The elevator up to New Home was fast, but it still felt like it was taking too long. Coraline was glad that she was the only one in there and with no cameras, either hidden or visible. She fixed herself from the fight with Mettaton, adjusting her clothes again (he had insisted she take off her raincoat, as it wasn't fashionable for a fight), check and see if she had gained any bruises or cuts during the fight, and tried not to think about what Alphys had told her.
The elevator slowed and the doors opened. Coraline stepped out of the elevator in a daze.
New Home looked like the Ruins. Not just in terms of general design; down to the cracks in the brick and the uneven levels of tile. The only difference Coraline could truly spot were the houses, and only that there were more of them.
Or, perhaps, the spider houses were too small from her to see from her vantage point in the Ruins. She missed the spiders in the Ruins. The spiders in Hotland were mean and charged too much. Her adventures in the Ruins felt so far away, like the memories of her playing before she moved. The Ruins were the start of a grand adventure. New Home felt like the end of a long battle.
Froggit blocks the way.
"I didn't think there were any more Froggits in the Underground," said Coraline. She remembered meeting the Final Froggit in the CORE.
The Froggit stared at her. It let out a low croak, and spoke.
"A long time ago, a human fell into the Ruins. Injured by its fall, the human called out for help…
"You've done well, child," said one of the lost souls. "But she won't play fair with you. Flee, while your soul is still yours."
"She grows desperate," said another. "She did not prepare for you, the way she did for us. She will treat you like any other child that comes into her possession. She will think she can still trick you. You must not let her."
The Other World was becoming a formless mass, the same way the space beyond New Home had been. The only thing that was left was the house, and somewhere beyond that, the way to the Underground.
This was it, Frisk knew. The moment of truth. The unravelling time.
*File Saved.
The Other Toriel sat in her chair, and stared at Frisk with black button eyes. She did not look much like Toriel anymore, they realized. Toriel was tall, and her horns and teeth were sharp, and she was a ghostly pale. But Toriel always had a way of making herself as non-threatening as possible. Now, it was like the Other Toriel was not even trying. There was no point for her to keep up the illusion, maybe.
"You've come back," said the Other Toriel. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
Frisk reached into their pocket and pulled out the lost souls. The Other Toriel reached for it, with fingers that were more like knives than Toriel's claws, but Frisk pulled back.
Exit first, they signed.
The Other Toriel was silent for a minute. Her face was unreadable, but Frisk could tell she was not happy.
"Very well," said the Other Toriel. "Follow me."
She stood from the chair, and Frisk followed them down the stairs.
They should have expected it to be in the hidden corridor, they realized. Even if the rest of the Underground had been moved in this world, it was where they were always meant to go when they asked.
It was too easy, Frisk realized.
"You won't find what you're looking for out there," said the Other Toriel, in a tone that made it sound like she knew what she was talking about. "I've seen your family. The real one. You're so lucky I made this world after those monsters you care so much about. Your family does not love you. Not like me."
She did love them, Frisk realized, in the same way Frisk loved real butterscotch cinnamon pie.
T-O-R-I-E-L, they signed, and this time they made sure to sign the E right.
"After all the trouble you cause them?" The Other Toriel asked.
Fix, they sighed.
"You won't break them out of the Underground. You couldn't even save yourself," said the Other Toriel. "And what do you expect to find when you do go back? Need I remind you why you climbed that mountain in the first place?"
They approached the door.
"But if you don't believe me, go ahead," said the Other Toriel, and she opened the door.
The other side was dark, darker, darker still. They knew nothing was going to be on the other side, anyway. They let themselves Check, and found three souls and something else waiting for them in the darkness.
"Well?" The Other Toriel asked.
Frisk took a deep breath, summoned all of their Determination, and threw themself at the Beldam.
It barely constituted a Fight. The Other Toriel was big, but she was not heavy, and she toppled over easily. In the darkness, three souls reached out for the Beldam and pulled her in closer. Frisk pulled themself off the ground and slammed the door shut.
The door shook and shuttered as the Beldam banged on it from behind. They forced themselves on it. The Beldam shirked behind them. More hands joined theirs. WD Gaster leaned against the door.
"½–Á" He said.
Frisk could imagine what that meant. They ran, and scrambled up the stairs to the house.
The walk from New Home to the castle was long, and once the other monsters left her, lonely. No one else stopped her as she reached the castle. She entered the Throne Room with hesitance, feeling like a lost little girl.
Coraline summoned all the bravery she had and looked up at the King.
The throne room was thick with garden. Golden flowers and leaves filled so much of the room that the throne looked like an afterthought. Perhaps it was, for Coraline would later see the one throne covered in sheet and tucked into the corner of the room.
Right now, her eyes were on its sole occupant.
"Dum dee dum…oh? Is someone there? Just a moment. I have almost finished watering these flowers…here we are!"
The King of All Monsters turned to Coraline.
He looked like Toriel. Not exactly like Toriel, of course. His horns were much larger, and perhaps they should have been menacing. A mane of golden hair sprung from his head and decorated his chin. Even the purple gown he wore was similar.
"Now, how can I—"
King Asgore stopped as he saw Coraline. He flinched, ever so slightly, as if Coraline had struck him. He turned away from her, eyes looking down on the flowers.
"I so badly want to say, 'Would you like a cup of tea?'" said King Asgore. "But…you know how it is. You know what we must do."
The house was still there. The way back home had to be as well. They threw open every door, checked every closet, and found themselves tumbling into the room under renovations.
They were forced to duck as they entered. The door was a lot bigger than the tunnel it led in to. They did not take long to observe their surroundings, for the screams of the Beldam were getting closer. They crawled.
When the tunnel ended, Frisk found themselves tumbling into a house.
As soon as they caught themselves, they moved an armchair in front of the door, lest the Beldam found a way to escape. There was a lock on the door, and the scavenged the house for the pairing key. It was only when they found it, and the door was locked, that they allowed themselves to breathe.
They were in a house. It was not Toriel's house, or even a house they recognized. It was a very old house—it had an attic under the roof and a cellar under the ground and an overgrown garden with huge old trees in it. It was not really one house, it was much too big for that. It was called the Pink Palace.
They found other people. Two women lived in the flat below, and invited Frisk over for tea. The thought of tea made their stomach churn. One man lived in the flat above, and talked to them for a bit about the mice he was training.
Yet they could not find the people who lived in the flat they found. Eventually, the sun set, and their exhaustion caught up to them. They had to find a place to stay for the night. If nobody was in the flat, then maybe they wouldn't mind if they stayed the night.
The flat was lived in at one point. Only half the house had been decorated with photos and knick-knacks. The other half lay in cardboard boxes that had yet to be unpacked. A thin layer of dust covered everything. Most of the food had gone bad, but Frisk found some crackers that sated their hunger for now.
There was a doll in one of the bedrooms that looked a lot like one of the girls in the photo. It stared back at them with black button eyes. Frisk decided to avoid that room, and instead settled on the armchair.
They had not slept for very long, when they were awakened by a black cat.
It was larger than most house cats, but not by much. Its fur was dirty and matted, its ears were chipped, and its whiskers stuck out and bent at odd angles. It stared back at them with dazzlingly blue eyes, too focused for any wild animal.
Frisk decided to wave.
"Good morning," said the Cat. "You are not Coraline."
Frisk tilted their head in confusion. They tried to sign, but the Cat's expression did not change. Instead, they got up and looked around the house for a notepad and a pen.
Do you live here? They wrote. Their handwriting was messy and there would be words they could not spell, but it was an effective way of communicating for now.
"No," said the Cat. "I take it you don't, either."
Sorry. Frisk wrote. Thought it would be okay if no one else was here.
"Yes, I wonder why no one is here," said the Cat. "I've been here many times. There was a girl here. She was rude and obnoxious and stuck her nose into things she didn't belong, but she was here. I can't find her this time. Not here, not in the other world."
The Cat leaned in close. "Instead, I find you. So where is Coraline?"
Frisk's breath hitched. This must be Coraline's house. They arrived here when they Reset. Coraline must have filled their place. Coraline must be in the Underground now. And without the ability to Save or Reset…
The Cat backed away from Frisk.
"I take it you know?" They asked.
Frisk nodded. They could still fix this, they decided. They had to go back to the Underground anyway. If they Reset now, maybe Coraline would come back.
I'll find them, they wrote, and *Reset.