Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers, mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.
Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.
"it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming...on days like this, kids like you…
Should be burning in hell."
In the back of their mind—because that was all they really could do at the moment—Frisk wondered if sans rehearsed that speech. He said it the same way nearly every time, only changing when he stopped to fire a Gaster Blaster at them halfway through. They knew that he knew about the time loops, but his knowledge came from notebooks and journals meticulously kept for someone so lazy. What memories he had came through nightmares.
In a way, Frisk envied him.
The battle started. Frisk felt their sins crawling along their back. The body moved forward, the soul dodging every attack as best it could, all without Frisk's thought or input. Neither had been Frisk's for a very long time.
sans had stopped his attack. He still dodged theirs, but didn't move otherwise. Sweat poured from his forehead, surprising since he didn't have skin cells.
"uh. hey. you really like swinging that thing around, huh?" The skeleton said. The attack stopped, if only for a second. "listen. friendship. it's really great, huh? let's quit fighting."
sans was sparing them.
And Frisk so desperately wanted to accept it. Find a way to restart everything from the beginning and be especially good. Their body, however, wasn't listening.
After all that, you still think you're in control?
Something wet was moving on their face. Blood, Frisk reckoned. It couldn't have been their tears if their body wasn't theirs anymore.
sans dodged the slash of the knife.
"well. it was worth a shot, anyway."
Their soul collided with another attack, and ripped in half.
Game Over
"if we're really friends, you won't come back."
He was probably right.
* Reset
One is a Bird
An Undertale/Coraline crossover fanfiction
By the Poor Sap Advocate
Chapter 1
When Coraline woke up, she had no idea where she was.
It took her a minute to pull herself off of the cold earth and think back. She had been exploring the new apartments, she remembered that much. Her Dousing Staff had only led her to an old empty well…
She then realized just how dark it was. Her eyes ran to the only source of sunlight in the room: above. She had fallen, she realized. It must have been that old well. Still, she survived.
A pang of worry echoed in the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite figure out why. This would be a much better place to explore! Perhaps down here she could find something actual of worth, like mice that actually sang and danced, or a talking cat, or…
A golden flower, looking at her with a very confused expression.
"Huh." The flower said. "I honestly wasn't expecting that."
"Wasn't expecting what?" Coraline asked, equal parts confused and offended.
The flower's expression changed, as if it thought of something. "Oh, nothing. You're new to the Underground, aren't ya? Well, how about I teach you how things work around here?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, let me show ya!"
The world flickered, like a candle. Coraline's attention fell to the orange heart hovering in front of her.
"That's your SOUL!" The flower said. "It's the very culmination of your being. It can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."
"LV?" Coraline repeated.
"Love!" The flower said, as if he weren't quite sure himself.
A group of white seeds hovered around the flower. "Monsters can share love with you with these…little white friendliness pellets! So go ahead! Catch as many as you can!"
Coraline froze in place as the little white friendliness pellets moved towards her Soul. It didn't quite feel like love. It hurt quite a bit.
"Wow. You're just as dumb as they were." The flower spoke again.
More pellets surrounded Coraline's SOUL.
"DIE."
The flower's laughter stopped abruptly. Coraline looked up from her Soul, no longer surrounded in white. She looked up further, where she saw a figure.
"My, what a loathsome creature, torturing a poor, innocent youth…"
When Frisk woke up, they had no idea where they were.
It took them a minute to realize that their body was theirs again, and they could get up whenever they wanted. When they did, they noticed the room wasn't one they recognized. It wasn't the Judgement Hall, like they had feared. It wasn't the entrance to the Underground, like they had hoped. It was a bedroom, and it looked a lot like Toriel's.
Remembering what happened to Toriel the last time they had met sent a wave of nausea over Frisk. They reached for a SAVE file.
Nothing happened.
Had they ever Saved in Toriel's house? They couldn't quite remember. Frisk had never stayed around in Toriel's house long enough.
This wasn't Toriel's house, they realized. It looked a lot like it, but it wasn't quite right. There was no basket full of shoes that had not been worn for ages. The toys lacked the layer of dust, like they had been used recently. Smells of butterscotch and cinnamon and fire magic didn't hover in the air.
Something was wrong.
Frisk bolted from the room and rushed to where they knew Toriel would be. Her reading chair. She was always in her reading chair, no matter what timeline Frisk found themselves in.
They found Toriel in the kitchen.
It was Toriel, unmistakably. The same white fur, if a little brighter, the same purple tunic, if a bit nicer-kept, and the same motherly aura about her. Yet she was different. Her Soul, Frisk realized, was different. They didn't quite know how, or even how they knew; the first time they had ever analyzed a Soul was when they first entered the Underground, and things haven't changed much since then.
When she turned around from the stove, Frisk realized the biggest different. Two, black button eyes.
"Hello my child," She spoke. "Did you sleep okay?"
Frisk fought to keep a straight face. Their hands shook as they signed, though that was often the case. They weren't sure if they had signed that correctly, or even if it was spelled correctly. They had never thought of a nickname for Toriel that was easier to sign, and now they weren't sure if they were allowed to.
The thing that was not Toriel's face contorted, for just a second, into confusion. Frisk recognized the face easily. Few people they spoke to knew sign language. Even less would sign back to them. Toriel was the first, and one of the only.
"Oh. I'm the Other Toriel, my child." She said. She didn't sign back. Once Toriel figured it out, they would always sign as they spoke.
"Everyone has an other mother," the Other Toriel continued. "I thought this form would be more…acceptable to you."
That one was true. Frisk may have never thought of Toriel as their mother (only once. They wouldn't let themselves do it again.), but even Jerry was preferable to their real mother. If this other Toriel had thought that far ahead, then perhaps they were nice?
"Now then, why don't you go wash up and find your other father, so we can have dinner?" the Other Toriel said as she worked on carving the pie. "It's been a long time since you've had a proper meal, hasn't it?"
Toriel was married? This Toriel was married? Frisk had never seen another person in the house…or really anyone Toriel interacted that wasn't sans. But the idea of a proper meal, especially one that wasn't made of dust and magic, was too pleasing for Frisk to turn down.
Frisk poked their head over the Other Toriel's shoulder, just quick enough to see what the pie was made of.
Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie
At least it isn't snails. Does not heal, but is part of a balanced breakfast.
Even when they were at their worst, Toriel's pie always healed. They wondered if the Other Toriel just didn't get the recipe right.
The figure in front of Coraline looked equal parts goat and equal parts human, standing on two feet yet covered in white fur. Despite her rather impressive size, the sharpness of her teeth, and the two horns on her head, she seemed to be doing everything in her power to appear non-threatening.
"Do not be afraid, child. I am Toriel, the caretaker of these Ruins." She spoke.
Toriel bent down and offered Coraline a hand. Coraline took it, if only to pull herself back up.
"I come through these Ruins every day to see if anyone has fallen down." Toriel continued. "You are the first human to come down here in a long time. Allow me to guide you through the catacombs."
If she held onto Toriel's hand a little longer, she didn't realize. And Toriel didn't let go until Coraline did.
Frisk found the Other Toriel's husband outside the house. He was a large goat-like monster like she was, with bigger horns on his head, a wilder mane, and a rather well-kept beard. He even wore a similar tunic to Toriel's, but for some reason Frisk couldn't understand, it looked out of place on him. Like the Other Toriel, his eyes were big black buttons, carefully sewn in.
But what Frisk noticed first was the garden. Outside of Toriel's house was rather dry, with only one old tree where the leaves fell off the second they could grow. Here, the ground was nearly covered in lush greens, with only a walkway of stone to interrupt it. Flowers blossomed from every corner of the yard; bright blues and deep reds. The tree was ripe with flowers of all sorts, yet there were still plenty of fall leaves around it that Frisk could jump into if they choose to. And there was sky, dark and covered in stars.
No golden flowers were in the garden, although the real Underground was full of them. Frisk wondered if that was intentional.
"Is someone there?" The other monster asked. "Just a moment. I have to finish watering these flowers…Here we are!"
He stood and turned to them. He towered over the child, but they weren't intimidated. Rather, they were curious. He looked familiar, in a way that Frisk couldn't describe. They had seen him before, but not in a Reset. And if it wasn't a Reset, they had no idea where else he could have come from. The phrase "Mr. Dad Guy" entered their mind, but they had no idea why.
"Howdy!" Mr. Dad Guy said. "How may I help you, little one?"
Frisk signed to tell him breakfast was ready. A similar strain of confusion entered the other's face as he interpreted the signs, but it passed just as quickly as it had with the Other Toriel.
"Let us not keep her waiting then, shall we?" said Mr. Dad Guy.
Mr. Dad Guy walked Frisk back through the house and to a dinner table that Frisk was sure was never in Toriel's house. Toriel rarely had other people she could eat with. Even they had not eaten directly with Toriel. Pie had always been left in the room when they slept, but that was not a meal and it was not eaten with her.
Maybe the Other Toriel realized this, and that's why the table was piled with more food than Frisk thought one could make. A golden-roasted chicken, fried potatoes, tiny green peas. Spaghetti covered in a sauce of finely smashed tomatoes, greasy burgers and fries that smelled like Grillby's, instant noodles, a three-tier cake with Welcome Home! written in icing cursive. Small cars moved along the table, depositing gravy for the meats and ketchup for the burgs. A butterscotch-cinnamon pie sitting at the center of it.
"Aren't you going to eat, young one?" Mr. Dad Guy asked.
With all the Resets, Frisk had forgotten the last time they had a meal of human food. They had forgotten a long time ago what it was like when that food was freely given. They shoveled as much food as they could into their mouth.
"We have been waiting for you for a long time," the Other Toriel said. "It wasn't the same without you. But we knew you would come home one day. Perhaps tomorrow you can help your father in the garden. Or I can show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I can even prepare a curriculum for your education."
In the end, Toriel didn't guide Coraline through the entirety of the Ruins. She left her someplace safe, where she could wait while she ran errands. Coraline, however, decided to explore herself. She met Vegetoids and Migosps and a whole variety of creatures she could have never thought of. She bought donuts from a bake sale run by spiders. She would talk to Froggits and Moldsmals, and though they rarely moved beyond hip-wiggling and ribbiting, their conversations were quite meaningful.
She explored the Ruins until she came across a tree where leaves dried off as soon as they grew, and behind that, a house. Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the middle of the Ruins filled Coraline with something, but she wasn't sure quite was.
She didn't think of getting closer until she saw Toriel exit, a bag of groceries in her paws.
"My child!" said Toriel. "Did you walk all the way here?"
"It wasn't too bad," said Coraline. "I had to do battle with a ghost, but it was okay because I complimented their hat and they let me go."
The best part of saying that was that Coraline was not making any of that up. The second best part was, though she looked annoyed for just a second at the prospect of anyone fighting Coraline, Toriel laughed and smiled and believed her. Her mother never did any of that no matter what kind of story Coraline told. She usually just shrugged her off and told her to do chores.
It was the first time in her time in the Underground that Coraline thought of her mother.
Toriel lead Coraline through the house. She showed her a room she could stay the night in. They had butterscotch cinnamon pie for dinner. Coraline read through old books of monster history until she realized all textbooks were rather dry.
But then Coraline had to think realistically. She had to get back to the Pink Palace.
"Thank you for everything, Miss Toriel, but I really need to get back home," Coraline said. "How do I leave the Ruins?"
Toriel grew quiet. With her paws shaking, she removed her reading glasses and rose from her chair.
"I'm afraid there is something I must do, little one. Please wait here."
She left, and then Coraline grew nervous. She followed Toriel, down the stairs of the house and into a dark corridor that didn't look at all like the tidy home. When she found Toriel, it was in front of a large door.
"You truly wish to return home, do you not?" Toriel asked. "Ahead of us is the exit to the Ruins. And I am going to destroy it. No one will be able to leave again. Now run upstairs."
"I have to get home! To my real mom and dad!" said Coraline.
"You are just like the others. You come. You leave. You'll die. He…ASGORE…will find you. I am only doing this to protect you."
"I can defend myself. I want to get home."
"Then prove it. Prove you're strong enough to survive."
A FIGHT broke out. Toriel blocks the way.
Coraline grew used to the feeling of her Soul leaving her body. However, she was not used to the feeling of monster bullets hurdling towards her. It did not help that Toriel's bullets were flames, raging with heat as they passed and singing her jacket and Soul as they hit.
Yet Coraline stayed determined. She was perhaps not the best at dodging, but the FIGHTS with the other monsters of the Ruins had prepared her well. It was no different than her father moving around the hornets. She ran through the flames, letting her jacket take what she couldn't allow her Soul to hit.
"Why are you fighting me?" Coraline asked. "I thought you wanted me to stay safe!"
"I do," said Toriel. "This is what's best for you!"
"You think trying to kill me is what's best for me? How is that different than those monsters you want to protect me from! How is that different than Asgore!"
The flames returned, tenfold. Coraline couldn't dodge them all.
As she pulled herself off the floor, she looked through Toriel. She looked shocked at her own power, eyes wide and paw covering her mouth.
"Do not compare me to him," said Toriel. "Just fight already."
Coraline stood up, but did not move.
"I know you want to go home…but you must understand. I cannot lose another."
Toriel went down to the entrance of the Underground every day. How many children, Coraline realized, has she seen fall down? How many of them could she not save? How long was it before the last one left?
"Stop looking at me like that," Toriel said.
She couldn't.
"Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child."
"Their deaths aren't your fault," said Coraline. "And keeping me here won't solve anything."
"I understand. The Ruins are quite small, once you get used to them," said Toriel. "My expectations, my loneliness, my fear…for you, I shall put them aside."
The FIGHT ended.
"If you truly wish to leave the Ruins, I will not stop you," Toriel continued. "But please, do not come back. I hope you understand."
Coraline had no idea what to say about any of this. About the mother in mourning, about respecting someone who attacked her, about having to travel through the world of monsters alone. So she settled for "I did mean it. Thank you for everything you've done." and walked through the door.
Author's Note: This story is like the Hydra. Every time I think I've fixed a problem, five more pop out.
So hi. Hello. Welcome to Into the Unknown. This started just as a minor project for me to work on inbetween classes and now it's 4 years later and I'm still not finish. I did originally have this all posted up to part 5, however I decided to make some major edits and took the whole thing down, then totally forgot that I took the whole thing down 6 months later. So here we are. Right now, I plan to post one chapter every day until I'm caught up with my AO3 version, and then post on alternating Fridays alongside it. I still believe in this story no matter how many times it has kicked my ass, so hopefully you can find something of enjoyment here as well.