"So you mean exposure to all those Monster souls gave you and the other human souls the ability to cast magic?" Lara asked while munching on a piece of bread the trio found in Toriel's kitchen cupboard.

"I don't have any other explanation, even if I have no idea how exactly it works," said Emma, who had told Lara parts of her Underground tale. Talking about it had eased the spirit girl a bit after her emotional breakdown. She turned to Flowey.

"Do you perhaps know more details?"

"No. While I was of course...right there with the destruction of the barrier and...err… the use of the souls, I have no idea about the finer details. I've never really been interested in all that scientific stuff, unlike good friend of mine."

"Who is your friend? Could they maybe help me with figuring out my soul trait?", asked Lara curiously, after she ate the last crumbs of bread.

"No, she can't, she's been dead for a long time. And she never got around to learning more about soul teachings."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

Flowey looked at Lara confused.

"What for?"

"That I reminded you of your friends death."

The flower just sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't mind. I have come to accept her death. And its not like it was your fault she died."

"Flowey…"

"It´s fine. Really. Whats important now is getting you out of here. Are you two ready to move onward?"

The girls nodded. They went back for the basement, opened the stone gate and entered the rest of the Underground. As soon as Lara was through the gate, she was greeted by a brutal cold. Shivering, she rubbed her hands to keep them warm. Luckily she had put on a sweater, despite the warm temperatures that prevailed on the surface. She looked around. She was in a snowy coniferous forest. Just as Lara was wondering how trees could grow down here, Flowey broke through the thick layer of snow onto the ground. He shook himself to throw off some snowflakes that were caught in his petals.

"Ugh I hate this place. Totally flower-unfriendly here, with all this cold snow!"

Emma appeared behind the complaining plant. She observed the surroundings, frowned, and said, "I don't remember it being that stormy here."

Indeed, a strong wind blew up the snow all the time, making it almost seem like a blizzard. Flowey looked up and surveyed the area.

"Hmm. You are right Emma. It's really windier and colder than usual. Must be because the Monsters are gone. The spells they used to weaken the elements down here must have expired because they weren't renewed. This means that the Underground is now the same as it was before the Monsters colonized it. Wild and inhospitable. That doesn't make our journey any easier."

"Can we please go on?" Lara asked shivering. "I have to keep moving."

"Yeah, it's best to go fast to heat up your body temperatures even more. And don't stop at all. I don't want you to freeze to death out here." Flowey turned to Emma.

"Emma please take care of Lara. I'll wait for you in Snowdin and see if any of the buildings have working electricity and warm left. I'd like to come, but if I stay out in this cold any longer, I'll die. See you."

Flowey tried to disappear into the ground, which proved difficult. The snow prevented him from retreating. Finally he sank with a crunch and in just a few seconds managed to insult the snow a hundred times in different ways. Emma floats between the mighty trees. She beckoned to Lara follow her.

"Come. I know the way."

Lara followed the ghost girl through the dense forest. As they walked, she felt herself slowly getting warmer. But that didn't help much. Lara had to keep her arms up all the time because otherwise the wind would slap wet, cold snowflakes in her face all the time. God, how she couldn't stand this cold wetness. Usually she liked snow. Whenever it was winter she liked to participate in snowball fights with...

"Something on your mind?" Emma asked. Lara looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"You were just smiling, as if you were thinking of something nice and not being constantly slapped by snowflakes."

"I was just thinking about what I used to do when there was snow, on the surface."

Emma was now smiling too, while her gaze went into the distance. "I often remember building snowmen with my brother." The ghost sighed. "I miss him."

"I… understand." Emma looked at Lara. The girl with the white soul continued: "Well… it must have been lonely being down here."

The cyan ghost girl gave a slight smile. "Not really. Like I said, when I was alive down here, I made several Monster friends and they were always fun to be around. And even now there are the other human souls. Most of them are pretty nice. And one is always so kind…"

Emma suddenly stopped and her face turned a darker shade of blue. It took a few second for Lara to connect the dots."Aww, you have crush?"

"M-maybe", the normally calm ghost stuttered. "I mean… I´m not really sure if I should ask him out or not. If I deserve to be with someone good, while I don´t know how my family is doing."

"You'll see them again," Lara encouraged her.

"Yes, but in what condition? I don't know how long my family had to go on without me. At least several years. I wish I knew exactly how many years have passed."

"I'd like to know that too," someone said behind them. The two girls turned abruptly. Behind them was a boy. He was a ghost like Emma but made of orange light, with a soul of the same color. His clothing style was similar to Emma's, but he had a bandanna tied around his forehead.

"Do you have to scare us like that?," Emma asked with a slightly annoyed tone, her attitude shifting rather quickly from open and vurnable to: Oh god not that guy.

"Who´s that?" Laura asked, looking at the newcomer curiously.

"This is Klyde, Klyde, this is Lara."

"Hello and um sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just have a quit way of moving."

Emma whispered to Lara: "No he doesn't. Most of the time he can even be quite clumsy. And also boastful. He has to constantly say and demonstrate how strong he is. But under his hard shell he has a pretty soft core."

"Hey, I heard that!"

"I'm just telling the truth."

Klyde snorted like an irritated bull. "Oh yeah, but maybe I have every reason to brag! Can you show such an impressive magical attack?"

With these words he raised his arm. A huge hand made of light shimmered into existence and clenched into a fist the size of a washing machine. Klyde lowered his arm. The fist came down on Emma. She let out an annoyed sigh, but otherwise seemed unimpressed. She waited for the giant fist to reach her, then dodged aside gracefully. The fist landed beside her with a crunch. Klyde raised his arm again and launched a new attack on Emma. She dodged again at exactly the right moment. The fist rose again. And missed again. This time Klyde´s magic fist flew straight at the ghost girl without getting up first. Apparently Klyde was hoping to surprise her.

It didn't work.

Emma dodged effortlessly again. Another attack. Another evasive maneuver. Attack. Evade. That's how it went for a while. Klyde was quickly reaching his limit. Emma, on the other hand, was calm and the whole thing seemed to cause her little effort. Eventually she got bored with it. As the energy fist rushed toward her, she summoned a knife in her hand. When she dodged the fist, Emma managed to stab it and dissolve the magical projection. Klyde fell to his knees in defeat. He untied the bandanna from his forehead and waved it like a peace flag.

"Okay you... phew I'm done... okay you won. Or wait a minute. Let's agree on a tie. A draw sounds good." Emma rolled her eyes. The nerve of this guy! She was about to go up to him and give a lecture on the subject of self-control when she suddenly remembered Lara. Emma turned to her. Lara had watched the fight in amazement the whole time. She had been so engrossed in what was happening that she didn't realize how much her body was shaking from the cold.

"Oh no Lara, you poor thing, you're going to freeze to death here. Quickly! Move."

"But.…"

"No buts! Move. Immediately." Emma forced Lara to run several laps around a tree. When she had warmed up, Emma said, "And now a little marathon towards Snowdin."

Lara looked at Klyde, who was still on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. "But what about Klyde?" she asked.

"He'll recover. You, on the other hand, now have to keep moving all the time to avoid over cooling. Hopefully Flowey found a house that still had a working heater."

Lara jogged after Emma. Gradually the forest became thinner. This made her less sheltered from the wind and more open to the wind. Lara had trouble walking alongside her ghost friend. Still, she had enough energy to try: "Emma, just at the fight. You were so 'cool'." Emma inwardly groaned in horror.

Not another jokester, she thought to herself.

"What? Not a fan of jokes?" asked Lara.

"I eh... I uh… no. How come you just suddenly have this kind of humor out of the blue?"

Lara shrugged. "I recently read a joke book and found the jokes very creative. Since then I try to come up with some of my own. But its a work in progress. Obviously `cool´ jokes are easy to make if you are in a snowy area."

Emma just inwardly groaned.

"But the compliment was meant seriously. How you stood there so calmly and always dodged at the last moment. And then how you countered the final attack, just epic."

Emma had to smile despite the bad joke earlier. "Thanks. You always have to keep Klyde in check."

"No you don't." Speak of the devil. Klyde appeared and flew alongside the others.

"What do you want?" Emma moaned.

"Stay with you. The area here makes you feel totally isolated. I wouldn't mind a bit of company."

"But maybe we have something against some company. Yours, anyway," Emma said coldly.

"Oh come on, don't be like that," Lara replied. "He did behaved completely impulsive, but that's no reason to give him the 'cold shoulder' right now. He might be able to help us. As an apology."

The two ghosts grimaced at the joke, but then Klyde said, "Of course I can and will help. I've been here a long time and have explored everything, or at least most of it. I know this place like the back of my hand. Besides, I bet none of you can do this." Klyde raised both arms. Two hands of light appeared and wrapped themselves around the trio for protection. They formed a shield that followed every step and kept out the snow and wind.

"That´s much better. Thank you Klyde."

The orange spirit gave Lara a nod and a smile. "You´re welcome." Then his smile got a smug streak and he turned to Emma.

"See I'm good for something."

"Whatever." Emma rolled her eyes so hard she was practically staring through her own head.

As Klyde led the girls down a shortcut, the wind picked up and the snow grew thicker.

"Look at what we have here. A bloody blizzard! It´s a good think this path avoids all of the puzzles and leads directly to the town." After a while they passed a snowed-over sign. When Lara carefully wiped the snow away, a text written in large letters appeared: WELCOME TO SNOWDIN.

Directly in front of them rose the shapes of several large houses. As the three walked through the town, they could clearly see that it was deserted. No lights were on in the windows, some were even boarded up, as were most of the doors. No one was in the streets and all they could hear was the loud howling of the wind. A pretty grim sight, even tough all of the former residents were currently living happily on the surface. They reached the city library. Lights flickered in the windows. Out of one Flowey smiled at Lara.