Hey, those of you who didn't see Heartache, please read that. I totally forgot to add that chapter before I posted this chapter. I'm sorry, you all. I've been way too preoccupied this last month. Thank you for your patience with me.
Frisk shoved on the opening of the small tunnel, allowing the entrance to crumble off and fall to the ground. Frisk and Flowey sucked in deep breaths of cool, crisp air. The light that spilled in was a deep red, as though the sun was just going down, even though night had already fallen on the surface. Frisk gave Flowey a puzzled look.
"We don't have sunlight down here. The Underground is lit by the Core." He pointed with a tattered leaf to the sky, and sure enough, an object stuck to the fogged up roof of the colossal cave that made up the Underground, glowing like lava; a deep, molten red.
Frisk swallowed. A constant state of sundown. An intimidating, angry glow from a fiery contraption so far above. What a place.
"It's a little rough around the edges." Flowey admitted. "But it's home."
Frisk looked down and shivered. Nine feet down. It wouldn't be a pleasant thing to fall from this height. She needed to find another way down.
Hesitantly, she wiggled a foot into one of the crevices in the walls. It held, and she swung herself out, gripping tightly to the rough edges of the wall as she slowly, surely, made her way down to the ground below.
Flowey had been right. It was very cold here, with slight fog densing the atmosphere and even snowflakes falling to form a thick blanket of white on the ground. Frisk didn't know how, but black evergreens managed to grow and reach high, threatening to scrape the roof of the cave, hundreds of feet above and covered in frosty stalactites.
Frisk attempted to climb lower but that was when her grip gave out and she suddenly slipped and fell. Luckily, she was only about five feet up, and she didn't hit the ground as hard as she anticipated; only managing to scrape a knee and bump her elbow on the sharp rocks beneath the snow. Flowey had given a muffled shriek when they had fallen but that was abruptly resorted to a slight 'ooph' as he flopped into the snow. He shivered violently and quickly wrapped back around Frisk's arm.
"Oh, I promised myself I'd never come here again." He groaned.
Frisk could sympathise there. It must be incredibly difficult for plants to grow here, this side of these trees. She found it hard to believe any type of creature could live here in these conditions.
She trembled as snow and cold seeped into her wool clothes, causing goosebumps to rise and make her flesh color in pink. Her knee and elbow throbbed and some slight blood from her encounter with Toriel stayed to crust up a bit of her hair and jeans. She felt the slight wind sting her eyes and she blinked away the few hot tears that came as a result.
"Flowey?" She asked, swallowing thickly. "...Are you coming with me?"
Flowey hesitated for a moment. He tensed up on Frisk's arm and Frisk held her breath as he prepared his answer. Finally, he sighed, a plume of frosty air escaping him as he did.
"Well, it's not as if I can go back. And for the sake of keeping you from getting yourself killed… I suppose I could tag along."
The hug caught him off-guard, but he never pulled away.
Leaving the Ruins was no more of a relief than it was regretful. Frisk felt horrible and sad for leaving Toriel like that. But she didn't have any other choice. Sooner or later, Toriel would snap, and Frisk would die having never seen the light of day again.
She had to get home.
The sound of her boots sinking into the tough, hard snow echoed throughout the empty forest. Not a single bird sang. Not a single insect chirped. Everything was dead.
Frisk gripped her sweater tight around her body in a pathetic attempt to keep the cold out, but it still managed to seep in despite her efforts. Flowey curled in close to her, mumbling his sympathy.
"Do you suppose we'll find anywhere to stay for the night?" Frisk asked numbly, feeling her teeth begin to chatter. "I don't think I cou-could make it with-without sh-shelter."
"A couple miles ahead." Flowey reassured, buried in her turtleneck. "Snowdin town. They have some places you can sneak into. Just make sure they don't see you. As you've probably gathered already, they're not particularly fond of humans."
Frisk nodded with a shuddering breath. By now she'd gathered that Flowey had been here before; and on multiple occasions too. She vaguely wondered when this was, and why.
Suddenly, a twig snapped.
Stiffly, Frisk whirled around. Panic filled her mind and adrenaline began its race through her veins, warming her slightly. Flowey perked up anxiously, scanning the area.
But there was no one there.
"M-Maybe it was just the-the wind?" Frisk stuttered.
Flowey's eyes narrowed and he squinted. "Keep walking."
Frisk asked no questions. She turned on her heels and began her trek again. Flowey kept watch over her shoulder.
"Frisk…" Flowey breathed again, quietly. "We're being followed."
"By what?"
"I don't know. But don't stop. Maybe it'll go away. If it's hunting you, the worst thing to do would be to run and provoke it."
Frisk felt her heart drop into her stomach. "H-Hunting?"
"Here; spread your arms out wide. Make yourself big. Maybe that way they'll see you as a potential threat."
The last thing Frisk wanted was to stop hugging warmth into her body, but, as the alternative was pretty much being slaughtered, she found it in her to will her arms out to the sides. She took longer strides and straightened her posture; sweet mercy it was cold! She gave shuddering gasps and tried to block out the frost surely collecting in her lungs.
Flowey puffed out his petals to make himself bigger, and Frisk was a little surprised at how small he'd been just a few minutes earlier.
"Come on…" Flowey growled. "Go away…."
Another twig snapped.
Frisk's heart almost stopped. She quickened her pace ever so slightly, eyes darting everywhere to find a potential hiding place. All the forest offered was some malnourished trees and sad, quiet snow. She had nowhere to run.
Suddenly, Flowey pointed. "There! That bridge!"
Frisk saw it; a large structure of broken wood and drooping ropes. It wasn't a very large chasm that it provided passage across, but it seemed to have been made for the reason of convenience just the same. Frisk headed straight for it.
When they reached the bridge, Frisk set down her arms and looked it over. It gave off the air of a haunted house, with its unnerving stillness and the whistling of wind through the cracks. Nevertheless the bridge seemed stable enough. Frisk raised a foot to step onto it.
"ah, ah, i wouldn't step on that if i was you."
Frisk jumped, letting out a little squeak as she did, and Flowey puffed out his petals in fear. Frisk whirled around to apprehend the person who spoke.
It was a short person, donned in black, with a fluffy jacket hood covering most of his face; only his white, sharp-toothed smile showed from underneath, with a single gold tooth. He couldn't have been taller than Frisk herself, and his clothes hung off his body loosely, as if he were just bones. His voice had been hoarse and rough.
He cocked his head at her, still grinning. For a moment they just stared at each other, saying nothing. He gave her an expectant nod, and that's when Frisk realised he wanted her to say something back.
"...Why?" She answered timidly, hoping he wouldn't suddenly lash out and snap her neck.
The person giggled; a strange, reverberating sound that didn't sit well with the small human and the flower.
"lemme show you 'why'."
And with that, he shoved Frisk aside-quite rudely for that matter-and strode up to the bridge without a care in the world. His head flopped back on his shoulder to ensure Frisk was watching before suddenly whacking one of the bridge's posts.
There was a sickening CRACK, and the bridge began to slope and cave. The wood broke and the ropes snapped and the bridge bent in a 'V' into the chasm. It hung like that for a few seconds before breaking in half and falling down to the frozen riverbed below. If the fall didn't kill you, which was the likely outcome as the fall was only around ten feet, the rain of splintering wood would have. Frisk had been close to that happening to her.
She looked at the person in shock and horror. "W-What… Why…?"
The guy snickered again and faced her. His hood rode up the slightest bit and Frisk could see that there was a spade-shaped hole where his nose should be. He was definitely a monster. But what kind of monster?
The monster grinned darkly.
"i just prefer… to eat my humans alive."
Flowey and Frisk froze in synch, their breaths caught in their throats. For a moment, the three of them just stared at each other, Frisk's fight or flight burning in her chest as she contemplated whether or not she could outrun this monster. Certainly he was weaker than her; he was a skinny, ratty thing. Surely the intimidation was limited to his looks.
Suddenly, the guy snorted, and began to laugh loudly. It was funny how he laughed; short bursts of voice, as if he were out of breath, and he doubled over when he did, clutching his stomach or whatever was under that jacket of his.
"ha ha ha! i got you! i got you so good! you should've seen your face!" He wheezed, actually tripping and falling back into the snow. He snorted a few times and looked back up at Frisk with a big smug grin, a shadow over his eyes. But he didn't seem hostile. In fact, besides Flowey, this monster seemed to be the friendliest thing Frisk had met, and he didn't seem all that friendly.
He caught Frisk staring and frowned. "what are you looking at, freak?" Then he smirked. "can't resist my good looks?"
"Um…" Frisk stuttered. She didn't know what to say to him. But Flowey did. He muttered a string of curses before angrily demanding, "Who are you?!"
The monster laughed again and pushed himself to his feet. He wobbled a bit and coughed once, twice, thrice into his gloved hand. Then lifted his head just enough that his face was finally revealed. Frisk gasped at the sight of him.
His eyes were two black voids on a canvas of white bone. His mouth wasn't a grin but rather two lipless rows of teeth, sharp and ready to bite down hard on anything he could get into it. Within the right empty eye socket, a ring of threatening red gleamed, casting an eerie glow on the inside of his skull.
"how rude of me. my apologies, sweetheart." He chuckled, not sounding very sorry. "allow me to introduce myself. i'm sans. sans the skeleton."
"BUT ACCENT!" You shriek, "SANS ISN'T SKINNY!"
Trust me, I've got a good reason for this. In the meantime, tell me what you think. Do you trust my Sans? What happened to Toriel? And what will fate lay out for Frisk and Flowey?
THE TENSION IS REAL.
xXLoveThatAccentXx