Chapter Six: Quiet Water

I walked back to Waterfall. Beyond the sentry station was, wonder of wonders, a waterfall (I was fairly certain the king had named all the important places in the Underground). Rocks would flow down and be carried into a deep, black abyss far below. There were some wood stairs so I took them down, all the while wishing there was a handrail or banister. The dark was unnerving me, again, and my knees were trying to wobble. I kept telling myself there was no one here to hurt me, except for the random monsters I would encounter. I could handle them.

All I found on the pier down below was an echo flower, repeating someone saying that they'd seen something behind the waterfall. Peering into the mist, I did indeed find another glass eyeball. When I went back upstairs I decided to check that waterfall for anything, and was rewarded with a secret cave! For some reason it had a tutu inside of it. It reminded me of a picture book I'd read about a ballet troupe. I remembered thinking the gossamer garments the women wore to be ever so elegant! I carefully folded it and put it in my pack. I would have worn it, but I'd only just gotten the bandanna and wanted to see how I fared against the monsters before changing.

On the other side of the water, I came across a field of long grass. When I tried to walk closer to it, I heard voices from the cliff up above me.

"H-HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT!" I flattened myself against the wall of the cliff, hoping they hadn't seen me. I could barely hear Papyrus speaking over the pounding of my own heart. "UHHH… REGARDING THE HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER…" Papyrus paused, and I could just barely make out another voice. "HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM? B-BUT OF COURSE! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY, AND EVEN SENT THEM TO MY CAPTURE ZONE! BUT T-THEY… I AM AFRAID THEY ESCAPED. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END… I FAILED. I'M SORRY." Undyne spoke again, but I couldn't hear it. Papyrus certainly did, though. "W-WHAT? YOU WILL TAKE THEIR SOUL TO THE KING? BUT UNDYNE, YOU D-DON'T HAVE TO DESTROY THEM! BECAUSE… BECAUSE-!" Even though I couldn't hear what Undyne said, I could tell it was said sharply, with authority. I mentally begged Papyrus to back down. He didn't deserve to be hurt just because he was trying to help me…

"… I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." I could hear his footfalls leaving, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. I sidled along the cliff wall, hoping the shadows would hide me. Unfortunately, when I reached the grass it rustled loudly. I heard clanking footsteps coming closer and I dove in. I prayed she wouldn't see me.

I dared to look up at the one who may be my executioner. Undyne was covered head to toe in plate armor, gleaming in the half-light. The helmet that obscured her face was reminiscent of a dragon, to my eyes. I could see her right eye gleaming yellow out through the vision slit and the long, red tail of some sort of hair flowing from the top. She raised her left hand and a blue spear made of magic appeared. She held it, ready to throw, and looked for her target.

She saw me. Her eye locked right on to me and my heart sank. I couldn't tear my eyes away, even as the rest of my body trembled. The sheer force of her presence made it so hard to breathe! At least the face of Death was more impressive than ugly, this time…

She looked away from me, at the grass, then dismissed the spear and stepped away from the cliff's edge. Her presence faded and I could breathe again. I laid on my belly in the grass for a while, allowing the tremors rocking my body fade. When I could move again I rustled my way through the grass and came out the other side. Before I'd gone a few steps away the armless monster kid jumped out, dancing in place. I didn't even realize he had followed me here! He was gushing with excitement.

"Yo, did you see her staring right at you? AWESOME! I'm so jealous!" He ran off, tripping onto his face while he did. Before I could offer to help him up he pulled himself off the ground, continuing his dash deeper into the cavern.

I advanced, as well. I came across a curious plant called a "bridge flower", which let me build a bridge atop the water as long as four were in a row. I built one to the door I could see, but before going through I wanted to investigate the rest of the room. With another bridge I found a secret room which had a bench. An echo flower grew beside it, and it kept saying, "I just wasn't ready for the responsibility." When I looked under the bench I found a poor Abandoned Quiche. I gave it a new home in my hip pack.

Onward. I received a call from Papyrus, and he asked me to describe what I was wearing "for a friend." He said she had seen me wearing a bandanna, and I figured Undyne was making him confirm her suspicions. I told him I was still wearing the bandanna, and he was pleased. He even said "wink wink" over the phone. Once the call ended, I changed my equipment to the Old Tutu. Monsters certainly had a hard time telling I was a human, for some reason... Most, anyway. Mother and Sans didn't seem to have that trouble. Why Mother did was obvious, since she clearly had set herself up in the Ruins to help fallen humans, but Sans was a bit of a mystery. One of the many surrounding him, it would seem.

I came across a "wishing room", a darkened place where stones in the ceiling above sparkled like stars. All around me the echo flowers spoke in their soft voices, repeating people wishing to see real stars, one day. Expressing faith in their king that he would free them, soon. Trying to convince themselves that so many monsters wishing for the same thing couldn't be wrong… I couldn't find a way forward so I looked through a telescope, up to the shining stones. As I did I found a hint, and found a hidden door in the wall.

I was walking on a pier, over the water. On the walls were faintly luminescent plaques with old writing, but I could just barely read them. They spoke of the war between Humans and Monsters. About how human bodies, and especially their SOULs, were incredibly strong. How it'd take the SOUL of nearly every monster in the Underground to match one human's. But that strength was also a weakness, because a human's SOUL could persist after death, unlike a monster's. If a monster defeated a human, they could take the human's SOUL for themselves and become a beast with unfathomable power. On the last plaque, there was a drawing of a strange creature. Warped, misshapen and unsettling…

At the end of the pier was a small raft tied to a post. With no other way forward I stepped on and cast off, flowing with the water to another pier. When I landed I could no longer see where I had come from, because it was completely shrouded in darkness. I continued along the pier, seeing some pillars across the water and to my left. I thought I saw ground behind them, but I couldn't be sure. My footsteps echoed on the boards as I walked on the winding, uneven pier.

Spears made of magic fell from the sky, stabbing the planks right in front of me! In my haste to dodge them I fell onto my buttocks. My eyes darted to my left in time to see Undyne's eye gleam. She held up her hand and spears formed in the air above the pier, all pointed at me!

I got off my backside and ran for my life. The spears clove the air, going thunk! into the wood at my heels or rushing past me before disappearing. The pier was snaking left and right, making it hard to run. The gaps were too wide to jump across, but I was too busy ducking and weaving to try jumping, anyway. Whenever a spear clipped me I'd enter a fight-like field, trapping me with dozens more spears falling upon me. They tore my clothing and skin, and were slowly shredding my soul. I was dodging as many as I could, but my HP was draining fast and I didn't have the time to try and eat anything to bring it back up. I saw more tall grass in the distance, but before I could reach it I tripped and almost smashed my face into the boards. A spear went through my back and chest, pinning me to the pier.

This one didn't disappear. It was green, turning my body and soul green the same way Papyrus' magic had made me blue! This time I was rendered mostly immobile. Somehow I could still breathe, even though I'd been impaled, but when Undyne jumped over to where I was I figured I wouldn't have to worry about breathing for much longer…

*Is this how it's going to end? Her footsteps clanked as she drew near…

*Am I really going to die in this place? She stopped at my feet, looking me in the eye…

*Am I really going to just sit here and accept this? She summoned a spear to her hand. I tried to struggle, but all I managed to do was amuse Undyne.

"Fuhuhu! Where was all this spunk earlier, you coward?"

I bared my teeth. "Coward!? HA! Says the woman about to kill a defenseless child pinned like a bug to a board!"

I heard her growl. "I'm showing you MERCY, punk! At least I can guarantee a quick death, instead of letting you drag your sorry, beaten-to-a-pulp self all the way to the castle!"

I growled back. "If this is your idea of 'mercy', I'd hate to see what you consider cruel!" The parts of my body furthest away from the spear could be moved, so I aimed the heel of my boot for her shin. All it did was clang. She didn't even budge.

She growled even louder and walked to stand beside me. She took her spear in both hands and aimed it right for my soul. I looked her straight in the eye as she stabbed it down and claimed the very last of my HP. I was at zero, and I could feel my soul shatter…

Dark, darker, yet darker… Death was silent. It was neither hot, nor cold. It was nothing. Absolutely nothing. *Is this the end? No, it can't be. I still have so far left to go! There's still too much I have to do, so many things to learn… I can't let it end here! I don't WANT it to end here! Mother, I'm so sorry… Mother…!

A voice from the dark. "You cannot give up just yet. Frisk! Stay determined…" I didn't recognize the voice, or know why he knew my name but… it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but getting out of this darkness! I wanted to continue my journey! From the very depths of my scattered soul I shouted "I want to LIVE!"

A star was shining before my eyes… I reached for it…

I gasped. Breathing heavily, I stood next to a save point, the one near the patch of grass Undyne refused to kill me in. My hand was still hovering over the star, so I stepped back.

I was confused. Didn't I just die? I patted my chest and there were no spears. My clothes were intact, as was my soul and my health was exactly as it had been when I saved. The bandanna was tied around my arm, again, even though distinctly remembered having swapped it for the tutu after Papyrus had called… And when I looked in my hip pack, the Abandoned Quiche was missing, as though I'd never found it.

When I went back to the bridge flower room there was no path forward. I completed the puzzle and Papyrus called me, asking me what I was wearing again. When I asked him if he had already called, he said this was the first time he'd ever called my phone, and he only found it by dialing every number sequentially until he found mine. Just like before. My confusion redoubled.

I went back to the hidden bench and the quiche was right where wasn't supposed to be. I sat on the bench to contemplate.

*What the devil just happened to me?

I was at my Waterfall station when I got the text from Alphys. She said to come to her lab ASAP, and that an anomaly had occurred. I wasted no time taking a shortcut to her doorstep.

Anomalies used to happen left, right and center, but there hadn't been one in a while. The break had been nice, but I had to wonder what was up for it to happen, now.

I still had my old clearances from back in the day, and my code for the Lab's door still worked. I let myself in, pausing for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I made my way to the room I needed through memory alone. I'd made this trip too many times to ever forget… Alphys was already there, wearing a pensive expression and wringing her hands. Her claws clacked together as she stared into the crystal ball that monitored the space and time of our world.

Heh, "monitored." We used that word very loosely. With our current understanding of "space and time", the best we could do was to watch the ripples blossom as the fabric of our existence was somehow shifted by… something. We never could find out what (or maybe who) was doing it, much less why it happened.

She finally noticed me, and waved me over. "S-S-Sans! Quick! Y-you need to see this!"

I stood next to her and looked into the ball. If I had to describe it to a layman, I'd say it was a globe as tall as me that was full of glowing, multi-colored water that was always moving. When an anomaly happened ripples would appear. Some bigger than others, lasting longer or shorter… Sometimes, patches of the water would fade in color and grow still, even while the rest moved like normal.

But that wasn't what was happening, right now. Right now some huge ripples were bouncing off the walls of the globe, affecting everything. Nothing new had faded, yet, but the size of them! Something like this had never happened before, and I was beyond shocked.

"al, what the hell is going on?"

Alphys shook her head. "I-I… I w-wish I knew!" She started fretting. "One minute, I'm monitoring the human. They l-left the bridge flower room and I knew I wouldn't see them for a while, so I-I wanted to get a snack. I come to check the globe, out of habit, and THIS was happening!" She waved her hands helplessly at the globe. I couldn't blame her for being confused. She couldn't remember the anomalies as they happened like I could, and even then it wasn't like I could remember all of them. Just the more… notable ones. Alphys stilled, looking like she was trying to think. I was, too, and as I pondered, there was one possibility…

"d'you think it could be something involving the human kid?"

She seemed shocked by the suggestion. "But what could they possibly do to make this happen?"

I could only shrug. "honestly, i don't even know. but they're the only 'new' variable down here. and we both know how strong human souls can be. the kid we've got on our hands, right now? their SOUL is red, alphys." She gulped and started wringing her hands, again.

We were once part of a two-pronged project researching the human souls. We were not only trying to understand the different traits that colored them, but also how they could persist for so long after death. Alphys was the one who found a little something called "determination" and had shared her findings with me, but I left my part of the project soon after the CORE Incident. I didn't know if Alphys kept working on it after becoming the royal alchemist, or not.

I turned back to the globe. But as I did a new ripple emerged, close to where the last one had come from and just as big. I only had time to gasp before I was sent back to my sentry station in Waterfall.

I always hated that feeling! Never knowing when it was going to happen, or where I'd end up when it did. WHEN in my life I'd end up. The helplessness of not being able to stop it. Whether I would have something to remember, or just have a feeling of déjà vu and relive it in my nightmares… Some days, it was all enough to make me think "why even try?"

Today wasn't one of them. I thanked any god listening that I could use shortcuts. I didn't even bother with the door this time, just barging right into the Lab and going right to the globe. The ripples were still going at it, just like before. I ran to where Alphys had her scrying screens, hoping Frisk didn't have anything to do with this. Alphys was surprised to see me.

"S-Sans! What're you doing here!?"

"an anomaly happened, al. where's the kid?"

"Y-you mean the human? I d-don't know… Hang on!" She waved her hands over her panel, tapping keys and cycling through what the scrying eyes were showing her. We finally saw Frisk in the bridge flower room of Waterfall. I was relieved they were okay, but a little baffled by what they were doing. They were building a bridge down the river for some reason, then used it to leave the vision field of the eye.

"is there something down there, al?"

"I… don't think so. But it's not like I know every nook and cranny of the Underground, y'know." Her expression was rarely so tart, these days. It did my heart good to see.

"okay, okay! sorry i asked! i didn't mean to… stirrup trouble."

Her face was priceless. "Sans, no."

I was grinning. "what? it's not like you haven't heard me kneecap off my sentences like that before!" She put her face in her hands, groaning. Half of the reason I punned was for reactions just like that.

But all joking aside, I was worried about Frisk. I still couldn't shake the feeling the anomalies were because of them. So I spared Alphys any more puns and left the Lab before taking a shortcut back to Waterfall.

I sat on the bench, making notes in my journal. The river flowed with a soft sound, helping me to think.

*Note to self: swimming equals BAD IDEA.

After pondering for a while, I still hadn't figured out exactly what had happened to send me back in time. But the little star had been an important factor in it, so I saved again after putting the quiche back in my bag. I didn't bother changing into the tutu since it hadn't helped, last time.

I had returned to the winding pier. I tried swimming in the water below, hoping to stay out of her sight. I went as far as setting my hip pack and journal case atop my head, so they didn't get wet. Things seemed to go well, at first, as I carefully swam amongst the lily pads. But I must have made too many ripples, or made too big a splash, or disturbed too many lily pads… I'd done something because she found me, anyway. One of her green spears got stuck in me again and I drowned.

*Note to self two: Drowning is not fun.

So I wound up back at the star again, only this time with the quiche in my bag and the flower bridge to the Wishing Room still growing. I came back to the bench to sort out my thoughts. What Flowey had said to me, when I left the Ruins, was starting to make sense…

I could see how cheating death could let you "control" the world. If you had a way to go back to a point of your choosing, like before making an important decision, you may very well affect not only yourself but those around you. But could that affect the entire world…? How did I even get this power, in the first place? WHEN did I get it? I was fairly certain I didn't have it back on the surface… I'd never seen the save stars before coming to the Underground, anyway. Had they always been here, or was it just because I was here…?

I didn't know. But for right now, I had a "relentless killer" to deal with. I could only hope the rest of what Flowey said wouldn't come to pass. I didn't want to stoop to her level and kill her. I wasn't even sure I could kill her, even if I wanted to…

While my thoughts chased each other around and around I was drawing Undyne. The image of her raising her spear to stab down at me while I was pinned wouldn't leave my mind. Just remembering made my heart pound. Her armor shining in the light from her spear, her eye gleaming as she tensed to strike…

Hands in the dark. My throat is so tight! Have to breathe, have to… Have to…! I CAN'T BREATHE!

Something brushed the back of my neck and I panicked. My teeth clenched around a scream as I swung my right hand behind me, holding my pencil like a dagger. I didn't hit anything and my journal fell out of my lap as I took to my feet, ready to defend myself. My chest heaved, and it was only then that I realized it was someone I knew. Sans was standing behind the bench, looking like he had bent his body away from my strike. His expression was apologetic, and maybe a little afraid. He had his hands raised, palms toward me. "sorry, kiddo, my bad! i shouldn't have snuck up on you like that. i didn't mean to startle you. just wanted to play a little prank, that's all."

"S-Sans…" I realized what I had almost done and felt horrible. "I… I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to... I didn't want…" I started to shake. I was about to cry. I felt ill. *I almost hurt an innocent person…!

He was very calm, which calmed me. "it's okay, kiddo, fuhgedaboudit. looks like you've been having a rough time of things." He took a seat on one side of the bench. "like i said, it's my bad for trying to be sneaky in the first place." He rested an arm over the back of the bench and used that hand to gesture to the other side. "you wanna sit down and talk about it? i'll have you know i'm a great listener, because i'm all ears." He held up his free hand to cup the side of his skull while he winked at his joke.

I checked the neck of my sweater and found a fake spider. It and his joke made me laugh, just a little. Even while I sat on the open side of the bench I didn't know what to say. I didn't think he'd believe me if I told him about cheating death twice in the last few minutes, and I didn't want to tell anyone about why I had come to Mount Ebott in the first place. Before I could think of something he reached down to his feet where my journal had fallen, which I'd forgotten about in my panic. He asked me if he could look at it and I said he could. I figured there was no harm in it, since I already put my pencil away where it couldn't hurt anybody. He dusted it off and found the page with Undyne on it. He grimaced.

"yikes. got up close and personal, didn't she?"

"More or less. I might have exercised a little bit of creative liberty with that one." I told him about overhearing Papyrus talking with her, and how she saw me in the grass. I figured that, since it actually happened, I wasn't lying to him, and I did use the word "might". If I chose not to tell him about dying… that was just an omission. Not really lying…

Sans only nodded. "i heard a rumor about that, once. she has some kind of affinity for that grass. never bends so much as a blade. i dunno why, though."

Sans flipped through the pages as I stared across the river. There was a gigantic, tree-sized luminescent mushroom, surrounded by many smaller ones. They all glowed with a pale blue color. I wondered how long they had been growing there. Were they here before monsters came to Mount Ebott? Or did monsters cultivate it, the way humans had cultivated maize through the millennia? Were they even edible, or were they simply used for illumination? Sans' laughter interrupted my thoughts.

"did you get papyrus to pose for this, or somethin'?" He had turned to Papyrus' pages of the journal. When I said he had, Sans laughed some more. "good job, kiddo! captured him perfectly." He read the various notes I'd written about Papyrus on the adjacent page, then he turned to his pages.

His sketch was a little bit rougher than Papyrus', since it was drawn from memory. But instead of notes on the adjacent page I had tried to capture as many of his expressions as I possibly could, because I found them to be fascinating. He started blushing (a pale yellow color, not pink or red), for some reason, and I started to feel nervous. Had I done something wrong?

"um, kid? hate to ask but, uh… is there a reason for all this?" He gestured at the page, still blushing.

I was confused. "Skeletons don't emote, up on the surface. If you see someone's bones -anyone's bones, really- that means they're too dead to do much of anything except lay there, much less laugh or tell jokes. I'm sorry if it embarrasses you, but…" I couldn't think of a way to end my sentence, so I shrugged and looked away.

Silence fell between us. He was looking at my journal again, and I went back to staring at the mushroom tree. Talking about death had made me think of Undyne. If I didn't keep… "continuing", what would happen to my body once my soul was taken? Would she just leave it in the marsh to rot? Were there scavengers like worms and insects to eat my flesh and recycle it into the ecosystem? I wondered if…

Sans spoke again, softly. "it's easy for a monster to forget that human bodies sorta… stick around when they die. my granddad was a little kid when we were trapped here. me and papyrus were born down here, and we've never seen anyone leave more than dust and memories behind."

I felt like a heel. "I'm sorry if I was being insensitive…"

Sans only shook his head. "don't sweat it, kiddo." He smiled wryly. "humans and monsters are like the sun and the moon. there's bound to be differences!" He returned my journal to me, and I had a thought.

"I suppose we are. I'm a little meteor than you, for example."

It took a second, but Sans caught on. "Was that a pun? Did you planet, or was didja just pull it from thin air?"

Very matter-of-factly, I said, "You can't pun in a vacuum, Sans."

We stared at one another until Sans couldn't contain his laughter. I chuckled a little as he cracked up, and the echo flower was repeating him. Hearing his laughter over and over made me smile. Once he calmed down we sat in companionable silence, for a while, until Sans asked me something.

"so… what're they like?" He saw my frown of confusion and expanded upon his question. "the sun and moon. granddad used to tell us about 'em, but what're they really like?"