The music blared loudly, and Frisk stood on the tips of their feet to try and get a better view. People jostled past them, humans, monsters, all sorts of beings in every shape and size. Frisk couldn't help but smile as the music and the cheerful atmosphere put everyone in a pleasant mood.
"FRISK!" Papyrus called, reaching for their arm through the throngs of people. He was tall and noticeable enough that people shifted to the side for him, and he grabbed Frisk around the waist and hoisted them easily up onto his shoulders so they could see the stage.
Mettaton was currently singing a new rendition of "Oh My Love," Napstablook nodding as they worked the mix tapes and Shyren slowly gaining speed as the backup singer. They sounded really nice together, Frisk noticed with a grin. Mettaton was loving the attention, blowing kisses at random audience members and sliding across stage as he did ridiculous poses which the crowd seemed to revel in. Both Napstablook and Shyren were much shyer, but they had started coming out of their shells recently as well.
Papyrus shifted, nimble on his toes as the crowd around them pulsed and the music and voices grew louder until Frisk couldn't hear what Papyrus was saying right by their ear. Neither seemed to mind though; both Frisk and Papyrus eagerly watched, Papyrus almost bouncing with the crowd's movements as Frisk wrapped their arms around his throat so they wouldn't fall off.
The sky started to grow dark, and Mettaton tossed glow sticks out towards the audience as he smirked confidently on stage. "Thank you darlings so much for coming!" He announced into his microphone. The crowd cheered, and Frisk blinked in surprise. Compared to daily life, it was almost like there was no separation between monsters and humans here at all. This was what it should be like.
"So, I have one final song for tonight! I hope you enjoy it!" Mettaton crowed, then turned and nodded at his cousin. "Blooky, hit it!"
The beat pulsed through the air and Frisk could've sworn they saw a glimpse of someone familiar in the crowd, a quick flash of red hair and blue scales…
They quickly waved their hands in front of Papyrus' face, quickly spelling out with their fingers (Papyrus! I think that's Undyne!)
"WHAT? WHERE?" Papyrus yelled. The skeleton raised a hand and skimmed the crowd, squinting in the bright light. "UNDYNE!" He bellowed over the music, weaving his way through the crowd as Frisk tightened their grip around his neck.
Undyne paused, turning and looking back for a moment as she looked around. Her eyes landed on Frisk, who was the only noticeable feature sticking out head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. "Frisk! And Papyrus!" She waved. "Get over here ya punks!"
Papyrus slipped up to her, muttering quick apologies as people bumped up against him. One human in particular elbowed him particularly hard, hissing in pain as his elbow connected with Papyrus' bones underneath his shirt. "MY BAD!" Papyrus apologized, slipping beside Undyne and then noticing Alphys. "OH! HELLO, ALPHYS!" He yelled.
"What?" Undyne yelled over the music, and Frisk grinned.
(We just wanted to say hi,) they signed. (Papyrus said you were planning to be here!)
Undyne and Alphys smiled, nodding at Frisk and Papyrus before the two turned back to watching the stage. Frisk thought Alphys looked a bit nervous, so they also turned and observed as Mettaton wobbled slightly on stage. They frowned. They had thought Mettaton was scheduled to return to the square body he normally used, but after practicing with it, Mettaton abruptly decided he was determined to keep using his more humanoid body.
The final song finished and the crowd cheered. Alphys motioned for Frisk to follow her, and the four set off towards the backstage area. People pushed around them, streaming in lines towards the exits or staying around and chatting. Frisk noticed one group of children in particular, three humans and one rabbit monster, and they hid their smile as they ducked past. There were multiple groups of assorted species, actually, now that they looked for it.
Alphys slipped ahead, hurrying towards Mettaton as he leaned against the side of the stage waiting for them. He was arguing with a human, a woman with short brown hair and glasses, and waved his hand in dismissal.
"What was that all about?" Undyne asked as the lady turned and walked away, casting a frown over her shoulder back at Mettaton.
"It's nothing, darlings. Just a minor disagreement with my human relations director," Mettaton said tiredly, shrugging. "We don't exactly see eye to eye on a few issues."
"N-Nevermind that," Alphys muttered, rushing over and checking Mettaton. "I s-saw you stumble, you're e-energy levels are dropping aren't they?" She accused, fiddling with a power chord. "C-Come on, we need to plug you in s-somewhere."
"Alphys, darling, it's nothing. I just overexerted myself a little, it's fine. If my fans are having fun, that's all that matters to me."
(Why aren't you using your other body if there's an energy problem?) Frisk asked curiously.
Mettaton grinned sheepishly, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Vanity, darling. Humans have a lot of popular dance moves that a square body just can't do."
(So make up your own,) Frisk replied, amused. (That's what you've always done before.)
"FRISK IS CORRECT," Papyrus commented. "HUMAN DANCING IS NICE BUT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS THINKS METTATON'S DANCING IS JUST AS GOOD!"
"Ha ha, thank you darlings. I'm pleased that you think so," Mettaton said. "By the way, can one of you go get Blooky? I need to ask them about the beat for one of our newer songs. I don't think Alphys is going to let me move until I'm fully charged again."
Alphys made an affirmative grunt, finally finding a place to plug Mettaton's charger into the wall.
(I can do it!) Frisk signed, Papyrus letting them down onto the ground as they enthusiastically bounced in place.
Undyne nodded, grinning. "I'll go and get them for ya too, MTT."
Undyne held out her hand, careful not to crush Frisk's much smaller one as they grasped it eagerly. If Undyne got excited, Frisk would possibly regret accepting her invitation, but they didn't want to get separated and besides, hand holding made Frisk happy. It showed people cared about them and wanted them with that person. Frisk's parents hadn't normally offered them their hands.
They checked backstage first, but according to Shyren Blooky had already left, apparently going to chat with some of their new friends. Undyne and Frisk went to go search among the audience instead.
"You see anything yet?" Undyne called, but Frisk shifted and shook their head. They were standing on Undyne's shoulders, her hands grasping their ankles so they wouldn't fall. (She had insisted they look for the ghost in the quickest fashion possible.)
A quick flash of a pale white figure caught Frisk's eye and they turned, the night's wind flicking their hair into their eyes.
(Hey, wait, I think I see them,) they signed in front of Undyne's line of sight. (Try going left-)
A scream interrupted Frisk's instructions and Undyne went stiff, fingers tightening around Frisk's ankles.
"What was that?" She demanded, Frisk sitting down and securing a firm grip around Undyne's neck in case of a rapid escape. Undyne released one of Frisk's legs, energy half forming at her fingertips when Frisk snapped to get her attention.
(No magic!) They signed frantically. (You can't!)
"Watch me," Undyne grunted, but she stopped trying to form her spear. "Come on, Frisk, let's see what's up."
Echoing shouts erupted just as she finished talking, and Frisk clung tighter as Undyne raced towards the crowd, ready for a fight.
Three monsters, all Astygmatisms, stood surrounding two human children. One human child was on the ground, crying, as blood dripped from their knees. Humans and monsters watched from a ring surrounding them, and Frisk realized with a sinking feeling that things could escalate quickly and Undyne might be the spark to the already dire situation.
"What's going on here?" Undyne demanded, stalking forwards.
A human girl turned and looked up at Undyne, fear and then relief flickering through her eyes. "Oh! You- You're the main police force of the monsters, right?" The girl babbled. "You have to stop those monsters! They just suddenly attacked, I don't know why they did that…"
Attacked with magic, Frisk realized with a chill. Not even one day and the new law had been violated in one of the most public spaces. But- no, the law hadn't even been announced to the public yet. It took a while to write a law, as far as Frisk understood.
"I got it. You three!" Undyne barked, striding towards the monsters. "What, exactly, do you three knuckleheads think you're doing?!"
"They looked at us," one sneered, blinking and shifting its gaze to Undyne. "They had seen enough."
"These are civilians. Was it not made clear to you that if you couldn't follow the rules you would have to stay in the monster adjustment areas until you did?!" Undyne seethed. "Leave at once or I'll drag you three to Asgore myself."
"What are we so afraid of?" One of the others muttered, but the other two exchanged glances and then shrugged.
"Fine. Have it your way," the first one said. The three turned and left, the crowd silently parting to watch them go.
Frisk peeked at their faces, watching carefully for any signs of further violence. The humans looked stricken and the monsters concerned, but overall everyone just looked relieved Undyne had ended the issue.
"Now," Undyne asked, crossing her arms. "Does anyone know where the hell a ghost with headphones went?"
.
Flowey tapped his leaves impatiently against the ground. Chara had gone and left him here alone. And it wasn't the first time, either. Chara was constantly off somewhere, and whenever Flowey caught up to them they were spacing out in the middle of nowhere or bothering that strange... Skeleton? Ghost? Flowey wasn't sure what Gaster was.
Chara also didn't really talk anymore; they constantly ignored Flowey, and whenever they talked to him, they only used his old name.
At first, Flowey had been delighted. His best friend and sibling was back with him, and everything would be fun and right again. Except it wasn't. Neither Chara nor Flowey could use RESETS now; Frisk still held onto that power somehow, whether they knew that little detail or not.
Flowey had been looking forwards to someone understanding him. Someone whom Flowey couldn't predict, who was the same as him and empty inside and why wasn't everything going just like he had expected?
Chara's behavior had started off as a surprise, a delightful exciting new toy that Flowey had wanted to have for years. But now that they were here, all they did was wander around and ignore Flowey other than a few contemplative side glances they gave him.
In other words, Chara had gotten boring.
Flowey didn't like that. Sure, in the moments when he had been Asriel again, he thought he cared about Chara, thought he loved them… but now, Flowey knew the truth.
He really didn't care about anyone anymore.
He was empty, emptier now than ever before because he had no RESET powers to entertain himself with, and it was unspeakably frustrating.
Well, fine.
Even without the power of RESETS, there was an entire world out there to explore now that the barrier was gone. Flowey could go anywhere, anytime.
In fact, he could leave right now and leave his boring sibling to wonder where he'd gone for a change.
Perhaps Frisk would be the more interesting toy to get close to right now. They still had the RESET; Flowey could slowly and carefully break their DETERMINATION and take it again, but this time with the entire world at his grasp.
The flower turned to leave just as a figure moved into his path and blocked his path.
[I think you and I need to have a little chat,] Gaster said calmly, smiling eerily down at Flowey. [Prince Asriel.]
.
.
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((So. Uh, funny story. I've had the same computer for six years, and in the last two weeks… well. Starting a few days ago, let's just say I might need a new computer if I can't fix it soon. And frankly, right now I'm typing on my really annoying Surface which hates Google Docs. So it takes longer. Forgive meeeee.
Actually, the funniest part of this entire situation is my computer died while I was fighting Sans. It's been doing badly for the last few weeks, sure, but the moment it finally died? First, the music on Undertale stopped… yet the game sound effects and game itself worked fine. Then I couldn't get out of the game. So there I was, with the text "You feel like you're gonna have a bad time"
In other words, Sans made sure I wasn't coming back. My poor computer got dunked on. What a glorious way to go.))