Okay, so, I wanted to have something tragic happen in this chapter, y'know, 13 is an unlucky number and all of that, but I couldn't think of anything. I can say now that the only angst that will ever happen in this story will be in nightmares (not really I'm lying) (shh don't read that bit). And if you doubt my sincerity, you should know that I don't like unnecessarily lying. Sort of like a personal honour code. Except I still lie when I feel it's blatantly obvious that I'm lying. Also I have no honour.
So don't bother telling me "Dishonour on you, dishonour on your cow!" because I can see you typing that and stOP IT
Also, important: I noticed when I was editing the last chapter that fanfiction doesn't actually save some of my formatting, which is why that one is formatted better. All chapters from now on will be formatted the same way, and I might go back and format the previous chapters like that as well if I have the time and motivation.
After the human and Undyne had left the burning house, they had apparently taken a boat trip to Snowdin and asked Papyrus and Sans if they could stay at their place, with sheepish grins. Papyrus had agreed readily, happy about the fact that the two of them were friends. Sans had just shrugged and said he didn't really care. He cared a lot. The human ended up sleeping on the skeleton brother's jangly couch, scrunched up with Undyne. They didn't know it, he made sure of that, but Sans was watching them sleep from upstairs.
Which was why, when their blood-red eyes shot open in the dark of night (which was a figurative term, as the night was exactly the same except without the lights on), he was the only one aware of it. He watched them closely as they let out an inhuman growl, growing twice their original size. Undyne shifted uncomfortably as there was no longer space for both of them on the couch. The beast snapped their gaze over to Undyne with a feral grin, revealing many sharp teeth alongside two particularly large sharper teeth.
The beast leant over Undyne, still grinning, and prepared to sink their teeth into her neck.
Frisk sat up on the couch, gasping. Their frantic breathing drew attention from Undyne, who was just getting up next to them, it seemed. "Woah, punk! You okay?" She asked.
Frisk calmed down a little at seeing her alive and well; it seemed that it had all been just a dream. The part where their friends turned to dust had felt so real… They shook their thoughts off, and told Undyne that it had just been bad dream.
Yeah… that, uh, wasn't too pleasant. To say the least. The Hunger commented. Morning, by the way. If it is morning. Not sure how long we slept.
You can see my dreams? Frisk asked The Hunger, surprised, while they also asked Undyne what the time was.
Of course I can see your dreams, I only exist inside of your mind. What else am I supposed to do? The Hunger replied, while Undyne told them that it was around 10AM. Too early. Thanks for that, by the way.
Are you blaming me for your existence? That's completely unfair! Do you think I WANT to be sharing a mind with you? Frisk told The Hunger indignantly.
No, you clearly don't. Either way, it's still your fault. Because you had the idea that I existed in your head as the 'bad guy', when you hit your head in Waterfall it created me.
Yes, you said something along those lines before. A bit before we fought Undyne, I think.
Before The Hunger could reply to Frisk's statement, they were interrupted by a hand waving in front of their face. "Hey! Hey, punk! Are you there?" Undyne was yelling. When Frisk blinked and looked up at Undyne, she looked relieved.
"You were spacing out and muttering to yourself. You seem okay now, though." She explained, before asking "What was up with all that?"
"Uh, I'm not sure… maybe I'm just tired." Frisk said.
You're a bad liar.
Shut up.
"Hey, I'm kinda hungry as well. I, uh, haven't had anything to eat since those ice creams. Do you think we could make some soup or something?" They asked, trying to divert focus to something else. Undyne looked excited about the idea. Papyrus, who had just come in the room, agreed and also commented on how they should get a better sleep schedule.
"Heh, maybe Sans is rubbing off on me." Frisk joked. Sans, who was standing at the top of the stairs, laughed as Papyrus yelled "THAT ISN'T A GOOD THING, HUMAN!"
Frisk looked at Sans in surprise as he laughed at their joke, but soon realised that he was just faking his amusement for the sake of Papyrus and Undyne. He was still giving them the evil eye. (Ironically, Frisk was not yet aware of Sans's glowy eye when they used this expression.) They slid their gaze away from him and followed Paps and Undyne into the kitchen, where they proceeded to have a lot of fun and made something almost edible.
Frisk waved goodbye to Undyne, Papyrus and Sans as they got onto the Riverperson's boat and headed back to Hotland. Their stomach would've rumbled, but fortunately they were technically dead and their stomach no longer did that. It didn't make them feel any less hungry. They had sadly realised, when drinking the soup they'd made, that despite the fact that they could drink normal food it didn't fill them up. That sucked.
They arrived at Hotland and stepped off of the boat, heading north to the elevator. They stepped inside of it and pressed the button for Left Floor 3. There was only one unlit button left, they realised, as they waited for the lift to take them to their destination. When they reached LF3, they stepped out of the lift and looked around.
Unlike the rest of Hotland, this area was a) nowhere near as hot and b) seemed like the floor was more mechanical and futuristic than before. They moved along and reached a bigger room. There was nothing in it other than an empty table and a couple of cobwebs. Frisk moved further onward, and stopped to groan. They received a call.
"Hi, Alphys here! Now, I know you hate these steam jumps, but you're going to have to do a lot of them to get through this puzzle. This one is a bit like the one we saw yesterday. There are two puzzles to the north and the south. You'll have to solve them both to proceed." Alphys paused. "A-also… I'd like to say! I don't really… like giving away puzzle solutions. But if you need help, just call me, ok?"
Uh, we actually don't have her number. The Hunger informed Frisk. They were about to tell Alphys that, when she continued.
"Actually, wait, I have an idea! Let's be friends on UnderNet! Then you can just ping me when you need help!"
I wonder if we should tell her that we've been 'friends' this whole time. They didn't need to tell her.
"Wait, we're already friends, aren't we? I signed you up, didn't I? You've been reading my posts the whole time…" Alphys sounded quite flustered. "Well! I hope! You agree with me! About Mew Mew 2!" She hung up, and (after they'd stopped snickering) they resumed their glaring at the steam jumpy thingies.
You'll have to get across them someday. I'd prefer it to be today. The Hunger coaxed. Frisk ignored them and started leaping across the gaps in between the steam jumpy thingies, until they reached the northern room. They walked through the room towards another one of the laser shooty game room things, but suddenly…
Tsunderplane attacks! Not because it's jealous Vulkin is paying attention to you! (Maybe don't hug the Vulkin this time by the way.) The Hunger said as Frisk bumped into two monsters.
What should I do then? Frisk asked.
I don't know, encourage it maybe. Or criticize it. Frisk chose the former, obviously. You tell Vulkin it's doing a great job. Its attacks become extreme… Vulkin parades around you proudly.
"Hmph! Don't get in my way." Tsunderplane said, while shooting bombs at them alongside Vulkin's fireballs. Vulkin, at the same time, said "Ahh! Ahh! Does my best!"
Frisk spared Vulkin and approached Tsunderplane as it shot more bombs at them.
Smells like an airport perfume counter. Frisk managed to step in the green area around Tsunderplane's attack planes enough times, and it freaked out and started blushing heavily. They spared it as well. They earnt 100G, and headed into the puzzle room.
The puzzle was a lot harder than the other ones had been, but they managed to figure it out. As they left the puzzle room, they saw that two people with strange heads had appeared. They looked almost human but they had strange shapes as heads. They both explained exactly why they loved Mettaton, and what their favourite Mettaton Moments™ were.
Frisk moved on from them, and jumped across a bunch more gaps to reach the southern room. They entered it and looked around. It was a lot bigger than its northern counterpart. There were a bunch of conveyors with lasers moving along them. Also a cactus. After they'd gotten past all of the lasers and had almost made it into the puzzle room, they got another call.
"Hey! This, um, doesn't have anything to do with guiding you… but… Uhh, hey, would you want to watch a human TV show later? Sometime? It's called, um, M… Mew Mew Kissie Cutie…" She seemed to be awaiting a response.
"Uh, sure!" Frisk accepted, despite The Hunger groaning in the back of their mind.
"R-really?! It's so good! It's um, my favourite show!" Alphys proceeded to ramble about the show. Frisk picked up nothing, as she was going too fast. "Uhh, anyway, I think you'd really like it! We should watch it! After you get through all of this!"
She hung up and Frisk moved into the puzzle room. The puzzle was pretty easy, and they solved it quite fast, before heading back to the main room with the steam jumpys. They jump-ied over to the big, runed, glowing door, which opened as they approached with a loud crash.
As they headed through the door, they sniffed the air and asked The Hunger, What's that smell?
Cobwebs, probably. The Hunger sounded (thought?) uninterested.
How do you know what cobwebs smell like? Like you're so fond of mentioning, you've only existed since yesterday. As an afterthought, Frisk added, Also, do cobwebs even smell like anything?
I've been absorbing your memories. Duh. And cobwebs smell like, uh, spiders and… dead insects? The Hunger lied, badly. I don't actually know what they smell like. I just saw that huge cobweb by the big, ominous, purple house/cave/room/thing.
There was indeed an ominous house cave room thing with cobwebs covering it in front of them. Frisk had been too busy talking (thinking?) to The Hunger that they hadn't noticed it. They stopped and regarded it for a moment. It was literally just a purple (and black) building. No windows or anything. Only one door. There was no other way to go along the path, so they moved forward and stepped inside.
It was very dark (which didn't bother them in the slightest.) Everything was covered in cobwebs. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. There was a path leading through the cobwebs, however. As they moved along it, they noticed the masses of purple spiders watching them from the webs. They moved a bit faster. They weren't afraid of spiders, but it seemed like it could be dangerous to stay in the building for longer than necessary.
Frisk stopped, however, when they reached what seemed to be a toll booth thing with one of those barrier things along the path. Of course, Sans was sitting at the booth. Who else?
"sup, kid? you're gonna have to pay 500G to pass here." Sans told them.
"What? Why? Isn't this a public path?" Frisk asked, trying to edge around the barrier while Sans explained why.
"yeah, well. the spider lady, muffet I think her name is, says the spiders need more money. for something or the other. even though the queen helped them get the spiders out of the ruins. i guess it costs a lot to make spider-sized things for millions of spiders." As Sans had been explaining, Frisk had managed to get onto the other side of the barrier. Sans had been watching them the whole time, and sarcastically said "oh no. it seems you've outsmarted me. how could this have happened?"
Frisk snorted a bit, but stopped when Sans warned them that Muffet would most likely sick all of her spiderlings and a couple other things on them if they didn't pay.
"But I don't even have 500G!" They actually weren't sure how much they had, but it probably wasn't that much.
"all right then, tell ya what. since i know you, i'll give you a discount. how's 750G?" Frisk looked scandalized.
"That isn't a discount!"
"oh yeah, i guess you're right. how bout 250G then?" They nodded in acceptance and handed Sans 250 gold, before moving on along the path. They felt his eyes on their back until they'd left the building.
Once outside, they blinked in the sudden light before looking around. The area they were in still seemed rather purple-y, but there were no cobwebs. That was nice. There was also a poster for Mettaton's latest stage performance on the brick wall. "A tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers, kept apart by the tides of fate…" It seemed to be about to start. They had a feeling they knew what was coming next.
Ooh, it's about to start! Chara was bouncing with anticipation. No, wait. Stay calm. Stay dignified. Everyone already thinks you're in love with Mettaton. This will just add fuel to the fire.
A couple seconds later, they were bouncing their leg again.
As you can see, I provide only the most accurate and technical terms: "Steam jumpy thingies" "Those barrier things" and don't forget "They jump-ied over". This is how true professionals write.
So, I made some sprites of this story's Frisk (Notice the new cover picture? Previously it was just my profile pic, but now it looks professional. (Except not really because it came out all bad on this site)). I posted them on my tumblr, which I would link to but fanfiction deletes any links that go to a different site. You can find me at chipendalejohnson on tumblr.
Or if you want to read this story without any of the hassle of the not-actually-links and the not-as-good formatting, you can find this story on AO3 (Archive Of Our Own) as well.