Chapter 16: Snowdin Town
"Welcome to Snowdin Town!" a large sign covered in festive lights said as we entered the town. It was a quaint, cozy place, with old-fashioned, wooden buildings around. There was one brick building that looked like a restaurant, and a Christmas tree near the center. I could also hear a river nearby, and I knew it must be the river the winds through the Underground.
The shop Sans told us about was close by, and the first thing I did was guide Frisk and Toby to it.
Is it safe? Frisk signed.
Yeah, I signed back. Many monsters don't even know what a human looks like. Or they don't care.
The others did.
Yeah, but we should be okay here in town. It was a long while since I lasted visited Snowdin. While I spent most of my time growing up in the Waterfall community, I had visited Snowdin a couple of times. The only difference now was that it was a bit more bustling, but just a little bit.
We went inside the shop, and were greeted by a bunny woman. "Hello, traveler. How can I help you?"
"Hey. I was wondering if we could get a collar for our new friend here?" I asked, motioning to our new companion.
"Ah, yes, we should have a couple here." the woman lead us over to a rack with a bunch of collars. I picked up a simple red one with a bone-shaped tag, while Frisk nervously waved at the monster behind me.
"Hiya!" she said to the kid. "Welcome to Snowdin! You know, I can't remember the last time I saw a fresh face around here. Where did you come from? The capital?"
Frisk shook her head.
"Well, you don't look like tourists. Are you guys traveling together?"
"Yes, we are," I replied, showing her my choice of collar. Since we were talking, I figured this might be a chance to figure out what has changed. "So, what is there to do around here?"
"You want to know what to here in Snowdin?" the bunny woman replied. "Grillby's has food, and the library has information... If you're tired, you can take a nap at the inn. It's right next door. My sister runs it."
"I might consider it." I was feeling a bit fatigued.
"Please do. And if you're bored, you can sit outside and watch those skeletons do their thing."
"You mean Sans and Papyrus?"
"Ah, so you've met them. Yeah, they just showed up one and... asserted themselves. The town has a lot more interesting since then."
"Okay, so they live around here I guess." This was interesting to me. Gaster lived in Waterfall, so why did his sons live in Snowdin? It wasn't a big deal to me, just a bit surprising. "Anyways, what is the town like?"
How did you make this town? Frisk signed, adding to my question.
"My friend here is wondering about the town history," I relayed.
"Well, think back to your history class... A long time ago, monsters lived in the Ruins back there in the forest. Long story short, we all decided to leave the Ruins and head for the end of the caverns. Along the way, some fuzzy fold decided they liked the cold and set up camp in Snowdin. Oh, and don't think about trying to explore the Ruins... The door's been locked for ages. So unless you're a ghost or can burrow under the door, forget about it."
"Yeah, don't tell me about it." It wasn't exactly easy to say that "hey, we actually came from the Ruins!". That would be suspicious. "So, what is life like here?"
"Life is the same as usual. A little claustrophobic... But... we all know deep down that freedom is coming, don't we? As long as we got that hope, as long as we got that hope, we grit our teeth and face the same struggles, day after day... That's life ain't it?"
"Yeah, we all have to keep hope." I knew that the monsters wanted nothing more than to be free. But as for me... I sighed. "So how much for the collar?"
"About 15 G. Also, may I interest you in a Bisicle?"
"A what- oh," I thought she was talking about a bike, but grabbed a two-pronged popsicle. I looked to Frisk, and signed, want to split it?
Frisk nodded.
"Sure, how much?"
"It's normally 15 G, but I like you two, so I'll drop it to 9, if you'd like," the bunny woman replied.
I agreed, and gave her the gold. As we left, I opened up and split the "Bisicle" into, I guess, Unisicles, and handed one to Frisk. While she began to lick the new icy treat, I took the collar's tag, and used my fire magic to carve "TOBY" into the small metal plate. I showed Frisk, and she was super impressed.
Wow, it's Toby's name! she signed.
"Yeah, pretty good right," I told her as I reattached the tag and put the collar on the pomeranian. I began eating my own Unisicle as I asked Frisk, "so, do you want to head the Inn, get some rest? Or maybe get a meal at..." I looked over to the restaurant and read its sign, "Grillby's?"
Frisk looked at the restaurant, and shook her head. I'm not hungry. I got ice cream! And she held up her popsicle.
"Sort of... but yes. Though I don't think to icy treats is a meal."
Frisk shook her head again. I got the feeling that maybe it was something else. It did sound kind of busy in the restaurant. Maybe she wasn't ready for so many monsters. "Okay, we'll figure something out later. I'd like to take you to the library for a moment. I want to teach you a bit about monsters." I figured while we were here, that would be a good idea. "Then we can go to the inn and rest for a few hours. Think you can do that?"
Frisk nodded, and pointed out to the library was.
As walked over, we greeted some of the monsters on the way, who had things to say.
"That lady over there... Something about her disturbs me," one bunny guy said. He was pointing out a bunny woman, who was... walking a smaller bunny, which I knew to be a kid bunny. I think I got the idea.
"Awful teens tormented a local monster by decorating its tree-like horns. So we started giving that monster presents to make it feel better. Now it's a tradition to put presents underneath a decorated tree," said a polar bear guy who was doing just that.
I had to give him a raised eyebrow. Was he talking about Gyftrot? If so, when not help him if it's going to become a tradition. Also, I thought this kind of tradition came from me telling Toriel and Asgore about human holidays, and they decided to introduce them to the Underground, to help bring joy to the monsters. Only Halloween didn't happen... and it wasn't hard to figure out why.
"Yo! You're a kid too, right? I can tell 'cause you're wearing a striped shirt," a yellow lizard monster exclaimed. I would've gotten mad, but... he reminded me of Lizzie, one of Gaster's assistants who supposed died during the CORE explosion. Then he added, "I wonder if that weird skeleton is an adult or a kid."
"I'm... pretty sure both of them are adults," I said, "...but I honestly don't know for sure."
As we went on, we ran into a grizzly bear guy. "This town doesn't have a mayor," he said. "But if there's ever a problem, a skeleton will tell a fish lady about it. That's politics!"
I just had to stop and take a deep breath. I knew who he was talking about. Undyne, the new Captian of the Royal Gaurd. Papyrus probably answered to her. And I ran into her in the last timeline. It wasn't a nice meeting.
"Everyone is always laughing and cracking jokes, trying to forget our modern crises... Dreariness. Crowding. Lack of sunlight. I would join them, but I'm just not very funny," a mouse monster wrapped in an oversized scarf.
"We all know the Underground has problems, but we smile anyway. Why? We can't do anything about it, so why be morose about it?" a devil-like monster added.
That was depressing to hear. But I knew it was true.
As we passed some kids playing, I noticed a muscled, bipedal wolf by the river. There was a structure that was making massive ice blocks coming out on a conveyer belt, which the wolf would systematically pick them up, and toss them into the river, where they floated away I the same direction. I had no idea what this was about, or why they didn't make the conveyor belt go all the way to the river. But as long as he had a job, I suppose.
We got to the library, and once we went inside, we were greeted by the main librarian, a greenish bird woman. "Welcome to the library. ...Yes, we know. The sign is misspelled."
I wasn't paying attention when went inside, but I did check when we left, and indeed, it was spelled out as the "Librarby". Good job, place of knowledge.
But for the current moment, I had stuff I wanted to read with Frisk.
Frisk was a little nervous, since there were other monsters inside. But they didn't bother us, so I grabbed some books to show to the young child.
The first was a school report on monster funerals. "Monster funerals, technically speaking, are cool as heck. When monsters get old and kick the bucket, they turn into dust. At funerals, we take that dust and spread it on that person's favorite thing. Then their essence will live on in that thing... Uh, am I at the page minimum get? I'm sick of writing this."
I wanted to roll my eyes, but this was harder to take for the two of us. Frisk, for one, with all the monsters she killed in her previous timeline runs timeline, was probably imagining all the dust she left behind. Me, on the other hand, remembered the funeral for my brother, Asriel, and what happened then. It was hard to think about.
Moving on to the next report, it read, "while monsters are mostly made of magic, human beings are mostly made of water. Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us. But they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'll never get a bullet-pattern birthday card..."
While that last part seemed confusing, like, what human couldn't just draw bullets on a card? Did they have to be moving on the card? Frisk, however, seemed to be thinking of something else.
You use magic. Are you not a human? she signed.
I sighed, and signed back, I'm human. The person who wrote this only knows what he was taught. There are ways for humans to use magic, but most monsters haven't seen humans do it, so it's not recorded as fact.
The next report read, "Here I am... Writing this book. A person comes in and picks up the book... They start reading it...!"
"Oh, sorry. I'm still writing that one," a monster spoke to me, when she noticed I was reading the book.
"Then why did you put it on the shelf?" I quietly replied, not wanting to disturb anyone else. "And what are you even trying to right?"
"Not sure yet."
I facepalmed. She clearly didn't even have a plot!
"Because they are made of magic, monster's bodies are attuned to their Soul," the next report read. "If a monster doesn't want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueler the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful Soul struck with the desire to kill... Um, let's end the chapter here..."
Frisk looked disturbed by this. Am I cruel?
No, you're getting better, I promised. No more killing monsters. You're fine. When we're done, I'm sure you'll be the kindest person you can be, to monsters and humans! Don't worry about the past.
The last thing I picked out was a history book, so Frisk could hear some of the history of monsters. I turned to a random page, and read, "trapped behind the barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern's end. This was our new home, which we named... 'Home'. As great as our king is, he is pretty lousy at names." Frisk silently chuckled at the last bit, while I skipped ahead a bit. "MONSTER HISTORY PART 4: Fearing the humans no longer we moved out of our old city, Home. We braved the harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat... Until we reached what we now call our capital... 'New Home'. Again our king is really bad at names." And more chuckling happened.
Deciding Frisk read enough, I put the books back, when I noticed a book I missed before. Pulled it out, and read the title: "Magic and Science: Becoming a Monster Mage", by W.D. Gaster.
"This one was written by Wingding," I said.
The creepy skeleton from before the Reset? Frisk signed.
"Yeah..." I didn't blame her for how she felt about my friend, considering our last interaction. Still, I wanted to know more about what he wrote.
Sitting back down, I read the author's bio. It mentioned how Wingding was the previous Royal Scientist, how he made the CORE, and his wife, Pristina, and two sons, Sans and Papyrus. I knew that this book had to be a bit outdated, since Pristina died, but this was still new for me. I did a quick read on the introduction, where it mentioned some studies could not be mentioned, as they were confidential (which made sense to me), but could help in inspiring a new generation of monster mages.
I flipped to a random page, and read what it said. "In my research, I studied the seven primary Traits: Patience, Bravery, Integrity, Perseverance, Kindness, Justice, and Determination. These traits make up the Soul. Now, when we use magic, we channel it from our Souls, but most of the time, we simply use pure magic energy. I believe, that if we were to channel a Soul Trait into our magic, I believe they can empower our magic even further."
"In my time as the Royal Scientist, I was able to study the Human Soul. They have much stronger Traits than us monsters, to the point where their main Trait will color their Soul, compared to our pure white Souls. If humans could learn how to use magic, it would be very powerful. In fact, I believe a human could gain magic prowess. After all, our history suggests that this is the case."
"The combination of Soul Traits and magic is a very intriguing proposition. I actually once considered the idea of bringing life to that which no Soul. The experiment failed, but it was worth exploring, as it taught me much. It let me learn how to channel the natural Determination I was born with, and figure out how to master other Traits."
Bringing life to that which no Soul? I thought as I read that last paragraph. What was Wingding exploring? Bringing inanimate objects to life? Bringing the dead back to life? I know he did many crazy experiments before, but this was too much. I decided that maybe it best to not think about this. He did, after all, say the project failed.
Frisk was reading along with me, and seemed very curious about it. How did you learn magic? she signed.
"Um..." I looked over to sign, my mom helped me. Why?
...Just curious.
I got up, put the book back. "I'll tell you more about it later."
Frisk nodded, as we began to leave, give our goodbyes to the librarian and make our way back to the Inn.
Heading inside the new building, there was another bunny woman at the counter, along with a smaller bunny sitting on the counter.
"Welcome to Snowed Inn!" the bunny woman greeted (which got some silent chuckles from me and Frisk, because of the pun). "Snowdin's premier hotel! One night is 80 G."
"Well... I think we want to stay only for a few hours, just to rest up. But if you offer it, we could use some dinner service in an hour or so," I told her. I figured Frisk would still want a meal later.
"Well, we can take an order from Grillby's. Is that okay?"
"Yeah," I replied, as I pulled out the gold for her.
"Okay, here's your room key. Call me when you want to make an order. And make sure to bundle up!"
I nodded, and guided Frisk and Toby upstairs.
The room we were given only had one bed. Our host said the only other room was already occupied, but she could provide us with a sleeping bag. However, Frisk signed to me that she'd rather share a bed with me.
"Uh..." I knelt down to sign to her, are you sure? You could take the bed, and...
I want to sleep with you, mommy, Frisk signs back.
I sighed. "I guess... we'll be okay. Do you have a menu for Grillby's?"
Our host nodded, and handed me a pamphlet she had on hand. As she left, and we began to decide on our order from the nearby diner, I had to wonder... why did Frisk persist in calling me "mom"? She knew that I wasn't her mother. Maybe I looked like her real mom a bit, and sure, she apparently passed away a long time ago, but why think of me as a replacement for her? I wasn't like her beyond the looks, was I?
Did she think I even could be a good mother...?
The hours passed. We got our meals, and took a much needed nap. I remember Frisk happily snuggling against my chest as she snored softly in my arms, something that made me feel awkward. Holding some random kid in my arms? Toby had rolled up on the floor, blissfully sleeping. From the other room, I could hear the loud snoring from the occupants. Oddly enough, though, there was a rhythm to it, sounding like there were composing a song.
But somehow, I did eventually doze off to sleep.
"I just don't understand. Why does my father care so much about you? Does he even know anything about you? ...Too scared to speak. Don't worry, I know the answer. No, he knows nothing of you. And yet, even after you admit to killing your own brother, he lets you live with us, protects you, cares for you. YOU! You've done nothing since you got here, but bake treats, learn pointless things, and take my books. And now, my father wants to teach you magic. When you will never have any use for it. You're a WASTE! YOU'RE NOTHING! Why... why are you trying to impress me? Trying to make me your friend? I don't care for you. I work hard, so that one day, I can become powerful. So I can destroy your kind. You want to be friends with me? You just want someone to love you. That's all. And what will that do for you? Nothing. It will not save you."
"You know... you don't know... a-anything about m-me either... What I've g-gone through... Why I just want someone... t-to be my family... Why do you think I feel guilty about my brother?
"I'm listening."
"No... let me show you."
"Human, even I know that this is indecent for a young lady-" The voice stopped when he saw my mangled skin from years of physical abuse from my time on the Surface. "Wh-what is this- Why...? Who-"
"My father. My own father did this to me!"
"You mean you're biological one, right? Not Asgore."
"No, not even Asgore is that bad. My father beat, cut, whipped, and burned me, all because I wanted a break, to play for a while. I know we have to work hard sometimes, but all he wanted me to do was study and train. I never had fun, never made friends. I couldn't take it. So he beat me, told me the pain would teach me, make me stronger. And my mom, she just watched. Looked at me with disapproval. So I ran away. And on the street, no one bothered to help me. No one even batted an eye. Then I decided to leave society, tried to live in the wild. I climbed Mount Ebott. And then I took shelter in a cave, and... I fell into a hole. I broke my leg, I couldn't move. I thought I was going to die. Then Asriel found me. He brought me to Toriel and Asgore. And they... they loved, cared for me. I- I never had anything like that on the surface. The monsters... they cared for me more than any human, even more than my real family did. And then I... I screwed everything up. My new brother died because of me, my adoptive father betrayed me, and... my mom just disappeared. I just wanted a family that cared about me. Is that too much to ask?"
I woke up in silent shock. As I caught my breath, I began to process my dream.
That actually happened. It was so long ago... It was the start of when Gaster actually began to warm up to me, to become my friend... When he finally found out about what happened to me on the surface, and why I hated humans so much... at least, at the time. Experiences with Asgore's first victim, Alisa, before she died, and of course Frisk now had changed that opinion somewhat, at least when it came to the children. The point was, it was a scary time. Gaster had openly threatened me before he was willing to listen to my story.
I clutched the sides of my waist. G**, it hurt. It always hurt... Not even the Void numbed the pain. After years of living with the pain, I had gotten used to it, but I still felt the discomfort fairly frequently.
At night, to help alleviate the pain, I used to sleep without a shirt, but... that was before the Void. I would've done it now, but with Frisk here... I didn't want the child to see something that horrible. Besides, it was probably inappropriate for a kid to see a woman shirtless, even if she was the same gender, or that I would be wearing a bra.
Anyways, as I got up, Frisk began to shift and wake up. She looked up to me, and got in a position to sign, are you okay, mommy?
"Yeah, I'm fine... Just... had a bad dream," I replied. "I've had a hard past, so this happens. But I'll be okay."
Frisk looked down, before getting out of the bed, and shaking her new dog awake.
With everyone up, it was time to continue on. As we came downstairs, the innkeeper greeted us. "Hiya! Looks like you guys had a great sleep!"
"That's shocking to hear, I had a bit of a nightmare," I replied. "I'm fine, just... we need to keep going."
"I could tell you needed the rest. You looked like you were tired from travel, so a few hours of sleep made sense. Where did you come from, anyway?"
I thought back to the discussion I had with her sister before. "Around... We're... nomads, just exploring the Underground."
"Not much to explore, but alright. Must be great to immerse yourself in our kingdom."
"Yeah... thank you for letting us stay. We've got to get going now."
Frisk waved goodbye as we went outside. Toby let out a sneeze, as the temperature had dropped since we got into the inn, and there was a chilling wind blowing, the snow starting to black our vision.
A blizzard was coming.
It wasn't as hard to believe as you'd think. With all the magic in the air, coming from the numerous monsters down here. It had created a sort of "artificial atmosphere", Wingding once told me. So bad weather could happen in areas such as Snowdin and Waterfall.
Still, a blizzard was not a good thing.
"We need to get going," I told Frisk. "We can avoid the storm if we get out of Snowdin right now."
We can't, Frisk signed.
I sighed, and signed to her, why not?
Papyrus is waiting for us. He's going to fight us.
We'll... we'll get by him.
Mommy... I don't want to hurt Papyrus. I really like him.
I knelt down by Frisk. We'll be okay. Keep doing what we've been doing. Treat him like a friend, convince him that he doesn't need to fight.
What about his blue attack?
"Look Frisk," I spoke. "He probably has the same kind of magic I do." I briefly turned her Soul blue with my magic. "I can do anything he can, maybe more. I'll keep us safe. But if you want him to be a friend, treat him like you would a friend."
Frisk nodded, and took my hand. Toby barked happily as he romped around us as we walked to the edge of the town.
We passed by one more house, which I figured must have been Sans and Papyrus's place. Why? There were two mailboxes, one labeled Sans, and the other labeled Papyrus. And I could tell Papyrus really needed a friend. Sans mailbox was overflowing with unread junk mail (and one with a red wax seal with a cross in a circle symbol, which was... interesting), but Papyrus's was empty.
...Or maybe he was better about getting his mail inside than his brother was. That made just as much sense. But the way Papyrus acted, I figured lack of friends might've been a cause.
The house itself was a two-story building with Christmas lights strung around it. There was also a simple wooden shed off to the side.
The winds picked up as the path onwards lead as by the river. It didn't take long for the snowy breeze to intensify and whip around us, while obscuring our vision. I had to hold onto Frisk's and slow down so we could safely navigate the way forward, while I felt Toby's fur brush against us, staying close to us.
And then, we saw the silhouette of someone. I tried to make it out... but I didn't have to wonder for long...
"HUMAN," the figure called out, revealing himself to be Papyrus, as Frisk warned. "ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE... THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS... THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW! I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE."
I wasn't sure what he was exactly saying, whether or not he was fibbing, or if he really felt that, but it made me sad to think about. At the very least, he was admitting that he liked us. I didn't know what Frisk was worried about.
"I PITY YOU... LONELY HUMAN..." Papyrus continued. "WORRY NOT! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR..." Suddenly, he paused.
"Papyrus? Are you alright?" I asked over the blizzard winds.
"NO..." he said. "NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND! YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT'S PAPYRUS! THE NEWEST MEMBER... OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"
Suddenly, there was a burst of magic, causing the winds to begin spinning in a vortex around us, giving us a clear view of our sudden opponent.
Blocking our way, with a brilliant smile, scarf fluttering in the breeze, striking a cool pose, was Papyrus, the son of my best friend, and the one monster Frisk didn't want to kill again.
Author's Note: Ah yes, Snowdin Town. This chapter was basically a quick run-through of everyone's favorite town, so I'm just going to run through what I added to the story side of things (besides the collar purchasing bit. That's pretty simple).
One, during the reading of monster history, I decided to add the part you'd read in the Ruins Home area. I didn't cover it in the story (at least not properly), so I chose to add it on to the continued history you read in the Snowdin Librarby, assuming it was a full history book.
Gaster's book was a spur of the moment addition. I actually re-wrote before uploading this, because it was much longer, and I felt it could be shorter. Plus, I was worried some of the original info would conflict with later events in the story (True Lab, anyone?). Really, I kind of wanted to add something new to add to the new story, to make things more interesting.
Chara's dream was actually an event in Book 1 of Fallen Determination, specifically Chapter 9 "Chara's Secret", which was actually part one of two chapters that ended the first arc of the story. As touched upon in this chapter, it was a huge turning point in Chara and Gaster's relationship, when they finally became friends. I removed everything that wasn't dialogue, to give out the dreamlike event it was being given in (except for a bit I rewrote to make it shorter, the part where Chara mentions her body. That was context I felt couldn't be dropped, so I shortened it). If you want to read the original text, check out the original chapter in Book 1.
And finally, the envelope Chara noticed... yeah, that was a nod to how Sans got a Mii Costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I thought that be funny to anyone who noticed.
No, I don't hate the costume. For one, I actually like the Mii Fighters in Smash Bros., I think they're fun to mess with (I've made a lot of Mii Fighters based on other characters, including from Doki Doki Literature Club and Hyperdimension Neptunia. Because I can). Two, I'd rather a Sans costume than have him actually be a Fighter. I can't think of a really good way he'd work as Fighter, at least in a way that makes sense for his character and fight. The costume was the perfect in-between, and we got a good Megalovania remix out of it, too.
That's all I've got to say. Next time, Papyrus challenges our heroes!