And so the adventures of Frisk continue, taking a rather unexpected turn… and leaving Frisk with a possibility that she hadn't even considered up to this point. An old enemy returns, warning of dangers to come.
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Chapter 6: Reset
Sans cleared his throat. "I suppose Megan is probably here for the same reason that I am." What? "With Toriel out of town for her monthly expedition to The Flowerbed to see if there are any more fallen humans…" What? "Pap was wondering if you had any plans for the next few days. He sent me to ask."
Frisk blinked, totally confused. Her brain attempting to take in what was going on around her. She was no longer in the horrifying scene at the ballroom. Instead, she appeared to be at Grillby's. She looked down and noticed that she was indeed carrying the platter and wearing roller skates. Then she realized that both Sans and Megan were staring at her, with confused expressions on their faces.
"Uh… nothing. Yes. I mean, yeah. Of course. Thank you." Frisk had to think quickly, but with everything going on in her head at the moment, it wasn't turning out very well. A reset… This was definitely a reset. But she hadn't died, and she most certainly hadn't activated the return to the past panel. Which meant that somebody else had her power now. How in the world had they gotten their hands on it? Come to think of it, she had absolutely no idea how she'd gotten her hands on it either. How did that power even work?
She shook her head to clear it of the thoughts. There would be time enough for that later. For now, Sans and Megan were staring at her with concern clearly notable in their eyes. "I… uh… gotta go." Setting the platter down on an empty table, and slipping out of her roller skates, Frisk bolted for the door. "Sorry guys!"
"Hey!" Grillby called out of the kitchen. "Where do you think you are going?"
"Break," Frisk replied simply, as she put on her shoes and slipped out the door.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Frisk headed for the tree where she had seen the shoe the day before. Well… Technically it would be later that day, but whatever. The storm hadn't started yet, so the temperature was typical for Snowdin. Although her outfit was arguably not made for that kind of weather, Frisk had long ago learned to deal with this level of coldness. Maybe this time, she wouldn't be too late. Maybe she could actually see who had the shoe, and quite possibly the ability to return to the past as well.
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Chara was furious, super furious. It was as if somebody were laughing at her, and she was absolutely infuriated. If she had control of Frisk's body, she would stroll up to the next monster who came into view and ring its neck tightly until it was dead. That would certainly have helped with her mood a little bit.
The journey to the past she so terribly despised, the instability of Frisk that he had literally waited FIVE – FREAKING – YEARS for and ended up missing, and then the realization that somebody had stolen her power. Her ability to return to the past was gone, and somebody was going to pay for that. Nobody, nobody, stole from Chara. And whoever had the audacity to do so was going to find their soul ripped out of their chest and crushed by her hand.
There was nothing she liked more than crushing somebody's soul, and crushing the soul of one who dared to get in her way? That would be bliss.
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Nobody was there. A quick glance around the area confirmed this. Well, nobody of note. There were the normal Snowdin inhabitants, but she was at least slightly familiar with all of them. It wasn't a very big town, after all. Most of them were on their way to their houses, preparing for what they assumed was the beginning of a blizzard. There also wasn't a shoe. Which was good news. As long as she stayed right here, she could get to see exactly where the shoe had come from.
"Hello, Frisky," a high-pitched, slightly irritating and unnerving voice said from behind her, and Frisk stifled a groan. She'd really been hoping never to have to hear that voice again. "Been a while, hasn't it? I had to check in after what just happened and see how you were doing. After all, that wasn't you, was it? That return to the past. You lost your nerve quite a long time ago. Which means, there is a new player in our little game. This could be fun." There was now a smirking sunflower in the shade of the tree.
There was a time when meeting Flowey would have scared her. Heck, there was a time or two when he had terrified her. But she'd killed him so many times now that he had been lowered from the position of terrifying antagonist to annoying side-boss that didn't know when to quit. Frisk rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms.
"No, it wasn't me." When was the shoe going to get here? Was Flowey still going to be here when it did? That would be quite annoying. Unless Flowey had already taken it. "Have you seen a shoe with a checkmark on the side? It's from the surface. I didn't get to check it out last time and thought now would be a great time to do so." She said it impatiently, basically letting him know that she had more important things to do than deal with him.
"Cocky aren't ya," Flowey said, and Frisk gave him a second look. He spoke so confidently, and with so much authority. It was quite odd when considering that the last time she had seen him was in the genocide run when he was fleeing from her in pure terror. This was rather bizarre. "You really ARE a stupid human, aintcha?" He paused for effect. "I feel it is my duty to remind you that I have killed you at least ten times for often than you have killed me. The only reason you won was because of your stupid ability and the aid of the other six souls."
Frisk could see where this was going, and her cocky attitude was beginning to vanish. "With the souls missing, and your power gone, all I have to do is kill you once." He locked eyes with Frisk and smiled in an eerie victory smile. "And that should be quite easy. So I'd watch my tongue if I were you."
Frisk swallowed. She hadn't thought about that. She no longer had a save point. She was mortal again. She couldn't even remember what it was like to be afraid of death, but if she died now, she could quite easily stay that way. There was no guarantee that whoever controlled the time travel ability now would return to a point before she died.
If she got killed, she could very easily be stuck that way. Which meant that Flowey was no longer just an annoying side-boss. He was right; he was once again a legitimate threat, and quite possibly more of a threat than he had ever been to her before. Awesome. Great. Things kept getting better and better.
She turned her eyes back towards the smirking flower, a dark frown on her face. Flowey himself looked unsettled for a moment. She wondered what would happen if she just grabbed onto his stem and pulled. Was there more of him hidden underground? Would it uproot him and kill him? Could he survive if he was no longer connected to the ground?
The thought was tempting. Getting rid of the annoying pest before he had a chance to truly cause a problem. It would certainly simply things, but if it didn't kill him, then he would most certainly kill her. With no ability to revive herself if he did, it probably wasn't worth the risk just yet. Besides, doing something like that might awaken her inner demon. Nothing was worth that. "So what do you want?" she asked.
"Not to kill you just yet," Flowey said calmly. "Notice how we aren't in The Void. Though it does sound fun. I would actually get to keep your soul this time around." He fell silent as if actually mulling over the idea. Frisk found herself whishing she had some kind of weapon, any kind of weapon. If he attacked her, she was pretty much defenseless. "Nah. One soul is nowhere near enough for me, and THEY are far more likely to come around if you are still alive."
They – The souls. Were going to be looking for her? Why? Why would they care… But one of them already had, hadn't he? Yellow had showed up in that weird… whatever that place had been. Which meant that there was something to what Flowey was saying. Actually, now that she thought about it, Yellow had said something similar, hadn't he?
Something along the lines of, 'That's what we are all going to be calling you, and what you are going to be calling us in return.' So he also thought the others souls would be coming around. After hundreds of years of imprisonment, about finally breaking free, they would seek her out. Made very little sense to her, but seemed that was what was going to be happening.
"I came here for only two reasons," Flowey continued, bringing Frisk's attention back to the moment at hand. "To confirm my suspicions that you had lost your ability, and to warn you not to get yourself killed. You are going to find yourself facing powerful opponents, so be ready for that. After all, the honor of killing you belongs to me, and me alone." Then he let out an eerie and unsettling laugh, and disappearing into the ground.
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As she watched Flowey go, Chara's eyes were filled with a fiery hatred. An almost demonic light had come across her face, and that look was nothing short of pure evil. Chara pulled the knife out of her leg holster, and gripped it tightly in her hands. She wanted nothing more than to wring the neck of that wannabe mastermind. There was nobody in the entirety of the Underworld that she loathed more. "Kill us? Right. If anybody is going to be killing anyone, it'll be ME tearing YOU to shreds. Traitor."
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Frisk's thoughts were quite similar to Chara's. If it came down to it, she would kill Flowey long before he killed her. Kill or be killed. She winced, silently berating herself for even thinking such a thing. She was trying to live a peaceful existence where she never hurt anybody. She wanted to be a freakin' Pacifist. Why was that always so hard?
Finding herself once more alone in the shade of the tree, Frisk quickly returned to the mission at hand. The shoe wasn't there, and the blizzard was about to start. Now what? She couldn't risk leaving to get something warmer. What if the shoe got placed there while she was gone? She couldn't rewind to try this over again. She simply had to wait. And hope the shoe's arrival wasn't too far away.
Minutes passed, turning into hours, and the temperature got progressively colder and colder. Frisk found herself shivering more and more, kicking herself for not bringing a coat to work that day. Toriel was always telling her, "Now Dearest. We don't know when the weather might unexpectedly change. So you must always bring a warmer change of clothes. Just in case." Of course, not really being concerned with whether or not she died, she'd never really bothered. Health was the least of her concerns. …Until today.
As Frisk found herself beginning to feel a little woozy from lack of heat, there was a sound. Well, she was in a blizzard, so there were a lot of wind sounds. These were living sounds, though, and nobody had been outside for over an hour. Scurrying, hurrying feet darting across the snow frantically. Frisk peered into the blizzard, attempting to see who it might be. Sans. It was Sans.
The relief that filled her for a second, after realizing that she really didn't want anybody dangerous to come out of the snow when she was in this condition, evaporated as he came closer. This was not the normal Sans she was used to. No. This was blue-eyed hell-is-about-to-get-a-little-bit-fuller rip-your-soul-out-and-crush-it-between-my-fingers Sans.
In one hand, he held onto a NIKE shoe. He looked as if he was about to toss it under the tree, but stopped when he noticed Frisk standing there. Instantly, his demeanor changed back to his typical; friendly, laughing, prankster self. He tossed the shoe behind his back and started walking directly towards Frisk.
Her mind was messed up from the cold, and as such she didn't have the strength to keep her fears, or memories, under control. She'd hoped to never see him like that again. He'd killed her so many times, counted them out as he did so. Did he still remember that? Was he coming to end her once and for all? "S-s-sans… the… shoe?" The words came out slurred, due to her tongue, and brain, being a little frozen.
"You'll catch a cold," were the first words he said as he stopped next to her. Those were the last words she'd been expecting to hear come out of his mouth. He quickly slipped out of his coat and slid it around Frisk's shoulders. "Geez, Frisk. This is a rather COLD place to be CHILLING."
Then he glanced back at the shoe in the snow bank. "It's not yours. So you're cool." He said dismissively. He took Frisk's hand and said, "You are coming to my house and getting warmed up. You are acting way too COLD right now." He winked as he said this, and promptly began leading her toward his house.
Frisk found herself relaxing a bit on the trip home. There was just something about the corny jokes and prankster smile that Sans' had that relaxed her, despite her knowing it was a façade. It was a façade that he tended to wear when things weren't too serious. So it made her feel safe. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the house, but Sans' coat was warm, and Frisk was beginning to fall asleep.
So, when they arrived, before she opened the door, Frisk turned to Sans. "Thanks, Sans," she said, cracking in a smile. "I was on thin ice out there." She punctuated the pun with a wink, and he chuckled in return. "No, but actually. What were you doing with that sneaker from the surface?" Sans opened his mouth as if to say something, and then closed it. Frisk refused to move without getting some kind of answer, so the two of them simply stood there and looked at one another.
After a few minutes, Sans began, "Frisk, look…"
But before had a chance to say anything more, the door to the house flew open violently, and- "ARE THE TWO OF YOU GOING TO STAND OUT THERE TALKING ALL DAY LONG? THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS ALREADY SET THE TABLE IN THE WAY THAT ONLY HE CAN, AWESOMELY!" As the door swung the rest of the way open, Sans and Frisk could see that the table had indeed been set for three.
Sans looked bewildered, staring blankly at the table and blinking a couple of times. "Papyrus," he said slowly. "You set the table for Frisk?"
"OF COURSE!" Papyrus bellowed, looking slightly affronted at Sans' question. "WHAT KIND OF THE HOST WOULD THE GREAT PAPYRUS BE IF HE HADN'T SET A SPOT AT THE TABLE FOR THE GUEST THAT HE INVITED." Sans glanced between Papyrus and Frisk, Papyrus and Frisk, Papyrus and Frisk, then he took his coat, walked right past them, up the stairs, into his room, closed the door, and locked it behind him.
Whelp. There he went. Frisk watched Sans' departure with a bit of curiosity. Maybe he simply didn't want to deal with the time travel weirdness at the moment, maybe he didn't want to talk to her about the shoe, or maybe he wanted to continue whatever it was that she had interrupted. Whichever the case, he was now out of reach. It had taken quite a while to realize it, but she didn't even think Sans could hear what was going on outside of his room most of the time.
Papyrus had described it as "another world" more than once, and she was pretty sure he was more accurate than even he knew. The door would never open unless Sans wanted it to open. Though, arguably it could still be knocked down. She'd seen Megan threaten that a couple of times, but Sans had never given her the opportunity to test out the theory.
As for Papyrus, he'd always had the odd ability to remember most, if not all, of what happened before the time jump. He just, didn't seem to be able to comprehend exactly what had happened. Likely he remembered that she had told him he invited her over, and that had translated into this time him actually thinking he had done so. That's how these time travel things tended to work with him.
"Hey Papyrus," Frisk said, looking up at him with a smile and waving her hand. "How's it going?" As tempting as sleeping was, Frisk realized that given the choice, she'd rather be hanging out with Papyrus at the moment.
Papyrus was looking out the door at the snowstorm looking slightly forlorn. "THE PUZZLES ARE ALL GOING TO GET BURIED BY THE EXTRA SNOW. THE SNOWDIN GUARDS ARE GONNA HAVE TO REBUILD ALL OF THEM…" Then his smile quickly returned, and he shrugged off the gloom. "OH WELL. THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL JUST HAVE TO MAKE THEM BETTER THAN EVER! DISSAPOINTMENTS BRING POSSIBILITIES." The he sat down in one of the chairs and began to eat his spaghetti.
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Chara watched all of this with a raised eyebrow, not even attempting to hide her annoyance. Far be it from her to compliment her enemy, but Frisk had always been such a smart girl. Why she enjoyed being around Papyrus so much had always bewildered her. Even back when she was alive, she'd never spent much time around the guy, and she'd been with Sans almost nonstop. She winced at the memory. Sans… Another monster who had betrayed her.
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"Yeah, ok," Frisk said, distracted once again. The moment he'd mentioned the word movies, her mind had started to wander. Maybe it wasn't too late after all. If she went with Papyrus to the movies, found the light and went… wherever it was, again. Maybe she could go to Chara's room this time and find out what it was that she was supposed to have seen. Maybe she could also find out who this new player was. Perhaps that was what Gaster had been trying to show her? And this time, maybe she would be able to convince Papyrus to come with her!
First she needed a weapon though. Flowey's words were kind of getting to her. 'You are going to find yourself facing powerful opponents, so be ready for that.' At the moment, she was not ready. She needed a weapon, and she needed some armor. All she had at her house was the toy knife from her room back in the ruins. Nobody knew she'd held onto it, and she wasn't sure herself why she'd done it. Perhaps it was because she always figured a time would come when she would need to fight again. Well, it had. Time to go pick it up.
"I'm gonna go get something from my house, ok?" she said, opening the door.
"WAIT!" The Great Papyrus called, quickly picking up his plate and dumping the rest of the spaghetti into his mouth. Swallowing it, he stood to his feet, and strode over to her. "WHAT KIND OF GENTLEMAN WOULD THE GREAT PAPYRUS BE IF HE LET A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMAN ROAM SNOWDIN ALONE, AT NIGHT, IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLIZZARD?" Frisk blushed at the compliment. "I'M COMING WITH YOU!" Papyrus proclaimed.
Frisk considered rejecting the proposal, as much as she did want to be around Papyrus. How would he respond when she picked up the Toy Dagger? Would she be able to do it without him noticing? She didn't have time to argue with him though. She had a basic idea when Gaster would show up. She'd checked her watch shortly before Papyrus had come down the stairs, after all. She should still be able to make it in time if she hurried.
Which meant…
"Alright, Papyrus. Let's go." She opened the door, and rushed outside. She couldn't go rushing all over the place, defenseless, with dangers out there apparently hunting her, while she had no way of protecting herself. For a moment, she found herself wishing she had Chara's knife from the palace. There was no weapon she'd ever possessed stronger than that one. As she left, she knew Papyrus would follow. It was on now.
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Hope you enjoyed the latest entry in the adventures of Frisk the Undetermined. As always your Fanship means a lot too me. Looking forward to hearing from you. If you'd like to tell me what you think of the story so far, don't be afraid to drop me a review.
~ Xanatos Stones
6
