Sans' phone went off for the sixth time, and he groaned, finally deciding to turn it off. "... hey, kid. think you'll be good until you fight undyne?" Sans asked them, leaning down to look at them. Honestly, they didn't think so, but they nodded anyways. "cool. i'll need to be going. my brother is probably starting a riot at this point. be quick. and. don't. stop." He said, his serious expression suddenly brightening up as he turned, leaving Frisk. "good luck. you're gonna need it!" He called to them, and Frisk took a shaky sigh, wincing at the sound of their own footsteps on the well-trodden paths of Waterfall. The water, which Frisk imagined must have been beautiful before the war, was clogged with muck and various garbage, and the streams ran at a shockingly sluggish rate. Feeling sick, they looked away, turning to the dark stones making up the cave walls, and bit their lip. Deep within the ragged crevasses of the wall were little gleaming lights, which, if Frisk leaned closer to look, were gems, sparkling a million colors if the light hit them just right. Frisk crossed their arms, feeling the padding they wore on their elbows. It pissed them off, the feeling of it, but they figured that they better take whatever protection they could manage to get. Frisk kept walking, and the second that they looked up, their eyes widened in surprise and awe. There was an entire lake down here?

They supposed they shouldn't be surprised, considering how massive the Underground was so far, and they walked onto a rickety dock, which groaned in protest from their weight. Was this a dead end? Frisk stared into the darkness, trying to see what was ahead, and failing. They stepped off of the dock, passing by three panels, the words carved into them too worn to be able to made out anymore. Was there a boat or something by there? Frisk walked back onto the dock, and it gave another creak. As they took another step, a board snapped, and with a splash and a yelp, Frisk fell into the murky water. At least they had been on the edge of the dock. But that small sense of reassurance was immediately gone when a sharp stinging pain ran up their leg, and they quickly looked around for anything to help them get out of the water. The rivers were polluted, and why should this one be any different? Frisk felt the fresh cuts on their leg, and wondered just how many splinters they had managed to get, before grabbing a large, flat plank of wood. It was just big enough for them to sit on, and although a slight movement from Frisk sent it shaking, they decided that this was their best bet to keep going on. Frisk, seated on top of the wood, leaned forward, using their arms as oars to propel themselves forward into the darkness. Was there even another shore at the end of this? Frisk bit their lip, trying not to think about that, focusing on getting across the lake and out of the water.

The lashes on their legs from when they had fell off the dock were starting to hurt, and Frisk tried to keep themselves from dipping it into the water. They knew it was bleeding, and they didn't have a way to heal it until they were out of the water. Sickeningly, they thought of the extra Cinnamon Roll they had gotten in Snowdin. There was no way they were going to eat that now... Unless they were going to die. At least the Cinnamon Butterscotch Pie had been saving was in a container. While Frisk was aware of the fact that they were bleeding, they didn't know that the blood seeped into the water of the lake they were crossing, and the creatures in the depths of the murky water hadn't tasted a human in a long time. Something shifted in the water behind Frisk, and they immediately stopped, glancing behind them. What was that? Everything was still, except for the ripples in the water, and even though Frisk squinted, they could see nothing. Maybe they dropped something. Frisk began to paddle faster, turning back to their destination in the distance. Their spirits lifted, upon seeing another dock, but Frisk groaned, seeing a boat tied to the dock. Looks like someone had crossed here recently. Something rose out of the water behind them, but Frisk was too worried about the fact that a monster might be at the dock waiting for them. Suddenly, the air sung as something sliced through the air, and a split second later, Frisk found themselves in the grasp of a slimy, undeniably strong tentacle. It squeezed them as the person the tentacle belonged to rose out of the water, and Frisk yelled as it tightened harder.

"It's finally good to meet a new human, y'hear!" A deceptively cheerful voice reached Frisk's ears as they clung to the pale yellow tentacle, realizing just how high up in the air. "Maybe if I turn you into Undyne, she'll finally let me move to the city with all of my friends!" Frisk was carried closer to the thing's face, and Frisk honestly wished they hadn't seen it. A pale, slimy yellow octopus with a huge smile on their face held them, and Frisk began to shake, not from the cold water, but from seeing this... Thing. Frisk had been often teased for their many fears, including sea creatures. And here they were, being held by a gigantic octopus that oddly resembled an onion. "I'm Onion-San, y'hear! You know, if you weren't my ticket to the city, I would probably feed you to the fish!" He said, in that same cheerful tone, and it made a shiver run up their spine. Frisk wanted to be anywhere but this. "... It's a little lonely here sometimes, so I hoped that you would speak." Frisk quickly shook their head, trembling in his grasp. Onion-San seemed to settle in the water. "I would go find Undyne right now, but she's probably busy, y'hear! You know... Slaughtering humans! So, I guess you and I can have a chit chat while we wait for her to come over here." Frisk bit their lip. They were terrified of this monster, of its huge, round eyes, its sickly sweet tone, of the tentacle that held them tight.

In the distance, they heard an angry voice. "He did what? And it's in Waterfall right now?" It barked, and Frisk couldn't help but imagine that they were talking about them. "I know what to do already, don't tell me what I already know. Don't call me again unless something important happens."

"Oh! That's Undyne!" Onion-San said, before swimming through the water with Frisk raised high out of the water. They began to struggle again, kicking in the air. They didn't want to die, despite the fact that they knew they hadn't done much with their life. With a sickening lurch, they neared the other dock, and Frisk started to try and push out of the tentacle's grasp, before leaning down and trying to scratch it with their nails. Upon seeing that it had zero effect, they sighed, before biting it as hard as they could, trying not to think about the water that Onion-San had been in. With a shout, Onion-San dropped Frisk onto the dock, where they landed hard on the sturdy wood. The air was knocked out of their lungs, but they got up, continuing to run as fast as they could away from Onion-San. If what Onion-San had said was true, Undyne was also there, so they didn't stop for anything despite the pain shooting in their leg and ankle, gasping to regain the breath in their lungs. Suddenly, in a shower of splinters, a spear, glowing teal like the flora in Waterfall appeared in front of them, and they quickly readjusted their position to dart around it, fear pounding through them. There were more crashes, and Frisk knew that the spears were just for them.

"Get back here you human bastard!" A woman's voice shouted, and Frisk yelped, running as fast as they could. The clank of metal armor pounded after them, and when Frisk looked up, they spotted a figure in black armor, with a spear in its hand. Yeah. Nope. Frisk bolted as fast as they could trying to get out of there, their heart racing as they ran. They didn't care about how much their ankle and leg would hurt later, they had survived their encounter with that stupid flower, why not this? Under their breath, at every step, they would mutter ouch, but other than that, they ignored their pain, sprinting across the boards. As the boardwalk ended suddenly, and Frisk was on solid land, spotting strands of tall green black grass. Without a second thought, they dove into it, before pinning themselves against the wall, crouching in the grass and trying to be as silent as possible. They stared up at the ledge above them, where Undyne had been chasing them, and the figure appeared, standing over the grass. A spear appeared in its hand, and the cold yellow eye behind the helmet stared down into the undergrowth. Frisk didn't even dare to breath as they waited for it to give up. Or for them to throw the spear and end their lives. Undyne's eye swept over the grass, before the spear disappeared, and they backed away from the ledge into the darkness.

A feeling of dread came over Frisk. This was what they were up against? They would never be able to beat her... They firmly shook their head, telling themselves to stay determined, before getting up slowly, leaning against the wall for support as they limped along. If Undyne found them again now, Frisk would be dead before they knew it, unable to run anymore. They felt like breaking down and sobbing, but that was one of the things that people had called them weak for in the first place, wasn't it? Frisk made it into the next room, where buds sprouting out of the ground surrounded a sign, which Frisk squinted to read. Place four buds in a line to make a bridge across the water. Huh. Frisk picked up one of the large flower buds, and a light caught their eye from across the two rivers in this cave. They turned, trying to see what it was, before remembering the flower buds. It didn't take long for them to have pushed four of them into the water, and the second their leaves were all touching, they immediately sprouted into white and pink flowers, broad enough for Frisk to easily walk on. Frisk took a nervous step onto the flower, wondering if they were wasting time by doing this, but quickly shook it off, walking across them lightly. Across the river was a small hollow, with an old bench.

Frisk sighed, knowing that they had, in fact, wasted their time, before sitting down on the bench. They kicked their unharmed leg, deciding to take a rest, at least for a minute or two, when their shoe hit something hard under the bench. Frisk, scowling, got up, leaning over to look under it. Their foot... Had hit a plate? They leaned down, pulling it out from under the bench, a glorious scent following it. Was that... A quiche? It had appeared to have been abandoned. Frisk looked around, deciding that it wouldn't hurt to eat it right there and then. Might as well, as they were hungry again after their encounter with Papyrus back in Snowdin, and now, Undyne, and Onion-San. Frisk sat back down on the bench, the plate in their hands, before picking it up and beginning to eat. It was one of the best things that they had eaten in a long time, despite the fact that they had no idea how long it had been under the bench, and who had made it. When they were finished with the slice, they leaned down to put the plate back under the bench, before standing up and beginning to walk across the flowers again. Frisk suddenly stopped though, realizing something. They sat on the flower, which was incredibly soft, and inspected their leg. Upon seeing that there wasn't any wounds, they raised an eyebrow. Did monster food do that? Frisk didn't wonder why or how that happened, and they honestly didn't care. Now, the hard part would be to make it through Waterfall without hurting themselves again. Frisk stood up again, starting their journey once more, completely unaware of the danger one of their only friends was in...

"treason?" Sans said, unable to keep the shock out of his voice.

"Treason, Sans!" Papyrus responded, stamping his foot on the ground. "You protected a human! I told Undyne! And she told me that you might as well join the humans permanently for that! What the hell is wrong with you?!" He yelled, and Sans took a deep breath, calming himself down and deciding to play it cool. After all, it wouldn't mean that much if he left. Papyrus had done well without him ever since he was able to take care of himself. Besides, Papyrus seemed to loath him from time to time. Sans began to laugh, surprising and angering Papyrus even more than he already had. "SANS! THIS IS NOT A JOKE! YOU NEED TO LEAVE!"

"papyrus, papyrus, you are hilarious!" Sans said, and Papyrus crossed his arms, trying to restrain himself from dragging Sans out of his house and throwing him into the snow. "man, kick me out of the underground permanently? i'm the one who's keeping you in a house papyrus. the gold that i get from my job..."

"Sans, I've never seen you earn a single Gold for anything you've done!" Papyrus snapped.

"oh, yeah. that's right. i just remembered that you haven't seen what i do instead of being at my sentry stand. i sell hot dogs. oh. whoops. wrong thing. i slaughter humans for gold. pays pretty well..."

"Then why didn't you kill that human!" Papyrus bellowed, and Sans didn't even flinch.

"i have my reasons. now, if you'll excuse me... i need to watch you go homeless." Sans said, before walking out of their house completely calmly, and into the snow. "oh. and papyrus?" Sans stopped, turning to his brother. "call undyne and tell her..."

"What." Papyrus growled.

"she can kiss my brass." Sans said, raising his hand, which suddenly had a trombone in it. Papyrus groaned, about to shut the door. "wait up. one more thing. Rent's comin' up. It's two-thousand gold each month. Tick tock bro." Sans laughed, before hearing Papyrus slam the door in rage, and Sans began to walk off, pulling up his hood and putting on his mask. He didn't like this run at all.

"Undyne's going to kick that bastard out..." Papyrus muttered to himself, leaning against the door of their house. "And I'll never have to deal with him again... That... Lazy... My brother... Who was really just taking care of me... No." He shook his head, trying to wipe away any regrets he had. He couldn't afford to get soft when he was a soldier, trained to fight humans.

But despite the fact that he had been trained, despite the fact that he knew how to fight...

Had he ever been in a real battle against humans before?

Waterfall would have been a wonderful, magical place if Frisk wasn't fearing for their lives. They swore they heard the clank of armor when it was a splash of water instead, and the glow of Undyne's spears when it was just a mere bunch of mushrooms. They sighed, continuing to walk. A huge cave suddenly opened up in front of them, and a trail up against a wall led through the darkness. Frisk looked to their side, and gasped. Crystals embedded in the cave walls glittered like stars, and far off in the distance was a white castle with roofs of white, with turrets rising high into the Underground's 'sky', like something out of a fairy tale. The wind began to howl, and Frisk continued to walk, staring at the sight in awe. Suddenly, something whipped the air, making it sing, and a spear landed by their feet. Frisk yelped, springing back. The figure of hard, black armor standing before them was illuminated clearly by the glowing white and blue gems. Slowly, they took off their helmet, revealing a battle scarred face, and a head of bright red hair. But above all, Frisk couldn't look away from Undyne's eye. Undyne's yellow eye pierced through them, and they could feel themselves being judged.

"... So. You're the human that Sans protected? ... Pitiful. But If he means that much to you, you're obviously strong. I'm not going to hold back. Prepare yourself, puny human." Undyne monologued, before throwing her helmet into the road, and making another spear appear in her hands. Frisk stepped back, adrenaline pulsing through their entire body, staring at the soldier in front of them. Undyne reached up to grab her eye patch, before ripping it off, to reveal a pit of darkness, with only a white pinprick of light in it. It bled a beam of white light, before returning to normal, and she stepped forward. Both of her eyes stared down at Frisk, who was busy cowering before her in pure fear. "EN GUARDE!"