Chapter 2:
Toriel led me through the place until we got to the area with the monster candy to the north. Upon doing so, she gave me her spare cell phone and gave her number to me, which I was grateful for... but I also noticed something nearby. A yellow light on the ground.
"Is that what I think it is, Chara?" I asked her.
"Yes, that's a Save spot. If you save your progress, you can make sure that you'll survive for longer down here... I willingly let myself die, so even if I wanted to, there'd be no way of me getting to be... alive again," Chara said with a frown.
"So how come your spirit is still around even though your body and soul aren't?" I asked inquisitively.
"Because I had a high amount of Determination, I was able to stay around as a small spirit, though no one but you has been able to see me until today... well, minus one particular person... the one who happened to inhabit my old body after it had turned into nothing but bones," Chara said, me stopping in place right after I made the Save my own. Someone inhabited Chara's dead body?
"Who?" I asked in curiosity.
"You should know him. That is, if you ever did a Genocide path," Chara said, me thinking about that before I then noted her small stature and her head being a bit big for a kid. And it was then that I gasped.
"You mean... Sans?" I asked in surprise.
"Right... him... I don't like him and he doesn't like me. Despite you doing nothing but pacifist playthroughs, he knows of the other timelines of other players... and so do I," Chara sighed.
"Um... okay... do you happen to have any kind of souls in you?" I asked.
"No, I don't. I only have those souls in the systems from other players who actually had the gall to finish a Genocide path. Not in yours, both computer or Switch... odd name for a game console, though," Chara said, me smiling at that.
"It's called that because it's the only game system in my world that can act as a home console and a portable handheld gaming device," I smiled as we then moved past the first puzzle, it being the one with the holes in the ground... and as I got to the other side, I was face-to-face with a training dummy, one that wasn't in the rooms beforehand. It stood there motionless and I simply smiled at it.
"Hi there, buddy," I said, the dummy still staying silent as I then went to it and hugged it, the dummy being surprised before then finally speaking.
"Buddy... you're nice... thanks for the hug," the dummy said shyly as it then hopped away behind me and Chara smirked at me.
"You're not following the rules, I see."
"Maybe I don't have to, since I'm not from this world," I said with a smile as I then turned to move forward... only to be stopped in place by a strange-looking figure. It looked like a big black shadow and it looked very menacing, especially since I couldn't see any kind of facial features to it. "U-Um... H-Hi?" I asked... but when the figure spoke? I immediately knew I was in a different AU. It started to speak in Wingding language that I could actually translate, since I really wanted to learn a lot about Gaster in my spare time at home.
"ENTRY 18... GLIMMER OF HOPE. A HUMAN STANDS BEFORE ME... ONE WHO KNOWS ALL AND HAS SEEN ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD... THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT... IT MAY FINALLY RELEASE ALL OF US FROM OUR ENDLESS NIGHTMARE... WHAT DO YOU THINK, FALLEN CHILD?" the creature asked, me immediately knowing who it was. Gaster.
"G-G-G... You... what are you talking about? And how are you here?" Chara asked in shock and fear as I could see sweat beads pouring down her face.
"I TALK ABOUT THE STATE OF THIS WORLD. ALL THESE CONSTANT RESETS... EVEN FOR THE GOOD ENDINGS, I SEE ALL AND KNOW ALL OF THE DIFFERENT PATHS THAT CAN BE TAKEN... BOTH IN THIS ONE AND THE ALTERNATIVE REALITY KNOWN AS DELTARUNE... I NEEDED A CANDIDATE, ONE WHO KNEW LOSS, YET REMAINED POSITIVE. ONE WHO KNEW ALL ABOUT THIS WORLD, YET WAS NOT FROM IT. AND ONE THAT STUDIED THE VOID, YET AVOIDED IT AT ALL COSTS... ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE WHAT MAKES UP THIS NEW HUMAN. INDIANNE GAMMA, OUR ONE FINAL HOPE OF A HAPPY ENDING," Gaster said, though it took a bit of deciphering from both myself and Chara to figure out what the hell he was going on about.
"Are you trying to say that... you brought me to this world to try and stop the constant resets?" I asked in confusion.
"YES, FOR YOUR PLAYTHROUGHS, I WAS WATCHING YOU ALWAYS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SCREEN, OBSERVING FROM THE VOID... YOU SEARCHED FOR AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE ABOUT IT AND KNEW THE POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES OF THIS WORLD. YOU MUST FOLLOW THE PATH OF TRUE PACIFISM, GOING ABOUT IT HOWEVER YOU WISH, SO LONG AS ALL OF THE RESIDENTS OF THE UNDERGROUND ARE LEFT HAPPY AT THE END OF IT ALL. AND ONCE THAT HAPPENS, ONE THING MAY BE ABLE TO HELP OUR WORLD LAST. YOU MUST FIND SOME METHOD TO BRING BACK CHARA... AND TO PREVENT THE FALLEN PRINCE FROM HIS BAD ENDING AT THE END OF YOUR ADVENTURE," Gaster said, me looking at him as I could see a bit more... namely, I could see his white skull emerge from the darkness.
"And why on earth would I trust you? Every time that anyone tries to find out anything about you, the world suffers because of corrupted data," I frowned.
"BECAUSE, IF YOU RECALL, THE VOID WISHES FOR THE WORLD TO FORGET THOSE LOST TO IT. I CAN ONLY HAVE THE ABILITY TO SPEAK TO YOU ON ODD OCCASIONS WHEN YOU ARE NEAR A VOID HOTSPOT. THERE IS AT LEAST ONE IN EACH DIFFERENT AREA IN THIS UNDERGROUND... THERE IS ONE FINAL THING I MUST SAY BEFORE I LEAVE, HOWEVER," Gaster said, me listening intently. "WHEN YOU DO REACH THE REQUIREMENTS TO FINALLY SAVE THIS WORLD, THE WORLD WILL STILL LIVE ON, NO LONGER STUCK IN TIME LOOPS... BUT THIS ALSO MEANS THAT YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO RETURN TO YOUR OWN REALITY. ARE YOU OKAY WITH THAT?" When he said that last bit, I felt a little bit troubled, but I knew that there wasn't much left for me back home other than negativity and horrible people.
"I think I could... it's not like I have much to go home to, after all, since my family members were all killed by a deadly virus in one way or the other, everyone is being forced to stay inside against their will, suicides and murders are skyrocketing across the world, and the people in charge are doing absolutely nothing to help out. In fact, they're making it worse," I said with a frown, Chara sighing and rolling her eyes at that.
"And most people wonder why I don't like humanity..." Chara groaned. And then Gaster's apparition finally left... and we saw that, while we spoke with him, time had stayed stopped for the entirety of our conversation, since there was a Whimsun directly behind the apparition that didn't start to move until five seconds after the shadowy skeleton disappeared.
"U-Um... a-a-are you human?" the little fairy monster asked.
"Yes, I am. I'm nice though, I promise," I said with a smile... but Whimsun simply removed my soul from my body and, after doing so, she looked a bit shocked at my stats, which were still all nothing but question marks.
"U-Unknown?... I-I don't know h-how to...-" Whimsun was about to say before I approached her and simply held the tiny monster close for a small hug, the Whimsun gasping at that and crying loudly at the touch I provided.
"It's okay, hon... you can cry all you want. You're among friends here," I said, Whimsun sniffing in at that and continuing the cry for a bit until I then let go of her and she sniffed in a big booger from her tiny nose.
"S-Sorry... here... take some of this..." Whimsun said as she gave me a total of 20 gold coins, which I knew was not at all what she usually gave Frisk during his runs. Usually she offered 1 or nothing at all, depending on how passive you were. "I-I'm gonna tell my family... you're the nicest person I've ever met... bye," Whimsun said as she then flew off ahead of me very quickly, leaving me and Chara alone again.
"So, question of the day, how come she was scared when she saw my stats were unknown?" I asked, Chara smiling at that.
"Most stats here actually show how much defense, health, and attack you have. But for a select few monsters, like Flowey, G boy and you, the stats are mysterious, hidden behind FUN values... that's why she was scared," Chara explained.
"So Flowey also has a high FUN value, huh?" I asked, looking around a bit, since I knew he could be watching us from anywhere.
"Don't worry. If Flowey was near, I'd let you know about it... after all, your soul is very strong and I'm somehow able to resonate with it... if he's around, I'll have your chest start thumping a bit to let you know if he's around. Okay?" Chara smiled, me smirking at that.
"Okay then," I smiled as I then did the next puzzle with the rocks and the leaf maze until I came across one of my favorite characters in the game in the form of Napstablook the ghost. He and I had way too much in common, be it from having a love for music, us living mundane existences, or us having loved ones leaving us... though, Napstablook still had his cousin alive... I was the last of my family left alive after that horrible plague known as Sars Cov-2 (what? That's the name of the virus. It just causes the symptoms known as Covid-19). I noticed Napstablook was simply lying on the ground and he didn't move when I poked him in the face. So what did I decide to do? I laid down next to him and looked up at the ceiling.
"Hey, buddy?... You ever wonder why we're alive?" I asked, Chara smirking and deciding to do the same as Napstablook then looked at me and he gave a small, heartfelt smile.
"i... i dunno, honestly..." he said as he then looked at me in curiosity. "so... you like feeling like garbage, too?" he asked.
"I do. It helps clear my mind, passes time, and it helps me to escape from the horrid reality that is my life," I said, Napstablook chuckling a bit and me smiling at him as I tilted my head towards him.
"hehe... i like you, miss... what's your name?" he asked.
"Indie. Indie Gamma. And what's yours?" I asked.
"napstablook... i'm glad to have met you, indie... i think i'm gonna go head home now... bye," Napstablook said as he then simply phased through the floor, me smirking at that as Chara then nudged me in the side and I looked at her with a smile.
"That was actually quite wholesome, Indie... it made me smile from how sweet it was," Chara said to me.
"Me and Napstablook have a lot in common, despite our different backgrounds... while he's a ghost trapped Underground, I'm a human trapped in my house. Trust me, when you've been locked in a single house and can only leave it to get food and are forced to wear a face mask everywhere you go, it gets to you after a bit... and I've had to go upwards of 6 months straight of that same routine as I watched the whole world crumble away," I said with a frown.
"I believe it... the only upside is that the humans in this world are actually able to use magic, hence our souls having power coursing through them... it's just that the magic most humans use isn't really all that powerful," Chara said as she helped me off the ground and I smiled at her.
"Let's continue to Goat Mom's place," I smirked, Chara looking at me in confusion.
"Uh... Goat Mom?" she asked.
"It's a term me and others use to describe her... mostly from her caring and tender personality," I said that part in her ear as a whisper, Chara smirking and nodding at that.
"Oh, okay... so it's kind of like a compliment," Chara said.
"Indeed," I smiled as we then continued on our way through the Underground... though I did have to keep Gaster's words in my mind. What else would await me on my journey through this world with a FUN value so high that all of my stats were virtually unknown? I'd need to find out at some point... and what better way than to ask the one who probably knew the most of anyone in the Underground, the comic himself.