Heh...I guess real life really caught up to me, huh? I mean, it's been about...5 months? Jeez, writers block and college hit me hard.
Reviews!
Whispers: Uh...heh...that is quite the plot hole you found there. I'm planning on trying to do a rewrite after the first year is finished up, just to fix the stuff that is messed up (like that).
C.S: I'm probably being an idiot, but what did you change your name from? Also, I'd honestly prefer just being messaged over FFN or Ao3, just because I don't want my steam account out there. I'd like to hear some of your ideas, though.
crazy dragon ninja: Audible wink.
Curious Kit: I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE
Thank you as well to Guest, General Rhapsodos, TEM, SpazmatismLive, ROFLCHOPPER, Saphira455, Crystal013, buterflypuss, WanderingWatermelon, Ender the multiverse Detective, and Pokemonever1994 for reviewing!
Thanks as well to all you wonderful people that have followed and/or favorited this story!
Overall, the rest of the holiday break was uneventful. Hermione had left the day after Gyftday for her home, but Frisk had walked over to Mistral's house almost every day (most likely to play with the new gaming system). It hadn't been long, though, before it had been time to board the train to Hogwarts once more. Once they got to the school, surprisingly enough, Mistral had actually decided to spend the first night back in the dorm. Of course, he waited for everyone else to fall asleep before finally heading to bed, but it was the though that counted.
"Toriel, may I have a word with you?
"Oh, of course, Headmaster. What is it that you need?"
"Please, Toriel, Albus is fine. I wanted to ask you and see if you would be willing to investigate something for me during your free time. You see, something has been killing the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest as of late..."
Sans knew that the grin on his skull was real when he entered the classroom that he and Papyrus shared. "alright, you all have a good break?"
Several humans replying with various degrees of enthusiasm were his reply. The two monsters at the back of the room nodded, their forms alight with joy.
"good. now we've got a bit to cover today since it's the start of the new semester. First off, you remember that thing that me an' paps told ya about having one of the monster professors on campus pull out your souls?"
The majority of the class nodded, but there were a few that stared at him blankly.
"well if ya wanna continue this class, you gotta get that done if ya haven't already. we gotta know if your soul can handle it before we start the real magical part of this class." Those that got the pun either laughed or groaned, making Sans chuckle softly to himself. "papyrus isn't here today since he said, and I quote..." Sans cleared his throat before doing a spot on impression of Papyrus, "SANS, YOU NEED TO TAKE MORE RESPONSIBILITY IN THE CLASSROOM. THEREFORE, YOU WILL BE TEACHING TODAY SO THAT I CAN WORK ON GRADING THE ASSIGNMENTS YOU SHOULD HAVE GRADED BEFORE THE BREAK!"
A few more people laughed, knowing the two skeletons well enough to know that yes, that was probably what had happened.
"today, we're gonna talk about green magic..."
I'm going to visit Giant later, if you want to come.
"huh? who's giant?"
One of my friends. He lives by the forest.
"i mean actual name, frisk."
H-A-G-R-I-D.
"hagrid? oh...i can see why you gave him that name now."
So will you come?
"...sure, why not?"
Mistral had never been more relieved by the fact that he couldn't eat regular food.
The rock cakes that Hagrid had been more than happy to offer looked like they could live up to their name easily. Nevertheless, Frisk had taken one immediately and somehow managed to eat a portion. When they signed to him under the table, however, Mistral understood. Better than Scarf's cooking.
Hagrid, not noticing the reluctance of two of his guests to eat his cooking, happily spoke of how things were going in the forest, the recent acquires of the school that would be added to the forest, and asked how things were going up in the castle. Frisk listened with a neutral expression that Mistral had only seen when they were determined about something underground. Just as Hagrid started asking about the holiday, a loud tapping sound echoed through the room.
Ignoring his company, Hagrid rushed for the fire, which had had a pot of...something over it for the entire time Frisk, Hermione, and Mistral had been in the hut. The huge man slid on a pair of oven mitts before reaching into the pot and pulling out an egg of some sort. Mistral stared at the egg for a moment before whispering, "how did you come across this?"
The egg shuddered violently, but Mistral only moved closer as everyone else backed away slightly. Hagrid frowned at the skeleton's closeness to the egg. "Uh, Mistral, I don' think that's the best idea-" Suddenly, the shell split, shattering in various directions to reveal the small dragon within. "Isn't 'e beautiful?" Hagrid said, reaching to pet the dragon.
Frisk nodded, their old neutral look heavy on their face. Hermione, however, was in awe. "Is this what I think it is?
Mistral nodded. "it's a dragon, that's for sure. pretty sure it's poisonous, too," he said as the dragon nipped at Hagrid's fingers.
"Rubbish," Hagrid brushed off the skeleton's concerns. "'E's playin', see?"
"hagrid, your house is made of wood and is at the base of a forest of wooden trees. you might wanna think about that for a second."
After roughly two hours of debating, Hagrid finally agreed to owl a former Hogwarts student about coming and retrieving the dragon so that it could go to a preserve. It would be much safer for everyone involved (despite Hagrid's worries about 'Norbert' being bullied).
Frisk walked through the dark corridors, their (almost irritatingly) slow pace making no noise as they moved along. The urge had finally driven them to do something similar to what had happened shortly after they had first met Toriel: purposely go out of their way to do the major thing they were forbidden from doing.
They were going to get into the forbidden corridor, and they were determined to not let anything stop them.
Almost halfway down a staircase that they knew would move to attach to the corridor, Frisk heard a small meow, followed by the feeling of their SOUL getting pulled out.
*Mrs. Norris jumps out of the shadows.
Frisk blinked. *Act → Talk
*You tell Mrs. Norris that you only wished to explore.
*Mrs. Norris looks unimpressed with your excuse.
The cat meowed at them once before running away.
Well crap.
They began moving down the staircase, slightly faster than before. Luckily, it was already attached to the landing they required, so they just kept walking. As if trying to help them or to urge them onward, both the staircases attached moved away the second they stepped off theirs.
Good. That would give them a little more time before Filch descended upon them.
Frisk hurried down the hallway until they found the door on the right side. Naturally, it was locked, but that never stopped Frisk. They just had to find a key. There was no doubt that it was...in the...
They facepalmed. Taking a moment to pull out their wand, they waved it in the pattern needed for the spell to unlock doors (they never spoke the spells, so why should they be able to remember the names? It just took up time). The door opened with no effort whatsoever, so they entered the room.
Almost immediately, they heard a low growling. They looked up to see a huge, three headed dog towering over them. Frowning, they did something they hadn't let themselves do since the end of their incomplete genocide run.
They initiated a confrontation with the cerberus.
(Do you wish to Continue?)
(Yes.)
Sans wished he could frown as he entered the classroom that he and Papyrus shared. "you all have a good break?" he asked, sounding more tired than usual.
There were a few murmurs of affirmation, but one voice stood out. "Yo, are you okay, Sans?"
"i'm fine," he waved it off. "don't worry 'bout it, kid. now papyrus isn't here today 'cause he's grading papers i was supposed to grade over break, so i'll be teaching alone today. green magic is known as the most benevolent magic..."
Mistral sighed as he walked with Frisk and Hermione into Hagrid's hut. Hermione, it seemed, hadn't even realized that they were repeating the same actions. Frisk, though, had schooled their face into their default blank stare. The same one they had kept throughout almost their entire journey through the underground.
He thought he had every right to be suspicious if that face was in effect.
Most of the visit to Hagrid's was exactly the same, save for one thing that happened before the dragon egg was brought up. *You ask Hagrid how to calm three-headed dog.
"I...er...I dunno what yer talkin' about, Frisk."
*You tell Hagrid that it would make sense for him to know. He is the gamekeeper, after all.
It was hard to tell whether Hagrid was blushing or not underneath his beard. "Well...there is one way I know...but yeh three got ter promise not ter tell a soul."
"promise."
"I promise."
*You tell Hagrid that promise not to tell a soul.
"Yeh got ter play it a song. Play anythin' soothin' an' it'll go righ' ta sleep."
*You thank Hagrid for telling you.
Frisk left a little later on their trip to the third floor, managing to avoid Mrs. Norris all together. The stairs were still attached to the third floor landing, strangely enough, when they got there. They got to the bottom and, just like before, the staircases moved away.
Going through the motions from the last reload, Frisk entered the room and approached the cerberus. This time, however, when they initiated the confrontation, they began humming the lullaby that Shyren had taught them. The cerberus was out like a light.
Still humming, Frisk explored the room, trying to figure out why the beast had been trapped there. After a bit of walking around, they found a trapdoor near the slumbering dog's front paws. They pushed the paw over and opened the trapdoor. Still humming, they dropped down.
The vines retracted as they were set on fire. Mentally, Frisk apologized.
/\/\/\
Frisk gazed at the many winged keys flying above them as they entered the next room. The majority of them were small and golden, easily lost in the crowd. A glance at the doorknob gave them something to go off of: the key was probably big, silver, and old-looking. Looking up, Frisk could see the key standing out in the flock. They grabbed a broom that had been lying conveniently by the door. They were filled with Determination.
They frowned as they approached the giant chess board, seeing the chess pieces on each side. Frisk tried to walk across, but quickly saw their path blocked by several stone swords. Taking a leap in logic, they took the place of the black queen and began to play.
(Do you wish to Continue?)
(Yes.)
(Do you wish to Continue?)
(Yes.)
(Do you wish to Continue?)
(Yes.)
(Do you wish to Continue?)
(Yes.)
Frisk grinned widely as they finally beat the opposing side. They passed through the chess pieces still standing, going to the opposite side of the room.
They opened the next door and were surprised to see a large troll that looked vaguely familiar. *You ask the troll if their name is Bob.
The troll's eyes widened in shock as he recognized the small human before him. He grunted something back.
Frisk recognized the sole occupant of the next room as well. Luckily, the occupant also recognized them, and had warmed up to them enough that they didn't have to have a confrontation.
It was a good thing too, seeing as how Frisk had never truly been able to beat the Mad Dummy.
They frowned as they thought about the puzzle in the next room. It wasn't one that they were used to, seeing as how it was written down instead of physical, but they knew they would be able to get it. Even if they couldn't figure it out, it was just a matter of time before they got it right.
Frisk swallowed all that was within the tiny bottle that they had guessed was the correct one. A shiver ran down their spine as they drank, chilling them to the bone. Only hesitating for a moment, they made their way through the wall of black flames before them.
…
It was a room with a mirror.
That was literally the thing they had gone through all that trouble to see?
A mirror...wait...Frisk knew that mirror. The writing on the top was the exact same as that of a mirror they had seen earlier in the school year. They looked into it and saw their reflection move without a cue from their body. It reached into its pocket, pulled out a blood red stone, and put it back in. Frisk felt a weight appear in their own pocket. They looked and found the stone they had seen their reflection hold.
Deciding that was enough insanity for the night, Frisk began to leave the underground rooms, their face completely blank.
The next chapter (so long as nothing hijacks the plot) will have Toriel in the Forbidden Forest. I just couldn't think of a way to get any of the trio in detention, and Papyrus would've been the next pick, but...Sans, so Toriel it is!
Frisk snuck away one day during the Holiday break to go up to Mt. Ebbot and save. They figured that if they were going to explore that hallway, they wanted to not have to redo an entire year. Sans and Mistral, naturally, are still not amused with this.