A/N: It has been WAY too long since I've updated this, and I'm so sorry. Honestly this chapter has been fighting me. I feel bad because I honestly love this concept and I feel like some people may think I abandoned this story. Sorry! Anyway here's the next chapter! Again thank you to my beta joviamod for the editing!
I apologize for how slow this chapter is. The next one may be as well. Please bear with me.
Also again keep note of the tags. I may or may not change them.
There was a tense silence among the children as they continued into the next area. It was another extremely large area. A sign greeted them upon entering. Becca had already moved to read it aloud. "'Warning: Dog Marriage'." She paused, her dark mood shifting in her confusion. "Wait, what?"
"It's true." Sandro said. "There are two married dogs around here." Frisk looked around them. Now that they were paying attention, there were a couple of monsters in the area. They didn't see any dogs, though. At least, none that looked married. "If all of the traps are activated, that means that there will be spikes down there blocking our way." Sandro pointed down towards the lower half of the area. "But I know where the button is!"
"How?" Becca asked, her voice a little stiff still towards him. Sandro didn't show any signs of letting it affect him, but Frisk thought they might have seen him cringe a little bit.
"Because I had to do these puzzles!" He explained. He motioned for them to follow after him as he ran across the snowy field and between a couple of trees. He grinned at them from the middle of bare patch in the snow. Frisk's hands came up to cover their nose and mouth and breathed hard to try to warm their face. Their hands were beginning to shake a bit. They hoped that it wasn't too much farther until Snowdin. They were already looking forward to the warm house they hoped that Sans and Papyrus had.
"What is it?" Becca asked, looking around and waiting. Sandro slid his foot forward, and they all heard a click as well as the slide of metal somewhere. The boy looked proud as he put his hands on his hips.
"All set!" He called. Frisk gave a clap as the three children turned to continue on their way. However, rapid crunching of the snow caught their attention. They only just had time to spin around when all of their Souls were summoned, a monster facing them. It was an armored dog, his tongue hanging excitedly from his mouth as he held his sword and shield aloft. The shield had a strange symbol on it (the royal symbol?) and it was the size of the monster. It was only a bit taller than Frisk was. It's tail wagged, waiting.
"Lesser Dog!" Sandro cried with delight. The dog yipped at him, but said no more. Frisk frowned, confused when they realized it wasn't their turn to attack. Usually they received the first move when a battle commenced, but this time the turn was given to someone else. Frisk turned their head to see Sandro step forward, his orange Soul burning brightly against his chest. He seemed completely at ease with the battle, his fists held aloft. However, he didn't attack.
"Why are you attacking us, my friend? We are only trying to get to Snowdin!" He asked.
Lesser Dog didn't respond. Instead he panted and charged at them. His shield came up to bash them, but the children jumped out of the way before he could. They spun on their heels as Frisk's turn came. Like they had done with Doggo, they lifted their stick. It was barely in the air before Lesser Dog began to wiggle excitedly. Frisk threw the stick. Lesser Dog dropped his sword and shield and chased after it, barking ecstatically. Sandro burst into laughter at the sight and looked like he also wanted to throw the stick, but he was unable to because it wasn't his turn. Becca just shook her head and crossed her arms, waiting as Lesser Dog returned the stick and Frisk continued to play catch.
Eventually they pulled the slobbered-on stick from Lesser Dog again, and the monster attacked for a second time. Again the children dodged, although Becca winced as she was hit a bit. Sandro's own Soul appeared as if it would've taken damage too, but strangely it appeared Lesser Dog went right through it as the boy moved.
Becca Spared the dog, refusing the fight, and Sandro and Frisk followed along. Lesser Dog released them, clearly overjoyed, and dashed off immediately. It seemed to be in a hurry for something. Frisk had to admit that was one of the easier fights they'd had so far in the Underground.
"They attacked me as well." Sandro said quietly, frowning as he crossed his arms.
"I told you, didn't I?" Becca told him, already crunching through the snow down towards where Sandro had said the spikes were.
"I did not think I would also be attacked! Do you think they see me as a human now?" He followed after her quickly.
"Probably." She muttered.
"Travelling with us." Frisk suggested as they flicked the dog slobber off of their stick. It was pretty gross, and they didn't want the slobber to freeze on the stick.
"That's also a possibility." Sandro didn't respond to that. Instead the girl glanced over her shoulder at him and asked, "How come you went first in the battle? Usually it's Frisk."
"Oh." Sandro said, clearly not surprised, "That is my power."
"What? You figured out your power?" All of Becca's grumpiness dropped in her surprised. She seemed a bit eager to hear about Sandro's power.
"Sí. I go first." He said it simply, but still both of his companions frowned in confusion.
"You . . . go first? That's it?" Becca didn't sound impressed. "That doesn't seem like a good power compared to mine or Frisk's." So it was common knowledge among the humans what Becca's power was? Frisk wondered why the girl didn't use it more. Wouldn't it be more useful in battle? Maybe it was because all of the battles they had been in thus far had been short. Frisk decided to ask later. They had reached the area where the spikes had been. Frisk glanced into the large holes as they stepped carefully over them. The points of the spikes reflected the strange lighting of the Underground.
"It is . . . difficult to explain. And I do not have a better name for it." Sandro grinned sheepishly. "But yes! I go first."
"That's-" Becca didn't get to finish as two large shapes approached them. They were hooded figures with white snouts sticking out. They towered over the three children, easily as tall as Papyrus but bulkier, as they approached and surrounded them. Axes were carried in each of the figures' hands, making Frisk pale at the sight of them. The image of them being sliced in half made their stomach clench in horror. Twin sniffs occurred.
"What's that smell?" One asked while the other asked, "(Where's that smell?)" Their voices were not much different from each other. "If you're a smell . . ." One began, " . . . identify yoursmellf!" The other finished. The dogs (because now Frisk could see that they were dogs) sniffed around as they searched the area. Were they like Doggo and couldn't see what wasn't moving?
Sandro called to them, "We're right here!" They froze immediately and looked at him. They appeared surprised from what Frisk could see of them under the hoods.
"It's Sandro." One said. "(He's with the weird smell.)" The other said. "He smells like the weird smell." The first agreed. "It makes me want to eliminate." "( . . . Eliminate YOU!)"
The three humans' Souls were once again summoned as the dogs pushed back their hoods to reveal themselves. Frisk could see now that these two must be the married dogs Sandro had been referring to earlier. They stood close to each other protectively, occasionally granting each other smooches. The Dogi approached them sternly even as they shot each other loving gazes.
"Dogi!" Sandro said, using his turn as he once again went first. "Why are you attacking me? We are neighbors!" He appeared to be becoming distressed. He shook his head and then stomped his foot, frowning. "Stop attacking me and my friends!"
"Sorry Sandro." The male dog said. "(But we must capture the strange smell.)" The female dog said. "(Could be humans.)"
They separated themselves so that they were surrounding the children and began to bark lovingly. Swirls of magic in the shapes of hearts twirled towards the humans, ranging from light blue magic to the typical white. Becca and Frisk maneuvered themselves to make sure the light blue hearts would touch them, and then froze so the magic would miss. Sandro didn't, however. He dodged in and out of the hearts, not bothering to pause. He was fast, Frisk quickly realized. He held his arms close like they had seen boxers do on television. His feet never paused for long as he ducked and dodged the magic.
"They seem too caught up in themselves to even focus on sight." Becca murmured to Frisk as they contemplated their next move. "And we smell suspicious to them."
Frisk could throw the stick again, but they worried it wouldn't work with two of the dogs. They seemed much more powerful than the previous dogs. And they were very distracted by each other. However, Frisk knew that every dog also loved to play fetch. With the three children there, it was probably better to get done faster . . . even if Frisk would like to play around a bit more.
They lifted their stick and wiggled it until they caught both Dogamy and Dogressa's attentions. Their tails wagged excitedly, eyes finally torn from each other as they stared at the stick. Frisk chucked the wood as hard as the could, and both dogs immediately dropped their weapons to chase after it. Becca was already relaxing next to Frisk, recognizing this tactic now. Sandro still seemed amused, but a little upset still. Frisk would need to comfort him.
When all three of them were done playing fetch, the dogs' eyes were sparkling with joy. Despite being clearly older dogs, they looked like puppies with their bodies wiggling from their joy. They pecked each other quickly on the lips before sweeping up their axes and once again surrounding the children.
"Let's kick human tail!" Dogamy crowed while Dogressa asked, "(Do humans have tails?)" The large axes came down, chopping near them. There was no way to dodge completely out of the way. The children backed towards each other in the middle.
"Under!" Frisk called, pointing at the gap that was big enough to duck through under the blades before they came down. Sandro and Frisk, being smaller, went in one direction while Becca went in the other. Frisk ducked down and rolled under the blade as Sandro kept low until they were both on the other side without damage. Frisk's heart was in their throat. Their foot had come very close to the blade. The image of their leg being chopped off had them trembling.
The dogs appeared to be reevaluating the scents of the children even as they seemed distracted. Frisk didn't think that they were all that interested in fighting anymore. If anything they seemed to want the stick back. Frisk would've gladly continued to play with them, but they were freezing and didn't want another chance with those axes. Sandro and Frisk returned to the middle with Becca as the girl took her turn. She glanced at Frisk, who shook their head. She sighed and put her weapon away as she Spared the dogs.
"Weird smells can bring good things . . ." Dogamy murmured while Dogressa added cheerfully, "(Friendly fun fetch!)" They smiled brightly at their children, eyes glittering with happiness. "Thanks, weird smells." "(It sure was fun to 'stick' together!)"
Becca coughed to cover her laugh as Sandro smiled as well. The dogs moved to leave, hefting their axes over their shoulders, but Sandro stopped them. "Friends, do you believe me to be a human?" He asked.
"Weird smells smell like Sandro." "(Sandro smells like weird smell.)" The dogs seemed to consider this, watching each other and communicating silently. "Then Sandro . . ." "( . . . Must be human!)"
"What . . . what will you do with us?" He asked, worried now.
The dogs shrugged. "Human smell brought fun stick." "(Humans are fun.)" They decided. That appeared to be the end of their talk as they linked paws and hurried off. The children watched them go before turning to each other. Becca placed her hands on her hips.
"It looks like you ain't safe either." She informed the boy.
Sandro didn't appear too worried, although there was a crease in his brow. "Yeah. I guess more humans mean more chance of attack?"
"Capture." Frisk corrected softly.
"No, it means we can protect each other more!" Becca denied. She turned to Frisk. "I'm not sure your pacifism will always work. Especially with your stick."
"The stick was a good idea! We will probably see Greater Dog later! He loves attention!" Sandro added. So there was at least one more dog they would have to face.
"Seriously though." Becca grabbed Frisk's shoulder to bring their attention back to her. Her eyes were understanding, but hard. "Frisk, we have to be prepared to Fight if necessary."
"If necessary." Frisk repeated, ducking from her hand and continuing down the path. "But until then . . ." They left the sentence hanging.
She didn't respond to that.
They carefully made their way down the hill together to find a strange set up. There were rocks arranged in a sideways H-pattern with two X's on either side. There was also a large switch. Sandro gaped a little, surprised. "This is new!" He announced.
"What . . . is this?" Becca murmured as they approached the stuff. Frisk noticed a sign nearby and pointed to it. Becca nodded as she joined them and read, "'Turn every X into an O. Then press the switch.' Oh, that's easy enough."
Sandro stepped onto the rocks before jumping and landing on one of the X's. Immediately it turned into a red O. Frisk ran to the other and also turned that one as Becca went to press the switch. The children turned to hear spikes disappear again. Frisk hadn't even noticed them. They blinked as they realized Papyrus was standing on the other side. Sandro grinned at the sight of the skeleton and waved cheerfully.
"Hola Papyrus!" He called.
Papyrus spun around and appeared delighted to see the children again even as he cried out in annoyance, "WHAT?! HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?" He smiled hopefully.
"What do we tell him?" Becca asked quietly. "Would he get upset if we said we left it?"
"Nah. Papyrus does not get upset easy." Sandro waved off her concern and called out, "We left it!"
"REALLY!?" Papyrus asked. "WOWIE . . . YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOMECOOKED PASTA JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?"
Frisk nodded in agreement to that, although the guilt in the face of their lie clearly appeared on their face. Becca looked away from Papyrus's earnest smile. Only Sandro seemed unrepentant.
"FRET NOT HUMANS (AND SANDRO)! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT!"
"Please do not." Sandro said.
Papyrus either didn't hear him, or he ignored him as he laughed giddily and wandered off again. The children followed after him. Surprisingly he didn't turn around to attack them despite how they walked with him.
"More puzzles?" Frisk asked the skeleton.
"CORRECT!" Papyrus grinned at the small human before he came to a stop. "YOU KNOW, MY BROTHER TOLD ME HE WAS FRIENDS WITH ONE OF YOU HUMANS! WHICH ONE?" Becca raised her hand. Papyrus appeared even more delighted. "NICE TO MEET YOU! UH." He leaned down to Sandro and whispered loudly, "SANDRO, WHAT ARE THOSE HUMANS' NAMES?"
"Ella es Becca y él es Frisk." Sandro pointed to the corresponding human.
"I SEE. WELL HELLO THEN! MY BROTHER NEVER TOLD ME HE WAS FRIENDS WITH HUMANS BEFORE! I'M KIND OF JEALOUS!" Papyrus caught himself then and shook himself, "I MEAN! I'M UPSET HE NEVER TOLD ME SO I COULD TAKE YOU TO THE CAPITOL!"
"Sandro is a human too, you know." Becca pointed out.
Papyrus reared back in shock. "SANDRO! IS THIS TRUE?"
"Sí." Sandro said, amused.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? YOU ARE QUITE CRAFTY!" Papyrus tried not to look impressed.
Sandro shrugged. "Never came up, my friend."
"TRUE . . . TRUE . . ." Papyrus rubbed his jawbone thoughtfully. He nodded in agreement to the statement. "WELL ANYWAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT MY BROTHER RECENTLY STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION?" He asked.
"No?" Becca and Frisk shook their heads, confused by the topic change. Sandro began to giggle a bit over the topic of socks, but Frisk couldn't understand why.
"IT'S VERY SADDENING." Papyrus denied, looking more annoyed about the fact despite Sandro's smothered laughter. "SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO WITHOUT SUCH A COOL GUY TAKING CARE OF HIM?"
"Are you talking about you?" Becca asked somewhat dubiously.
"ABSOLUTELY! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus laughed.
Frisk decided it would probably be more prudent to move on before Becca managed to upset anyone. They were starting to realize she was a bit ruder than they had thought. They pointed further down the path where they could see more rocks set up. It looked like another puzzle. Papyrus walked with them as they wandered over to the new puzzle.
Papyrus cleared his throat loudly to get their attention, his friendliness fading to something a bit more serious. Frisk was finding it more and more entertaining. Papyrus was a good person, they decided. "HUMANS! HMM . . . HOW DO I SAY THIS . . . YOU ALL WERE TAKING A LONG TIME TO ARRIVE, SO I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THIS PUZZLE BY ARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE." Frisk couldn't really tell from where they were standing, but the various X's and rocks and large clumps of snow didn't particularly look like Papyrus. Well . . . maybe if they turned their head a bit . . . ? "UNFORTUNATELY, THE SNOW FROZE TO THE GROUND. NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT!" He cried, annoyed more at the snow than with himself. "AND, AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND. MAYBE HE ACTUALLY WENT BACK TO WORK FINALLY."
"I SUPPOSE WHAT I'M SAYING IS . . ." Papyrus posed dramatically, his head tilted towards a spotlight that wasn't there and his cape began to blow once again in a breeze that shouldn't be there. Frisk wondered if that was magic, "WORRY NOT, HUMANS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE CAN ALL PROCEED!" He dropped his arms and shrugged cheerfully as his expert eyes gazed at the puzzle. "MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!"
Sandro groaned a little at the sight of all of the X's on the ground. "I had such a hard time solving this the FIRST time!" He complained.
"It can't be THAT hard." Becca said, already moving around to try to solve the solution. Unfortunately if any of them stepped on an X, it turned into an O. And if they stepped on an O, it turned into a triangle. It would not turn back into an X afterwards. They learned the hard way that they needed to press the switch to reset the puzzle. Three attempts went into it, but the children were a bit chaotic in their movements.
"One person." Frisk finally decided, stopping Becca and Sandro from following them. They pointed to Becca. "We'll tell you where to walk?" They suggested.
"Okay." The girl sighed and watched as Frisk and Sandro hurried to the side of the maze. There was a decent space to walk between the puzzle and the edge of the cliff, so Frisk wasn't too worried despite Becca's nervous glance. She seemed to be a bit twitchy. Papyrus had wandered a bit further back and was leaning against one of the trees as he waited for the humans to solve the puzzle. Frisk wondered if he actually knew the answer now.
"That way first!" Sandro said, pointing Becca in the right direction. Becca moved, but then froze as Frisk began to walk further down the path.
"Frisk!" She cried, pointing at Frisk with an amount of alarm that shouldn't be necessary. Frisk thought they saw her Soul glow a bit in her chest before something shifted under their feet. Frisk felt their blood drain from their face as a loud crack issued. The ground crumbled beneath them and their body tilted backwards into open space.
Sandro didn't hesitate. He felt his Soul glow brightly as he challenged the cliff. In a moment it seemed everything had frozen in place, waiting for him to make his move. He grabbed Frisk's hand and yanked them towards him so they both fell backwards onto solid ground. Everything returned to normal pacing as he watched the cliff pieces fall towards the ground far below. They could feel Frisk trembling against him as he held them close. He grinned brightly.
"I did it!" He patted Frisk down a bit and helped the dazed human up. "That was close!"
Becca hunched over to catch her breath, apparently winded from the horror. "Oh God!" She gasped.
"Th-Thank you." Frisk whispered, gazing at him wide-eyed. There was no way that Sandro should've been able to get to them in time. He had been too far away. Somehow, though, he had made it.
Becca seemed to be thinking the same thing as she abandoned the puzzle and hurried to join them. "What WAS that?" She asked, staring at the boy with newfound respect. He puffed up at their astonishment.
"I told you! I can move first!"
"What does that even mean?" Becca pressed.
Sandro scratched at his short hair. "I can . . . um . . . 'challenge' something. And I can move first. I challenged the cliff, and I got to go first! So I grabbed Frisk before the cliff could keep falling!" He paused and then added. "I can only do it once per enemy, though."
"Oh!" Frisk breathed, amazed. They understood now how that would be a good power. They wondered how exactly he had discovered that power though. It made sense why he was able to go first in all of their fights now.
"ARE YOU ALL OKAY?" Papyrus yelled as he ran back over to the edge of the puzzle. He looked over the children thoroughly. At the sight of all of them unharmed, he relaxed. "BE CAREFUL OF THE EDGES! THEY'RE UNSTABLE!"
"Guess we need to take Sans's warnings more to heart." Becca agreed quietly.
"Puzzle?" Frisk asked, deciding it better to continue on with the puzzle. They didn't want to think about how close they had once again come to dying. They may be able to Load their Saves, but falling to their death didn't sound appealing or fun at all. They didn't think the snow would be deep enough to take the impact. They shuddered at the thought. Becca gently brought Frisk a bit closer to her as she nodded at them.
"L-Let's keep going." She agreed, not quite able to keep the chatter out of her voice. Frisk was no longer sure if her shivers were from fear or cold. Frisk was starting to become used to being constantly cold. That probably wasn't a good thing. How long had they been walking now? It didn't seem that long, but it must have been a while surely?
Becca once again returned to the beginning of the puzzle, and this time it was easier to direct her in the right places. Frisk and Sandro kept close together. It was frustrating trying to direct Becca when Sandro kept yelling at her. The two of them bickered more often than Frisk would've liked, but it wasn't something they could really stop. The girl followed Frisk's instructions more until the puzzle was unlocked and the spikes on the far side of the puzzle dropped into the ground. All of the children were relieved by this.
"WOW!" Papyrus called, impressed. "YOU SOLVED IT! AND YOU DID IT ALL WITHOUT MY HELP . . . INCREDIBLE! I'M IMPRESSED AT YOUR FORMIDABLE TEAMWORK! YOU ALL MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLES LIKE I DO!"
"Not really." Becca said.
"I am tired." Sandro sighed.
"WELL, I'M SURE YOU ALL WILL LOVE THE NEXT PUZZLE THEN! IT MIGHT EVEN BE TOO EASY FOR YOU!" Papyrus again laughed as he ran around the puzzle. He deftly jumped the gap where the cliff had collapsed and disappeared through the snow. Frisk glanced up as they realized that it was starting to snow now. How was that possible?
Becca's teeth began to chattered again. "I-I-I had thought it was getting colder!" She confessed. "And now it's sn-snowing!"
Frisk hunched in on themselves and tucked their nose into the collar of their sweater. Only Sandro seemed fine, although he was starting to realize the problem with his friends not having proper clothing.
"Snowdin is not too far now!" He said as he rubbed Frisk and Becca's arms. Becca flinched away from him, but Frisk only frowned at the touchiness in confusion. They enjoyed the warmth of the friction, though. "I do not remember a puzzle up ahead, though. It must be new."
"Gr-Great." Becca muttered. The children went ahead and travelled through the puzzle maze and over to the spikes rather than risk walking along the edge again. They had to watch their feet as they stepped over snow mounds and rocked, but lifted their heads to see Sans standing on the other side of the spike holes. He grinned and gave a short wave to them.
"good job on solving it so quickly." He praised, nodding to the puzzle. "you didn't even need my help."
"You weren't even around!" Becca objected.
"it's good though, 'cause i love doing absolutely nothing." He winked at them. He pulled a hand out of his pocket and kneeled down to pick up some white jackets Frisk hadn't noticed that were next to him. He held one out to both Frisk and Becca. "might need these." He suggested.
"Oh thank you!" Becca cried, taking the jacket easily and slipping it on. Frisk nodded with a smile to him as they also pulled theirs on. It was extremely bulky on them and hung more on their form than Becca's did, even though hers was also too big. Frisk could already feel how warm it was with the fur lining the insides. They zipped up their coat and put their hood up cheerfully, feeling better now.
"i'll lend you those for free. just return 'em when you get to snowdin. cuz, you know, they're not mine."
Becca opened her mouth to question whose they were, but then thought better of it. She knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Okay." She said instead.
"Let us see what Papyrus's next puzzle is!" Sandro said, already nudging his friends along. They only had enough time to wave goodbye to Sans before the three children disappeared into the falling snow.