"Don't worry, I'm sure Undyne will understand!" Papyrus said, standing beside his brother in the doorway and waving his human guests goodbye with both hands. Papyrus had insisted on cooking a fresh batch of spaghetti for breakfast after cleaning what he could of the twins' accident; he wore checkered oven mitts, a poofy chef's hat, and a polka dot apron that read 'Kiss the Cook'. "After all, we're friends!"
The twins shifted irritably for some reason.
"Prolly bump into you guys later," Sans said, stretching his spine until it cracked several times, earning him a glare from Papyrus. Suddenly, he grabbed Frisk's hand and said, "First, gotta grab a word with ya."
In a flash, Frisk found themselves alone with Sans in a narrow, tiled room. As always, the teleport punched the pit of Frisk's stomach, and the human gagged. They clamped a hand over their mouth but, to their surprise, the wave of nausea passed a split second later. That was new.
"You okay?" Sans asked, sweat beading on his skull.
"Better than usual," Frisk murmured, taking in the strange room. Its pale, fluorescent lighting revealed illegible blueprints on a side counter near a massive, cloth-covered structure. A machine? "Where are we?"
"Sorry, no time to explain," Sans said, winking. "Wanted to tell ya I think the kids' magic acted up because they got scared." He put his hands in his pockets and peered at Frisk. "That happen a lot?"
"Sometimes, but usually it's weak," Frisk said, shaking their head.
"...Thing is, I plan to keep an eyesocket out for ya, but this ain't your world." Sans paused. "Can you handle Undyne?"
"Yes." Dread filled Frisk at facing any Underground's captain of the Royal Guard, but the answer rolled off their tongue. "I can."
Sans' jolly grin stayed in place, but the lights of his eyes softened. "Your world's tougher than this one, huh?"
Frisk glanced down at their sleeves. In their Underground, years ago, hundreds of buttercups had covered their face and protruded from their wrists. Here, they had made it through Snowdin without the twins resetting at all. They would protect their children with their own body. They had to. Looking back at Sans, they replied, "Yes."
"Gotcha. And sorry," Sans said, taking Frisk's hand once more. They reappeared at the front door. Then, wincing an apology when Frisk gagged again, Sans vanished.
"Before my brother so rudely interrupted me," Papyrus declared with a bright smile, his hands on his pelvis, "as I was saying, The Great Papyrus cannot be wrong. Call me anytime!"
Vivaldi and Verdana trotted alongside Frisk as they departed. Despite their striped sweaters and matching Manly Bandannas, they shivered in the cold. Frisk assured them that the temperatures so far matched those in their world; Waterfall would be much warmer. When Papyrus disappeared into his house and out of earshot, however, the twins scowled. "Uncle Papyrus said you dated him last night! How could you cheat on Daddy?"
"It wasn't like that," Frisk said, crossing their frosty arms. They had debated changing clothes, but hoped against hope that someone from their world might arrive and recognize them, not that they would say this to the children.
"Uncle Papyrus used a dating book and everything," spat Verdana, kicking a dent into a large snowball, though it was actually a snowdecahedron. "And he showed you his coolest clothes!"
"He said you liked him," added Vivaldi with a frown, huffing so the air around her dainty nose fogged up. "He had to ask to just be friends."
"He misunderstood," Frisk mumbled, leaving out the details of their battle strategy. A light blush tinged their cheeks. Considering their brother-in-law's workaholic attitude, they had not expected flirting with this world's Papyrus to be so effective.
They soon crossed the foggy border from Snowdin into Waterfall. Frisk hustled the children through a glittering cavern where the walls narrowed into dim tunnels with embedded crystals that shed a soft glow, like starlight. Near a vacant sentry station, several monsters milled around, blinking at the newcomers with curiosity. A familiar monster kid with a yellow striped shirt tried to approach them, but Frisk stayed on task and kept the twins moving.
The path soon led them into a patch of high brush. As they pushed through, reached its edge and entered a clearing, Frisk felt a fiery stare pierce the darkness; in a flash, they dropped to the ground, grabbed the twins' shoulders to pull them back into the shelter of the tall grass, and held their breath. An armored knight lurked in the distance, scouring the area with a penetrating gaze. Alerted by the rustling grass, the knight halted and took several, clanking steps closer.
"H-hi, Undyne!" cried Papyrus, his echoes growing louder as he ran along a parallel path toward his captain-to-be. When he reached Undyne, she grunted her displeasure and put her hands on her hips. He apologized for being late, but explained that he had to scrub his kitchen and do a last-minute load of laundry, since he was far too cool to leave his house filthy, and it was required discipline for the Royal Guard, after all. In the confusion, the hidden humans took their chance to slip away. Papyrus' voice faded until it disappeared completely. "Uhhh, regarding that human I called you about earlier…."
Once the family reached the bridge seeds, planted them, and dashed across, they reached safety and slowed down. Vivaldi clutched her mother's hand and looked behind them at the lonely road. ...Aunt Undyne?
"Look!" Verdana cried excitedly, pulling Vivaldi by the elbow and out of her thoughts toward a cave wall lined with plaques. The mounted plaques, as the little boy read them aloud, told of the monsters' oppression by the humans and their journey deeper into Mt. Ebott.
"Mommy, do we have signs like these?" asked Vivaldi, running her little fingertips along a plaque's bottom edge.
"...I don't think we used to," Frisk said, not ready to explain that they had been half-blind and almost dead by the time they first entered Waterfall. But they smiled, held out two fingers, and moved them down, up, and down again. History. "But we do now."
"'Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed they had nothing to fear'," Vivaldi read. Glancing sidelong, her eyes met Verdana's, and the twins nodded. Agreeing on their unspoken question, Vivaldi turned toward Frisk and said, "Is Aunt Undyne going to fight us?"
Frisk gazed back while water dripped from the ceiling. Drip, drip. Drop. "...I won't let her hurt you."
"But why?" cried Verdana, his face screwed up in frustration. "We didn't do anything wrong!"
"Monsters just want to go to the surface, sweetie," Frisk said. They ruffled his hair gently. "Like we want to go home."
"Then, is that flower right?" Vivaldi asked. "Are we going to die?"
"Flowey said that to be stronger, we need LOVE," Verdana said. Then, he squirmed. "But Daddy says that LOVE comes from killing people."
Frisk looked down into their children's wide, crimson eyes, and swallowed hard. Flowey…. They took a breath and knelt, drawing the twins closer. "When someone fights you, do you want to hurt them?"
Both twins shook their heads.
"Then always be kind," Frisk said, giving them a small smile. "That's what makes you strong."
Though Vivaldi and Verdana could not smile back, they nodded.
As the family continued into Waterfall, the road ahead became a dim boardwalk that rose above a pitch black abyss. There was no way for Frisk to figure out how deep it went, so they prodded the twins to walk faster. They thought they spied a small monster running ahead, but it certainly was not Undyne.
All was still and quiet. Too quiet.
Finally, after passing more tall brush, the three of them reached a lovely marsh and gazed in amazement at the luminescent pools and flora. Glowing, blue plants that Frisk recognized as Echo Flowers lined their dark path through the gurgling waters. A passing conversation reached their ears.
'So? Don't you have any wishes to make?''...Hmm, just one, but it's kind of stupid.'
Frisk mused that the monsters of this world dared to hope, to make wishes on sparkling ceiling stones while longing for the stars. Perhaps that was what made this Underground different. The human wondered if their Waterfall looked as beautiful as this one now that the poisonous algae had been cleared out. They would have to find out when they got home.
To be on the safe side, anyway, Frisk tried to keep Verdana from playing in the water. After meeting a chatty, yet lonely octopus named Onionsan and the adorable Shyren, however, Verdana was so excited they could no longer restrain him from jumping into every puddle. Ahead, water dripped from the ceiling like rhythmic rain, bringing back a bittersweet memory.
Frisk looked around. Might it be here?
At first, the twins ignored the moss-covered stone statue they passed; Verdana was too busy playing, and Vivaldi was too busy nagging at her brother to stop splashing around. Suddenly, a haunting melody tinkled through the air. The twins turned and saw Frisk placing an umbrella firmly in the statue's hand.
Vivaldi walked over and tugged Frisk's sleeve. "How'd you know?"
"The statue in our Waterfall is just like this," Frisk said, their eyes misting as the song echoed down the corridor. Once upon a time, while Flowey fussed over them and Sans carried them on his back, this crumbling statue and its music box had been their last, feverish sight before they died, reset, and woke up blind. "Same music."
"Wow. Really?" Verdana breathed, mesmerized by the thought. "The same?"
"Mm hmm." Memories flooded Frisk's soul. Time had once been a rough hand shoving them off a cliff over, and over, and over, farther, and farther, and farther into nothing. Frisk ran delicate fingers through Vivaldi and Verdana's hair as the children hugged their legs and watched the statue, enchanted by its music. A tear trickled down Frisk's cheek as they thought of Sans, but they tugged their lips into a gentle smile. "Same but different."
Not long after they resumed walking, they approached a natural archway. The small lizard with a yellow striped shirt, the one they had passed earlier, noticed the umbrellas they carried and called out to the three strangers. "Yo, you got an umbrella? Awesome!"
At that, Frisk remembered first meeting the monster child in Snowdin. Since the child had no arms with which to hold an umbrella, Frisk quickly made space for them. Turned out the monster kid was a huge fan of Undyne, so when Verdana slipped and called her 'Aunt Undyne', the kid flipped out.
"Man, she's your aunt?! That's beyond the coolest cool!" the monster cried, their round eyes beaming with starry wonder. "She beats up bad guys and never loses. I'd wet the bed every night if I was a human!"
"She can be really scary, but she's nice and plays with us," Vivaldi said, twirling her scarlet umbrella. Playtime usually involved Undyne bench pressing the twins.
"Of course!" said the monster kid, bursting into a wide, toothy grin. "She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person."
Frisk kept silent. At this, so did Verdana.
When they reached a steep ledge and Frisk tried giving their new, young friend a boost, the monster kid could not quite reach Viv and Ver's outstretched arms. Frisk reluctantly agreed when the kid offered to stay behind and find another route since, if Undyne was nearby, chances were it was safer for them to separate. The child fell smack on their face, got up, and ran away.
A minute later, the phone rang. It was Papyrus. The twins grumbled, still jealous for their father's sake, when Frisk answered it.
"Awhile ago, a certain friend asked me what you were wearing," said Papyrus cheerily, as if chatting with Frisk about the weather. "However, her opinion of you is very—murdery."
"Eh?!" cried the twins as Frisk cringed. The dull receiver in Toriel's old phone muffled Papyrus, but not well enough.
"So! I made sure to say you were not wearing a dusty tutu and were wearing a fancy, silky vest with the Royal Crest on it," Papyrus continued in a musical tone. Frisk's jaw dropped. "You see, I was sure you would find and change into new clothes. Or someone else's old clothes. Being friends with everyone is easy!"
Click.
Sighing, Frisk shook their head and flashed their children a warm, confident grin. They had to get ready. "Change form, okay?"
The twins transformed into skeletons, but then stared at the ground, sullen.
Shoooom!
A flash of blue, thrust by an unseen hand, pierced the darkness and embedded itself in the boardwalk between Frisk and the children. It remained solid for a split second before vanishing.
A spear.