Play that tune again but this time do it somewhere else Chapter 41
Frisk had tried four different teas by the time Sans and Pidge burst into the throne room. The third one was best, but they were all pretty good. She waved from her seat on the steps, and Undyne got up from beside her to meet them.
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"Yo, you really gotta take care of your new human better," Undyne said, folding her arms.
"I know," Sans said, shoulders sagging. He turned his eyes on Frisk with a concerned furrow in his brow. "Kid, y'okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She carefully put down her teacup and got to her feet. "Thanks, your Majesty."
"Eh, no sweat," Undyne said with a shrug.
Pidge ducked around the two monsters and ran to the kid. She grabbed her into a hug. "Sheesh, that was scary!" She held her back by the shoulders and looked her over quickly. "Who'd you get? It wasn't Brambles, was it?"
"I don't know, it was a big blue dog?" Frisk said.
Pidge slumped with a sigh of relief. "Blueberry. Good. She's good."
"Brambles is a bit prickly, I guess?" the kid joked.
Pidge made a face, but Sans flicked finger-guns her way and Undyne snorted.
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"You guys gotta be more careful," Undyne said. "It's not like I can just put out an order to ignore all red-bands."
"I know," Sans said again. "Kid, has it changed at all?"
Frisk held out her arm. It hadn't. The skeleton grabbed her and touched glowing fingertips against the marks for a few seconds. They stayed red. He puffed out a sigh and looked up at the Queen with a shrug.
"Gimme Snowdin, at least."
"I can give you main street and a bit on either side. Should include your house, right?" she said.
"House's already covered."
She smirked. "You sneaky bag of bones."
"You sure you can't just remove it?" Pidge asked worriedly.
"Nnnooo, it's, ah… It has a certain sound," Undyne said. "Any Guard monster sees a human that's not you and doesn't hear that sound, and they're gonna be treated like an infiltrator. Which is, uh, a lot worse than a red-band. So."
"Oh…" Pidge grabbed Frisk's hand consolingly. "It'll be okay."
"Sorry to cause such a fuss," Frisk said.
"Nah." Undyne waved her hand dismissively. "I mean. It's no scales off my back. You're welcome to, uh, drop in."
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Pidge pouted. She squished Frisk closer. "Don't worry, Frisk, I gotcha."
"I-I know. I'm okay," Frisk said. "Um, but, I r-really gotta get…" She bit her lip and looked at Sans nervously. "Please, if there's anything I can do to speed this up, I… I gotta get my brother and go home."
"What, just like that?" Pidge asked worriedly. "…I wasn't too pushy, was I?"
"No, no no no, nothing like that! My dad said something's going wrong," she said. "Like, chaotic time movements or something? I d-don't know why that would be happening or what it means but I—"
"Wait, sorry." Sans raised his hand to pause her. "What d'ya mean, your dad? He got here?"
"Yes? Um, well, maybe no, I…" Frisk winced and beckoned him closer. "Can I share a memory with you, would that be okay?"
"I dunno, can ya?"
"Sans, not the time!" Pidge said.
"No, I mean, literally. If y'think ya can…" He knelt down. "Lay it on me, kiddo."
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Frisk gulped. She nodded. Her fingers glittered with red and Undyne ooh-ed behind her and leaned closer to watch. The kid focused hard on what she'd seen and touched the skeleton's temples, closing her eyes. She could still see her father's stark white form on the backs of her eyelids.
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The magic activated and a rush of images shot through her brain. Her heart hurt. She started to shake. Sans pulled back with a small gasp, plopping down onto his tailbone. Pidge caught his shoulders. His eyes were wide and flickering blue. Frisk gulped, hard.
"I-I'm sorry, are you okay?" she asked. "Did it work?"
Sans stared at her. He grimaced and then leaned up and yanked her into his arms. She went stiff with surprise as the skeleton plunked back and crushed her into a big, bear hug, his soul humming consolingly.
"Kid, I'm sorry," he said under his breath.
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Frisk wasn't sure why, but her eyes watered and her throat tightened. She tried to breathe, but it got stuck in her throat, and she was crying quietly before she could stop herself. Sans cozied her up, patting her hair gently. She crumbled and grasped to him with sharply clinging fingers, sniffling into his shirt.
"Gotta be honest, that was one of the scariest things I ever seen," he said. "But y'really love that guy, huh?"
"S'my dad, I… I r-really miss him," she squeaked. "I'm… I-I'm…"
"So worried about everything," he finished for her. "I know." He sighed. "I know." He drew back enough to give her a little space, and she sat on his leg and rubbed her face with her palms. "Ah. Poor kid. I know I'm not exactly who y'need right now, but I'm gonna help ya get 'im, okay?"
"I know." She wiped her eyes. "Thank you. A-And I like you a lot, y'know?"
Sans blinked. His cheekbones flushed. Pidge laughed and gave him a gentle whack before grabbing Frisk's hand reassuringly.
"Told you," she teased him. "You know how your first instinct is always to back off? Yeah, do the opposite of that like ninety percent of the time."
"Call me out in public why don'tcha," he grumbled. He patted Frisk's head as she snickered and wiped her eyes again.
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Undyne folded her arms and smiled sideways. "It must be pretty bad, huh? You didn't cry at all when we fought, and, not gonna lie, wouldn't have blamed you if you did."
"Oh come on, you wouldn't have fought her if she started crying!" Pidge said shrilly.
"Man, of course not, how crappy would that've been?!" Undyne said.
"I just…" Frisk sighed. "I feel like I just went through this whole missing my family thing, and I was super ready to never have that happen again? But here I am… Totally a mess. Like a-always. I just wish I knew what to do."
Pidge flinched. "Yeah, it's tough…" She put on a brave face and stared into Frisk's eyes. "But that's okay! We're determined, right? So we got this."
Frisk wished she could be so enthusiastic, but her new friend was right. However she felt couldn't slow her down at a time like this.
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"Pigeon, y'didn't see what she did, did ya?" Sans asked.
"I just saw some weird black stuff comin' outta the air," she said.
"Good, at least we only gotta deal with nightmares for two of us, huh?" he joked. He looked up at Undyne. "Hey. Temple open? Can we take over for a bit?"
"Yeah, why?" she asked.
"Welp, we found a piano but we dropped it in front of the house," he said with a shrug.
"I have no idea what you mean, but, uh, go ahead," she said.
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Sans led the kids out into the hall and Undyne decided to tag along, telling a pair of dog guards outside the throne room to hold down the fort. Papyrus was waiting for them at the portal circle they'd used the other day, and he immediately greeted Frisk with a warm, tight hug.
"You weren't hurt, were you?!" he demanded.
"No, I'm okay," she said.
"Ugh, I'm so glad. Here." He whisked her sweatshirt out of nowhere— her relief was palpable— and put it around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry, new friend, I wish this didn't keep happening."
"It's okay," she said as she pulled her arms through the sleeves. She gave the anxious skeleton another hug and he instantly squished her again. "Thanks for coming."
"Of course! So. What now?"
"Temple, it's faster," Sans said.
"Plus if the Priest is there, we get cookies," Pidge said.
Papyrus sighed. "So the great piano search was for nothing, hm?"
"Yeah. My bad," Sans said. He patted Frisk on the head and grinned slyly. "Stuff seems to get thrown off with this kid pretty suddenly."
"Sorry," Frisk said sheepishly.
The skeleton shrugged. "Eh, keeps things interestin'."
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A bright portal brought them to a spot in a grassy courtyard. It was rimmed with trees with white, smooth bark and leaves shining copper and gold. The castle wall could barely be seen just beyond, but even so they, made a sheltered, otherworldly alcove. Ahead of the group, at the top of carved, rock steps, was a polished stone building comprised of mostly columns and windows, its roof protruding out in triangle spikes, so that the structure would have appeared as a geometric sun from above. The pyramid-like peak in its centre shone with warm light.
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In the grass, there was a large, round pool with a silvery moon marking inscribed at its depths. Undyne gestured to it proudly.
"Just had this installed a couple months back. Used to be a big dumb sundial here," she said. "With a fancy Sun Temple like that, seemed like a bit of balance would be nice, right?! Plus, the old Queen said she thought it was cool."
"She probably didn't say cool," Pidge joked.
"It is pretty cool, though," Frisk said, peering into the glistening water. "Do those marks do anything?"
"Not totally sure," Undyne said. "We lost moon magic for like two hundred years or somethin', but, on the full moon, this water glows and you can actually use it for healin' stuff."
"What?! Queen Undyne, you never told me that!" Papyrus said.
"Ah, sorry, kiddo, just figured it out a little while ago, guess it slipped my mind."
He pouted. "Can I come take some next time?"
"You literally don't even have to ask," she said, thumping him on the shoulder.
Papyrus brightened right up.
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"Your Highness!" It was Mistral. Her armour unchanged; looking a little frantic. She darted up to them from the vanishing remnants of a portal and saluted.
Sans gave her a wry smile and she cut her eyes at him dismissively. Undyne grinned and waved her hand.
"Hey, Mist," she said.
"You're not supposed to be off for another three hours!" she said.
"Don't sweat it, I got Bwarf and Little Dog in charge," Undyne said. "Besides, this is way more important than just sittin' around." She gestured to Frisk. "Kid was sad and stuff, and Sans was actually emotionally vulnerable for a minute."
"What?! Aw, I missed it?!" Papyrus cawed.
Sans grinned awkwardly. "Bro."
"Your scones were really good," Frisk said, looking up at Mistral.
"Oh yeah, they were great," Undyne said.
"Oh! Thank you." A little flush of green tinted the tall skeleton's cheekbones and she coughed into her fist as if to clear her throat. "Well. Alright. It must be important, then. I will accompany you until…" Her eyes shifted back to Frisk. She bristled. A pale glow of green lit around the white in her eye sockets. "Wait a moment."
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Papyrus lifted the kid instantly and shielded her in his arms. "Oh no you don't, not this time. You will have to go through me."
Mistral frowned. "No, it's just—"
"She's havin' a weird issue," Undyne said. "Didn't do a thing, but they won't revert."
"Oh." The skeleton held out her hand to Frisk. "May I?"
Frisk nodded. She rolled up her sleeve and Mistral held her hand gently. The crystal on her brow glowed and she pressed her fingers against the red band.
"Don't y'think we tried that?" Sans said.
"Shh, you absolute nuisance," she said.
"Nu-Sans," Frisk said quietly.
Pidge snorted and Sans burst out laughing. Even Mistral cracked a smile. She pulled away after a moment and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, human."
"Thanks for trying," Frisk said.
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Up the temple steps, they were met by a monster almost as tall as Undyne—the palace's Sun Priest— an amber-eyed, lithe black dog with a caramel coloured snout and eyebrow spots and extremely pointy, perked up ears. She wore a white and gold robe emblazoned with marks of the sun on the sleeves and hem, but a Delta Rune on the chest, and a circlet of golden jewelry on her head. She observed them resolutely for a moment before giving them each a lick on the cheek and inviting them in. Just as Pidge had hoped, there was a big basket of fresh, sun-shaped cookies just inside the door. She took two and made Frisk take some, too. Sans explained what they needed, and the Sun Priest gladly offered to help.
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The temple itself was very open, made up mostly of windows to let in the light. The walls were carved with scenes of many monsters in a swirly art style and a wide array of magic symbols. Dogs were the most common creatures to be seen, holding the moon or resting against the sun. Every once in a while, there was a monster depicted cradling a star, as well.
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The hallways were massive and echoing in there, much bigger on the inside than on the out. The centre room had a high, domed ceiling marked with an intricate sun pattern in huge rings, and a gap in its middle for the real sun to beam through. There, the light would catch on a pedestal with a water-filled bowl made of polished, translucent crystal with streaks of gold like straw running through it, and some little, leafy plants
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As Mistral and the Sun Priest began hauling instruments up out of a hidden chamber below the floor and Sans lazed nearby on a stone bench, Papyrus pulled Frisk aside and sat on the floor with her. He opened his brown jacket to get to a bandolier he had slung over his shoulder and around his chest. Its pockets were packed with vials sloshing with potions.
"Yeesh, planning something big, Papy?" Pidge asked.
"I thought it would be prudent to be prepared!" he asserted. "I brought almost every type I have. But! I just had an idea! An unorthodox one! And I think it might be quite clever, if I do say so myself!"
"Is there a potion for security feature goes nuts?" Sans wondered.
"Muffle!" Papyrus said, producing a vial filled with dark grey goo.
"Muffle?" Pidge repeated, puzzled.
"It's meant for feet. To keep your footsteps quiet. But magically," he said. "Also very soft and comfy."
"If you think it might help," Frisk said.
"I do!" He rolled up her sleeves and popped the cork on the muffle potion, and began to gently apply it to her wrists. "Now, I don't think it's a permanent solution—"
"Heh," Sans snickered.
"If I'm right," he said, rolling his eyes at his brother, "monsters who are not Guards should probably not be able to hear the off-sounds unless they are very very close."
"Thanks, Paps," Frisk said, watching curiously as the potion's dark colour faded to nothing. It didn't feel like much at all. "What happens if you drink it by accident?"
"Not much, I don't think," he said.
"The quietest burps ever," Pidge joked.
Frisk snickered. She looked up at Papyrus curiously. "Hey, um. You wouldn't happen to have any bandages, would you?"
"Ooh, now that is also a clever idea, Frisk," he said brightly. He pulled a roll of them from nowhere. He began to carefully wrap her wrists and continued up around her hands. "You'll let me know if it's too tight, right?"
"Yeah," she said.
"That's a good idea," Pidge said. "It'll just look like you've been training."
"True," Frisk said.
"Did you have a good time with that? You know, before this spooky stuff happened?" Papyrus asked.
"Yeah, it was fun," Frisk said. "Pidge is really good."
"That she is," he agreed. "Sigh. I'm sorry, little friend. I wish this wasn't happening like this."
"Wouldda been kinda cool to just be able to come here for a legit visit or something, yeah," the kid said with a nod.
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"Children, we're ready!" the Sun Priest called. She held out her hands, gesturing to an odd array of old instruments— drums, horns; a harpsichord. "Do any of these fit your needs?"
"Thanks, sunshine," Sans said, taking a stroll around and plunking a finger down on one of the harpsichord keys. He beckoned to Frisk. "What d'ya think, kiddo?"
Frisk joined him and the tall dog shadowed her, leaning over to watch as she peeked around. She, too, headed straight for the harpsichord. She stood on her toes. The keys looked familiar enough, though black and white was inverted from what she was used to.
"Ah, here," the dog said, lifting her up under her arms and pulling a wooden block over with her foot. She plunked Frisk on top of it, and then rushed to open the cover and prop it up. "There you go, small one."
"Think y'can play it?" Sans asked. "If not, y'can just gimme the tunes and I'll do my best, but…"
"A song will always work better from its source," the Priest said.
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Frisk nodded. She looked at the keys and tapped a few. Similar to a piano, but with a metallic tinge to the sound. Different, but pleasant. Antique, somehow. Undyne leaned over her, too, ears perking curiously. Frowning with concentration, Frisk searched for the right note to start her own hum. Asriel's wasn't far off. She ran her fingers up and down the keys, getting a feel for where the notes lay, and then began to play. Asriel's first, slowly as she got a hang of the pattern on her left hand. Then, her right, interweaving her own hum along with it, very simply at first. Adding a few notes on the lower octave to support it. Red sparkles drifted from her fingers and she yelped and pulled back.
"No no no, my dear, keep going," the Sun Priest insisted.
Frisk gulped. She looked at her fingers. She caught sight of Pidge and Papyrus just over top of the instrument. The skeleton had his hands clenched hopefully and the girl stuck both thumbs up. Frisk took a deep breath and started again.
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The entwined melodies summoned red sparkles of magic from her fingers, and her focus brought them out and fluffing around the temple like dandelion seeds on a breeze. Mistral caught one in her hand and stared at it in bewilderment. The motes hummed with Frisk's portion of the melody, so soft as to be barely audible, but the monsters could feel the resonance against their souls. The Sun Priest, too, had caught one in her paws. She stared at intently, amber eyes widening; pupils dilating.
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When the kid stopped, she looked to Sans hopefully. "Was that okay?"
He grinned; his eye was alight. "Kid, it was—"
"Fantastic!" The Sun Priest jumped to the bench and passed Frisk off into the hands of the Queen before taking her seat and beginning to play. She repeated the melody perfectly, with fervour and skill that came from expert hands. Her magic flared gold, starting from her fingers and spiralling outwards, a tornado of fireflies lighting the temple.
Undyne unwittingly squeezed the kid close to her chest. Frisk was in awe. She'd never heard anyone play anything like this before, nor seen the flow of magic burst and glitter with the sound.
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The Sun Priest finished with a flourish and magic coalesced in the ceiling and beamed, bright gold and intense, into the crystal bowl before vanishing, only sparkles drifting in its wake, and leaving the group stunned and staring. Mistral darted over and peered down into the bowl.
"I have never seen that before in my life," she said.
"Wow, same," Undyne said. "Yo, Soleil, nice work."
The Sun Priest beamed. She got up to see Frisk, leaning in so close her cold nose almost booped her. "Little one, that song… It is something special, isn't it?"
"W-Well, I'm not sure if hums usually combine like that," she said.
Soleil nodded. She straightened up and joined Mistral at the bowl, and plucked from it a small, rounded disk of gold stone that was engraved with some strange symbols. "Would you mind if I keep this? It would be a lovely one to add to the collection."
"The song of the universe, right?" Sans said with a smile. "What d'ya think, kiddo? It got quite the reaction."
"I-If you want, yeah," Frisk said.
The dog grinned. With a crackle of magic, she pulled the stone into a second, perfect duplicate and then handed one over to her. "Many thanks, timechild."
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Frisk's face flushed. Sans nudged the dog gently with his elbow.
"How'd you sniff that out?" he asked
"The song said so," she said brightly. "Though. I'm not sure what it means."
"Hey, Sans," Pidge said brightly. "Bet we can track her brother with that, right?"
"Sure think so," he said.
"Phew," Frisk said. She gladly handed it over to him.
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"Wait, hold on a moment," Mistral said, raising a hand. "Someone is missing?"
"It's a pretty weird thing, Mist," Pidge said.
"Well. I am Captain of the Dragonguard. Is there any way I can help?" she asked.
"We'll let ya know," Sans said.
"Ooh, she could keep an eye out for Frisk's brother, couldn't she?" Papyrus said. "Just in case he doesn't come through the Soul, somehow."
"Or any other weird black sludge portals," Pidge said.
"Excuse me, what?!" Mistral barked. "Sludge portals?! The Soul?!" She whirled on Sans. "What have you done this time?!"
"I dunno, what'd I do last time?" he asked.
"This is my fault, I'm sorry," Frisk said quickly.
"No way, I'm the one that made it so you'd fall here if anywhere," Pidge said swiftly. "And your brother is… Tell her what he looks like."
"Um, well, he's kinda goat-like? But he has sharp teeth. And white fur, with black stripes here." Frisk traced lines under her eyes and down to her jawline with her fingers. "And big horns. And long, floppy ears. And a small tail. But, uh… I mean… I guess he'd be either about as tall as Pidge or as tall as you?"
"That's… a discrepancy," Mistral said with a puzzled frown.
"Yeah, it's, um, a long story," Frisk said. She felt like she was saying that a lot.
"Perhaps you could draw him for me," the skeleton suggested, pulling out a sheet of paper and a quill and offering them. "And these… sludge portals."
"Um. Sure, gimme a minute."
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As Frisk scooted aside to try to sketch, Papyrus watched curiously. Pidge hovered, too, but she looked a little anxious. The grown-ups had gathered close to the bowl. Soleil's tail was wagging, and they conspired in low, excited voices. Sans broke away after a minute and clapped Frisk on the shoulder.
"Y'did good," he said. "Really made that dog's day."
"I'm happy I figured it out," she said. "But it's not too bad, it's sorta counting, I guess."
"Hm. Guess so," he said. He leaned over to look at her borderline chibi-style drawing and smiled sideways. "Welp."
"Az is gonna laugh at me so hard if he sees this," she said quietly.
"I think it's pretty cute," Papyrus said. He turned to look at Sans with his brows raised. "What do you think, brother? Was this enough to help?"
"Yeah. The more info we got, the better," he said. "Didn't realize we just had a half, but hey. So how'd that happen?"
"I dunno, really," Frisk said. "His always sounded like that. And he was born, like… a few hundred years before me, I think. So I'm not super sure how it all works; we never really figured it out."
"Maybe you were always supposed to be siblings, then," Papyrus said, eyes brightening. "Or maybe there's a secret prophecy! Ooh, those are always fun, don't you think?"
"I dunno, I think we don't have anyone who does prophecies anymore," Frisk said.
"Aw."
"Prophecies maybe aren't all great, though," Pidge said, folding her arms. "They can put a lot of pressure on people, don't you think?"
"Ah. I guess you would know, little sister," Papyrus said apologetically. "But, if mom hadn't thought you were the kid with the magical destiny, we might not have met for a lot longer! And I'm really very glad we did."
The girl cracked a smile and she grabbed his arm. "I never said it was all bad!" She looked at Frisk. "Were you part of your Delta Rune prophecy back home? Did they ever figure that out?"
"Um. Well… Maybe a little? But mostly it was Asriel," she said. She finished up her picture, only to have it plucked away by Pidge.
The girl looked it up and down and she grinned. "Welp."
"Is it that bad?" Frisk asked sheepishly.
"No! No no, it's just… It's not bad," Pidge assured her. She brought it over to where Mistral was conferring with Undyne and Soleil to hand it over.
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Frisk rubbed her head. She looked at Sans. "Is there anything else I can do?"
"What, more than that?" he asked.
"Yeah!" she insisted. "My dad said the world is messed up back home, I can't just… I can't just do nothing."
"Like I said," Sans said apologetically. "It takes time. You gotta be pa—"
"Patient. I know. I know, I know." She rubbed her head. "Man, I feel like now I'm stuck in a loop or something."
"I was gonna say," Sans said.
"Sans, be nice, it's hard," Pidge said as she joined them again.
"What about that light in the Ruins, is it anything?" Frisk asked.
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Pidge froze, eyes wide. She looked at Sans quickly. His brow furrowed.
"Nah," he said. "Dead end."
"Do you know anything about it?" Frisk pressed. "It looks a lot like those save things I mentioned."
"Oh! And she did pull red magic out of it. Remember, I told you?" Papyrus said quickly.
"Don't know much, t'be honest. Figure messin' with it might be like that, uh, worst case scenario I told ya 'bout, kid," Sans said apologetically.
"Oh." Frisk pouted slightly and Papyrus reassuringly patted her shoulder.
Pidge sighed. "I-If… If we could just get your brother here, somehow…"
"That'd be really great. One thing off the worry list, right?" Papyrus said.
"Could we try to reach out there again?" Frisk asked.
"It's, uh, not so easy as that," Sans said. He grabbed her hand that he'd marked and tapped the top of it, his eye flashing blue. "And I know, under here, this hasn't healed yet, right? I can't channel into you again until it scars over or it might do real damage."
"Ugh, and we wouldn't be able to heal anything like that until the full moon," Papyrus grumbled.
"I don't mind scars," Frisk said swiftly.
"Not scars. More like, blow your hand apart," Sans said.
Frisk frowned. She winced. "I-I can live with one—"
"NO!" Pidge and Papyrus both yelled.
Sans rubbed his brow and pointed at her. "That ain't healthy."
"My literal universe might be falling apart, though!" Frisk said shrilly.
"Hey, uh, you guys okay over there?" Undyne called from across the room.
"Fine," Sans said, raising his hand. He lightly pulled Frisk by her arm. "C'mon. Outside."
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Out in the courtyard, Sans stomped his heel into the grass and out flipped a wooden garden table and chairs that looked to have somehow grown organically from tree stumps and stones.
"Listen, kid, we got some rules we gotta lay down," he said as he used blue to hover her onto a seat and then plopped down himself across from her. He counted on his fingers. "No blood sacrifice. No limb sacrifice. And sure as hell no eye sacrifice. Capiche?"
"Wh-Who said anything about eyes?" she squeaked.
"I dunno, but I got mine on ya." He winked his blind one. "Just, uh, stay on my good side." He pointed at his left socket. "It's this one, in case y'forgot."
"We just don't want you to get hurt anymore," Papyrus said, dragging his chair up beside the kid and grasping her small hand in both of his. "That scar on your leg was really bad, and I know you went through a lot before even getting to visit us! So we'd like very much for you to stay safe."
Frisk winced. She kept the fact that she almost certainly had similar scars through her shoulder and her side, too, in her head. She hoped her mom wouldn't be too mad at her when she got home. She hoped nobody would notice until enough time had passed that she could plausibly claim she didn't remember where they came from.
"I know you're used to, well… Not making it sometimes, right, Frisk?" Pidge said. "But we can't risk that here. We have no idea what'll happen. You might get sent back to midnight like me, or you might just get launched into the frickin' void."
"You're right," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. But I just don't know how long… I mean, I dunno how time is moving back home, but it's definitely gotta be moving. This song's gonna help, though right?"
"It still takes time," Sans said apologetically.
"It's like a matching game, in a way," Papyrus said.
"There's nothing else I could do to… I dunno, get out there from here?" Frisk asked. "Even just to grab Az?"
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"So, uh. Here's the problem, I guess?" Sans said, resting his elbows on the table as he knitted his fingers. "I gotta be your conduit. Can't just trial-and-error it. I gotta figure out where ya were from and channel it for ya. Make sense?"
"Y… Yeah. It does," she said quietly.
"As long as you're here, you're my responsibility. I would never forgive myself if somethin' stupid happened to ya," he said, frowning over his knuckles. "Maybe you're strong enough. Hell, y'probably are. But we can't tell without usin' ya as a test subject and I'm not willin' to. We only got one shot at this."
"If he channeled you to the wrong spot, you might get sent to a different place in time," Pidge said. "Or even to a totally different universe. And you might not be able to get back here."
Papyrus clutched to Frisk anxiously. "We can't do that to her! Don't you worry, Frisk, we're definitely absolutely not going to shoot you off into a strange time place."
"Yeah, Papy, that's the point," Pidge said gently.
"But, uh…" Sans's eyes dropped to the table for a moment. He sighed. "Hate to tell ya this, but Pidge and I can only handle our work for a bit each day. If we're splittin' our time between searchin' for him and searchin' for your home, this could take weeks. Or worse."
"O-Oh." Frisk's stomach dropped.
"We don't mind puttin' ya up for that long, of course—"
"Of course, you can stay with us as long as you need!" Papyrus said.
"But I figure you're in a bit more of a rush than that."
.
Frisk grimaced. Her mind raced. Weeks. Or worse. Could she handle that? She doubted it, especially without Asriel. Papyrus squished her reassuringly. Pidge flinched. She tapped her fingers on the table.
"You guys didn't have any, like, backup plan or anything, did you?" she asked.
"We never expected to get split up," Frisk said softly; cursed herself for being so stupid.
"So no, like…? No waypoints or anything? No meet up places?" Pidge wondered.
Frisk shook her head, but a chill ran up her spine. Her brow furrowed and she jerked straight up. "W-Wait. Wait wait. There was something, um. It's hard to explain. But there was this… place. Out in the void. Not to Az, but—"
"Kid, I told ya—" Sans began.
"I know, I know. But maybe… If I shared a memory with you, could you… maybe get me to somebody? Or, like, channel me in that direction?"
"If I could, I wouldda said," he said apologetically.
"Even if the somebody is a weird time guy who lives, like, out there?" she asked.
Sans's eyes went wide. "That's… I mean. If I could get enough info, maybe." He teleported to her side. "Could you, uh…?" He offered his hand.
.
Frisk grabbed him gently and let the red flare up in her palm. She reached out with her other hand and he bent towards her so she could touch his skull. She brought up the colourless duplicate of her brother that had met her off somewhere strange. He'd said if she ever needed directions to find him, right?
.
The skeleton before her drew in a sharp breath. When he pulled back, his eyes were wide. The energy in his left socket burned bright.
"Wow, that's… somethin' else," he said.
"Bro, is it dangerous, though?" Pidge asked worriedly.
"I don't, uh… I don't think so. Not this guy. He's… interestin', that's for sure." He turned his attention on Frisk with a curious frown. "He omnipotent?"
"I got no clue," she said.
.
"Wait, I don't understand, who are you going to find?" Papyrus asked.
"He looks like Sans but he's all grey and I'm not sure if he's a real guy or not," Frisk said. "But he told me if I need directions, to find him."
Pidge looked worried. Papyrus perked up a little, though.
"If he's like our brother, I'm sure he can help you," he said. "What do you think, Sans? Is there a way to do that without hurting her?"
.
Sans looked the kid up and down thoughtfully. Pidge grabbed his hand.
"I think we could try," she said. "If you have it clear enough."
Frisk looked at them hopefully. The skeleton sighed and smiled sideways.
"Back to the Soul, I guess," he said.
xXxXx
Pidge and Sans went ahead, but Papyrus insisted he gather up a few things, first, so Frisk went with him back to Snowdin. She didn't notice anything different, but her nerves were spiked anyway. She held Papyrus's hand until they got to the house.
.
Up in his room, Papyrus hung up his bandolier on the wall and then lugged a large wooden chest out from his closet. It was packed with fanciful potion bottles, arranged in a gradient of colour. He sat on his knees to look through them and Frisk sat with them. His sharp fingers rested on the top of a bottle swirling with orange.
.
"Frisk?" he said. "We're friends, right?"
"Yeah, of course," she said.
"Do you… think we would have been friends even if your brother wasn't a Papyrus?"
"For sure! You've been so nice to me! I mean, at least, I wouldda wanted to be your friend," Frisk said. She laughed quietly. She was never really hard to win over— she loved her Papyrus and his infectious positivity about ten minutes after meeting him. Same thing could be said about almost all of her friends, actually. "Dunno about you liking me, though, I've been such a mopey mess."
"As if anyone could blame you for being a little out of sorts after dropping in from another dimension, you silly Frisk!" he teased. "I find that you're very comfortable to be around, actually! You remind me a little of Sans when he was a lot younger. I mean, just how you feel so responsible for everything. But also how easy you are to talk to." He plucked up the orange potion: it had a sun and a lightning bolt embossed in the glass. "Hm. This one, annnd… Maybeee…" A blue-turquoise one in a very spherical bottle was his next choice. "Okay!"
.
"What're those?" she asked.
"Well. This orange one, it's a very brave recipe. It's for speed! It'll make you very quick. If you need something like that. I can imagine many uses," he said, placing the bottles into her hands. "And that turquoise one, thats a sort of mixed up patience recipe. My own creation! It's cool when you touch it. Plus! It's got a small drop of healing water in it, so it's very good if you get too tired or headachy or anything. It's more of a salve, though. I mean, you could drink it but I wouldn't advise it unless you burn your mouth or something. My sister does that quite a lot. Anyway, I would feel a lot better if you would take these with you."
"Thank you so much," she said. She stored them away in her phone. "Hope I won't need them."
"I also hope that," he said. He sighed and sat back, rubbing his skull. His cheekbones flushed a little. "You'll come back, right?"
"Yeah. Definitely," she said.
"Good! Good. It's just, um. Nyeh. I… don't have all that many friends. And I like you a lot and I am really extremely grateful for you fixing my dreams, I'd like to at least to be able to throw you a going away party before you leave."
"Aw, Papyrus." Frisk couldn't help grabbing him into a hug. "I don't need a party, but I'm gonna come back."
The skeleton gratefully squeezed her in return. "Hopefully with your brother," he said brightly.
"Definitely with my brother," she said.
xXxXx
The portal hut was outside the protected area and they lingered too long. For the third time, Frisk was plucked up by a Guard and sent to the palace before Papyrus could stop it. He arrived to grab her back at almost the same time as she landed on the purple carpet in the throne room. Undyne was apologetic, but also clearly found it a little funny, as she'd just gotten around to sitting down again. The skeleton, on the other hand, was less than amused despite Frisk's assurances that she was okay. To be honest, though, the kid was definitely starting to get the painful tingles of a stress headache. She already popped the turquoise potion's bottle and rubbed a bit of it on her forehead.
.
They took the portal straight from the castle, but the area outside the Soul of the World, too, was unsafe. The autocatchers rose up out of the earth before Papyrus and Frisk had even crossed the tree line, pillars of stone glowing with deep green flickering defiantly in their path. Without Sans, the way in was another portal point in a stone alcove across the wide field.
.
Papyrus was clearly fed up. He drew up a long bone like a staff and gritted his teeth, but froze before taking a step beyond the field. "I'm going to be committing a couple crimes at the moment," he said. "We may have to make a run for it."
"Ah!" Frisk held up her hands. "No, wait, don't—!"
.
Papyrus did not wait. He ran straight at one of the pillars and struck it with an arc of gold that shimmered down the length of his boney weapon. The stone slid apart as easily as slicing cucumber with a sushi knife. Green magic fizzled in the base, and a section of air that had been empty a moment ago flickered to reveal its translucent magic barrier that formed a boxy segment of maze. He reached out his hand for Frisk.
"Let's go! We'll fix it later!"
.
The moment the kid seized his fingers, he jumped up to balance on the broken barrier's top and she stumbled up with him. It was like walking on smooth glass.
"Follow me!" he said as he ran forward. "And this might be time for that potion, already!"
This all felt kind of bonkers to her, but as Papyrus carved his way through more of the autocatchers, Frisk grabbed the brave potion bottle and took a swig. It tasted like spiced orange juice, and it sparked her soul like an electric charge. She took off after him much faster than she anticipated, bouncing on the barriers as they came into view, only to overshoot him and stumble face-first into the grass with a yell. She was ready this time, though, and jumped unnaturally high to climb back up on one of the sliced pillars as the earth opened up where she'd been.
.
Deep breaths. Focus on the steps.
.
She bounced back up on the barrier only to have blue warnings flash in her mind. Papyrus grabbed her, yanking her out of the path of an autocatcher's purple bullet, which splatted and stuck against the barrier before sparkling away. They shared a look and he pointed towards the Soul before picking her up and tossing her like a football. She stumbled as she hit the grass and took off running as more pillars shot up behind her. She heard a strange raspy voice shouting at Papyrus and looked back over her shoulder as he cut another one of the stones down.
"No! Stop trying to kidnap my friend!" Papyrus shouted down at whoever had yelled.
.
Another blue warning but Frisk realized too late as she bonked into an invisible barrier and plunked onto her bum. She jumped up, avoiding yet another pitfall, but her speed threw her right into the barrier again. Maybe the potion wasn't so great a plan, actually.
.
As she leapt and clambered up the barrier, she caught sight of the purple-tinted pillars focusing on her as she dangled by her fingers. Their shots came quick and she took a deep breath and sent out a pulse of red. The bullets sailed backwards and squelched onto their shooters as Frisk pulled herself up.
.
Abruptly, the catchers shattered in a slice of red, and the kid yelped and almost fell from her perch. It was Pidge, rushing at her with blazing eyes and the edge of her blunt sword searing crimson. Before Frisk could call out to her, every sense in her screamed at her to move. She leapt from her vantage point just in time for a huge, shadowy spear to smash up from beneath her, wrecking everything in it path.
"Pidge, you okay?!" Frisk yelled.
A crash. Magic sparks everywhere. The spear twisted and Frisk realized it was an arm, tipped with a hand with creepy, long fingers and claws. She stumbled away, catching sight of her friend being hefted up in a shadowy fist. The kid felt rumbles beneath her feet and sidestepped out of the way of another hand breaking the surface like a geyser of tar. She ran for Pidge, skidding under a twisted elbow and leaping a forearm to try to clamber up. Papyrus squawked from somewhere and Frisk whirled in alarm, only to get swatted like a fly. She tumbled, sky and grass blending as she bounced along the ground, grunting, and was scooped into the tight grip of a giant fist.
.
"Let us go, you old coot!" Pidge yelled. She pounded her fist on the knuckle closest to her. "Hey, can you hear me?!"
The ground rumbled again, and a huge, black furry body rose up out of the dirt, as did many more arms. The monster lifted up a big, crocodile-like head and glowered at them with four bright, acid green eyes.
"You two…! Or, three?!" His voice was craggy and higher-pitched than the size of his form suggested. "Soulbonder, what are you doing with these hooligans?!" He dragged Papyrus over as well.
"We aren't hooligans, I'm the great Papyrus; you know who I am!" the skeleton protested.
"Why did you break my special traps, hm?!"
"Because they were coming after my friend and we need to get to the Soul!" he shouted. "She already got dragged to the castle twice today!"
"Twice?!" Pidge looked at Frisk, who was resting with her check on her hand from where she was grasped in the spidery monster's fist. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm fine, I guess," she said, shrugging one shoulder.
.
The huge monster made a contemplative sound and leaned in to stare at Frisk suspiciously. "Why does she sound evil, then?"
"Heck," Frisk said sheepishly.
"She does not! It's the bands, they're malfunctioning!" Papyrus said.
"That sounds suspicious," he retorted.
Papyrus puffed up and yanked his arm out from where it was loosely pinned to his side and pointed accusingly at the giant monster. "No, it doesn't! Why would we lie about something like this?!"
"We did save the world, Ungol, give us the benefit of the doubt," Pidge said.
The monster glowered down at them. Grumbling, he reluctantly put them down on the ground in a heap. "As you wish, Princess."
"I-I'm not the Princess!" Pidge protested, even as she squished Frisk into a consoling, slightly too-tight hug.
"And yet your mother is the old Queen, Soulbonder. Therefore, you are the Princess," Ungol said.
"Ugh." The girl rolled her eyes.
"Now. You wait right here," the spider said, pointing at their spot with multiple hands. "I'll deal with you in a moment." He turned and dismally began to pick up the pieces of the closest pillars.
.
"So, what happened?" Pidge asked, lowering her voice.
"Frisk got taken again on the way to the portal," Papyrus said with a frown. "And then I didn't want her to get taken over here since I just got her back, and I knew he wouldn't listen if I tried to explain she was good. Ungol never listens to me. In fact, most Guards never listen to me, it's very frustrating."
"They know you're super nice and they're just worried about you, Papy," Pidge said sympathetically.
"I'm not a little baby bones, though! And they listen to you and you're even younger than me."
"That's 'cause they think I'm a dang Princess," she said.
He sighed and looked at Frisk apologetically. "I'm sorry, friend, I should have just picked you up and tried to carry you the whole way."
Frisk wasn't sure that would have helped much. She smiled and shrugged. "It's okay. I mean. It was kinda fun. Your potion worked pretty well."
"It does take a bit of getting used to," he said. "You did alright for your first time!"
"I ran into everything," Frisk said with a laugh. She grabbed his arm. "But, they should probably not treat you like a baby bones."
"At least Queen Undyne and Alphys don't," he said with a rueful sigh. He frowned. "Well. The system is bad sometimes and I will definitely battle him if he tries to snatch you again, okay?"
"Same. Hopefully he'll be okay to let us go without a duel," Pidge said.
Frisk laughed quietly. "Dunno if you'll need to go that far." She shot Papyrus a fond smile. "Rebellious is kinda a cool look on you, though, dude."
"It is?!"
Pidge snickered. "You know, they really should give him a lot more credit. Without him doing stuff like that when I first got here— you know, like throwing himself at things way bigger than he is— I dunno if our fight against the old King wouldda ever got any supporters."
"You think?! I mean…!" Papyrus grinned and proudly put a hand to his chest. "Nyeh heh! I was pretty cool, wasn't I?"
"So cool," Pidge agreed brightly.
.
A spidery shadow loomed over them. "Ooh, you three are in trouble," Ungol grumbled. "You broke a dozen autocatchers— do you know how long that'll take me to fix?"
Frisk stuck her hand up. "I can fix them," she said.
"Huwhat?" The huge monster blinked all four eyes separately. "I doubt that very much, strange human."
"Let her try," Pidge said. "And if she can, you'll let us cross together, okay?"
"This time, yes. I suppose. But she can't…"
Frisk was already at one of the pillars, her red magic glowing to reverse the thing back to normal. It was only a couple minutes, after all. Ungol's massive, fang-filled jaw fell agape. An accusatory finger dropped limp and Pidge cut her eyes at him.
"Is that okay?" Frisk asked.
"Well, er…" He prodded the stone all over and peered at it closely. "Yes. Yes, I suppose so." He coughed to clear his throat and straightened up. "Mysterious human, keep that up, and I will let you pass. Just this once."
"We'll have Sans on the way back, he can get you to the house safe," Pidge whispered to her.
Frisk smiled and shrugged. "Okay, no problem."
.
Fixing all the stones really was an easy job. It was one that Ungol seemed enthralled by, too, fascinated by the red magic glowing from the foreign kid. He let them go with a toothless warning and, finally, they were able to return to the interior of the Soul's chamber.
.
Sans cracked up at the story of what kept them so long, but gave Frisk a reassuring hug nonetheless. She was glad twofold— he sensed she was getting worn down, and that he didn't seem to be avoiding her anymore. He and Pidge excused themselves, and shortly after returned as a large, three-eyed, four-armed skeleton. He gave Papyrus a hug before kneeling down to Frisk. One of the lower set of arms held her hand and an upper one gently patted her head.
.
"We're gettin' there," he assured her.
"Do you think this's gonna be really hard?" Frisk asked.
"Actually…" He stood and gestured to the crystals in the rock around the glowing centre of the Soul. "I sent my thoughts in and it responded faster than I've ever seen. So. I actually have an okay feeling about this." He grinned. "And okay means pretty damn sure, by the way. We do have to hurry, though, this is the second time we're this today and after a while it gets pretty heavy."
"R-Right. Right. Thank you so much," Frisk said. "Um. When I get back, d'you think you could show me how it works? Like, next time you can, I mean."
"Don't see why not," he said. "Might need a long nap, first."
"Totally fair."
.
The big skeleton waved Frisk towards the Soul. The constellation crystals lit up red in response to their presence. He grinned.
"Wowie, looks like it's actually working!" Papyrus said brightly.
"Sure is," the big skeleton said. He bent and grabbed Frisk's shoulders to gently position her right in front of the mass of swirling energy. "Okay," he said, patting her on the back. "Ready?"
"Yeah," Frisk said.
He grinned and straightened up, closing all eyes but the centre one. He raised his upper hands and they began to glow, reflecting the constellation colours. The iris in his open eye flickered through red, blue, purple, and gold, until the whole socket flooded with shining, iridescent white. The crystals followed, and an aura of the same shimmered over Frisk.
"Good luck, Frisk!" Papyrus called. "I know you can do it!"
"Thanks, Paps!" she called back. "I'll be okay."
"Close your eyes and focus real hard on seein' that skeleton." The voice came through Frisk's mind, rather than her ears. "Don't worry. We're tetherin' you. You're safe."
"Thanks, guys," she said. She shut her eyes and conjured up the memories as strongly as she could.
.
All sound fell away. The feel of her feet on stone and grass melted down to something more akin to water. Frisk gulped. She could feel the claw-mark scars on the back of her hand humming with magic. She cautioned a look around her.
.
Grey. Endless grey. Light mist swirling and drifting around her, but otherwise, nothing. Frisk took a deep breath.
"Hello?" she asked. "Um. Is someone here? Sorry to bother you, but I need a little help!"
.
"Heeeeyyy, look who found me." A greyscale replica of her eldest brother was suddenly drifting above her in the mist, laying back with his arms behind his head as if resting in a hammock of clouds. He leaned up to sit in the air, grinning brightly. "Welcome back, sweetheart, how you doin'? Nah, uh, don't answer that, I can tell from the look on your face."
"Yeah, things are kinda weird, um…" Frisk's eyes darted around the grey cautiously. "Is this where you live?"
"If you can call it that, sure." He winked. "Is somethin' like me even alive? Who knows, huh?"
"But… Like." Her first thought was of Papyrus. "A-Aren't you lonely here?"
"Lonely? Pff! Nah," he said. "So! What can I do for ya?"
"Well. It's just, um…" Frisk sighed. "You said if I needed directions, to find you? Because I'm sorta lost and I'm not really sure what's up with… any of this?" She gestured at where they stood. "But after the last time I saw you, things kinda went sideways and I thought… You seem to know how to navigate all this stuff, and I was wondering if, um… If you could maybe help me figure out how to fix… everything?"
"Everything? Whew, kiddo, got big aspirations! You can't. I mean. Not now. Don't need to, really."
"But my brother's really sick and I kinda thought—"
"Don't sweat that," he said, waving his hand dismissively.
.
Frisk folded her arms and frowned. The grey Sans cracked his knuckles and stretched sleepily.
"So what's buggin' you?" he asked.
"My brother—"
"Yeah yeah, besides that," he said. "Your soul weighs like a brick."
"Is everything too much?" she joked weakly.
"You gotta let that go," he said. "Too much work."
Frisk shrugged sheepishly. "It's just—"
"You don't gotta explain, I know already," he said.
"But can't you just tell me what's going on?" she asked.
"You're on the right track." He smiled sympathetically. "C'mon, you trust me, don'tcha?"
"But everything's been crazy since I messed with that tear last time I saw you," she said.
"Ah. You're just not seein' the big picture," he said. He kicked back, floating in the air to rest again. "No worries. You're young, you'll learn."
.
Frisk frowned and pouted, folding her arms again as frustrated tears came to her eyes. "I… I really need to fix this and I gotta find my brother, Asriel. If you can help, please…!"
He opened one eye and his face fell. He settled back as if on solid ground. "Aw, jeez, you're actually upset, huh?"
Frisk's face flushed and she wiped her eyes quickly. The grey Sans tutted gently and he put an arm around her shoulders.
"Hey. Seriously. You're gonna be fine. And at the end of this, you're gonna make your big bro even better comin' out of it," he said. "All three of 'em, actually. And your dad. Oh! Hey. Tell your dad, don't touch this whole void thing too much, alright? It keeps tryin' to suck him back in, and the whole endless sufferin' gig ain't good for anyone, alright?"
"Wait, what?" Frisk yelped.
"It's fine. It's fine. Just, y'know, keep it in mind," he said quickly.
"B-But…" She sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "Okay. But… Wait, can't you give me a hint? Anything? Please."
"I think so. Just tryin' to manage everythin', y'know?" He interlocked his fingers. "There's a lotta threads all knittin' together. Kinda gotta ration what info I got, in a certain way." Sans tapped his teeth. "How 'bout a trade?"
"What d'you want?" she asked.
"Sync your soul with mine," he said. "And I'll tell you somethin' I think'll help."
.
Frisk gulped. She put a hand to her chest and her soul lit up bright red. The grey skeleton grinned. His soul flared white. The song was so soft it felt more like the memory of the tune was what gave it shape. When Frisk let their energies touch, red stained the white over in his chest for just a second before bright blue washed overtop. The colours twisted into purple and he let out a relieved sigh.
"Yeah. Okay. Just what we needed," he said. He smiled fondly. "You're a real good kid, you know that? Honestly. You needed to hear that, right?"
Her confusion was palpable. He laughed. He cupped his hands around his purple soul and somehow lifted it up out of his chest in both hands. His eyes glittered and he squeezed it tight. It shattered into sparkles and drifted back into him.
.
"Perfect," he said. "Okay. That'll make it a lot easier for him. C'mere." He waved her closer.
Frisk did as he asked and he held her face. He bumped his brow gently against hers. The image of a red sun flashed in her mind, of the dark, starry substance of space flowing, and the shape of a cube filled with a galaxy spinning before her. When she pulled back, eyes wide, Sans smiled at her.
"Wasn't too much, right? Like, your head, feels okay?"
"Y-Yeah?" she said.
"Great. Man, I could really use a nap." He stretched and then cut his eyes at her. "Hey. Can I show you one more thing? Entry's a little rough, but I think you'll dig it."
"I'll be able to come back, though, right?" she asked nervously.
"For sure!" He winked. "And, hey, you'll hardly have lost any time. Guarantee it's gonna get you at least one thing you want. Sorry to be vague. Kinda have to, for your sake. Also sorry that's as obtuse as it seems. But, I figure, can't point you in a better direction than this one, since that's what you came for."
"Um. Sure?" she said cautiously.
He grinned wide. With a snap of his fingers, a red light appeared behind her. "Hang out in there for a bit and I'll pick y'up and send you back when you're done, okay? It'll be worth your while."
.
Before she could answer, the light seized the kid with what felt like boney hands. They squeezed around her in a hug too tight for her to move and dragged her straight back into red as she yelped with surprise. All she could see was that one blinding colour as it wrapped all around her body.
.
Suddenly, she was wet and emerged face up, floating in a cool, clear pond under a cloudy blue sky. She took a deep breath, her heart beating hard against her ribcage. She couldn't swim and she was scared to move. But, the edge of the pond was close. She extended a hand to grip on tight and pulled herself closer. As long as she had that, she'd be fine, she told herself.
.
When she tried to turn, she sunk, but only for a moment. Her feet easily touched the bottom. She rubbed water out of her eyes and sighed with relief. It wasn't hard to heave herself, shivering, out onto the soft grass nearby. She plopped down where she was, eyeing the place around her with cautious curiosity. Where she was looked relatively wild, with flowers sticking up here and there. They looked like blue stars and she was sure she'd seen them before somewhere. Her back was to the remains of half a stone wall, with moss peeking out of the cracks. She could see the red light under the water. Her heart was still beating too fast.
"That was kinda scary, y'know," she grumbled.
It sent up three magic bubbles shaped like hearts that rose quickly, breaking the surface, and popped into red sparkles.
.
Frisk forced herself upright, holding the wall. The wind was cool and chilled through to her skin. She folded her arms, leaning on the stone, and tried to puzzle out what had happened. She didn't even know how real this was, if at all. But, that grey Sans, would he lead her into danger? She wasn't sure. He seemed to have some deeper knowledge of things— everything, maybe. It still felt so weird to see him, whatever or whoever he was. She felt like he was probably kind, though. Hopefully he wouldn't plunk her somewhere horrible.
.
She backed away from the wall to try to get her bearings. There were woods of tall, broad-leafed trees nearby and it was too overcast to get the angle of the sun. She guessed from the temperature that it was probably spring. The air smelled like rain and carried the floral scent of the blue blossoms. She recognized it but couldn't recall where from. She was at a loss and returned to the pond. The red light was gone. She pouted.
.
Her ears pricked to a rhythmic sound in the grass. Footsteps? She recoiled against the wall and waited. Soon enough, she could pick out two distinct voices. Couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like a young man and woman. As they got closer, Frisk realized they were speaking the same language Gaster sometimes slipped into.
.
She edged back along the wall as they got closer and snuck around behind them. They were skeletons, and they were dressed a lot like the ones that were on that old tapestry — with clinking armour and warm cloaks. The taller of the two had large, ridged horns. That one was dressed in worn, silvery metal and a muted blue cloak around their shoulders, while the other wore light brass and brown armour and a dark teal, hooded cape. They were also armed. The tall one carried a long bone wrapped partially in cloth and fashioned into a spear as well as a round, metal shield with moon symbols cast into it on their back. The shorter one had a sword on their hip that looked like it, too, was formed from bone.
.
Frisk frowned to herself. Was it possible she was in the past? Or some replica or time bubble of it? It looked similar to what little she knew of the past of her own world, but it could have been almost literally anywhere. For whatever reason, the grey Sans thought it was a good idea to put her in a pond just feet away from some strangers. Skeletons were usually pretty accommodating, though, right? Maybe it wouldn't be totally stupid to ask them for help. Frisk weighed her options. Worst case scenario was probably a battle, but she'd been through that dance before and come out with a family. She took a step out of hiding and cleared her throat.
"Um! Sorry! Excuse me?"
.
Both skeletons whipped around, wide-eyed. The smaller one had a smooth, round head and a little horn on either side of the skull, rotated outward slightly like cautious cat ears, and a mouth a lot like Sans's but with pointed teeth. The eye sockets were large and a little upturned, and the irises were flared with turquoise-green magic. The taller of the two skeletons had a long, narrow face, cheekbones jutting in a blunt spike, pointed eye-teeth, and a strong, sharp jawline. There were little spikes on their brow ridges, and those big, angular horns on their head that sloped backwards. Again, the eye sockets were quite large, but much more almond-shaped than the other's, and their irises were white rings.
.
The two scrambled to assume a sturdy formation, the larger of them pulling the shield from their back, and Frisk raised her hands quickly. She wondered for a second if she'd gone completely nuts to think this was a good idea, but she stood as firm as she could. The smaller one spoke, the voice feminine and cautious, but the kid couldn't understand her.
"Um! S-Sorry! I don't speak Creatlach," she said, "but I was wondering if—"
"Wait a second, you…?" The shorter skeleton pushed forward cautiously, her hand on the boney hilt of her blade. "You know 'bout Creatlach?"
Frisk nodded. The skeleton shot a glance back at her taller counterpart. Though he looked much more fearsome than she did, he also looked considerably more worried.
"Um. Sorry to spook you guys. I'm Frisk," the kid said.
.
She was surprised when both skeletons relaxed. The tall one began to laugh and put both palms to his face and the girl started to grin. Her hand fell away from the blade and she shook her head.
"Wow, shortie, y'scared us for a second there!" she said.
"And I… don't now?" Frisk asked.
"Well, nah, I mean, y'have a name that matches your voice," she said, pleased. "So y'must've been raised by a skeleton, right? That and you actually said Creatlach right and didn't just call it Bone-Tone."
"Y… Yeah." The kid nodded readily. "Yeah, um, a lot of my family are skeletons."
.
The girl skeleton grinned bright. "And thank the sun for that, eh? Phew! Cuz, you should see your face!" She nudged the other skeleton in the side and then strode forward to offer Frisk her hand. "Skeletons and adopted skeletons can stick together, right?"
Frisk smiled sheepishly and shook her hand, taking note of her weathered gloves and a sun-shaped marking on the back of one of them. "Y-Yeah. Glad to meet you."
"I'm Vera. That's Zapf." The skeleton jerked her thumb back over her shoulder at the other one. The green in her eyes flickered down to reveal the bright white shine in the sockets, like Sans had. "You're awful small, aren't ya? What're y'doing out here alone?"
"See, um. I'm not sure," Frisk admitted. "I got kinda… sent here by magic and I'm—"
"Oh! You're not lost, are you?" Zapf asked, leaning in. He had a low voice and an accent a lot like her father's, but a little heavier; more rolling of the R's.
"K-Kinda?" she said.
"That's so sad," he said quietly. "Maybe we can help?"
.
"Who're your folks?" Vera asked with a worried frown. "Your ma or da a skeleton? Maybe we know 'em? Can get y'back home?"
"Um, well my dad's name is Gaster, but I don't think—"
"Gaster… Gaster…" Vera looked back at Zapf. "Y'ever heard of a Gaster?"
"I've heard of an Aster, but not a Gaster," he said. "Are you from very far away?"
"Definitely," Frisk said. "B-But it's not really being lost that I'm worried about."
"It's not?" Vera asked. "Uh. But you're tiny, yeah? And you're all alone? Or, y'were, you ain't now. Hmm…" She tapped her teeth thoughtfully. "This is no place for someone like you t'be out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe… Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "I know! We could bring you to the Boss."
"The Boss'd know how to help," Zapf agreed with a nod.
"Is that far?" she asked hesitantly.
"Not really. But, um… Oh, wow, you're completely soaked, now that I look at ya," Vera said. "What happened?"
"Fell in a pond," Frisk said sheepishly.
.
Zapf's brow furrowed with worry. He shot Vera a look. "Cousin, the wind is picking up… We could still head to town and then…"
"Oh yeah! Now that y'mention it, I completely forgot." She grinned at Frisk. "We're close to Goblin Grotto, so we can pick y'up something dry, maybe get some lunch and— Y'didn't have somewhere t'be, did ya?"
"I'm, um… Not sure. The guy that sent me was kinda mysterious about what I was doing here," she said. "Maybe I'll know when I see it?"
"Bet the Boss can help with that, too," Vera assured her. She beckoned her back the way they were travelling to begin with. "Humans feel cold a lot, right? Y'doin' okay?"
"I'll be fine," Frisk fibbed, following along. She'd start to shiver soon, she was sure.
.
Zapf looked down at her and folded his arms tight, his brow furrowing. There was something clearly on his mind, but he clenched his jaw and didn't give voice to the thought. Vera, on the other hand, had started to glow happily as they were on their way.
"Y'know, we sorta expected to find some humans on the way, but you're a real pleasant surprise."
"Bandits," Zapf explained quietly. He shuddered. "You're better."
"Gee, sure hope so," Frisk said with a laugh. "But, um… You don't think we'll—?"
"Just stand behind us," Zapf said.
.
Frisk's cheeks flushed slightly. Vera shot her a sympathetic smile and patted the blade on her hip.
"Don't worry, we're pretty good at defendin' ourselves," she said. "You ever—? Oh, right, guess y'probably seen a bunch of magic, huh?"
"Yeah," Frisk said.
"You said you were sent here through magic as well?" the tall skeleton asked.
"Ah. Y-Yeah. It's, um…" Frisk rubbed her fingers through her wet hair. "It's a long story."
"How about the short version, then?" Vera asked.
"Well, uh… There was this grey skeleton," she said. "And I think he's a weird cosmic guide guy or something. I think he was trying to help me? I think I'm supposed to find something here or learn something, maybe? It's supposed to be to help my brother. Maybe."
"Eesh, a lotta maybes in there." The short skeleton frowned worriedly. "Are cosmic guides always that vague?"
"I dunno, this is the first one I met," Frisk said. "He said he had to be, for some reason. I don't really get it."
.
"Your brother is…? Sick?" Zapf asked gently. "Or… lost?"
"Both, actually. Two different brothers. How'd you know that?" Frisk asked.
He shrugged one shoulder and his eyes darted downwards. "I sense… heaviness in you. It's hard to explain."
"He's real good at that kinda thing," Vera whispered to the kid. She put a hand on her shoulder and they continued off the grass and onto a dirt path marked along one edge by a few scattered, shiny stones. "Anyway! That cosmic guide skeleton, what's up with that?"
"I'm not really sure," Frisk said. "He… looks like my brother, but I don't think he's really…? I'm not sure, it's pretty confusing."
"D'you trust him?" she asked.
"I think so." The kid nodded to herself and puffed out a tired laugh. "Sorry, it's super weird. Um. Thanks a ton for helping me out, though, I really appreciate it."
Vera waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, don't worry about it! We're Knights!"
"Knights in training," Zapf said quietly.
"Yeah! Knights, though. We're supposed to help people! S'not far outta our way. Well, actually, technically not outta our way at all since we're the ones draggin' you somewhere, huh? Where're you from, anyway?"
"Um. Snowdin?" Frisk said.
"Never heard of it," she said. "Must be far, eh, cuz?"
"Must be," Zapf agreed, nodding stiffly.
.
Frisk looked up at the tall skeleton worriedly. "You okay?" she asked.
He nodded. She tented her fingers nervously.
"I'm not too spooky, am I?" she asked.
"I wouldn't say so!" Vera said with a laugh. "See, I like humans! I just think they don't like me so much. So sad. Y'know you guys got bones, right? And we are bones! I figure we should be pals, right?"
"Right," Frisk said. "Don't gotta convince me, some of my most favourite people are skeletons."
"I love that," Vera said. "Hey, Zapf, seriously, y'alright?"
"I am." He smiled faintly. "Just a little worried, I guess." He started to walk briskly, and Vera gently grabbed Frisk's arm and took her along.
"We should get a pony," she whined.
"Where would you keep a pony?" Zapf asked, amused.
"I dunno, she could just follow us around maybe," she said. "Kid, you got a pony?"
"N-No, um, we don't… I mean…" It struck her very suddenly. She should have realized it— how far back in time this place must be. They had the whole world out here. Never even knew about the mountain all monsters would be stuck underneath. She choked on her words and her stomach knotted. She gulped hard and squeaked, "I'm n-not from a big town."
.
Zapf came to a stop and scuffed his metal boot on the path. His gaze fixed far ahead where dark trees with sparse leaves framed the way forward. He knelt down and brushed over the dirt with his pointy white fingertips. When he straightened up, he put a hand on his hip and then looked at the others.
"We should hurry," he said.