It had been about forty-five minutes since their hike out of town. The weather was still quite chilly with a wild wind that made Flowey shiver and huddle deeper into Frisk's clothing.
The trio silently passed by the jagged rocky waterfalls, along the wide bridges, through a field of echo flowers and finally to another open path again.
Frisk always admired the serenity of calm gushing streams that frequently sailed down the rocky silver cliffs like a giant fountain, but what they thought really gave Waterfall its beauty was the field of echo flowers.
"Ugh how much further do we have to go? I feel like I'm about to freeze to death here" complained the flower
"Well I dunno about you weed, but I'm releafed we can wear coats." Sans grinned widely seeing Flowey doing the natural roll of his eyes at the joke like always.
"I'm sure it isn't too far... maybe" answered Frisk, unsure of themselves. They somehow felt they were getting that much closer to their destination.
The human sighed in weariness as they continued their long walk. They were becoming tired as well now. Their legs had begun to ache, feeling as though they were going to crumple and dissipate any moment now, they were becoming slightly out of breath.
Frisk never did go out much anymore these days, preferring to either read a mix of entertaining adventure and fantasy fairytale stories or draw in their art book at the house; They knew they needed the exercise every now and then but they really wanted to stop for a bit.
"U-um Sans?" they asked a little hesitantly almost afraid to ask, considering how much complaining the flower had done throughout their walk already.
"Yeah, what is it kid?" the skeleton turned to face them noticing they seemed a little red in the face and sweating; he assumed it was because of the heat the walk had given.
"Mind if we could take a little rest? I'm getting a bit tired" they motioned with a finger pointing to their feet.
"Sure we can. It ain't long now before we reach the place anyways" he said joining in with her as they all sat down on the cobalt rock bed floor.
They relaxed enjoying the quiet, still and tranquil atmosphere. The cool sapphire lights twinkling brightly from the ocean walls bounced off the surface of lake which softly illuminated the surrounding landscape in a radiant, midnight aura creating a wispy mist that seemed to make the gushing falls sparkle beautifully and the lake refract like a glass mirror making it seem like an illustration that flourished out of a fairy tale wonderland. It even gave the rocks beside them an electric blue glow which made them appear like gemstones that glistened in this peaceful scene.
Seeing all this happen before his eyes made Flowey forget about the argument they had earlier. About why they couldn't rest up a while ago and because Sans told him off that he complained too much already. He brushed the negative feelings away, allowing himself to wonder in awe about the real beauty of Waterfall.
I understand it now. Why Waterfall is so... beautiful. Everything is so calm and still... I feel... warm. the flower thought to himself quietly as he made himself comfortable, closing his eyes for the moment not feeling that he was settled up against something soft.
Sans saw the flower's peaceful expression as he looked down at him "Heh, enjoying yourself weed?" he grinned a relaxed smile.
"Yeah, now I know why they call this spot 'the mystery of Waterfall'... It really is a mystery... and a really amazing one too." Flowey paused for a while then stared up at the skeleton "Wait... I was just in Frisk's jacket just now, how did I end up getting in to yours?" Sans just shrugged casually.
The flower thought it was a little strange but shrugged then relaxed into the skeleton again. He suddenly sighed, his expression turning a bit glum as the guilt from before resurfaced, his face transforming into that of a familiar kid goat "Well... I wanna say I'm sorry."
"For what, weed?" Sans eyed him "Complaining?" he paused, pretending to let the flower's apology sink in for a bit before giving an answer "...Nah... I ain't gonna forgive ya. Made too much noise and now it's too late," he tried keeping a straight face as he watched flower's guilty expression soon turn into an un-amused stare. As his ex-nemesis, he was used to the grumpy kind of stares the flower gave him. Not being able to hold it in he laughed.
"Okay calm down weed, I forgave you for that a while ago. It's no biggie." he grinned.
He told the flower to cheer up and not to feel bad about it which made Flowey smile again. Frisk who was sitting beside them the whole time just smiled at the two bonding friends, watching them quietly.
Clink... tap tap... his petals perked up as though he was listening out for something.
Crink...Cruuuk! A deep feeling of anxiousness arose in his heart. He heard the noise growing louder... LOUDER! He knew something was very wrong.
"S-smiley...SMILEY WAKE UP!" the flower yelled trying to shake him frantically.
Frisk joined in too, shaking him as well "Flowey do you hear that?!" they said as the rumbling from above was drawing ever nearer.
You think I'd be trying to wake him for any other reason? Of course I hear it!" he retorted.
"Zzz... W-wh-whut..? Just five more minzzzzz...!" Sans dozily half opened his eyes, tossing his head back slightly and adjusting his body to make himself more comfortable.
"S-Sans please! There's no time! We're going to be crushed by a-" Flowey cut Frisk off in mid sentence as he gave the skeleton a big hard slap across his skull which made him finally wake up and rub his head groggily, blinking in surprise from the rude awakening
"Hey! w-what the heck was-!" he growled moodily but was cut off by him.
"WE'RE GONNA BE CRUSHED BY A ROCKSLIDE IDIOT! MOVE IT!" the flower barred his fangs angrily, instantly grabbing the two with his vine arms. He was planning to toss them ahead in case he didn't make it; but the skeleton acted a lot faster.
"Weed, Frisk hold on to me quick!" he ordered. The two did just as he asked. He looked up seeing that the rocks were getting close, falling at lightning speed toward them!
"Aaaaaaah!" the flower and human screamed in unison as the meteor shower of boulders were right above their heads!
An aqua flash...
... Everything went a blank...
...The world was whirling about him for a moment. Then... he heard a familiar whisper faintly calling out to him ... Asriel... Promise me, you'll never give up.
He couldn't tell if he was dreaming... but he thought the voice he heard... was Chara's...
Suddenly he opened his eyes then he heard Frisk shouting his name as he was laying in the skeleton's arms who was looking at him concerned. Flowey noticed that they were now safely on the other side away from the rockslide... they survived. He sighed relieved.
"Flowey! Thank goodness you're okay!" they cried in relief, glad to see that the flower wasn't injured or worse. He only sustained a bit of scratches on his face and body.
For a moment, Flowey thought he glimpsed a pair of determination red eyes in the shadows above the small cliff from where the rocks descended... but when he rubbed his eyes with his leafy vines and lowered them again the shadow... was nowhere to be seen.
Must've been my imagination... he thought to himself.
Upon the last few strides, the trio had come to a tall silver metallic door. The lonely corridor that split right in between a large crevice seemed abandoned. It was very silent... and murky too.
Flowey didn't know what it was that had made him feel a sense of unease, but he couldn't shake the worrying thought in his mind that what they would discover behind the ancient door would possibly lead them to danger. It was just a possibility, but he knew that they had to find out what was going on regardless.
Slowly... the door was unlocked. A little fear had wormed its way into the child's spirit making them shudder as they stared into the emptiness ahead. They were scared of what they might find, but knowing they had their friends with them made them feel safe as they walked in, letting the void swallow them.
Knowing that you have faith in your companions fills you with DETERMINATION.
*************************************
The room flickered dimly as the lights above the ceiling blinked sleepily awake. Old crumpled papers were strewn and scattered everywhere over a large desk and some were on the floor. Amongst the dusty desk was one cabinet tower with four draws. They could also see some sample discs, a microscope and an empty glass beaker.
The trio surveyed their surroundings for a few minutes before splitting off and started to search around different sections of the room.
Wow... Alphys sure had her work cut out for her. I know my room's bad enough but god this is dusty Flowey thought to himself as he pried open one of the draws from the tower cabinet, getting hit in the face with a sandy cloud that made him cough and Frisk sneeze.
Meanwhile, the skeleton examined the desk. He scanned the papers that were on the table but only found that they were old research news from when the professor was studying about plants and soul extraction.
"Something tells me she really loved her plants." Sans eyed the flower and Flowey could feel his sharp grin and teasing eyes at the back of his mind, knowing that the skeleton was saying that to get on his nerves as he growled in annoyance. He heard a chuckle.
As they continued their exploration for a while, they persisted with the search through each draw finding various files; some that were even documented around the Core and how its system worked.
"Isn't there anything here that's actually useful? We've been searching for hours now" Flowey grumbled.
"Tch, would ya quit bickerin'? Maybe ya jus' haven't looked underneath your... 'roots' hard enough" the skeleton sniggered.
Flowey just glared at him.
Frisk pondered over the areas that haven't been searched yet going over them all. They suddenly remembered the last draw at the very bottom that stated a 'no entry' sign, but felt they shouldn't go into it. "Hey guys, I found a last draw here but it says 'no entry'. You... think we should? I feel kind of wrong about it."
The flower rolled his eyes at Frisk's worry "You dramatise about everything, Frisk. Of course we should go in. Who cares if it says 'no entry', it might just lead us to clues" dipping a vine on to the handle, the flower yanked the last draw open with a forceful pull, revealing the grand treasures that had awaited them inside.
Piling all the old files, the skeleton put them aside on the floor beside the cabinet with an unoccupied arm and spread out the new files they just obtained onto the desk with his other.
As they looked, they seemed to notice some photos of the Core.
"Hey wow, are these photos of Core?" the child eyed them curiously, noticing how the structure of the area slowly transformed in each photo into the system it was now. 'This must be from the time when Core was still being built' they thought to themselves.
"Seems like it. And look, there's Alphys. But... who's the other guy?" the flower pointed to a very tall skeleton in the fourth picture that was dated back in 2007 when both him and the doctor were in an area that appeared all dark with decayed ancient vines and rubble.
The figure seemed to have some distinct features about him; he had a crack forming from above his right eye and also one on the bottom of his left. He was draped in a very long dark mystic purple suit which flowed about him like the darkness of the night and wrapped in a misty grey cotton scarf while he held a stack of papers in his skeletal hands, the expression on his face portrayed a serious and focused being in concentration. He also from what they saw... had pumpkin orange eyes much like their skeleton friend but was wearing a glass monocle over his right eye.
"Hmmm... I don't really know. But Alphys must have known him well" Frisk responded. For some strange reason they felt that Sans strongly knew something about him, and although the nagging feeling kept on playing in their mind, as much as they wanted to keep quiet about it they really felt they had to ask.
Turning their attention towards him, they were going to ask but felt... a change in atmosphere...
Something's not right... they said to themselves feeling the tension twist a knot of dread in their chest.
They saw... that his eyes had gone void. His grin had faltered... he seemed really tense... almost like a robot as he automatically placed down the documented files he was just reading back on the desk.
The silence worried them and they turned around to where he was staring...
"Hey what's going-" Flowey trailed off as he saw what everyone was in shock over. A horrible chill suddenly coursed throughout his in entire body as he began to shake with fear.
There, lying in the shadows... in a murky corner of the room... was a body in a pool of crimson liquid...
"T-t-that's... that's blood!" the flower froze in horror. Frisk had their hands cupped over their mouth; their eyes were reduced to the size of apple seeds as they held their breath, struggling to keep themselves from screaming in terror. They all stared at the horrific scene, looking over at the dead monster that was lifeless as a doll.
The skeleton recognised who it was; the gold and brown striped shirt... the little dragging orange tail... the body that had no arms and... the scales at the back of the little creature's head...
Kid... w-why... WHY?! Sans agonizingly yelled mentally, clenching his fists tightly. He unleashed a large bone that impacted against the wall which caused a huge dent and a crack before he fell to his knees. Cold tears spilled down his face and stung his hollow cheeks as he pulled the body of the monster child into his arms, not caring that the blood stained his clothes.
The human was shaking from the shock of seeing the motionless body... tears rolling down their tanned face. Slowly, Frisk and the flower moved towards of what was left of one of their dearest friends.
"N-n-no... no..." they whispered "Monster Kid... H-how c-c-could anyone...have-" they sobbed, too emotionally grieved to finish. He was one of their closest friends; they always felt as though they grew up with him in the same family since they were small. To them he was their little brother; they always did almost everything together and would often go around to each other's homes to play the latest level of Squadron Knights on the GameCube.
A memory flashed in their mind about how they were having a little argument about whose turn it was to fight the large aquadrone, a robot dragon fish they had been stuck fighting in an underwater carter level for two whole weeks. On the third week that Saturday they ended up accidentally unleashing their team attack and they won. ... they remembered fondly how they ended up laughing about it later and that made them smile a little, before returning to their large sad frown... and they felt more tears roll down their face again And now he's gone...forever...they sniffled.
Flowey was the one to feel the most guilt at this point. He never got along with the little dinosaur; he was always driven mad by Kid's persistent questions and very talkative and bubbly excitable nature ... and now... now... he was gone from this world. He just sat there silently, unable to say anything else.
The atmosphere's silence enveloped the entire room. The sorrow loitered over their minds like a foggy pitch-black haze that throbbed as if some creature was crushing them underneath the heel of their boot. Their hearts weighed heavily, but even though he knew that now was not the right time to mourn over the death of one of their closest friends and that they still had job to finish here; the skeleton felt he was paralyzed to that spot.
Whoever did this crap... they're gonna pay. And I'll make em pay! the thought viciously rang in his skull.
He sat there for a moment longer, his eyes still void and empty...
The human approached him, kneeling down they placed a comforting hand on their dunkle's shoulder. they knew there wasn't much that they could do to sooth his pain, but they knew that they had to stay strong, as they looked at the flower who nodded to them.
"Dunkle Sans... it's going to be okay. W-we'll find out who did this." Frisk attempted to comfort their dad/uncle "M-maybe if we look around a while longer we might be able-" Sans raised a mitten hand toward their mouth, signalling for them to be silent. The skeleton eyed the direction on the right which led to the entrance of the room.
He could feel something...
A sinister icy wind had suddenly wound its way into the room...
Frisk felt the flower's body tense from within their coat as he risen into a defensive position. The child made sure they always had their trusty wooden bat with them in case something like this were to happen.
"We better be careful. Looks like we've got some company" Flowey growled, his jagged fangs forming into a snarl.
"Ya mean some un-eggxpected company" Sans tried to grin through his pained expression.
"Are you for real? ... How can you JOKE at a time like this Smiley?! Now is not the time!" Flowey growled in annoyance, but the skeleton only shrugged, grinning a little wider.
... Shatter! The lights had completely gone out, plunging the whole room into darkness.
A shadow loomed out from the darkness a little as oval blood eyes peered from behind the small child.
Frisk began to shudder. An uneasy feeling of fear crept over their whole body as they felt two hands snaking over their shoulders which they felt were human; a wide psychotic smile was painted on the face of their opponent as they leaned their face close to theirs. Frisk could feel their breath down their neck and ear as they heard them whisper "Guess who?~" they swung around in attempt to strike, and at the same time Flowey shot a few petals to hit them with but they only heard an ominous taunting laughter that echoed across the entire room. They missed their shots.
Mustering up the courage they were determined to not let whoever this person was get the better of them "HEY! Whoever you are, c-come out right now! It's three against one!" yelled Frisk
Silence... for the moment and then... they re-appeared again directly just a few steps away from them. Their creepy taunting smile that flashed in the darkness of the hallway never left Frisk's mind. Their chocolate brown short shoulder length silky hair that was cut into a bob and was lined with a smooth straight trim at the bottom hung just a few inches below their neck. Their pale skin was darkened by the shadows. Their dark velvet green sweater that had a shaded yellow stripe that ran across in a vertical path was stained with something... something that looked like a grey powder... it was... dust Frisk realised. The figure was also dressed in maroon boots over their black shorts... and they never forgot to note those terrifying oval dark blood eyes that were laughing at them because they were scared.
But... instead of the usual gentleness and compassion they always knew the figure had; these eyes were now filled with the lust for violence. Something that was glinting in a reflected part of the shadows had also caught their attention... they squinted to get a better look. Held tightly in the figure's left hand... they gasped in horror... it was a dagger trickling down with blood.
It couldn't be...no... No! as they came to the realisation of who it was they just tried to defend defend themselves against. The utter shock surprise had left them confused as the words fumbled out of their mouth in a nervous stammer as if they had stumbled on a second dead body.
"C-C-Chara... i-is-is that really you...?" Frisk meekly called out.
The figure giggled again, and it sent shivers down all their spines.
Oh how you should have seen his poor little face," their twisted smile widened in pleasure "He was so... defenseless, so innocently sweet. Yet... he didn't realise-'their expression softened to a pretend sad melting face "that his trusting nature was going to be his own down fall." they declared, their sad face transforming into a malicious sneer "You should have heard the way he was scrambling around, looking for anyway of escape... the way he cried out in fear 'Mommy, daddy, anyone. HELP ME!' ... but nobody came. Such a sad, sad tragic tale... And in the end, I enjoyed every minute of his suffering!" they cackled evily.
The room's atmosphere had suddenly grown silently intense. Flowey watched Sans' eyes grow extremely dark, a burning blue aura was pouring out of his right socket as the skeleton was staring directly at Chara with a flaming hate. He couldn't stand it anymore; the skeleton had finally had enough.
"Yo-you...little... YOU LITTTLE BRAT!" he roared summoning five gigantic reptilian skull dragon heads that left them surrounded with no possible escape. The gaster blasters launched their attack all at once, erupting in a huge fiery explosion. Frisk stared at him in horror; they couldn't believe he just did that. But when the grey cloud of smoke disappeared, the tall human just stood there as if nothing even happened as they blew the rest of the smoke a way with an effortless wave of their blade. They saw the angry un-amused expression on the skeleton's face, his aura burning more intensely now as he glowered angrily, and they savoured it by smiling wickedly.
Although he kept quiet, Flowey was still on guard, knowing that things were about to get even more ugly.
"Awww, don't look so rattled comedian. We've done this all before you know" Chara smirked waving their dagger playfully in the air, their glittering demonic red eyes shining with a twisted dark thrill to them. "You know as well as I that there's always been a darker side to you; a part of you that enjoys it when you're tearing your enemies apart, no?" their smirk never left their face as they saw Sans re-coiling in disbelief, attempting to keep a strong upfront for his friends.
"N-no...no, you're wrong! I'm doing this to protect the kid... to protect the kid from you!" he bellowed.
"Hmmm, I see. Then why don't we have a little wager about how far you're willing to go," Raising their equipped arm in the air, a burning garnet glow enveloped the blade as they swung down pretending to aim the energy beam at him "considering you couldn't even save him. And I'm not talking about the little dinosaur, you know who I mean." they taunted seeing his cold, blank eyes staring them dead in the face as he was getting ready to charge another vicious attack. Just at the last moment, they changed its course, aiming it straight for Frisk and Flowey as the large red wave flew toward them at an accelerating speed.
Flowey knew he had to act fast. Quickly raising a barrier of sturdy vines just in time before they were hit, the wave collided with the wall, exploding right at that very moment.
"Oh no, weed! kid!" he shouted and turned to face their side worriedly as he saw the thick smoke.
Chara's smile widened in wicked delight, but faltered a little when the smoke cleared, seeing that they were unscathed. Sans sighed relieved when Flowey looked at the skeleton and gave a leafs up letting him know that they were both alright.
"Hmph, luckily for you both that attack was a blunt one. But now, it's time for some real "fun" they grinned demonically.
Before they could launch another attack they felt a gaster blaster charge from behind them as they nimbly dodged just at the last moment of the fire and re-appeared from behind the skeleton attempting to strike him swiftly with the swing of their blade. He defended immediately with a skull shield that protected him from the blow. Flowey immediately joined in with his aid shooting a barrage of white pellets at the attacker while Frisk moved along with the flower, not willing to attack unless they had to defend again.
Chara pranced back a little, defending themselves against the pellets with a magic shield as they swung a few times more afterwards, unleashing fast waves that aimed for all three of them.
Sans erected another skull shield blocking off the attacks and Flowey fired off another round of bullets.
The tall human easily dodged again re-appearing from behind Frisk this time and managed to strike a blow to the flower as he yelled in pain, feeling his skin tear apart as he plummeted to the ground with a crash!
"Flowey!" the tanned human turned to the side for the moment but then felt something in the air striking at them which made them instinctively defend with their wooden bat. Their weapon collided with the steel of the dagger, they felt the shudder of fear take over them again as they were now face to face with the monster, their smirking twisted face and glimmering red eyes staring at them playfully but callously as Frisk was pushed back.
"Tsk tsk, you really shouldn't be worrying about him" they wagged a finger "The only one you really should be worried about is yourself Frisky" Chara charged forward feigning a forward lunge as they heard Frisk scream in terror, shaking.
"Ahaha! I knew you never had it in you; always afraid, even when it comes to protecting those who are dearest to you!" their voice echoed tauntingly about the room... then from above they descended like an eagle that was ready to capture its prey, a crazy wild expression displayed on their monstrous face, as they laughed manically and Frisk saw it, too terrified to move.
Then... buzzing in the back of her mind, they heard something echoing their name "Frisk, my child do not waver in making a fast decision when it truly counts. However, be wise in making the right choice"
They snapped back into reality as they heard a shout and realised it was Flowey yelling "Frisk you idiot, MOVE!" just at that moment before the attack got them, they felt a tremendous wave of hot air as a blue beam shot the other tall human right into a wall from across them and they heard a loud THUD.
"Certainly was a close one huh? We really aughta make a tuToriel for you sometime about how to really fight when it's the right time to do so" the skeleton approached with an injured flower in his arms.
Frisk couldn't help but widen in a smile at the jokes and Sans chuckled while Flowey just stayed quiet, but they knew it still wasn't over as they saw Chara stagger up, blood dripping from the corner of their mouth and a large burn mark was on their four head as their clothes were torn from the knees and arms. A trail of blood was also dripping from arms and legs a bit too.
The twisted, dark smirk played on their face again as they giggled ominously once more, their hair covering their face even though they hurt with pain "Hee hee... you're all fools... if you believe you'll be safe. No. This is just the beginning of your worst fears. Your impending doom is near, and soon everyone in this underground... will perish" they stared at everyone with that crazy look in their burning, demonic ruby eyes. Their mouth widened into a creepy and dislodged gaped smile... it gave them all chills, especially Frisk.
"Frisky... this isn't the last you've seen of me. We certainly shall meet again" was the last phrase their sibling uttered before vanishing under a cloak of darkness.
Everything was silent for a long while after that. Sans tenderly held Flowey close to him, mumbling if he was alright and the flower kept replying he was going to be fine.
Frisk was relieved to see that Flowey was okay, but they all knew he needed to get fixed up at the medical centre soon so the wound could be mended.
Though the ordeal was very terrifying, and they shook with fear, Frisk couldn't help wondering why their older sibling wasn't at their parents like they said and why they attacked them out of the blue like. But most importantly, why had they murdered Monster Kid? They loved him as much as big sibling would and it puzzled them extremely hard. And what was all this about an impending doom being so close? Something was very wrong... very wrong indeed.
Those eyes... the way they appeared were very strange as if... as if their sibling had been possessed. Those horrible eyes... they weren't Chara's... they weren't sure who's they were, but they knew that in some point of this journey they was going to find out because everything that had happened today... truly was a mystery. But they was determined that they were going to save their partner, even if it had to come... to that.
"Kid, come on..." Sans beckoned her "W-we'll get weed to the medics and... then take MK's body back to Snowdin and... break the news to his parents" he said sorrowfully as they slowly departed, marching back to their home.
