Authors Note: Hahaha…I'm back. Told ya I wouldn't be updating regularly.

Puns! I need those. I'm also not very good at them, and the internet can only do so much. If you have any good puns, please send them to me. I'll use them in the story more than likely and give you a small shout out at the end of the chapter I use them in.

Chapter 3: Off

"Okay, so if you have this and this-"

"Mmm!"

"No? You want to skip it? Ok…how about the next one. If you subtract-"

"Mmmm!

"Kid, I know you hate math but you can't skip every problem you don't wanna do." Like I said Frisk is pretty smart, but they can be stubborn when they wanna be. We're sittin on the floor in the living room around the low coffee table, which is currently covered in eraser marks and a few stray pieces of lead. As promised, I'm attempting to help Frisk with their homework with admittedly little success. I sigh and leaned back against the couch.

"You're making my job as a tutor real hard kid." Frisk pouted and crossed their arms, which I'm guessing means they want to stop. Typically, I would agree with them, but math is essential to life. Trust me on this, you're gonna need math one day. I smile.

"Alright, let's try a different approach, yeah?" Frisk looks skeptical but I just brush away the pencil shavings and point to the problem their struggling with.

"You like puzzles, right? Well, that's all these math problems are, only instead of squares, triangles and circles, we got numbers. All you gotta do is match up the equation that goes best with each number puzzle. Here;" I write down the problem as simply as I can to show the kid what I mean and soon their smiling again.

"Mmm."

"Ready to try on your own?" Frisk nods and I hand them the pencil. In a matter of minutes their blowing through the worksheet. "Heh, good job kid. Guess all I had to do-"

Someone's in my lab.

The feeling comes over me like a wave of nausea and I freeze. What the… Frisk is looking at me, frowning. I try to pass off my sudden tension with a shrug.

"Got a sudden chill in my bones, no worries. You finish these last few and I'll be back before you can recite pi." Frisk looks confused but I think that's mainly cause they haven't reached that unit in their class yet. I stand and head upstairs and as soon as I'm out of sight, I flash to the Underground.

Travelling through code is…less than pleasant. You get used to it I guess, but there's always a sense that what you're doing is wrong. Unnatural. But that's just my opinion. Course, not like anyone else I know can do it. Pap's has tried before, but only succeeded in tiring himself out. I land outside our old house and sigh. The Underground is dead silent, save for the sound of the river. Everything is abandoned, and it always unsettles me. I open the door and can't help but smile as I pass The Sock. Pap's tried to get me to pick it up before we cleared out for good and believe me, I tried but I think its cemented to the floor now.

"Well, I guess it really SOCKED it to me, ey Pap?" I chuckle. One of my better puns. Stepping into my room I carefully open the side door and step into the elevator. It whirs softly as it takes me down only a few feet below the house, where our basement would be, if we had one. I inhale as the doors slide open. I'm not in the mood for a fight but I'll defend my work if I have too. I step into the dimly lit room and sense…nothing. Nada. There's nobody here. I frown.

"Strange…" I murmur out loud. I do a quick sweep. Nothing is out of place, nothing's been moved, and everything is in its normal state of disarray. My machine is still a broken down heap in the corner. I sigh and give it a gentle pat. I've been working on this thing for years with no success. But I'm not giving up.

"Soon." I tell it. I step back into the elevator and do one more sweep. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid. Too used to things going wrong. I shrug and head back up. I need to accept that life is okay now. The Underground is secluded enough that I can work on my machine without worry of an intrusion; not even its former denizens bother to come back. Mount Ebott is far enough away from where most of us settled down that nobody would willingly go that far. Even now, the only person who has mentioned having any nostalgia was Toriel. Which actually kind of strikes me as odd, considering she spent a good deal of her time in one area. Still, the Underground is like I said, dead. I don't even think any humans care to come here.

I flash back home-Home Home, not Underground Home-in time to hear chatter downstairs. Sounds like Papyrus is back from work, and Asgore will be joining us for dinner. Good, him and Tori need to work things out. I turn to head back downstairs and see something out of the corner of my eye socket, a quick flash of yellow that makes me do a double take. I glare at the spot for a few moments before continuing downstairs.

Interesting…

A/N:Ooh Spoopy stuff going on! Yeah, I don't know what's going on either, but it must be bad cause Sans is on edge…