Previously: Cali finds out from Lara, the Blue Mage, that what she is suffering from is not caused by anything physical, after a brief conversation with Dr. Alphys, she leaves Deos' Apartment and then Cali and Dr. Alphys talk about who she can open up to in the underground. Meanwhile in Snowdin, Deos finds out from the items of the Orange Soul child that he was killed by a slimy monster and Snowdrake's mom, although he appeared to have knocked her over the edge before he died. Then they went straight to the home of Sans and Papyrus, so that Toriel could give him cooking lessons, the results of which made him happy and open to letting both Frisk and Deos pass without a fight.
(Sans and Papyrus' House)
Both Sans and Papyrus heard what Deos has to say, Papyrus has his mouth open by the end of it and Sans didn't look too bothered about it.
"Welp, if I didn't know that you were some human magic user, I'd think you've lost it. Hard to believe that that's the real reason why you predecessors trapped us down here." Sans said.
"YOU'RE HERE TO HELP US? I THOUGHT THAT HUMANS WERE BAD AND WANTED US ALL DEAD!" Papyrus said.
"Events are not as black and white as they might appear...I've started to learn that as I head closer to the Capital." Toriel said in a conflicted tone.
Frisk hugged Toriel, this made her smile, the bond between them was obvious to each other.
"You might want to become astral again, Toriel, we need to move forward, Asgore is waiting." said Deos
"Yes..." Toriel spoke with a hint of hate in her voice, although it's unclear to Deos who that hate is directed at... "It was nice to finally meet you, Papyrus, I am sure that we'll both meet again at some point after I'm done with my business in the Capital." She then entered the Dimensional Pocket Amulet and reappeared in an astral form.
"Waterfall is ahead, right?" Deos asked the skeleton brothers.
"INDEED, IT IS, DEOS! IT IS ALSO THE HOME OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, UNDYNE! SHE WILL NOT BE AS FRIENDLY TO EITHER OF YOU!" Papyrus said.
"Yes...that could be a problem..." Deos said with a hint of caution in his voice.
"You're tellin' me! She chased me from Snowdin to Hotland just for catchin' me sleep on the job. Sans said, still scared of even thinking about it, Frisk doesn't too happy at that thought either.
"THEN YOU SHOULDN'T BE SO LAZY, BROTHER!" said Papyrus.
"If that's what she does to her own, I can guess what she'll do to us will be worse...well, I have a few things ready that might be able to incapacitate her." Deos said.
"PERHAPS A PLATE OF MY SPAGHETTI WILL LIGHTEN HER MOOD!" Papyrus said with optimism in his voice.
"Papy, your cooking might be better than it was, but it ain't THAT good, 'sides, she might not like it that Tori did better than her, it'd wound her pride." Sans said.
"YOU ARE RIGHT, SANS! I CANNOT DO THAT TO HER!" Papyrus said with a look of shock on his face.
"Well, I'll deal with her if it comes to that." Deos said and as he put his mask back on and just as he was about to walk out, he turned to the skeleton brothers "Bye, I'm sure that we'll meet again...certainly you Sans, I know what's ahead...quite a few jobs to be lazy at and a change of scenery"
The skeleton brothers wave silently, while Papyrus looks at Sans, he has some questions for his brother once the others leave...Deos picks up Flowey, who overheard all that was going on and as he walked to the boundary between Snowdin and Waterfall, carrying Flowey "You're making this boring, you know that! Diplomacy and tricks?! They won't work against Undyne! It's kill or be killed! When are you going to get that into your thick skull!" Flowey ranted.
"As much as I'm able to, I have something that I'm saving for when what I've used to get this far isn't enough...two things in fact." Deos said, as Frisk caught up with them with Toriel in her astral form not far behind
"What would've happened, had you not got involved? Other than us not being here, of course" Toriel asked.
"There would've been a fight where it would eventually lead to Papyrus letting Frisk go and also going on a date with Frisk...that makes me feel uneasy as...I'm pretty open minded with relationships, but I'm not THAT open minded!" Deos said with some disgust.
"Then it is thankful that you found a way for them to make friends with each other that's more...acceptable" Toriel said.
"Yes...There's something that I need to talk to you about before we enter Waterfall, a place full of marshes, waterways and where we need to go in order to establish contact with the surface, I can imagine that Cali has been keeping it in for a while now." Frisk looks displeased and Deos looks at them "Not that, Frisk, it's anger at me for rushing down here without waiting for her." Deos reassured them.
"What is it?" Toriel asked and Deos proceeded to tell her...
(Deos' Apartment)
"It sounds like the two of you are getting close." Cali said in a playful tone, she had just been told about Undyne and how Dr. Alphys spends time with her, usually involving them watching anime together and how she stops others from harassing her by throwing spears at them, this makes her
smile, despite the knowledge that she's the...passionate Captain of the Royal Guard who has been taken in by the anti-human propaganda that is deeply rooted since...THAT happened long ago.
"W-well, I w-wouldn't go that far! W-why would she want to spend time w-with someone as n-nerdy as me?" Dr. Alphys said with a lack of confidence in her voice.
"I don't know...she probably likes the nerdy type." Cali said, she the started twirling one of her pigtails around one of her fingers "I'm actually quite jealous of how things are with the two of you..."
"R-really?! You don't have a-anyone that makes you f-feel better? T-that you just want to..." Dr. Alphys said.
"Okay, that's enough!" Cali interrupted.
"It's D-Deos, isn't it?" Dr. Alphys said, playfully.
"N-no! W-We're just friends." Cali said somewhat unconvincingly, she was unprepared for this.
"It all m-makes sense n-now! You visit him longer than you n-need to, why you're angrier than the others about..." Dr. Alphys said excitedly.
"Alright! I have feelings for him! Feelings that are more than friendly, but no matter what I try, he just doesn't seem to get it!" Cali said angrily and after she realised what she said, the embarrassment silenced her, he was blushing red.
"It looks like I-I'm not the only one with secrets..." Dr. Alphys said, less excited than before.
"Yeah...and I wish that you wouldn't be so secretive, what..." Cali said as she was interrupted by the buzzer at the front door "Excuse me, I'll be back in a few minutes".
"O-okay" Dr. Alphys said.
Cali heard Alec, the Green Mage, on the other side "Hello Cali, Lara asked me to talk to you, she didn't tell me why and I wanted check on the Royal Scientist." Cali looked annoyed.
"Is this 'let's all focus on Cali' day? (!) Come in, the door is open!" Cali said with a tone of annoyance. Entering Deos' Apartment this time is Alec, his "day job" is a therapist, he deals with the more difficult and troubled cases, one of them was Frisk who has been dealing with a problem no child should ever have to deal with, he wears a green jacket with matching pants and shoes and a white shirt. He looks around and doesn't see Cali and figures out that she's in his bedroom, she doesn't look pleased to see him. "Look, I know what you can do and I can tell you that nothing is physically wrong with me, so do what you need to and let's get this over with!" she said while crossing her arms with a frown on her face.
"Okay..." Alec said as he does something similar to what Lara did earlier, except he can detect problems with the psychological, rather than the physical, what he finds is...overpowering, as if he's picking up the stench from a full trash can with its contents left to rot for a couple of weeks. "I don't know what you've been keeping in, but it's causing you problems, it's as if invisible sharp objects are going into you." Alec said with a look of concern in his voice.
This causes Cali's eyes to widen "So, you're saying it's in my head that's the problem?..."
"Yes, Cali, I know that you'd rather not tell me right now, judging from your...hostile response as I came in, but here's some advice, talk to someone about it, someone that you're sure will understand you. If it's alright with you, I'd like to talk to Dr. Alphys before I leave, don't worry, I'll keep this between us, it would be unkind to reveal that kind of information." Alec said cheerfully, although he wasn't as cheerful when he saw an emotionless look on her face.
"Yeah...go ahead, I need to think about things..." Cali said with a similar lack of emotion, Alec left the bedroom to talk with the reptilian Royal Scientist and Cali is at a loss, she's been told that she need to tell someone about this, but who can she talk about it to?...
How different will Waterfall be compared to Snowdin? Will Cali resolve what's harming her
inside? How bad can Undyne be? Find out in Chapter 11: Opened Waterworks.