to continue helping salvaging supplies.
:-:
Progress is slow, and careful, but eventually they finish gathering as much of the supplies as possible.
A significant amount of food was ruined by bugs while they attempted to salvage it.
Most of their boxed supplies are intact, including tools, clothes, and spare armour, but the carriages are beyond repair.
Five guards lost their lives… The group's outlook is grim.
As it stands, only Bernard, Deborah, Anthony, and three others are left to guard Frisk and Marceline on their way to the Sanctum; none of them have expressed any desire to head back to Stag hill.
…That doesn't mean they don't want to go back, however; morale is very low.
Word of Anthony returning with three horses reaches the camp in the ruined town, but, instead of him coming to the town, the last remaining guards are sent to help secure the area and put up defences; Deborah and Bernard stay back to continue salvaging and sorting the supplies.
Frisk continues looking at the metal door, wondering… planning… their curiosity is overflowing.
They want to see what's behind the door, and their mind wont let them think of anything else.
For a moment, they consider asking "the player" to help… but they shake it off as a silly thought.
Then an idea comes to Frisk's mind. On their own they cannot open the door, but with help it could be possible. If they could figure out a way to use magic to boost someone else's strength, then maybe they could break it down?
If Frisk remembers correctly, a skeleton with the aspect of bravery can enhance their physical abilities… What if humans can do the same thing? They are just skeletons with meat all over them, right?
Before trying something that could potentially be dangerous on someone else, Frisk decides to use themselves as a test subject. So while everyone else is moving supplies around, moving bodies, and trying to get the room set up for the night, Frisk is sitting and concentrating.
But a thought enters their head… 'If this place was known to the scouts, and thus Anthony, why did we camp near the river instead of coming here? Wouldn't it have been safer to come here?'
Frisk decides to ask later… but then changes their mind when they see Bernard.
Curiously, Frisk asks, "hey Bernard, why'd we camp near the river instead of here? It wasn't that far away…"
Before he replies, Bernard finishes setting a couple wooden supply boxes down and sits on one facing Frisk, "Well, little warrior, that's because the horses don't like this place. We aren't sure why, but they always get real antsy and spook easily when we're near it. Notice how we didn't set up a stable, even though this place has the Stag hill flag?"
Frisk nods, and contemplates the new information…
:-:
* The desire to find answers and fulfil their curiosity fills Frisk with Determination!
* A NEW SAVE STAR HAS APPEARED IN TRAG TOWN.
* FILE SAVED!
* FRISK FEELS REJUVENATED.
:-:
With their new boost of Determination, Frisk decides to ask Bernard for help with their experiment… after they work out how to actually do it. They clear their thoughts, and return to focusing.
Bernard returns to helping sort and count supplies while Frisk meditates.
As Frisk contemplates how skeleton monsters would enhance their physical abilities, they get an idea… an obvious idea.
'If using healing magic is all about putting good feelings and hope into the bullet as you make it, then maybe a similar thing can be done for enhancing strength?'
With the idea in their mind, Frisk pushes aside their fears, gathers magic within themself, and allows Bravery to take hold of their SOUL… Their SOUL begins to take on an orange hue.
Frisk focuses even more, but their SOUL doesn't change, it seems that Red-Orange is the limit.
Curious and excited, Frisk decides to try lifting something to see what they've managed to do.
It… doesn't work out. They still feel just as strong as before.
'Hmm… maybe I just made my SOUL stronger?'
Frisk checks within themself to see their stats, and they see that nothing has changed… They don't understand why.
Frustrated, Frisk tries to absorb the magic they used to no avail.
With a huff, they sit back down and try something else.
'Maybe… I need to put the magic into my body instead?'
A little voice in the back of their head advises against it, but Frisk tries anyway.
* FILE LOADED.
:-:
Frisk decides to never try that again…
Having no more ideas… the only thing Frisk can think of is to ask for help from the only one who can help them right now, but they don't like the idea of it.
Without any other options… Frisk thinks about how and when they are going to ask for help.
'He said "call my name" if I changed my mind… but I haven't, and I don't want him to think I have.'
Opting to stop stalling and get it over with, Frisk whispers, "Player."
The world stops and the room becomes darker. Eventually, the darkest spots extend and combine in the center of the room, causing a humanoid form to coalesce.
"Heh… Pardon my entrance, I like to be dramatic."
"Judging by your face, I'd say you haven't changed your mind. Why'd you call me?"
:-:
Frisk crosses their arms and replies,
"I… need help. I want to know how I can use magic to make someone stronger."
"I see… You are quite the independent one, aren't you?"
"Instead of asking for help out of the situation, you ask for help so that you can help yourself."
"Fair enough… but what's in it for me?"
:-:
Losing hope, Frisk replies, "I don't have anything I can offer you…"
"That isn't entirely correct. You have plenty that interests me."
"That necklace for example, the Artifact, and… your SOUL."
"I cannot expect you to part with any of those, of course… but you can still offer me your services."
:-:
Dubious, Frisk asks, "You need my help?"
A strange sound comes from the figure… Frisk thinks he's scoffing.
"I don't need help from anyone, but I have been put into a… tricky position."
"You see, I have this friend who needs my help… but here I am, unable to do anything because…"
"Well, to put it bluntly, because you are afraid of me."
"Anyway, I can't do anything to help them… but you can."
:-:
Feeling insulted, but seeing no other path, Frisk asks, "fine, what do you need?"
A grin forms across his face, which Frisk finds disturbing since it seems to stretch across his entire face.
"I thought you'd never ask. It is simple, really; I just need some ingredients for a spell."
"I need a diamond the size and shape of a SOUL, the seven Last Dreams in your pocket…"
"…and someone whose SOUL is Green paired with Red."
"A Green/Red SOUL is the only one who can perform the ritual."
"You can use magic to tell what their SOUL colours are."
:-:
Very hesitant upon the mention of the Last Dreams, Frisk says, "I'm not sure I can help with that. I was told by a very reliable source that I should keep the Last Dreams away from everyone."
"Ah, so Sans knows you have them. That's fine. He gave them back to you, didn't he?"
"Well, perhaps he never took them, but you have them because he gave them to you; no?"
"If there is anything you should know about Sans, it's that nothing he does is for no reason, …"
"That includes doing nothing. If he gave them to you, it means you need them for something."
"And the only thing they are really good for is a 'True Resurrection' ritual."
:-:
Frisk doesn't feel right about what he is saying, so they decide to call it off, "maybe I'll just figure out how to do it myself, and you can go be alone… and stuff."
"So be it. I have plenty of time. Say my name when you realizeyou were wrong to not help me."
:-:
The world begins to return to normal, but stops.
"Oh… actually, before I go, I have some not great news."
"Normally it would be fine to call me 'the player,' but it appears you've attracted their attention."
"Like I said, I just call myself that to be dramatic; it isn't my name."
"If you think I am a pain, you wouldn't want to deal with the one who owns that name."
"This whole 'you can't do anything here' demand of yours, that I'm abiding by, would be ignored."
"So, just call me… Actually, you should call me by my old name. CU-270."
"Fare well, Frisk. Good luck getting that door open without my help."
:-:
Not surprised that he knows what they are trying to do, Frisk looks to the side and coldly says, "bye."
The world slowly goes back to normal and Frisk uncrosses their arms.
'If that name belongs to someone else, that he seems scared of, why does he use it? Isn't that asking for trouble? At least that CU-270 is just a copy-thing of the one that is from here. I don't think the real CU-270 would act that way… At least, I hope not.'
Frisk continues thinking of ways to enhance someone's strength with magic, which is a slow process.
'My test with putting magic directly into my body made me erupt into a fire-y ball of stuff, so that's not a good way to do it… but what if I change how I attach the magic to my body? Maybe I need to give it instructions?'
Scared to test their hypothesis on themselves again, Frisk decides to try making something else stronger… but realizes that only living things could be tested on, and decides not to do that; so, they are once again going to try to imbue themselves with magic. 'Hopefully it works this time.'
Concentrating on their own body, Frisk decides to try enhancing only a small part of themself first; they opt to try enhancing one of their hands.
Frisk gathers a bit of Bravery, focuses on their hand, and sends the magic to their hand with thoughts akin to "empower" and "enhance."
… A few moments pass and Frisk's hand doesn't feel any different.
Disappointed, Frisk slams their fist into the ground in frustration.
Paired with how hard the concrete floor is, and how soft and squishy Frisk's hand is, their hand explodes as the muscles work harder than anticipated. Their hand is a bloody mess, with muscles and bones sticking out…
* FILE LOADED.
:-:
'That was really painful… but I think it worked? No fire at least, and my fingers felt like I was hardly using them… I need a way to keep my hand from exploding. Healing it at the same time would just be painful, and might make my hand look weird with scars and stuff. Maybe if I used purple magic I could make a magic glove thingy that keeps all my hand stuff inside my hand?'
Frisk doesn't have even a single idea of how to get that to work… So they opt to give it a rest for now and save their magic…
Fortunately, magic used before a LOAD is returned, even though Determination isn't.
:-:
With the supplies salvaged, the bodies of the dead guards are cremated one at a time. Their helms and swords are set aside to be given to their families.
One of the guards, that they presumed dead, wakes up in transit, and so they quickly bring him to the ruined town to begin treating him. When Frisk catches on, they decide that opening the door is less important than saving the guard's life.
So, when everyone is away, they walk over to his makeshift bed and gather up their magic, then generate as many green bullets as they can and send them flying at the wounded guard.
At first no one notices what Frisk is doing, but eventually everyone is watching with hope, and most of them with wonder.
Though not fully healed by the time Frisk runs out of magic again, most of his major wounds are reduced to minor wounds and his minor wounds are replaced by scars.
"Minor," however, is very relative. The guard is kept on bed rest until the morning, and Deborah keeps an eye on him for half an hour before moving on to other tasks.
Everyone is impressed by Frisk's healing magic, but no one talks about it…
Without anyone suggesting it, everyone has agreed to remain silent for a while; in honour of the fallen after their hasty funeral.
Morale is still low, even with Frisk healing the injured soldier…
Bernard and Deborah begin going over plans for an altered route to the Sanctum, while also trying to figure out how to get everyone there with just three horses.
While they go over the plans, Marceline takes a small portion of the rations and makes a meal for everyone; she has to take some of the food out of town for the others, since they cannot leave the horses alone.
By the time Marceline returns, Deborah and Bernard have figured out how to proceed and recruit her to help gather supplies for a new wagon.
Bernard suggests, "perhaps we should send for one of the others to come keep an eye on Frisk, and our wounded companion, before we go to find supplies."
Deborah nods and departs, still not quite feeling like talking yet.
While she is away Bernard and Marceline double check the supplies, and Frisk uses their stick, that they somehow managed to keep with them, to draw in the dirt on the floor.
Deborah returns with Kevin, then departs with Bernard and Marceline.
Kevin looks over to the injured guard, then over to Frisk, and asks, "so… I heard that you healed someone? That means you can do magic, huh?"
Frisk nods.
After some hesitation, Kevin asks, "how does it all work? Like… can you shoot magic out of your eyes, or just your hands? Can you only do so much magic in a day? Or…?"
Sighing lightly, not really in the mood to answer questions, Frisk replies, "I can shoot magic from where ever I want, and I can only use magic if I absorbed some first… but all the magic out here was used up by the barrier… The only magic left is in the Underground, where monsters were trapped."
Kevin places his hand on the back of his neck briefly, and says, "oh, well… I guess that makes sense. So, that means you've used up all the magic you absorbed while you were down there? Is it like… passive or do you have to… you know what, how about we play some hopscotch?"
Frisk nods and starts drawing a hopscotch path in the dirt, then finds a pebble they can easily identify.
While playing, Frisk decides to answer his questions anyway, "yea, I've used it all up. It's passive, like how your hands get all wrinkly when they stay wet for too long."
Kevin thinks for a while before replying, opting to focus on skipping the pebble just right, "thanks for answering… and… thanks for deciding to use it all to heal someone, instead of trying to open the door. I mean, for all we know there's nothing back there that's useful any more."
A brief pause, as a stone is tossed, and Kevin continues, "I know it must have been hard for you, but… thank you for making that river abomination go away. It isn't dead, so we should still be on guard, but at least we'll be safer for a while."
Frisk shrugs, "I don't want to hurt anything like that again… I thought it would be OK because of… complicated magic stuff, but… it still didn't feel OK."
Kevin pauses the game, kneels down next to Frisk, puts his hands on their shoulders, and says,
"Well then, Frisk, we'll just have to keep you safe enough that you never have to do that again."
Frisk hugs Kevin, and replies, "Thanks."
Kevin pats their back, then says, "I should go check on our wounded friend."
Letting go and returning to their dirt drawing of what appears to be a sword with legs, running through a maze full of hammer related traps, Frisk starts to wish they could talk to Sans.
If, somehow, it were actually OK to help the second CU-270… perhaps all of their problems would be solved?
Frisk decides that nothing good could come from having someone solve all of your problems for you.
They still wish they could talk to Sans though.
:-:
Several hours pass. It's dark outside now.
Kevin hears movement outside and carefully checks, keeping his sword at the ready.
He sighs in relief when he sees that it's Bernard, Deborah, and Marceline. They are carrying a large plank of wood with other supplies on top… It looks pretty heavy.
Bernard looks like he is about to pass out, and is rather sweaty.
Deborah and Marceline are rather sweaty too, but they are not as worn out as Bernard is.
Kevin rushes out to take Bernard's place, who relinquishes it more than willingly before saying breathlessly, "Put… huuufff… The supplies… huuffff… over there… huff," and points next to the entrance of the building. Once done, he slowly makes his way back inside to lay down and rest.
Frisk notices that he's entering and holds the door for him.
He pats them on the head with an inaccurate and unintentionally heavy hand.
It isn't painful, just a little unexpected.
With the supplies secured, and everyone back relatively safe and sound, Kevin departs to help guard the horses. Everyone gets ready to take shifts to keep watch, except Bernard who prepares to ache in the morning.
Sleep, however, doesn't come easy to those who try.
Deborah and Marceline take turns keeping watch, but neither ever really fall asleep; nor does Frisk…
Feeling pity for the group, the Failure named CU-270 decides to give them a much needed reprieve. He assists in keeping the lurking aberrations at bay, and lulls everyone to sleep.
Chara notices, and comments.
"Sigmund, you're intervening? I thought you were respecting Frisk's wishes?"
"Frisk can yell at me later, but they will eventually thank me."
"Mistakes are made more frequently when you are tired and trying to work, or fight."
"In this situation, every mistake can spell death."
"Fair enough. Thanks, Sigmund."
"Don't thank me… I'm just protecting my investment."
"Sure you are."
"Hey, why don't you want Frisk knowing your real name?"
"Well… It isn't my name yet."
"You should just be honest with us, stop all this smoke and mirrors stuff."
"If I could, I would… Sleep well."
"I'm not even-…"
Everyone sleeps soundly. Though they well panic in the morning, they will find that everything is just as they left it the night before…
The crickets refuse to chirp in the ruined town.