A.N.: Sorry that it's been a while, but you know how it is... Anyway, huge warning for this particular chapter and I do deeply apologize but it was necessary... I make a mention of blood and it's pretty graphic imagery for how brief it is, but it should be kind of expected because of WHERE it is...you'll see as you read it. Again, I'm sorry, but it had to be done at some point. Also Monster Kid cuteness will be more towards the Umbrella part.
"let's hang out again sometime." Sans had told them with a wink.
After they saved, the group decided to continue on, and as they passed by Sans' booth he waved at them and they happened to notice a familiar series of highlighter colors at his wrist which of course shimmied down from the movement and gravity. Everyone was happy to see that he got his Friendship Bracelet after all and waved back happily.
In the next area they found themselves near some waterfalls, instantly understanding the name of this section of caverns. They came across another box though this one had a sign next to it much like the first time. The sign started out similarly to the first sign, explaining the basics of the box's purpose, then it was obvious that the sign was written by someone who was the polar opposite of whoever wrote the first sign as it declared "Why would you though? You can't use items when they're in the box! Sincerely, a box hater." It was amusing at the very least, and Frisk for the most part ignored it as they put a couple of bisicles and the ribbon, that they forgot that they still had on them, in the box, knowing what they would find soon.
The group had seen an Echo Flower a little ways away down a board walk, so they decided to go check it out. When they reached the flower and touched it, they were intrigued by what it repeated from whoever spoke near it last. Something about seeing something…behind that rushing water…. Well there were two waterfalls to choose from, the one closest to them now and the one just a slight level above where they were next to the box.
They decided to check this closest one, and were a little disturbed by what they found… a camera behind the waterfall. They were being watched…
Frisk gave a little wave with a very tiny smile while the others bantered about it.
"Well that's a little weird. What's a camera doing in a waterfall? Wouldn't it not work from all that water?" Sora asked.
"It's called waterproofing, Sora. Not to mention it's behind the waterfall, and it's probably right on a nick where the flow of the water won't soak it nor touch it at all. Plus, the flow of the water itself flows smoothly enough that it's a really good spot to stick a camera like that…But I agree that is a little creepy." Donald countered, feeling the need to explain water physics while he was at it.
"Why sure it's creepy, but it makes sense once ya think about it." Goofy mused aloud. They all turned to give him a look.
"Alright, Goof, I'll bite. Why does it make sense?" Donald prodded in a deadpan tone, but was genuinely curious by Goofy's musings.
"Well they're lookin' fer humans ain't they? So wouldn't that mean they would need the cameras to spot where they're goin'?" Goofy replied. The reasons he gave were quite understandable, simple, but otherwise very reasonable.
"You probably know who's on the other side of the screen, don't you Frisk?" Donald asked somewhat knowingly. He knew the kid wouldn't answer directly but he still had to make sure.
Frisk nodded with a smile and started signing as Jiminy dutifully translated. "Sure do. They're really nice, but I can't tell you who it is because, what's life without surprises?"
"Fair enough." Donald replied, then came up with another question. "Is there anything better up in the other waterfall?"
"Sure is, it's even a great place to take that nap." Jiminy translated after Frisk nodded again.
"Alright! Let's go!" Sora shouted excitedly, leading the way in a burst of speed up the board walk.
All together they dodged a few rocks and dashed into the hole in the waterfall, hoping to get as least wet as possible.
"These sweaters better not shrink on us as they dry." Donald quipped forebodingly, wiping off any water droplets he could find and even gave a shake like a real dog.
"Ugh, I forgot that was even a thing!" Sora complained in response, doing much the same as Donald, the others also did their best to dry themselves from the brief lapse of water.
"I don't think they will. They don't feel like the kind of material to end up shrinking after getting a little wet." Goofy said as he took off a glove to really feel the material of the sweater.
"I'm lucky I don't have to worry about that sort of thing." Jiminy chirruped smugly.
"You're lucky yours is a sock stitched to be a tiny sweater." Donald shot back.
"Even luckier that's not a smelly sock." Sora added cheekily. Everyone else got a good chuckle at that, even Jiminy.
It was then that they had gotten a better look at their surroundings. It was a cute little room with two glowing mushrooms and an Old Tutu lying in the corner. Frisk went over and picked up the Old Tutu, finally a protective piece of armor. Then Frisk brought Jiminy down from atop their head and put him on one of the mushrooms, which squeaked and stopped glowing. While Frisk equipped the Old Tutu which gave them a good boost in defense. All that was left was to figure out what to do about the Manly Bandanna that once belonged to Ephemera. It didn't take Frisk long to figure out what to do with it, so they folded it respectfully, turned and handed it to Sora.
"What? You want me to have it? Why-?! Oh, you think Ephemera would want me as a fellow keyblade wielder to have it, don't you?" Sora reasoned. Frisk nodded with a serious expression on their face. Sora nodded to as he continued. "You're probably right, I'll wear it with honor."
Frisk smiled and touched the other mushroom which also squeaked and stopped glowing, and then signed to Jiminy to get a message across.
"Frisk says we oughta get some shut eye now. Undyne's gonna meet up with Papyrus in the next room and we're gonna hafta stay out of her sight while we're in there."
"How do we do that?" Sora asked curiously.
Jiminy waited on Frisk before translating the explanation. "There's some tall grass that we can hide in but Sora and Goofy are probably too tall to be able to hide when standing in it. You two will probably have to crouch down to not be noticed."
Goofy and Sora looked at each other and then shrugged and turned back to Jiminy and Frisk. "Why sure! Bein' sneaky can be fun!" Goofy said cheerfully.
"I've got no problem crawling if I have to." Sora added in the same optimistic tone.
"Alright, we get it! The fish lady is not one to be trifled with, now let's catch some Z's already…!" Donald announced already claiming a spot near a wall, then he hesitated upon realizing something personal. "Ohmigosh, I sound like my Uncle Ludwig."
The rest of the gang followed suit, eventually all of them curled around each other much like when they napped on the one bed back in Toriel's house in the Ruins. They all slept peacefully, except two. Naturally it would be the humans who had difficulty in their dreams.
Sora opened his eyes to find himself somewhere that he shouldn't be yet…At least that's the feeling that he got from it. It was orange-gold everywhere he looked, goldenrod even, like the colors of a setting sun but it was so bright that it was nearly blinding. And it was a long hallway from what he could see.
"Chara stop it!" Came the sound of a child's voice. Sora blinked, and suddenly there were three figures in the hallway, two that were Frisk sized closer to him and a very familiar skeletal shape a little farther down the hall. It didn't take long to adjust to the light enough to see that the closest Frisk sized kid really was Frisk, but the other…it looked a lot like Frisk but they kept blinking, for the lack of a better term, to look like another kid, one with lighter, reddish-brown hair and a green and yellow striped sweater.
"Frisk? What's going on?" Sora called out in confusion. The closer child gasped and turned around so quickly that it was a wonder that they didn't lose balance. The other child hesitated in whatever it was they were doing, and slowly turned around in Sora's direction, wearing a really creepy smile.
"Sora! You shouldn't be here!" Frisk replied worriedly pulling on their hair in a panic.
"Y-you can talk?" Sora asked in shock.
"Only here I can. Please Sora, you've gotta get out of here, it's not safe!" Frisk persisted, moving in front of the other child to block their path and their sight of the teenager who wasn't really there.
"No way! I'm not leaving you here all by yourself! Especially not with that creepy kid behind you!" Sora argued back sounding quite heroic.
"No! You don't understand! Chara's too dangerous! And so is Sans in this timeline!" Frisk insisted.
"This timeline?" Sora mused outright in his silly boyish way even in dangerous situations, as he visually thought about it with a puzzled look on his face as he crossed his arms to think.
"i dunno what the heck you're looking at kid, but then again you've proven to be nuttier than a jar of peanuts." Came Sans' voice from farther down the hall. Chara took immediate offence to that and left the new thing alone to go attack the skeleton down the hall. "welp. sorry old lady. this is why i don't make promises."
"Oh, no. He's starting again already!" Frisk panicked.
"it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming…on days like these, kids like you…" Sans monologued with his eyes closed until he opened them for his very last sentence, the lights in his eyes were gone for fearsome effect, which worked as it even sent a chill down Sora's spine. "Should be burning in hell."
All in quick motions, Chara used muscle memory to tuck into a roll and dodged a barrage of bones, then as the bones stopped, elongated skulls that greatly resembled the Heartless that Sora and the others fought earlier, complete with the laser beams coming out of their mouths fired at Chara. Chara managed to dodge that too of course, but just barely.
"huh," Sans says with a cheeky shrug. "always wondered why people never use their strongest attack first."
"Frisk, was that…?" Sora started to ask but found that he couldn't really finish the sentence. He hardly could form any words after witnessing all of that. This was Sans' true potential? No wonder Frisk warned not to underestimate him right off the bat, but still…this was all so surprising.
"Yes. From what you told me about Heartless, I wouldn't be surprised if the one you and the others fought when we went to go see Papyrus was his. Sans I mean, Papyrus can summon those things too but I've never seen him do it because that little dog always swipes it, and he was just as confused as we were about that Heartless showing up." Frisk replied.
"And darkness didn't formulate around Papyrus either." Sora added because it was a slightly important minute detail concerning a person's darkness being strong enough to form a Heartless with its own red symbol.
"Right." Frisk agreed. "It didn't surprise me to see it when we went to see Papyrus either. This timeline that we're looking in on is partly why."
"Whaddaya mean?" Sora asked curiously, just noticing that Chara had the intent to kill though each time they swiped at Sans, they missed because Sans was just too quick.
"In this timeline…Everyone's dead except for a select few who were smart enough to go hide in either the city part of the Capital, or Alphys' lab…We'll meet Alphys soon enough, she's the one behind the cameras in Waterfall."
"Wha-?! E-everyone?! But wh-!" Before Sora could even finish his sentence nor comprehend what Frisk told him, behind Frisk, Chara lost the battle with Sans. Bones were sticking through them every which way, crimson was creeping across them, what shocked Sora the most about it was that it was affecting Frisk too. Acting entirely on instinct, Sora knelt down before the child and wrapped his arms around Frisk. "Frisk! C'mon! Stay with me! You're gonna be okay."
"Sora…" Frisk gurgled with a slight cough of blood. Sora flinched because he hadn't really seen blood this intense as he was more used to a few scratches and bruises and getting those healed to nothing within all forms of Cure spells.
"Don't try to talk! Save your energy!" Sora told the child frantically. He actually tried to use Cura, but to no avail and he couldn't understand why, even his keyblade wouldn't materialize.
"Sora, please, promise me…you'll understand…when I explain everything…later." Frisk continued weakly.
"Alright, I promise! Just don't die! Please!" Sora pleaded. Frisk just smiled a little wider but still weakly, and then went limp in Sora's arms. "FRISK!" The teenager wailed, hugging the small limp body closer to him, numb to everything around him except the distinct maniacal laughter coming from the other small body in the room, the one that was still speared through with bones. Sora dared to slightly pull away from Frisk a little because the acoustics in that hallway confused and fooled him a little, but then he actually looked up to see Chara just barely alive, eyes surprisingly blood red but darkening to black and bleeding black tears.
Then Chara spoke a phrase that reminded Sora of Flowey, which would haunt him for the rest of the adventure in this world. "It's me your best friend…Best friends forever, right?" The crazed child continued laughing until they and Frisk coughed up blood one last time, Frisk's coughed up blood hit Sora in the face, which he actually felt and woke up from.
Startled, Sora sputtered as he sat up straight, freaking out from the vivid memory of the blood spewed onto his face, and wiped it as much as he could so he wouldn't feel the moisture anymore.
"Thank goodness that yer awake!" Came Goofy's voice to his left.
"That must've been some nightmare you had, we couldn't get much sleep because of you and Frisk fidgeting so much." Donald's voice added from somewhere just behind Goofy.
Sora finally blinked and pulled his hands away to find that they were simply damp, no red coloration to be seen on them. Next to him on his other side, he heard a small sputtering of the same caliber and looked to see Frisk was a-okay, not a spot of crimson to be seen on them.
"Frisk! You're okay!" Sora whooped in excitement and relieved happiness, as he reached for the child and hugged them tightly.
Despite initially being startled by the sudden warm embrace, Frisk welcomed it and hugged back with all their little might, wholly thankful that for once they weren't traveling this path alone and could actually get a hug whenever they needed it. They were so overwhelmed by the emotions of not being alone for this crazy adventure that they couldn't help but choke out a sob, and buried their face into Sora's chest.
"Shh, it's okay little buddy. You don't have to talk about it yet. So go ahead and just let it all out. Shh, it's okay. I won't ever let that happen to you, even if Sans goes up against us like that for real." Sora told the child soothingly, sitting cross-legged to support Frisk in his lap as he rocked back and forth.
"Sans? What in Sam Hill did you two dream about?" Donald asked worriedly, the two humans fidgeted so much in their sleep that everyone else had every right to worry.
"It's a long story, and even I'm not sure what all that even was." Sora answered simply, but continued to the best of his ability. "Frisk was able to talk in the dream, but there was another kid there that looked a lot like Frisk, but in so many ways just wasn't. Frisk said that it was another timeline we were seeing because Sans wasn't himself…or at least…he wasn't the Sans we know because of whatever happened in that other timeline…the rest… Well, I think it's better for Frisk to explain."
However, it took a longer while yet before Frisk was ready to explain anything. Eventually they did calm down, and pulled away from Sora and sat on their knees as they slowly signed to Jiminy. The cricket hesitated to translate again, shocked at what Frisk signed to him, and stunned stupid yet on how to explain to the others. Somehow he was able to, but he spoke slowly as he relayed the message.
"Frisk says that there's more to that other child than just slightly looking like them…Evidently their name is Chara and apparently they're some kind of monster of a child that has a fifty-fifty chance of possessing Frisk halfway through the Ruins, hence the different timeline. In that other timeline, in the instance that Chara does manage to possess Frisk…they…destroy everyone in their path….well everyone they can get their creepy little hands on, the only monsters who survive are the ones in the Capital's city itself and a scientist's secret lab in the next set of caverns called Hotland. Because they destroy everyone, even poor Papyrus, Sans steps up to be the last line of defense in that timeline and is extremely tough to defeat even for Chara, but it's still possible to defeat him, and if that happens, the world as we know it would end after defeating the king and Flowey without much effort. There just wouldn't be much left, and even those who went into hiding far from the reaches of Chara, they're under siege and would run out of resources eventually." Jiminy explained.
"And die of starvation…" Donald finished the unspoken thought solemnly. The thought of dying that slowly put a damper on all of them, but it was the lesser of two evils of dying at the hands of such an…entity of darkness that probably was heartless, figuratively speaking, though no one would be surprised otherwise from the sound of it. "You sure you're in total control now kid?" Donald couldn't help but stupidly ask, as he was the one to suggest going about looking for the keyhole without disturbing anything for once after all.
Frisk nodded with a look of determination on their face, then softened their expression as that was another thing to sign to Jiminy.
"Huh," Jiminy commented before translating. "Frisk says that they and Chara share the same trait of determination which is just coincidentally the only other thing they have in common." Jiminy then turned to just speak his own two bits of munny without confusion of whether or not he was translating. "Just goes to show that there really is two sides to every coin."
Frisk started to sign again and Jiminy's eyes widened in shock and horror. "Ap-apparently… Chara was buried in that flower bed, the one we landed on when we got here." Jiminy stuttered as he reluctantly translated.
"WHADDAYA MEAN THEY'RE BURIED IN THAT FLOWER BED?!" Donald shrilled getting ready to ram into Frisk, but even if it weren't for Sora scooping the child into his arms again, Goofy scooped up Donald from under the duck's arms from behind him, though struggled a little no thanks to Donald's wild thrashing. "Ya couldn't've told us that sooner?!"
"Now, now, Donald!" Goofy had to raise his voice almost to a yell to be heard over Donald's furious quacks. "Frisk had their reasons! How long do ya think it would take you if ya had a secret as serious as that, especially when ya've done the same thing's over and over that ya ferget 'til last minute about certain details that should be mentioned?"
At this, the duck calmed down faster than anyone's seen him do in a long time, it was like watching a firmly held balloon get pricked and quickly loose its air without popping outright. As soon as he stopped moving, Goofy let him back down.
"Sorry, I snapped at you kid. It's just…this world is so weird, and definitely the darkest…pardon the phrasing, world we've ever been to. It's a lot to take in…..waitaminute…." Donald apologized sincerely but as he continued to speak his heart and mind, he had an epiphany. "You mean to tell us that we got LUCKY that this is the good timeline?!"
Frisk nodded. Donald groaned and went over to bang his head against a wall.
"Sans could be the heart of this world for all we know!" Donald wailed after a few bangs of his head and a kick with his right foot, ignoring the pain in his webbed foot for once as he was just that frustrated.
"Not in this timeline I don't think so…" Sora quipped. Everyone looked at him, so he continued his thought process. "Frisk said it themselves and nothing was lost in Jiminy's translations. Sans was the absolute line of defense in that other timeline, but only because he needed to be because of the circumstances. Plus, my Keyblade didn't react to him at all whenever we met up with him, so, he's definitely not a factor of the keyhole we're looking for. It's gotta be somethin' else…and I hate to tell you Frisk, but I know what you were going for when we first told you what we were looking for, but I don't think it's gonna work." He then looked at the child sorrowfully, apologizing with his eyes. "You thought my Keyblade would open the barrier didn't you?" Frisk nodded sadly, also apologizing through eyes alone. "My Keyblade only opens any doors. I don't think barriers count 'cause their a little too magical, and a step above doors in a sense."
Donald groaned again, and everyone glanced his way as he spoke. "I had a sneaking suspicion that was what you were going for too, kid…Any other ideas as to what the keyhole might be?"
Frisk brought a hand to their chin in thought. It took a few minutes but they did come up with one other solution if they were going by the differences in timelines. So Frisk signed a possibility to Jiminy.
"There's probably something in Alphys' lab, her true lab but conditions have to be met to get into it and that requires getting to one room before the barrier and turning around to do a few more things." Jiminy translated.
"Who's Alphys?" Goofy asked curiously.
"Oh yeah, Frisk told me that Alphys was a scientist we'd meet later on, and she's the one behind the cameras." Sora answered for Goofy. When looked at in confusion as to how he could've possibly been told by Frisk this piece of information, he quipped, "In the dream that is."
Regardless, Donald interjected all of this by asking the important question here.
"WE HAVE TO BACK TRACK AFTER WE GET THERE?!"
"It's probably for the best, Donald." Goofy quipped.
"If conditions have to be met, then who are we to question them?" Sora reasoned. Donald just sighed in defeat, and muttered something about why things like this always happen to him.
"Welp, at least we have a better idea of what to look for, and I'm not tired anymore, anyone else?" Jiminy asked. Everyone actually had to think about it since this whole revelation of information had them all out of sorts. Finally, they all shook their heads, they weren't tired anymore. "Well let's go!"
So they all gathered themselves and headed out, wiping off what moisture they could from their sweaters after going through the little waterfall again, and finally heading into a slightly darker room where the lighting was weird, and a river was right next to them while ahead of them was some tall grass. At the corner of their eyes they caught sight of a figure across the way and was thankfully not looking in their direction. The foreign quartet already did the math and assumed the figure was Undyne, so they hunkered down into the grass as soon as they stepped into it.
Shortly after they settled themselves into the grass, with Donald protecting Goofy's nose for good measure, and not noticing that they weren't the only ones in that tall grass, Papyrus came into view and started to speak with the armor clad Undyne.
"H…HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT…" Papyrus started nervously. "UHHH…REGUARDING ABOUT THOSE HUMANS I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER…" He paused as it appeared that Undyne asked him something but the armor was so thick and from this distance, no one could make it out. "…HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM?" Papyrus shivered visibly and shook his head. "UNFORTUNATELY NO, ONE OF THOSE BLACK FIENDS GOT IN THE WAY OF MY ATTEMPT TO FIGHT AND CAPTURE THEM, AND STRANGELY ENOUGH IT LOOKED LIKE ONE OF MINE AND SANS' SECRET WEAPONS BUT I KNOW IT WASN'T BECAUSE IT WAS BLACK AND HAD THOSE STRANGE RED SYMBOLS!" Papyrus explained. "THE OLDER HUMAN DEFEATED IT WITH HIS TWO MONSTER FRIENDS WHOM I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE, ONE IS A BIRD OF SOME SORT, AND THE OTHER IS A DOG…I THINK…HE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE ANY OF THE DOGS IN THE ROYAL GUARD ANYWAY SO IT'S KIND OF HARD TO TELL…" Papyrus shrugged before he continued. "AS FOR THE SMALLER HUMAN, I TRIED VERY HARD TO CAPTURE THEM, UNDYNE…BUT IN THE END…I FAILED." The tall skeleton then reacted to something Undyne said, but again our heroes couldn't make out exactly what, but Papyrus unknowingly filled them in anyway. "…W-WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE ONE OF THE HUMANS' SOULS YOURSELF…BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DESTROY THEM! YOU SEE…YOU SEE…" Papyrus pleaded and got a little closer, but quickly lost steam as he knew how Undyne was, and she further proved it by shouting an order back at him…probably…in any case, Papyrus stepped back his same steps to where he was to begin with. "…I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." He finally sighed in defeat, and with that he walked away.
The group felt their hearts dropped down to their stomachs, but they knew Papyrus had no choice, he gave them his phone number, whether or not he actually had theirs was debatable at the moment, but he was bound to find it eventually if he kept trying, just like they just knew he would. In any case, they waited for Undyne to leave, but she didn't move from her spot. Frisk, knowing that she wouldn't go away without a clue of some sort, kicked out and rustled a bit of the tall grass, quickly putting a finger to their lips knowing that the others would hiss their whispered complaints.
The rustle caught Undyne's attention and she walked all the way to the water's edge from her side of the river. She summoned an electric blue spear and looked this way and that. The group stayed absolutely still in fear of their lives. They noticed that only her right eye glowed out of her armor, and since she saw nothing but still had an air of suspicion about her, she backed up and disappeared into the darkness of that side of the cavern vanishing in a way that that same glowing eye was the last thing to vanish.
As soon as they were sure that she was gone, they sighed in relief and crawled out of the grass, with the little yellow lizard-like monster kid from earlier walking right out with them, doing a little happy dance of excitement.
"Yo…did you see the way she was staring at you guys…? That…was AWESOME! I'm SOOOO jealous! What'd you guys do to get her attention…? Ha ha. C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" Without waiting for an answer of any sort he ran off a few steps, fell flat on his face but quickly got back up and kept on running.
"Isn't he not supposed ta be here or somethin'?" Goofy asked suspiciously as well as uneasily, having been a father himself after all.
"Yeah, he definitely told us not to tell his parents that he was here." Donald replied, equally suspicious. But the Monster Kid was long gone by now so there was nothing they could do about it.
There was a save point here so they saved.
The feeling of dread hangs over them, but they stayed determined.