It took Coraline a moment to realize what lay outside the Ruins as the door closed behind her. The air was thick and cold, and as she stepped forward, her rainboots filled with snow. How did it snow underground?
She would have to go through the Underground alone, she realized, and at some point she would have to face whoever ASGORE was. It was going to be a lot more dangerous here on out. The adventure was over.
She tried to focus on something else.
"When I was a little girl," Coraline started. "When we lived in our old house, my dad took me for a walk in the wastelands between the houses and shops. It wasn't the best place to go for a walk, really. There were all these things that people had thrown away back there—old cookers and broken dishes and dolls with no arms and legs. Mom and Dad made me promise not to go exploring back there, because there were so many sharp things, and tetanus and such."
A branch snapped behind her. Coraline continued anyway.
"But I kept telling them I really wanted to explore it. So my dad pulled on his big brown boots and gloves and put on my boots on me, and we went for a walk. We must have walked for about twenty minutes. We went down the hill, down the bottom of a gully where the stream was, when my dad said 'Coraline, you have to get out of here. Right now!' He said it in a tight urgent way, so I did. I ran up to the top of the hill when I heard him thundering behind me. He scooped me up into his arms and swept me over the hill."
"really? what did he do then?"
Coraline nearly jumped as she heard the voice. Seeing who was addressing her didn't exactly help. A human skeleton her size, looking at her with empty eye sockets.
"woah. you okay there, kid?" The skeleton asked. "i mean, i can't say i know what 'jumping out of your skin' looks like…"
"You're a skeleton!" Coraline managed to exclaim.
"and you're not who I was looking for," said the skeleton. "the name's sans. sans the skeleton. you're a human, aren't ya?"
Coraline watched the skeleton carefully. The human skeleton in any form looked more than a little intimidating on principle, yet curiosity quickly overcame that feeling. He was dressed peculiarly; blue sweatshirt and turtleneck to fight off the cold, yet shorts and slippers to make him comfortable. His mouth was stretched thin in a smile, but it hardly moved as he spoke. A thin layer of sweat formed on his brow, impressive considering he didn't have any skin cells. He looked harmless enough, Coraline decided.
"I'm Coraline."
"hilarious," said sans. "listen, kid, we're on the lookout for humans right now, so you better—"
"SANS!"
"oh geeze…hey, why don't hide behind that lamp over there?"
Coraline barely had time to process that there was just a lamp on the outskirts of the forest before she dove behind it. Whoever that voice belong to, it did not sound friendly.
"relax, it'll be fine, just let me—"
Sans stopped. Coraline heard the sound of snow crunching under boots as someone approached.
"sup bro?" sans asked.
"YOU KNOW WHAT'S SUP BROTHER!" The newcomer said. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES! WHAT DO YOU EVEN DO OUT HERE?"
"look at this lamp," said sans. "pretty cool, ain't it?"
"YES, IT IS VERY…SANS, WHAT IS THAT?"
Coraline froze.
"what? it's just a lamp, isn't it?"
"SOMETHING WAS MOVING BEHIND THAT LAMP! " said the newcomer. "SANS, ARE YOU HIDING A HUMAN FROM ME?"
"uh…yeah."
"GREAT!" The other person cleared their throat before continuing. "ATTENTION, HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! AFTER THAT! I'M NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENS! IN ANY CASE, CONTINUE…ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH!"
The sounds of crunching snow grew fainter and fainter. Coraline only removed herself once it stopped completely.
"sorry about that," sans said. "my brother can get a bit excited."
"He said he was going to kidnap me!" said Coraline.
"relax. my bro won't hurt anyone," said sans. "i'll keep an eyesocket out for you."
"You promise?" Coraline asked.
"cross my soul and hope to die," said sans. "c'mon kid, if i were lying, you'd see right through me."
Coraline made a face.
"what? no good? c'mon kid, you gotta work with me. i've been working hard to make up some puns. you could say I've been working myself…
Frisk woke up in the room in Toriel's house again. They did not remember spending as much time in her house. Once they had tried to crawl back into bed and sleep everything off, but they were never able to fall asleep with Toriel's dust on their hands.
But this wasn't the same Toriel. It was the Other Toriel. It was a whole other world they could start to explore. Maybe this could be the start of a whole other Frisk.
At the thought, they jumped out of bed and raced into the living room. The Other Toriel was in the kitchen again, this time making a breakfast as extravagant as dinner was the night before.
"Good morning my child," said the Other Toriel. "Did you sleep well?"
Frisk nodded as they grabbed a Spider Donut off the table. It didn't heal and it was more crunchy than usual, but it was good all the same.
"I was thinking today you might like to explore around the house," said the other Toriel. "Or maybe you could help your father in the garden."
Frisk did not know how to sign explore, so they gestured for the first one.
"I thought so," said the Other Toriel. "Make sure to eat enough, my child. I've invited someone special to show you around."
The second Frisk finished their meal, there was a knock on the door. The other Toriel excused herself for just a minute to let them in. Frisk froze as they saw the white skull and blue hoodie. Their sins crawled along their back.
"hey, relax kid, it's just me."
The voice was sans', but not. It did not have that…thing, that sans' voice always had even at his scariest. Frisk allowed themselves to look up, and saw two black buttons where eye sockets should be.
"sans has offered to show you around," said the other Toriel.
"yeah. my bro's got some cool puzzles he wants to show ya," said the sans.
It took Frisk a moment to get their heart or soul or whatever to stop racing. It was the other sans. Not that sans. Even if it were that sans, he wasn't the one they should be afraid of.
Frisk decided to follow the other sans.
ABSOLUTELY NO MOVING
Coraline continued anyway.
"Did somebody move?" A voice asked.
That was what made her freeze.
A figure popped out from behind the station. It was as much dog as Toriel was goat, with a dog treat dangling out of its mouth. It moved closer to Coraline on hind legs, and looked closely. Its eyes were dull with age, the same way Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's were, and when it looked, it looked through Coraline.
Doggo blocks the way. Coraline didn't move.
"Could've sworn I saw something move," said the dog. It grabbed one of the swords off its back and spun it in its hands experimentally.
Coraline didn't dare to move. Even as the sword glowed a light blue and the dog monster ran it through her.
She didn't move even as she realized she wasn't hurt after that. The dog monster removed his gaze from her, and instead looked at his sword.
"Guess it's just my imagination," said the dog. "Swear I don't get paid enough for this…"
It turned, and Coraline found it in herself to move. She reached out for it, barely scratching its thick fur.
"WHAT!" It exclaimed. "I'VE BEEN PET! BY SOEMTHING THAT ISN'T MOVING! …I'M GONNA NEED MORE DOG TREATS FOR THIS!"
It scrambled back into the sentry station, and as soon as Coraline knew she was alone, she let herself laugh.
"heya kiddo."
sans stood in front of her. Coraline knew for a fact he was not there a second ago.
"here's something important to remember," said sans. "next time you see someone attack with a blue attack, don't move and it won't hurt you."
"I think I've figured that out," said Coraline.
"oh? Doggo give you a bad time?" sans asked.
"To be honest, I probably gave him a worse time," said Coraline.
"yeah. Doggo's great, but his eyes aren't what they used to be," said sans. "thinking of getting him a seeing eye dog."
Coraline laughed at the idea, before realizing sans was serious. Or at least, he was as serious as he usually was.
"Say, why didn't you try and tell me this before I got to Doggo?" She asked.
"oh?"
Sans looked her way. The lights in his eyes flickered.
"i wanted to see what you would do," he said.
Coraline didn't know what to say to that. This time, she really could not tell whether he was joking or not.
"don't let it get to your head, kid," said sans. "just think blue stop signs. it'll come in handy if you ever try to fight my brother. though, uh, let me give you a word of advice about fighting my brother…Don't."
Sans left as quickly as he arrived, and Coraline didn't know what to think.
The division between the other world's Ruins and the other world's Snowdin was firm and sudden, as purple floor tiles and flowers divided with snow and puzzle tiles in an even line. Frisk tried not to pay it any mind. It was much like that in the real Underground.
What Frisk was more curious about were the puzzle tiles. They lay across the snow haphazardly, as if whoever was setting them up had no idea how puzzles were supposed to work. At the center of it stood a skeleton with a bright orange scarf and black button eyes.
"sup bro?"
"YOU KNOW WHAT'S SUP BROTHER! I CAN'T SEEM TO RECALIBRATE THESE PUZZLES PROPERLY." The other Papyrus' attention turned to Frisk. "HELLO SMALL HUMAN. PERHAPS YOU HAVE SOME ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO WITH THESE PUZZLES?"
Frisk had not read Advanced Puzzle Construction for Developing Minds, so they shrugged.
"WHAT? YOU DON'T KNOW EITHER?" said the other Papyrus. "THEN WHO IS GOING TO SET UP THESE PUZZLES?"
"don't sweat it, bro," The other sans said. "not like we need to set these puzzles for humans anymore."
"YOU'RE RIGHT! THE HUMAN IS RIGHT HERE!" said the other Papyrus. "AND THERE'S NO REASON TO HOLD THEM AGAINST THEIR WILL. ANYMORE."
"right. thinking bout taking the kid to Undyne's for lunch," said the other sans. "could you get to work on that project we were talking about?"
"OH. YES. THAT THING," said the other Papyrus. "I WILL GET RIGHT TO WORK ON THAT, WHILE THE HUMAN IS AWAY. WINK."
The black button eyesocket of the Other Papyrus twitched, as if he were actually trying to wink. He ruffled Frisk's hair before he ran through the snow in the other direction.
"so, ready to go meet Undyne kid?" the other sans asked.
Frisk made a face. No matter what they did, they never recalled Undyne being friendly with them. At a point where she wouldn't throw a spear at them, maybe, but never friendly.
"hey, relax kid. this is the Other Undyne," said the other sans. "she won't hurt ya if she knows what's good for her. she was actually looking forward to teaching you how to cook."
Frisk gave the other sans a curious look.
"what, you didn't know that?" the other sans asked. "Undyne's taught my brother nearly everything he knows, even in this world."
That didn't exactly comfort Frisk.
"if you want, we can just drop in and play it by ear," said the other sans. "i imagine you know how to do that better than me."
Frisk giggled at the pun, and allowed the other sans to lead them.
The trip through the other Snowdin Town was as easy and abrupt as the trip through the Ruins. Before Frisk knew it, they were standing in front of a house from Waterfall that they recognized but never stepped in. Piano music poured from the open windows. Frisk didn't remember that. sans gave a few raps on the door. It swung open before he could finish the third.
The Undyne that stood in the doorway looked a lot different than what Frisk remembered. Even beyond the button eye, they couldn't recall ever seeing Undyne outside of her heavy armor.
"Heya punks! Ready for your cooking lesson?" The other Undyne asked, her button eye narrowed down at the child in a way that looked more intimidating than it felt.
"nah. think i'll sit this one out. kid's raring to go, though," said the other sans. "is Alphys around?"
"She headed out with Mettaton and his cousin," said the other Undyne. "They're trying to find out the perfect scientific strategy to playing Thundersnail so they can play it with the human later."
For a house that supposedly belonged to Undyne, it was rather cozy. It was well kept, with only a table full of tea pots and cups a sign that it had been used at all. The piano continued to play itself, two mechanical hands reaching around to hit the keys.
"Now then, let's start with your warrior training!"
It's the Greater Dog.
Sure, with the suit of armor, the Greater Dog towered over Coraline and was nearly double her width. Without it, however, it was just a dog. Dogs were easy to handle, Coraline realized.
"Come here boy!" She beckoned.
The Greater Dog raced towards her, flicking slobber into her face. Coraline reached down to make a snowball. She tossed it as far as she could. It splattered on the ground. The Greater Dog responded by bringing all of the snow he could catch in his mouth and bringing it to her.
Now dog is tired…the Greater Dog jumped from its armor and rested its head on her. Coraline reached out to pet it. Unlike the other dogs, the Greater Dog relaxed under Coraline's hand, and sunk its weight into her. It fired a few magic bullets into the air as it flopped on its back.
The Greater Dog is contented. It jumped back to its feet and gave Coraline a long lick across her face before jumping back into its armor. It walked away, its tail sticking out through the headhole.
It took Coraline a minute to stop laughing. As she did, she saw what lay ahead. A small town, visible only through house lights, connected to her with a bridge. Awaiting on the other side were two familiar skeletons.
"BEHOLD, HUMAN!" said Papyrus. "THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"
A series of traps suddenly surrounded Coraline as the gauntlet activated.
"WHEN I SAY THE WORD," said Papyrus "IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN!"
"What will the dog do?" Coraline asked.
"YOU KNOW? I'M NOT SURE?" said Papyrus. "BUT ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN! NOW BRACE YOURSELF HUMAN! BECAUSE I!"
Coraline looked around wildly for anything she could use to save herself. Even sans looked like he wasn't sure what to do. Perhaps she could grab onto the other side of the bridge and swing to safety…
"AM! ABOUT!"
But if she did that, she would have to scale the rest of the mountain…
"TO DO IT!"
Nothing happened.
"well?" asked sans. "what's the holdup?"
"HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I'M…"
Papyrus looked unsure.
"WELL, IT SEEMS THIS CHALLENGE MAY BE TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH," said Papyrus. "YEAH! I AM A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS, AND MY PUZZLES ARE ALWAYS EXPERTLY COOKED! THIS ONE SIMPLY WON'T DO!"
The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror was removed.
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" Papyrus asked. "ANOTHER DECSICIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH! …Heh?"
He was gone before Coraline could ask any more questions.
Undye's cooking, surprisingly, turned out to be edible. In fact, much like everything Frisk had found in the otherworld, it was the most delicious thing they had ever tasted. What made it even better was that Frisk got to make it themselves. Undyne had been surprisingly patient with teaching them how to cook. Though her method involved throwing a lot of spears, far less things caught on fire than Frisk had anticipated.
The other sans lead them back to the Snowdin area, where the snow had grown so high that the other sans had to pick them up so they wouldn't sink right through. He helped carry them up one of the taller snow poffs, where the Other Papyrus awaited with his racecar bed.
"SO THE HUMAN ARRIVES," said the other Papyrus. "ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR TOTALLY COOL TOUR PRESENTED BY YOURS TRULY?"
Frisk jumped in the bed as fast as they could. The bed shook under the added weight, and dipped down the hill.
The wind kicked up around Frisk's face as the racecar bed cruised down the hillside. The bed jumped into the air after hitting a snow poff, and a sail mechanism sprung up by their feet to keep the bed hovering. They sailed over luminescent flowers and tranquil waters of the Waterfall. They sailed over the lava pools in the Hotlands and the mechanics of the Core. The racecar kept sailing.
Frisk's interested piqued. They had never seen what lay beyond the hallways connecting Hotlands to New Home. They could make out a few buildings against the backdrop and the golden tiles of the Judgement Hall.
The sled fell, and there was nothing. The world that was began to fade away, as if someone had taken an eraser to a drawing. Gold floor panels faded into yellow flecks, and then into dots on a screen, and then nothing.
And Frisk was alone.
They called for help.
"Hush! And shush! Say nothing, for the Beldam may be listening…"
The fog grew deep. Coraline swallowed hard and fought through it. Even as her vision got covered in white, she could make something out in the distance.
Something blocks the way.
"HUMAN. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS."