Other Half
Chapter 5
Frisk grinned. She had been bouncing all morning with excitement. After all, she'd always wanted to visit the underground, and now she would finally get to see it. Frisk's bus companion, who was also her current roommate, disappeared to socialize with a few friends upon their arrival to the MTT hotel. She sighed a little at the thought of attempting to locate them later, considering that they would be sharing a room in the hotel, but her worried thoughts left her as she stepped off the bus for her first real view of the underground. The excited human received her bag, and then dragged it over to a familiar yellow figure.
"Kid! We're in the underground!" She practically shouted, earning her a few brief stares from those around her. The tall, yellow monster grinned at her.
"Yo, Frisk! Welcome to the underground dude!" He said, then looked around the lobby area. "So, do you like it so far?" He asked, eagerly awaiting her response. He knew about her original excitement for coming here, so he hoped that this place met her expectations. Frisk's grin grew even wider at the question.
"Like it? It's amazing down here! Everything smells so earthy, and we're going to see so many cool things while we're here- Of course I like it!" She responded, then drew in a deep breath. "So, have you been here before?" She asked, observing the hotel. "Is the rest of the underground this pink?" Kid openly laughed at that.
"No, I've never been here. We didn't really have any reason to travel all the way to the core when I was younger, so I never really had a reason for staying here. Don't worry, the rest of the underground isn't this pink, I promise." He assured her. Kid noticed the line for room keys getting shorter, so he suggested that they began their wait. Both of them would be sharing rooms with their separate roommates from school, but the pair would most likely hang out with each other throughout the duration of the trip. After receiving their keys and thanking the receptionist, both brought their bags to the elevator, then stopped in each of their rooms to deliver their clothing and supplies.
After exiting Kid's shared room, the pair of friends decided to split up momentarily and deliver their room keys to their roommates. Frisk decided that she'd scour the still crowded lobby, and after a few minutes, she located Ange, who was conversing with some upperclassmen. After a few minutes of waiting, her roommate noticed Frisk waiting to speak with them, and thanked her for the room key. Subsequent to Ange's departure with their friends, Frisk walked around, trying to find Kid. She started walking in one direction, and then visibly jumped when she heard a semi loud shout.
"Dude! Frisk, Hey, I'm glad I found you!" Kid said, appearing behind her. Frisk sighed in relief. She wouldn't have to go through the trouble of locating her friend now, and she was happy to see him too. "Okay dude, so we're not doing anything today. If you want, I can show you the waterfall!" He exclaimed with a grin. Frisk remembered that he wanted her to see it, and then grinned.
"Of course I want to see it, let's go!" She said, and then checked her pockets for her cell phone and wallet. She had both, so the two strutted out of the hotel. Once they were safely on a boat headed to the area, both chatted excitedly about getting to see the area. "So, does the water really glow?" Kid shrugged in response.
"Kind of. It's really weird, but you'll love it!" He said confidently. She grinned, then continued to ask questions about the biome. Kid answered them all, but Frisk realized that he looked tense for some reason.
"Hey, is something wrong Kid? You look nervous." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder in worry. She saw that her friend was avoiding her face, and his yellow cheeks were somewhat flushed. He finally looked at her, summoning his trademark grin.
"What? No, nothing's wrong dude! I'm just thinking, and a little nervous, that's all." He responded, his eyes leaving her face again. Frisk wanted him to elaborate, but before she could ask, he spoke up. The boat jolted to a stop, and he looked up. "We're here! Come on, once we leave the doc, I can show you everything!" He said, then encased her hand in a little magic to drag her along behind him. He took her past the docs, and then waved at an old antique seller. After a little walking, they found an umbrella bin, and a sign that read 'take one'. After letting her know that there would be an area to return it to later, Kid used his magic to hold the umbrella and guide them through his personal favorite part of the waterfall. After a few minutes of walking, Frisk found a statue of a monster with bullhorns. It was partially cracked, and water leaked on it through an opening in the ceiling. It was strange, but it almost seemed like the statue was crying. Of course, that was probably preposterous, but Frisk felt bad for it anyway. She looked around for a way she could shield the rusting statue from water, and her eyes landed on the umbrella in Kid's magic hands.
"Kid, can I have the umbrella?" She asked, and his eyebrows scrunched together, but he shrugged. He had no idea why she'd been inspecting the statue so much, but he was happy to comply with her wishes. Monster Kid nodded, and the umbrella levitated over to her, before landing in her hands. She looked over the statue again, and then placed the umbrella in its outstretched hand. Frisk smiled with satisfaction since the statue was now free of potential water damage, but looked up in surprise as a music box began to play. Kid was now looking back and forth between the human and the statue in shock.
"How did you know that would work?" Frisk's smile re aligned itself on her face.
"I didn't, the statue just looked….sad." She said with a shrug. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" She asked, pointing towards the statue. Kid shrugged.
"It was one of the things. Still, that's cool!" He said, then the pair continued walking, now lacking an umbrella. In the adjacent room, they found a piano, and some glyphs on a wall, describing an ancient puzzle involving the instrument. "Okay, this was another one of the things. There's supposed to be some 'ancient power' here, that can only be opened by this super old puzzle with 8 piano notes, but no one knows what they are. Everyone in the underground has tried… except for me, because I couldn't play as a child." Kid said, referencing his lack of arms. Frisk stared thoughtfully at the piano, and almost immediately, an idea formed in her mind.
"Wait, how old is that statue? You know, the one from the previous room?" Kid's shoulders moved up, before coming back to their original positions.
"I don't know, I think it was one of the first things in the underground. Why?" He asked, intrigued by her newfound fixation on the statue.
"Hold on, I'll be right back." She said, and then dashed off into the room with the statue. Kid was reading the ancient glyphs again, attempting to look for a clue to the puzzle in the words again. He didn't know how Frisk would try to solve this one, but it would probably be an incredibly detailed attempt. He nodded absentmindedly at her words, then, after he finished reading the two sentences for the hunderth time, looked down towards his friend.
Except…she wasn't there. Kid immediately began to look behind her, then finally registered her words. He uttered a small sound of distress when he realized that his friend was lost in the waterfall, one of the underground's most confusing biomes. He remembered getting lost here a lot as a child, and he paled at the thought that she was running around alone. Kid immediately looked to his left and right, then bound off after her into the next room. He rationalized that his friend continued exploring the waterfall without him, and most likely went into the next area.
"Wait!" He shouted, beginning to run after her. "Frisk, stop!" He shouted, his words echoing through the waterfall's hallways. Kid began to panic. He would never forgive himself if he lost her down here.
Sans was strolling casually through the waterfall, his hands in his pockets. When he thought about it, this place was nice. He didn't know why he didn't visit this place often back when he lived in the underground. After all, the place wasn't that far away. As he walked down one of the waterfall's many hallways, he heard a cry that made him stop, dead in his tracks.
"Frisk, wait!" Sans's eye sockets widened. The voice itself wasn't attention worthy, but the name, Frisk made him pause. It was weird, but that was the only name that appeared in his paradox notebook, as he dubbed it, that he didn't know was a monster. In fact, the skeleton guessed that they were human, but he could never be sure. Sans immediately started travelling towards the source of the noise. Sans started walking towards the room that held an old statue, where he saw a human girl standing next to it. Apparently, someone placed an umbrella over the statue's head, and soft music played. The song seemed to be coming from the statue, but before Sans could question it, the human girl turned away from the statue and left the room. The skeleton looked at her retreating form, and immediately started to follow her.
The girl, still unaware of her pursuer, reached the room with the piano, only to find that her friend wasn't there. She shrugged and decided that she would find him later, and sat at the seat of the piano. After a moment of concentration, she hummed the tune from the previous room, then began to play it on the instrument. After correctly identifying the notes, she played them on the piano, then gasped in surprise as she heard the wall begin to shake, then open.
"No way.." Sans breathed, looking at the human girl in surprise. That puzzle had been unsolvable, and he remembered a point in time where monsters were obsessed with finding the answer. She emitted a small squeak, then looked at the newly formed passageway, clearly excited. Sans took a deep breath. For some reason, he felt like he knew this girl, but he hadn't met any humans since arriving on the surface. Still, he couldn't shake the weird feeling that he knew her. As the human girl walked in the room, Sans decided that he'd teleport over to her, and try to figure out if they knew each other, or why her name- if Frisk even was her name, was in his paradox notebook. The girl picked up the ancient artifact, and looked over it. It was a snow globe like object, and it held an inky black substance. She held it in confusion and began to look over it. It was definitely a strange ancient power, to say the least.
Unfortunately, as she held the figure, that was the time when sans opted to teleport in the room, directly in front of her. He had his hand out, and his chosen words were already prepared, so he was surprised when things didn't go quite as planned.
"Heh heh, don't you know how to greet a new pal?" He asked, trying to see if she remembered his face. Usually, Frisk would have immediately shaken his hand, and then greeted him politely. Then again, most people usually didn't teleport in front of her, and offer a still slightly glowing hand to her. With the current situation, it was understandable that Frisk visibly jumped after being so startled, then dropped the so called 'ancient power' on the ground, shattering the thin glass containing the inky blackness. Frisk gasped, Sans looked down in surprise, and after a quick flash of red, then another flash of purple, both immediately passed out and fell to the ground, their bodies landing in the quickly spreading puddle of black vapor.
AN: Whoop, there it is! I did an early update because I don't think I can do it tomorrow. So uh, technically there is no Gaster and Chara, but we have some plot development, and things are about to get very…interesting. Poor Kid though, right? He's still looking for Frisk. Until next time guys! R&R, it really lights up my day.
Question: Do you have any Undertale NOTP'S? This is also known as Pairings/ friendships that you just don't ship. I'm curious, so let me know! (Note, for all of you Homestucks, it can be in any quadrant.)
ST OUT! Stay Determined!