- A/N Reformat
Hello there, hereby I wish to inform you that I've taken some time to reformat the previous chapters to make them more readable (I placed this note here since FanFiction doesn't inform people about updates).
Since I just changed the formatting and some descriptions (some of them sounded really off after the reformat) there should be no need for you to reread that said here is the next chapter (also in the new format :), feedback is always appreciated, good life have fun.
Entering Snowdin
Being rocked from side to side by every one of Toriel's steps made you slumberous but she would nudge you slightly whenever you closed your eyes for longer than a second preventing you from falling asleep in her arms.
Facing Toriel's purple dress the loud voice coming from the way ahead startled you.
"STOP! IDENTIFY YOURSELF. I THE GREAT PAPYRUS ROYAL GUARD IN TRAINING NEED TO KNOW YOUR INTENTIONS!"
Stopping keeping you turned to her chest Toriel ignored the question and noted instead, "Oh so you're Papyrus. I think I heard one ore two things about you from Dogaressa."
"WOWIE I'M FAMOUS!" Even louder the voice was now filled with delight about its popularity.
A short shrugging lifted you up. "Sort of."
Her voice changed causing you to clench your hands into her dress as you recognized the same tone she used to interrogate you why you didn't ask how to leave the ruins.
"Is it true that it was you who made this little ice field and the electric trap on the way?"
Proud filled the shrill voice, "OF COURSE IT WAS ME! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SECURING THE WAY AGAINST EVERY POSSIBLE HUMAN THREAT SO THAT MONSTERS CAN LIVE IN PEACE PROTECTED BY ME THE GREAT PAPYRUS. NYEH-HEH-HEH!"
Feeling Toriel's gaze you looked up.
"Frisk my dear child." The look in her eyes sent cold shivers through your spine as she continued, "Could you please cover your ears for a moment? I need to talk with 'the great' Papyrus from adult to adult."
Knowing the drill from the time back in the ruins when she needed to 'talk' to a 'monster' that had hurt you your hands covered your ears in a trained manner locking out the outside world.
It was rather peaceful feeling Toriel's heartbeat pulsing against your head leaned onto her chest while listening to the lullaby sung from the blood rushing in your ears. Snuggling a bit closer to her you closed your eyes for a moment that grew longer and longer each second she was to occupied with 'the great Papyrus' to remember keeping you awake.
The hotel room was equipped in a very spartan fashion a lamp, a writing desk and a king-size bed.
Toriel had tucked them in before she left to buy more supplies for the way but hadn't missed to administer another vial with medicine.
Still feeling the bitter sensation of the amber liquid on their tongue she couldn't wait for them to fall asleep so she could finally try to initiate a conversation.
But they had spotted a spider sitting on the wood-paneled wall and fought now to keep their eyes open.
Really?! That is just a small spider nothing to be afraid of!
Unable to do anything she could just ramble as their eyelids where pulled down by tiredness only to be opened again in the next second to focus on the motionless arachnid.
Oh come on crybaby if this thing really scares you that much then throw something at it!
Seeing that they would need quite some time to fall asleep on their own she decided to try a different approach.
If they won't come to me, then I must go to them!
Willingly blocking out the steady stream of impulses coming from their senses she focused entirely on the task in hand.
First the visual.
Images of the cave appeared before her mind's eye, the slope where she entered the underground, the dark corridors leading to the ruins, rugged gray stone walls and the golden buttercups. Picturing the cave from different angles she made sure to cover every spot of the three-dimensional replica in her mind with the correct image before she proceeded.
Then the touch.
Placing a hand onto the wall she could now feel the cold abrasive surface of the stone resisting her fingers in the same stoic manner as real rocks.
And the sounds.
The sound of dripping water in the distance mixed with the swishing of the buttercups moved by a soft drought filling the previous silence.
That should do the trick.
Taking a few steps she was pleased to hear the sound of small stones getting scrunched under her feet and to feel the flowers pressing against her legs as she inspected her creation in delight.
Not bad for my first try.
Focusing again onto the dark room with the heart and keeping the illusion in the back of her mind she managed to split her attention to a certain level enabling her to perceive both at the same time.
They were still awake and struggled against the tiredness that closed their eyes every few seconds.
Now comes the funny part.
Observing the intervals between opened and closed eyes she braced herself against the tide of emotions around the red heart.
As the emotions died down and their eyelids closed again she moved forward.
Ready or not here I come!
Thrusting a shadowy hand down onto the heart brought herself in contact with their very being enabling her to reach them on a much deeper level.
Feeling their fear of spiders flaring up under her fingers she tried to redirect the impulses sent to the nerves into her mind-construct.
A small blurry figure formed inside the illusion flattening some of the flowers in the process but didn't stabilized enough to hold them entirely enabling some of the impulses to escape her grip and reach their nerves.
Their eyelids flapped letting in short glimpses of the outside world that dragged the attention of the heart away from her letting the blurry figure flickering in and out of the cave.
No! Don't do that!
Pushing her anger and annoyance with the dream down her arm into the heart the connection strengthened again but they were still just a blurry mess.
Focusing her attention entirely onto the cave she reached out to them yelling their name, "FRISK!"
Grabbing their shoulders she could feel them solidify and see how they changed from a blurry silhouette to their usual appearance.
Shaking them a little she demanded, "Frisk! Open your eyes!"
They moved a bit but didn't comply while the flapping of their eyelids fastened.
"Ok, if the nice way doesn't work…," she pulled her hands back and raised one arm, "Then we've still the hard way!"
"Ouch!" Something hit you really hard and sent you stumbling backwards to the ground.
Rubbing your burning cheek you blinked some tears from your eyes and locked up to the girl who just slapped you.
She was a bit taller than you and wore a green sweater with yellow stripes. Her bright red eyes inspected one of her palms where the palish skin was (probably due to the hit) reddened.
Shooting you an annoyed glance she accused, "Why do you must have such pointy bones? That really hurt you know!"
Looking away from her stare you muttered a shy, "sorry", into her general direction.
Crouching down she generously accepted your apology, "Hey don't break a sweat crybaby that is just a dream no harm done."
Hearing this words your head shoot up in alarm and your gaze darted around. Recognizing the cave you dragged yourself away from the girl as fear started to crawl up your back.
Focusing her again you asked in a fearful whisper, "Did you sent the dead dreams to me?"
Standing up she replied, "I didn't 'sent' anything," stopping she plucked one of the buttercups before she continued, "okay this dream but nothing more!"
Still doubting you demanded, "Then tell me why I dreamed the dead's of this running girl and the poor kid who fought the dogs and and," your voice died away "and this one where I died..."
Strolling closer she pulled the petals from the flower while she answered, "First this were no dreams they were memory's," one petal, "Second the last one was no dream that did happen," two petals, "Thirdly this 'poor kid' had it coming." Ripping the remaining petals from the stem she tossed the flower away.
Crawling backwards you tried to maintain the distance between you and the scary girl.
"How do I know that you are not lying?"
Stopping she pointed a finger at you, "Because I know that it was you who pulled the memory's up so I bet when you concentrate you will see that I'm right and why this kid deserved to die!"
Did I? Can I?
As summoned by her words and your thoughts you could feel something moving in the back of your mind trying to get your attention.
Sudden darkness engulfed you and the scary girl as you reached out for this thought.
The orange light of the familiar heart greeted her and the other kid that was still laying on it's back.
"See It worked!" She was a bit surprised about the speed and easiness of the change but overacted it with smugly self-confidence.
The kid didn't talk back but she could feel the fear growing inside of them as they recognized the place.
"*SNAP* *SNAP* Hey Frisk. *SNAP* *SNAP* Over here talking to you."
Hearing her snapping fingers they focused again on her. "Yes?"
"Relax I know this memory I was there," she pointed at her shadowy memory self standing besides the heart, "nothing bad will happen to us."
"Promise?" Their voice was a bit shaky but they seemed to by it.
"Cross my heart." Marking with one hand a cross over her chest she extended the other one down to them. "So do you wanna lie there forever or…?"
Locking still a bit uncertain they grabbed her hand and she pulled them back to their feet.
"Thank you."
They surly didn't enjoy her company but at least they were not as fear shaken as the last time.
Observing the snowy forest through the eyes of the dream body she shushed them absently, "Don't mention it no lean back relax and watch."
Recognizing the path and the trees along the path she braced herself.
It should happen any second now…
The dream body rounded another turn as the monster appeared without warning from behind a tree.
It was roughly 1,5m high and locked like a white bird but its beak was filled with sharp ice shards and a oversized snowflake covered its face like a mask.
Seeing the boy in front of it stopping dead in his tracks in shocked surprise let it giggle as it introduced itself.
"Hello there I'm Cooldrake. Why so 'frozen'?"
She could her Frisk's laughter echoing nervously through the mind space but it was to flat and quick marking it as nothing more than a polite reflex.
Knowing what was about to happen and sensing how uneasy they already were she grabbed their hand and squeezed it a bit to comfort them.
They squeezed back thankful for the small illusion of safety.
The boy moved without further consideration out of annoyance about the little disturbance as well as anger about himself for falling so easy for the ambush.
His fist shattered the big snowflake as it was nothing sending pieces glittering like little diamonds into every direction.
The bird monster fell without making another sound face sprinkled with light red droplets where the fragments of its mask had pierced the skin.
"Don't mess with me stupid jokster." Shaking his hurting hand he continued his way without locking back at the motionless body.
"You promised that nothing bad would happen." They sounded hurt and betrayed but hold onto her hand gripping it even tighter.
Meeting their accusing gaze raising her eyebrows she clarified, "Actually I promised that nothing bad would happen to us."
She mentioned with one arm the dark room around them. "And here we are with nothing more then a slightly hurting hand."
Avoiding her eyes they locked down seemingly not used to confrontations or to stand up for themself.
More quietly they asked concerned, "That was awful do you know if the bird lady was alright?"
Shaking her head she negated that, "I don't know he didn't care to check on them and the next person where I was guest died before she left the ruins."
They kept quiet for a while probably still trying to cope the brutal act they had just witnessed before they spoke again.
"Could you tell me more about them? What the girl run from and what else the boy did to deserve what happened to him?"
"Sure but let's go to a more friendly place first." Concentrating for a moment she brought them back to the cave dream before she filled them in about the girl that got so afraid of Toriel that she run to her doom and the boy who was more the kind of child that (literally) plucked spider legs just for the heck of it.
Being a bit greenish after she finished the story about the boy the vegetoid and the fruit knife they tried to change the subject.
"So what was with the other children that fell down here could they go back when they died as well and try to avoid their death?"
"Yes? I suppose it work's that way I never went back on my own accord." Gesturing ironical at herself she added, "How you can possible tell because I'm here being pretty much dead and all that."
"Then why didn't the girl do that when she died and why do they stop when they can do that?"
"Because she was to afraid to do it and they gave up trying? It happened always after they died but before the heart shattered so perhaps it is connected to this whole 'see your whole life in front of your mind's eye before you die' thingy?"
Spreading her arms she repeated again, "As I told you I don't know I'm just getting forced to watch from the back seat."
Realizing something their hand wandered down to the right pocket of their trousers and their voice got a bit uncertain, "Can you see everything I do?"
"Yes I can and yes I know that you got that paper with you," answering their unspoken question she raised a hand to prevent them from interrupting (what they didn't do), "but as long as you don't read it I won't know why do you make such a fuss about that."
She winced a bit, "Oh and believe me just because I can doesn't mean I do there where some parts where I was glad I could ignore the impressions send to me form the senses of the children."
"Oh, okay, is there anything else you want to tell me?"
They seemed not to pleased to know that she was watching them since they entered the underground but they took it better then she expected.
"Not really", she shrugged, "I mean you're the first one I'm talking to in a long time and I just wanted you to know that the guards had a reason but perhaps you could ask mu- Toriel about some chocolate? As you can tell it is not easy to get that stuff when you've no-"
Seeing them yawing she got a bit louder, "Hey do you listen to me!? What are you even tired of this is a dream you're sleeping you can't be tired when you're sleeping!"
They blinked a bit and as she looked at them she could see that they literally fought to keep standing.
"I'm sorry please *yawn* go ahead I'm just a bit sleepy since this morning and this was pretty much to take in."
Stepping a bit closer she could see small droplets of sweat running down their face.
Perhaps mum was right and they should see a doctor really soon?
I mean they are just wasted although they got three doses of medicine this day and mum carried them most of the way.
"No thing. It was nothing perhaps we should let it be for today."
Overacting her concern she reached out in reflex to steady them as they stumbled.
Holding them she concentrated to release them from the dream and to revert the blockage between her and Frisk's senses.
Exhaustion and tiredness flooded over her like a riptide shattering the dream and sending her into senseless blackness but not before she had time to feel the pain in their chest flaring up on every rattling breath they took.
t took her some time to get all the ingredients since the cold was no good environment for snails and herbs but now she had everything to restock the medicine supply for her child.
Using the small kitchen from the Snowdin Inn she was able to refill three of the small vials before she run out of snails.
Not much but it should be enough until we reach waterfall.
It should be much easier there to restock fully.
Cleaning up before she left Toriel went back up to the room where she and Frisk stayed for now.
Being as quiet as possible she closed the door behind her and stepped closer to the large bed in the center of the room.
They didn't looked so god. The sheets around them were wet from sweat and the blanket moved constantly due to their unsettled movements.
Bending down she checked their breath. It came in fast rapid movements accompanied by a rattling sound deep inside their chest.
"Poor child." Dabbing the sweat away from their face with one hand she placed the other one down onto their chest. "There, there, let me heal it," she whispered as the magic flowed into them knowing that the effect would only be temporally but could at least ease them.
Instantaneously their breath slowed down the rattling vanished and the unsettled movements stopped as the pain in their chest died away.
It is not good to stay here for to long. But they need as least another night to recover from the fever.
Stroking some hairs out of their face she prepared for another night without sleep to watch over her child while it recovered from the small fever that had used their weakened condition to strike them down.
Nightfall wasn't far and heavy snowfall made it nearly impossible to look any further then two meters but that didn't stop the small group on their way.
Shielding their faces with the black hoods of their dark coats they marched through deep snowdrifts without slowing down each one armed with a axe or a sword.
"Are you sure about this?" The female guard had to shout against the howling wind but the other dark coated figure seemed to hear her nevertheless as he turned his snout into her direction.
Shouting as well his deep husky voice fought against the wind, "Yes one of your guests was definitely a human. I could smell it as soon as I entered our home. And we will probably catch up with them in Snowdin."
Holding his gaze with her blue eyes she replied, "I'm still not sure about this. They didn't look like the last human we saw and they behaved a lot better."
"That makes now difference we have our orders. Every human has to be captured and brought to the castle." Turning away he made clear that he didn't wanted to talk about this again.
Grabbing his arm she forced him to stop and to look at her again, "Promise me to check first. And if they're really a human then we will give them the chance to surrender."
His eyes narrowed on this demand but he agreed, "Ok. But just one chance. Nothing more. After that they are death." Pulling his arm away he continued his way without looking back.
She knew why he behaved like that. It was the same reason why he had turned it so that she stayed back in Snowdin Forest to guard the path. He was simple afraid that she could be hurt again by a human even when she was the better fighter of them. So it had needed a lot of arguing and the fact that she hold the same rank to convince him to let her come along for the pursue.
I hope that they are alright. Thinking of Toriel and Frisk let her speed up a bit. The child really didn't look so good. But when they're a human then…
Suddenly the guards stopped simultaneously on the new sight in front of them.
Small dots of light shone through the thick wall of snowflakes covering the sight into every direction and large shadows blocked the diffuse light coming from the cave roof.
The royal guard had reached Snowdin.